Mountain Project vs SurfUp
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mountain Project
Discover and navigate to outdoor climbing areas, and find specific routes with detailed filters. Access route beta, photos, and topos offline, and view climbing area statistics. Connect with other climbers in the forum, track your progress, and create to-do lists.
- Find and navigate to climbing areas
- Sort routes by discipline, difficulty, and rating
- Search 155,000+ climbing routes offline
- Download route beta, photos, and topos for offline use
- View climbing area route statistics and critical info
- Connect with climbers in the forum
- Track attempts, sends, and create to-do lists
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Beyond the Guidebook: The Definitive Rock Climbing Resource. • Find outdoor climbing areas near you, and navigate to them, using the map. This super-handy new feature is one of our personal faves. • The much requested route finder: Easily sort routes by discipline, difficulty, star ranking and more. If a 4-star M9 is your thing, we'll help you find it. • Search our entire database of 155,000+ climbing routes, even offline. • Download route beta, photos, and topos state by state for offline use — because the best crags often have the worst reception. • View a climbing area’s route stats (how many 5.11s are there?) and critical info (when is the raptor closure again?) in a single glance. • Chat, ask questions, or put out a call for partners in our forum. • Rate routes and photos, keep track of attempts & sends, or make a to-do list • It's free to download and free of advertising too. Everything you need, nothing you don't.
SurfUp
Easily find and rent surfboards near your location. Reserve your chosen board, unlock it through the app, and manage your entire rental session from your phone for a seamless beach experience.
- Find available surfboards nearby
- Reserve and unlock boards via app
- Manage rental sessions on phone
- Guided board return process
- Convenient beach experience
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SurfUp makes surfboard rentals simple. Find a board near you, reserve your ride, unlock your SurfPod, and get in the water with less friction. Whether you're a beginner looking for an easy way to start or a regular surfer who wants a more convenient rental experience, SurfUp helps you spend less time coordinating and more time surfing. With SurfUp, you can: - Find available boards near you - Reserve and unlock boards through the app - Manage your rental session from your phone - Return your board with a simple guided flow - Get a smoother, more convenient beach experience SurfUp is built to make surfboard access easier, faster, and more flexible for riders and partner locations alike. Download SurfUp and start your next session.
Screenshots
Verdict
Mountain Project and SurfUp both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 91% of SurfUp's written reviews are positive against 36% of Mountain Project's. Mountain Project's advantage is ratings volume (4.6K vs 27) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Mountain Project against 4.7 for SurfUp. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 27, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 36% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 91% of SurfUp's.
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, SurfUp every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mountain Project | SurfUp |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (4.6K ratings) | 4.7 (27 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.0% of reviews | 90.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.6K — better | 27 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 6 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 30 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adventure Projects Inc. | SurfUp, Inc. |
Customer experience
Mountain Project
SurfUp
Bugs and requests
Mountain Project
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes when opening routes or areas
- Map not showing all available climbs
- Incorrect date recording for ticks
- Inability to delete downloaded areas
- Login issues and account sync problems
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to add/update routes and areas
- Implement better offline map functionality
- Improve search and filtering options
- Add user profile and route tracking features
- Enhance community engagement tools
SurfUp
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mountain Project
No in-app purchases
SurfUp
No in-app purchases









