Mancos vs Soil Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mancos
Explore the geology of the United States and other regions with this app. Access state geological maps, formation data, and stratigraphic columns. Discover local fossil collections directly from your device.
- Interactive geological maps
- Searchable by name or GPS
- State-level geological data
- Geological formation information
- Regional stratigraphic columns
- Fossil collection discovery
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Mancos brings the geology of the United States and beyond to your iPhone. Tap the map, search by name, or use GPS to instantly locate yourself, show state-level geological maps, the geological formation and the regional stratigraphic column, all supplied by the servers at earth-base.org. Also view any fossil collections from your region, supplied by paleodb.org.
Soil Explorer
Discover detailed soil property and landscape maps for U.S. states and global soil distributions. Understand how map features relate to real-world observations. This educational tool uses data from USDA and USGS to illustrate complex soil-landscape relationships.
- Detailed soil property maps
- Landscape visualizations
- Global soil distribution maps
- Field observation correlation
- USDA NRCS data integration
- USGS data integration
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Explore detailed maps of soil properties and landscapes for various U.S. states, as well as small-scale maps of soil distributions for the world. Examine the details for a specific area, but also see the overview for a large area. Learn how features shown on the maps correspond to what you observe in the field. Soil Explorer utilizes detailed soil survey data from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and data and maps from the U. S. Geological Survey and other sources to produce informative, highly engaging maps. These maps are designed to show the complex interrelationships between soil properties and the landscapes in which soils occur.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Mancos at 70% against Soil Explorer's 0%. Mancos also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 11 months). Soil Explorer's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99) and iOS requirement (14.7 vs 26.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases 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
Soil Explorer is free to download; Mancos costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Mancos holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of Mancos's written reviews are positive against 0% of Soil Explorer's.
Mancos ships an update every 4 months, Soil Explorer every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on August 31, 2026 and September 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mancos | Soil Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 5.0 (13 ratings) — better | 4.1 (9 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 13 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #178 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 14.7 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 172 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hunt Mountain Software | Purdue University |
Customer experience
Mancos
Soil Explorer
In-app purchases
Mancos
No in-app purchases
Soil Explorer
No in-app purchases
