Google Maps vs Scenic Map
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Google Maps
Navigate your world with real-time traffic, turn-by-turn directions for driving, walking, cycling, and public transport. Discover millions of businesses and places with photos and reviews. Plan trips with Street View, Immersive View, and offline maps.
- Real-time GPS navigation
- Live traffic data
- Public transport updates
- Business and place discovery
- Street View and Immersive View
- Offline maps
- User reviews and photos
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Explore and navigate the world with confidence using Google Maps. Find the best routes with live traffic data and real-time GPS navigation for driving, walking, cycling, and public transport. Discover over 250 million businesses and places - from restaurants and shops to everyday essentials – with photos, reviews, and helpful information. Navigate the world, the way you want: • Get to where you need to go with fuel-efficient route options • Find the best route with real-time, turn-by-turn voice, and on screen navigation • Save time with automatic rerouting based on live traffic, incidents, and road closures • Catch the bus, train, and ride-share effortlessly, with real-time updates • Find bike or scooter rentals to get around more easily Plan trips and experiences effortlessly: • Preview an area before you go (e.g. parking, entrances) with Street View • Use Immersive View to experience what landmarks, parks and routes look like, and even check the weather so you can be ready in advance • Create custom lists of your favorite saved places and share with others • Order delivery and takeout, make reservations, and book hotels • Don't get lost with offline maps in an area with bad signal • Search for local places and things to do, and decide based on user reviews and photos Discover and explore like a local: • Explore with confidence knowing 500 million users contribute and keep the map up to date each year • Avoid the crowds by seeing how busy a place is before you get there • Use Lens in Maps to see walking directions overlaid on the real world • Filter restaurants by cuisine, hours, price, rating and more • Ask questions about a place, from dishes to parking, and get quick answers Some features not available in all countries or cities Navigation isn't intended to be used by oversized or emergency vehicles
Scenic Map
Explore the world with detailed 3D topographic maps, accessible even offline. Stream and cache global maps for use without cell service. Features include satellite overlays, customizable map styles, and GPS tracking for navigation and route replay.
- Global 3D topographic maps
- Offline map caching
- Satellite image overlays
- Customizable map styles
- GPS tracking and route replay
- GPX track import/export
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A 3D topo map with coverage of the entire world. The map is streamed directly from Apple's servers and cached on your device for use when there is no cell coverage. Use Scenic Map in a car, a boat, a plane or while hiking. It is like having the entire Earth in your pocket. Satellite image overlays add breathtaking detail and realism to the maps (tap preset 2 or 4). You can use them as you travel to see what is hidden from view at ground level. This takes moving maps to a whole new level. To get started, tap the arrow button in the toolbar to begin GPS tracking and center the map at your current location. The spinner in the status bar shows that the map is being loaded. The spinner stops when the map is fully cached at that location. You can scroll around the map or tilt the map with a two finger vertical swipe to see it in 3D. Use the two finger vertical swipe gesture to tilt the map for a 3D view. Scroll like a map or fly like a flight simulator. Enable Joystick Gestures in the Settings menu and then fly around the terrain using a virtual joystick. Prefer only 2D maps? Enable the 2D Map option in the Settings menu. Scenic Map is simply the best 3D topo map available for a mobile device. You will see incredible detail while scrolling, rotating and zooming perfectly smoothly. You will see every road even if you zoom out to the altitude of a satellite. As you zoom in, you will see every small bump and hollow of the Earth and terrain features as small as ten meters. Unlike old fashioned topo maps, Scenic Map’s roads and trails are up to date thanks to OpenStreetMap.org. It contains polygons for urban areas, shopping malls, an ever growing number of buildings and many other features, The best lake, pond, stream and rivers from the USGS and Canadian public databases are also included. Your tracks can be replayed with video like controls to speed up, slow down, pause, restart or skip to the end. You can display existing tracks while recording another if you want to retrace your route. When online, you can automatically create a route from your current GPS location to any other point on the map. Tracks can be received from or sent to other apps in GPX format. GPS recording stops automatically after you have remained stationary for some time or you can choose to manually stop tracking by tapping on the top track in the Tracks view. Never before have maps been this customizable. For example, you can turn on or off the roads. You can change the lighting direction or remove terrain shading entirely. You can display contour lines even over satellite images. There are five presets which let you quickly switch between map styles. Use Metric, English or Nautical units and choose one of four different coordinate displays including UTM. Want to learn more about a map feature? Tap the target icon and center the feature under the compass rose to display its name, type, urban area, county, state, elevation and coordinates. You will also see a bearing line back to your current GPS location or from your location to a selected waypoint. The status bar shows the bearing direction and distance along with the map and GPS elevation, the track length, and your current speed and direction of travel. In-app documentation is provided in the Help section at the top of the Settings menu. Links are provided in the documentation to detailed coverage maps, tutorial videos, installation guide and blog at ScenicMap.com Map data © OpenStreetMap and contributors under the Open Database License Scenic Map supports GPS tracking while the app is in the background. Caution: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Scenic Map at none against Google Maps's shown. Scenic Map also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (67% vs 44%). Google Maps's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 3 months) and ratings volume (7.4M vs 3). On price, rating, 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
Both are free to download. Google Maps sells 22 in-app purchases, starting at $0.89 per month and Scenic Map sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Google Maps against 4.7 for Scenic Map. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Maps has 7.4M ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 44% of Google Maps's written reviews are positive against 67% of Scenic Map's.
Google Maps ships an update every 6 days, Scenic Map every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Google Maps | Scenic Map |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (7.4M ratings) | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 43.5% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.4M — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #1 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 16.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 469 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | GrangerFX | |
Customer experience
Google Maps
Scenic Map
Bugs and requests
Google Maps
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inability to save/access favorite locations
- Frequent crashes or freezes
- Incorrect address/location detection
- Voice navigation issues
Requested features
5 requests- Option to avoid tolls or specify vehicle type
- Ability to manually edit/update maps
- Better integration with public transit
- Improved offline functionality
- More customization options for routes
Scenic Map
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Google Maps
- 30 GB$0.891 Month
- 30 GB1 Month trial3 variants$0.891 Month
- 100 GB2 variants$1.991 Month
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- 100 GB1 Month trial2 variants$1.991 Month
- 200 GB1 Month trial2 variants$2.991 Month
- 200 GB2 variants$2.991 Month
- Google AI Plus (400 GB)2 variants$4.991 Month
- Google AI Plus (2 TB)2 variants$9.991 Month
- Google AI Plus (2 TB)1 Month trial2 variants$9.991 Month
- Google AI Pro (5 TB)$19.991 Month
- 100 GB1 Year trial$19.991 Year
- 100 GB1 Month trial$19.991 Year
- 100 GB$19.991 Year
- Google AI Pro (2 TB)$19.991 Month
- 200 GB1 Year trial$29.991 Year
- 200 GB1 Month trial$29.991 Year
- 200 GB$29.991 Year
- 10 TB$49.991 Month
- 2 TB1 Month trial$99.991 Year
- 20 TB$99.991 Month
- 2 TB1 Year trial$99.991 Year
- Google AI Ultra (30 TB)2 variants$249.991 Month
Scenic Map
- Scenic Map Features$4.99
Questions
Is Google Maps free?
Is Scenic Map free?
Which has better reviews, Google Maps or Scenic Map?
Do Google Maps or Scenic Map have ads?
Which is updated more often, Google Maps or Scenic Map?
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