Comparison

Mountain Project vs Avalanche Lab

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Avalanche Lab

Record snow and avalanche data in the field using your iPhone. Measure slope angles, record crown profiles, and map slides with GPS. Share your findings instantly with colleagues and the wider community.

Highlights
  • Snow pit diagram creation
  • GPS slide mapping
  • Slope angle measurement
  • Crown profile recording
  • Offline field use
  • Data export (PDF, KML, CAAML)
  • Import CAAML profiles
Features
Read full description

Imagine... You see an avalanche, you ski over to the crown and pull out your iPhone. You snap a photo, measure the slope angle and aspect, then record a crown profile, all on your phone. As you ski down the path, you use your phone as GPS to map the slide. When you get to the toe of the slide you send a diagram of the crown and a map of the slide to your colleagues back at the office, then you post it to the Avalanche Lab network to alert everyone else. With Avalanche Lab you can do all that and more. Avalanche Lab was developed out of a desire to easily enter snow and avalanche data in the field, and then electronically share that data. Avalanche Lab uses all those fancy features on your iPhone to make it as easy as possible. It has all the features an avalanche professional would want, and is simple enough to be used by backcountry skiers and even snowboarders. Avalanche Lab includes clinometer, GPS, and compass support so you can accurately measure and mark your field sites. Avalanche Lab is designed to be used in the field, there is no need for a wifi or cell signal. Most inputs are multiple choice to eliminate the need for typing, and the buttons are big for use with cold fingers. Avalanche Lab produces professional quality snow pit diagrams in the standard format, and in a compact format for display on mobile devices, and saves diagrams as an image or PDF file. Other export formats include KML maps of avalanches, CAAML xml, and SnowPilot format. Avalanche Lab can also import CAAML v5 snow profiles so you can load data from other software for viewing in the field. https://avalanchelab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Terms-of-Use.pdf

Screenshots

Mountain Project4 screens
Avalanche Lab4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Avalanche Lab at 91% against Mountain Project's 36%. Avalanche Lab also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). Mountain Project's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (4.6K vs 15). On price, ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Avalanche Lab sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per year. Mountain Project asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mountain Project holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 36% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 91% of Avalanche Lab's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, Avalanche Lab every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Mountain Project versus Avalanche Lab: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMountain ProjectAvalanche Lab
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (4.6K ratings) — better4.3 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews36.0% of reviews90.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.6K — better15
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size79 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdventure Projects Inc.RENAISSANCE RECREATION LLC

Customer experience

Mountain Project

All ratings4,587 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative8.0%
Written reviews242 reviews
Positive36.0%
Neutral12.4%
Negative51.7%

Avalanche Lab

All ratings15 ratings
Positive86.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.1%

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

Avalanche Lab

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mountain Project

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Avalanche Lab

Subscriptions2
  • Observation PRO Subscription$9.991 Year
  • Avalanche Lab PRO$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Mountain Project free?
Mountain Project is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Avalanche Lab free?
Avalanche Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mountain Project or Avalanche Lab?
Mountain Project is rated higher. Mountain Project averages 4.6 out of 5 from 4.6K ratings, while Avalanche Lab averages 4.3 from 15 ratings.
Do Mountain Project or Avalanche Lab have ads?
Neither Mountain Project nor Avalanche Lab shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mountain Project or Avalanche Lab?
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, and Avalanche Lab every 2 months. Most recently, Mountain Project was updated on October 15, 2026 and Avalanche Lab on October 12, 2026.

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