Comparison

Ascend Maps vs OSM Maps

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

Head to head
About

Ascend Maps

This app provides customizable outdoor maps with offline capabilities. It features 3D terrain, track recording, saved places management, and the ability to save map tiles for offline use. Explore the outdoors with detailed, personalized navigation tools.

Highlights
  • Offline search
  • 3D terrain
  • Track recording and editing
  • Saved places management
  • Customizable map styles
  • Offline map tile saving
Features
Read full description

Ascend is an open source app for vector and raster maps. Features include 3D terrain, offline search, track recording and editing, managing saved places, saving map tiles for offline use, and more. CUSTOMIZABLE * Includes a simple, customizable style for OpenStreetMap vector tiles with modes for hiking, biking, and transit. * Overlay customizable hillshading, shaded relief, contour lines, and slope angle shading calculated in real-time over any base map. * Supports plugins for search, routing, map sources and more. * Add new online map sources and combine layers to create new maps. * Generate and import your own vector tiles. COMPREHENSIVE * Offline search * Wikipedia search * Manage saved places * Show geotagged photos from your Photo Library. * Create and edit routes * Record and edit tracks for hiking, fitness, and more * Save map tiles for offline use Learn more at https://github.com/styluslabs/maps

About

OSM Maps

View OSM maps from various sources, create notes, and add multimedia like photos, audio, and video. Record and manage routes and tracks in GPX format, with iCloud synchronization and desktop backup options.

Highlights
  • View OSM maps from multiple sources
  • Create and edit notes with multimedia
  • Record and manage GPX routes and tracks
  • iCloud synchronization
  • Desktop backup functionality
  • Open Source
Features
Read full description

This app shows OSM maps from a various sources (OSM, Elbe5, etc). You can create notes add and edit photos, audios, videos, routes and tracks in GPX format, take photos, add record own audios, videos, routes and tracks. It has list views of all attached items. It can synchronize all of this via iCloud or backup files with the desktop app. This app is the successor of 'Maps for OSM' by this author. It has a different data structure and different features, so it had to become a new app. But you can import data from older backup files. This app is not affiliated with OpenStreetMap, but the use of this name has been approved. This app is Open Source, the code is published at https://github.com/mr-elbe5/OSM-Maps. If you find any problems or missing features, please let me know!

Screenshots

Ascend Maps4 screens
OSM Maps4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: OSM Maps at every 11 days against Ascend Maps's every 6 months. Ascend Maps's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.6). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Ascend Maps against 5.0 for OSM Maps. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Ascend Maps ships an update every 6 months, OSM Maps every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Ascend Maps versus OSM Maps: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAscend MapsOSM Maps
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings11
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.6
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMatthew WhiteMichael Roennau

Customer experience

Ascend Maps

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

OSM Maps

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Ascend Maps

No in-app purchases

None

OSM Maps

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Ascend Maps free?
Ascend Maps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is OSM Maps free?
OSM Maps is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Ascend Maps or OSM Maps?
Ascend Maps and OSM Maps are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do Ascend Maps or OSM Maps have ads?
Neither Ascend Maps nor OSM Maps shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Ascend Maps or OSM Maps?
Ascend Maps ships an update every 6 months, and OSM Maps every 11 days. Most recently, Ascend Maps was updated on October 15, 2026 and OSM Maps on October 28, 2026.

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