Mountain Project vs Vertical
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.
Vertical
This app serves as a comprehensive guide for both outdoor and indoor climbing. Log your ascents, discover new routes and crags worldwide, and access gym topos. It also offers personalized training plans and community features to connect with other climbers.
- Outdoor and indoor climbing route discovery
- Digital climbing guidebooks
- Logbook for climbs and memories
- Personalized training plans
- Gym and global climbing challenges
- Community features and friend connections
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Built by Climbers for Climbers: Vertical-Life is Your Climbing Guide for Outdoor and Indoor Climbing. Keep a log of your climbs and favorite memories, access local beta, and dream about your next adventure. Start exploring new climbing spots and get inspired! CLIMB OUTDOOR: Find sport climbing, bouldering and multi-pitch routes. Hundreds of digital climbing guidebooks available online and offline. Discover routes and boulders, featured on a worldwide map. Authored by local experts, our crags and climbing topos are continuously updated. We support local developers with a portion of our revenue. CLIMB INDOOR: Follow your home gym. Enjoy free access to gym topos and view rankings. Get updates on new routes, log your ascents and connect with climbers in your area. GET PERSONALIZED TRAINING: Enjoy customized training plans by professional coaches. Tailored to your level, our plans align with your gym's routes and boulders. Also, explore our free, single-day workouts to spice up your gym sessions. JOIN CHALLENGES & COMPETITIONS: Gym and global challenges are the perfect motivation boost. Move up the ranking ladder, reach new goals, unlock achievements, and win exciting prizes! FIND FRIENDS & COMMUNITY: Join a global network of climbers. Follow friends, share your successes, encourage your peers, and climb as a team for your local gym. ACCESS FROM THE WEB: Find your synced logbook and profile on https://www.vertical-life.info. Discover daily climbing news and a community-built route database with millions of ascents and insightful comments on Vertical-Life Web. GET MORE WITH PREMIUM: Premium unlocks all outdoor content in the app and gives you the digital convenience of having topos, additional beta, training plans, parking navigation and digital maps, in your pocket, online and offline. - All guidebooks available on your phone - Millions of ascents and comments for the best beta - GPS navigation to crags - Detailed map, with precise topos and route information Learn more: https://www.vertical-life.info/premium Terms of Use: https://www.vertical-life.info/en/pages/legal
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mountain Project at 4.6 against Vertical's 2.7. Mountain Project also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ads (none vs shown). Vertical's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Vertical sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Mountain Project asks for nothing beyond the download.
Mountain Project holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mountain Project has 4.6K ratings behind it against 46, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Mountain Project's written reviews are positive against 23% of Vertical's.
Mountain Project ships an update every 3 weeks, Vertical every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mountain Project | Vertical |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (4.6K ratings) — better | 2.7 (46 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 35.8% of reviews — better | 23.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4.6K — better | 46 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| 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 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 79 MB | 150 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adventure Projects Inc. | Vertical-Life srl |
Customer experience
Mountain Project
Vertical
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
Vertical
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Mountain Project
No in-app purchases
Vertical
- Outdoor (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Training (1 Month)$4.991 Month
- Premium (1 Month)$8.991 Month
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- Friends (1 Month)$14.991 Month
