AllTrails, Wikiloc, komoot and Organic Maps compared for trail databases, GPS tracks and offline maps that keep working with no signal.
The trailhead has two bars; the pass an hour in has none, which is precisely when you discover whether your walking app is a trail finder, an offline map or both. Pretty cartography is not the deciding factor in the mountains — offline reliability and route quality are, and the 4 apps in this guide split those jobs differently. AllTrails and Wikiloc compete on huge searchable route databases with reviews; komoot plans tours around pace and surface with voice guidance; Organic Maps supplies the private, fully offline base map underneath a day out. They were chosen because they combine well and each fails in an informative way.
Wikiloc, a Catalan company, holds the world's largest user-uploaded route database, with unbeatable Spanish coverage including paths on no commercial map.
Wikiloc is built on the biggest collection of user-created routes anywhere: millions of hiking, cycling and mountain tracks with downloadable GPS files, contributed by the people who walked them. In Spain that translates into coverage nobody else matches, including paths that appear on no commercial map at all, which makes it the default for local outings. User uploads are not systematically verified, so stated difficulty or even the route's current existence deserves a sanity check; offline navigation is Premium-only, and the interface is less polished than komoot's.
AllTrails leads on searchability — filters for difficulty, length, elevation and dog- or child-friendliness, plus recent reviews on the path's real condition.
AllTrails is the most internationally used hiking app and the most precise when filtering: routes can be narrowed by difficulty, length and elevation gain, and tagged for suitability with dogs or children, while recent reviews flag fallen trees, washed-out sections or misleading junctions that official descriptions ignore. Outside Spain its coverage is the strongest of the group. The freemium split matters here: downloadable offline maps and the most useful features sit behind the subscription, and within Spain its trail catalogue is weaker than Wikiloc's.
komoot plans walking and cycling routes around your pace or bike type, with section-by-section surface detail, elevation profiles, voice navigation and offline maps.
komoot is the planning benchmark for hikes and rides. Routes are calculated from your bike type or chosen walking pace, presented with a detailed elevation profile and surface type broken down section by section — tarmac, gravel, trail — so expectations match the terrain. Voice navigation runs along the route and maps can be downloaded for signal-free days. The pricing model is the main limitation: only one map region is free and the worldwide pack is paid, and within cities its navigation is clearly worse than Google Maps.
Organic Maps is the offline backstop: free, open source, ad- and tracker-free topographic maps with marked trails, sending nothing to any server.
Organic Maps runs entirely on downloaded OpenStreetMap data, with topographic mapping that includes marked walking and cycling trails, no ads, no trackers and no data leaving the phone. It complements the route databases rather than replacing them: Wikiloc or AllTrails tells you where to walk, Organic Maps guarantees the map still renders in airplane mode, which is exactly when a free, independent layer matters most. Its limits are fixed by design — no real-time traffic or camera data, no public-transit navigation, and fewer business listings than Google Maps.
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Questions & answers
Do hiking apps work with no mobile coverage?
Your phone's GPS does — it receives satellite signals without coverage or a SIM. What needs the internet is loading the map itself, so download before setting off. Organic Maps does this free; Wikiloc, AllTrails and komoot put offline maps in the paid tier or limit free downloads to a single region.
What is the best free hiking app?
Wikiloc's free version opens millions of routes for research before you leave, although offline navigation is Premium. Organic Maps is completely free and ad-free with downloadable maps, but it is a map rather than a trail finder and has no route database. Running both together — one for choosing, one for navigating — covers a day out at no cost.
Can I trust user-uploaded routes?
With caution. Wikiloc's extraordinary coverage exists because users upload freely, which also means nobody verifies the stated difficulty or whether the path is still passable. Check the upload date, read recent comments and be sceptical of tracks with no photos or ratings; a verified-looking line does not guarantee a real trail.
What should I check before a mountain hike?
Download the map and route before leaving, carry a power bank because GPS drains the battery, tell someone your planned route and expected return time, and read the mountain weather forecast, which can change within hours. Treat the phone as a useful aid, not a replacement for map-reading skill, suitable clothing or basic judgement.
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