Mountain Project vs rakkup
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.
rakkup
Access a vast library of climbing and backcountry skiing guidebooks on your mobile device, even without an internet connection. Navigate trails to your destination with turn-by-turn directions and detailed maps. Explore climbs and descents with rich visuals and discover new routes.
- Offline guidebook access
- Turn-by-turn trail navigation
- GPS-enabled route finding
- Map and list browsing
- Search and filter capabilities
- Color photos and topo drawings
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rakkup allows you to access an entire bookshelf of climbing and backcountry skiing guidebooks on your iPhone, even beyond the reach of cell phone coverage. Once downloaded, guidebooks work offline with no Internet connection! It is also the first and only mobile climbing app that navigates you through the trail system to your climb, turn by turn. Produced in partnership with Outdoor Research, rakkup reinvents the guidebook for the smartphone era. We've partnered with Beacon Guidebooks, Wolverine Publishing ,and other publishers to bring you rich guidebooks complete with color photos and topo drawings. Free sample climbs and ski descents are included. Browse climbs and descents on a map or in the list format of your choice, filter and search in seconds, then navigate using your phone's GPS with a single tap. In climbing guidebooks, the app continuously calculates the easiest route through the trail system from your current location. Simply follow the arrow and moving map. Note: When actively navigating to a climb, rakkup uses GPS in background. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mountain Project at 4.6 against rakkup's 2.3. Mountain Project also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 16) and ratings volume (4.6K vs 24). rakkup's advantage is review sentiment (54% vs 41%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). 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
Both are free to download. rakkup sells 16 one-off in-app purchases. Mountain Project asks for nothing beyond the download.
Mountain Project holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 24, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 54% of rakkup's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, rakkup every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mountain Project | rakkup |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (4.6K ratings) — better | 2.3 (24 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 41.1% of reviews | 53.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 4.6K — better | 24 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 86 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adventure Projects Inc. | Outdoor Geeks, LLC |
Customer experience
Mountain Project
rakkup
User reviews
Mountain Project
From 4.6K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🗺️ Extensive database of climbing routes
- 📚 Detailed route information and beta
- 🗺️ Offline access to downloaded areas
- 👥 Helpful community contributions
- 📸 Useful photos and visuals
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🗺️ Inaccurate or outdated map information
- 🔍 Inefficient search and navigation
- 💰 Excessive advertising and promotion of other apps
- 📝 Inability to add comments or photos from the app
rakkup
From 24 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🗺️ GPS navigation to crags and trails
- 📸 High-quality photos with route overlays
- 🔍 Powerful filtering and search capabilities
- 📱 Offline functionality without internet
- ✍️ Curated content from professional authors
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezing
- 🧭 Unintuitive and confusing navigation UI
- 🔋 Requires background location services
- 📉 Inconsistent guidebook quality by author
- ❌ Missing major climbing areas and routes
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
rakkup
Reported bugs
13 issues- App crashes on login
- App freezes when opening routes
- Crashes every 30 seconds to few minutes
- Splash screen appears repeatedly despite cached data
- Collapse/expand toggles stop working
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Route selection auto-selects wrong area
- Maps fail to load without internet connectivity
- Bookshelf is buggy and inaccessible
- Password field incompatible with password managers
- Specific routes cause crashes (e.g., Sun Kissed)
- iOS 15 compatibility issues
- Frozen screens requiring app reinstall
- GPS functionality unreliable (20% success rate)
Requested features
12 requests- Simplified and more intuitive UI redesign
- Gear and rack information for routes
- Pitch length specifications
- User ratings and comments system
- Personalization settings (filter preferences)
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- PDF guidebook downloads
- YouTube tutorial videos for app navigation
- Climbing log with progress tracking
- Route notes and personal annotations
- Better offline map handling
- Access codes for physical guidebook purchases
- Improved map clustering for nearby crags
In-app purchases
Mountain Project
No in-app purchases
rakkup
- Elizabeth Furnace$2.99
- Long Branch and Guide Walls$3.99
- Reed's Creek$4.99
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Exit 38 Rock Climbs$9.99
- Staunton State Park Climbing$9.99
- Silverton$9.99
- Bridger Ridge$9.99
- Powerlinez$11.99
- Teton Pass Descents$14.99
- Snoqualmie Pass$14.99
- Index Town Walls$15.99
- Red Rocks Climbs by SuperTopo$19.99
- Mt. Erie$19.99
- Potrero Chico$19.99
- Backcountry Skiing California's Eastern Sierra$19.99
- Vermont Tough Schist$19.99
Questions
Is Mountain Project free?
Is rakkup free?
Which has better reviews, Mountain Project or rakkup?
Do Mountain Project or rakkup have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mountain Project or rakkup?
Other comparisons
