Backroad Mapbooks GPS Maps
Backroad Mapbooks is known for high-quality, region-focused printed maps and mapbooks that make printable custom route topographic maps immediately usable without heavy digital setup. Its strength is in affordable, ready-to-print physical cartography and curated regional detail, which is often easier and cheaper for travelers than building a map from scratch in CalTopo or subscribing to premium services. Compared with Avenza and Gaia, Backroad Mapbooks prioritizes print clarity and local route context over deep on-device customization or layered export controls.
Atlas-grade detail
Road-quality legend
Atlas-grade detail
Road-quality legend
Review Summary
"Users praise Backroad Mapbooks for its comprehensive backroad coverage and high-quality printable maps useful for trip planning; some long-term users note occasional delays in map updates and limited digital app polish."
Paper nostalgia
Professionally drawn regional topographic atlases and single-sheet maps optimized for high-quality printing
Paper nostalgia
Professionally drawn regional topographic atlases and single-sheet maps optimized for high-quality printing
Recreational Enjoyment
Time-Saving Convenience
Skill Development & Mastery
Backroad Mapbooks is known for high-quality, region-focused printed maps and mapbooks that make printable custom route topographic maps immediately usable without heavy digital setup. Its strength is in affordable, ready-to-print physical cartography and curated regional detail, which is often easier and cheaper for travelers than building a map from scratch in CalTopo or subscribing to premium services. Compared with Avenza and Gaia, Backroad Mapbooks prioritizes print clarity and local route context over deep on-device customization or layered export controls.
Atlas-grade detail
Road-quality legend
Paper nostalgia
Professionally drawn regional topographic atlases and single-sheet maps optimized for high-quality printing
Offers printed books plus downloadable GPS-ready PDF and raster map products for route planning
Atlas-grade detail
Road-quality legend
Paper nostalgia
Professionally drawn regional topographic atlases and single-sheet maps optimized for high-quality printing
Offers printed books plus downloadable GPS-ready PDF and raster map products for route planning
$25-80 USD
CalTopo Desktop
CalTopo Desktop is best-in-class for printable custom route topographic maps because it offers the most advanced layer control, map styling, and high-resolution PDF export options for professional-grade prints. Its technical flexibility and generous free tier (with optional paid upgrades for higher-resolution exports) make it the go-to choice for users who need precise contour, shading, and annotation control that simpler services like AllTrails or Gaia do not provide. While Avenza excels at geo-referenced PDFs for mobile use, CalTopo outperforms on raw print customization and fine-grained cartographic tools.
Layered control
Print-ready PDFs
Layered control
Print-ready PDFs
Review Summary
"CalTopo Desktop is widely lauded for powerful, highly customizable printable topo maps and route-planning tools favored by experienced users; reviewers mention a steep learning curve and that advanced export features are gated by subscription."
Layer-nerd joy
Layer-based desktop map composer with extensive public and custom map tiles, hillshade and contour control
Layer-nerd joy
Layer-based desktop map composer with extensive public and custom map tiles, hillshade and contour control
Skill Development & Mastery
Time-Saving Convenience
Recreational Enjoyment
CalTopo Desktop is best-in-class for printable custom route topographic maps because it offers the most advanced layer control, map styling, and high-resolution PDF export options for professional-grade prints. Its technical flexibility and generous free tier (with optional paid upgrades for higher-resolution exports) make it the go-to choice for users who need precise contour, shading, and annotation control that simpler services like AllTrails or Gaia do not provide. While Avenza excels at geo-referenced PDFs for mobile use, CalTopo outperforms on raw print customization and fine-grained cartographic tools.
Layered control
Print-ready PDFs
Layer-nerd joy
Layer-based desktop map composer with extensive public and custom map tiles, hillshade and contour control
High-resolution PDF/PNG export and scale controls specifically built for printable custom route topo maps
Layered control
Print-ready PDFs
Layer-nerd joy
Layer-based desktop map composer with extensive public and custom map tiles, hillshade and contour control
High-resolution PDF/PNG export and scale controls specifically built for printable custom route topo maps
$0-90 USD
AllTrails+ Map Downloads
AllTrails+ Map Downloads focuses on simplicity and community-sourced routes, providing an affordable subscription path to offline and printable map downloads for casual hikers and recreational users. Its financial advantage is a straightforward subscription model that bundles map downloads, GPX export, and trail difficulty data at a lower onboarding cost than purchasing many individual map packs, though its print customization and resolution controls are less advanced than CalTopo. For users who prioritize quick route discovery and easy exports over professional print styling, AllTrails+ is a cost-effective middle ground compared with Avenza and Gaia.
Offline maps
Community routes
Offline maps
Community routes
Review Summary
"AllTrails+ is appreciated for easy offline map downloads, a vast trail database and simple map export for printing; subscribers commonly cite value concerns around cost and occasional map inaccuracies in very remote areas."
Crowd-tested fun
Subscription unlocks downloadable offline topo maps and direct GPX exports suitable for printing or device use
Crowd-tested fun
Subscription unlocks downloadable offline topo maps and direct GPX exports suitable for printing or device use
Recreational Enjoyment
Enhanced Physical Well-Being
Time-Saving Convenience
AllTrails+ Map Downloads focuses on simplicity and community-sourced routes, providing an affordable subscription path to offline and printable map downloads for casual hikers and recreational users. Its financial advantage is a straightforward subscription model that bundles map downloads, GPX export, and trail difficulty data at a lower onboarding cost than purchasing many individual map packs, though its print customization and resolution controls are less advanced than CalTopo. For users who prioritize quick route discovery and easy exports over professional print styling, AllTrails+ is a cost-effective middle ground compared with Avenza and Gaia.
Offline maps
Community routes
Crowd-tested fun
Subscription unlocks downloadable offline topo maps and direct GPX exports suitable for printing or device use
User-friendly route creation, trail overlays and community data to quickly build printer-friendly route maps
Offline maps
Community routes
Crowd-tested fun
Subscription unlocks downloadable offline topo maps and direct GPX exports suitable for printing or device use
User-friendly route creation, trail overlays and community data to quickly build printer-friendly route maps
$50-80 USD
Avenza Maps PDF Maps
Avenza Maps specializes in geo-referenced PDF maps and excels at delivering printable PDFs that retain spatial metadata for in-field GPS use, making it a standout when you need both a print and an interactive PDF package. Its marketplace model and pay-per-map options can be financially advantageous for one-off purchases, and the embedded georeferencing offers a technical edge for workflows that require printed maps to remain coordinate-aware in apps. Compared with CalTopo's deep styling toolkit, Avenza trades some customization for seamless PDF distribution and mobile-compatible, printable map files.
GPS-aware PDFs
High-res printables
GPS-aware PDFs
High-res printables
Review Summary
"Avenza Maps is valued for reliable georeferenced PDF support and an extensive map store for printable maps and offline use; users sometimes report frustrations with in-app purchases and intermittent app stability issues."
Pocket-map wizardry
Native support for georeferenced PDFs so exported/printed maps retain accurate coordinates and scale
Pocket-map wizardry
Native support for georeferenced PDFs so exported/printed maps retain accurate coordinates and scale
Time-Saving Convenience
Skill Development & Mastery
Recreational Enjoyment
Avenza Maps specializes in geo-referenced PDF maps and excels at delivering printable PDFs that retain spatial metadata for in-field GPS use, making it a standout when you need both a print and an interactive PDF package. Its marketplace model and pay-per-map options can be financially advantageous for one-off purchases, and the embedded georeferencing offers a technical edge for workflows that require printed maps to remain coordinate-aware in apps. Compared with CalTopo's deep styling toolkit, Avenza trades some customization for seamless PDF distribution and mobile-compatible, printable map files.
GPS-aware PDFs
High-res printables
Pocket-map wizardry
Native support for georeferenced PDFs so exported/printed maps retain accurate coordinates and scale
Large in-app catalog of commercial and government topo PDFs available for purchase and offline printing
GPS-aware PDFs
High-res printables
Pocket-map wizardry
Native support for georeferenced PDFs so exported/printed maps retain accurate coordinates and scale
Large in-app catalog of commercial and government topo PDFs available for purchase and offline printing
$0-70 USD
Gaia GPS Premium Topo Maps
Gaia GPS Premium combines a wide selection of high-quality topo basemaps with strong mobile sync and cloud route planning, making it an excellent all-around choice for printable custom route topographic maps tied to a device-first workflow. Its subscription model bundles access to multiple map sources and straightforward print/export tools, offering good value for backcountry planners who want reliable basemap aesthetics without the steep learning curve of CalTopo. While not as granular in print styling as CalTopo or as PDF-focused as Avenza, Gaia provides the best balance of map quality, cross-device convenience, and predictable annual pricing.
Multi-source tiles
Seamless sync
Multi-source tiles
Seamless sync
Review Summary
"Gaia GPS Premium is consistently praised for high-quality printable topo maps, robust offline capabilities and advanced route tools that satisfy frequent users; critiques focus on subscription cost and periodic interface changes."
Map-buffet delight
High-resolution global and regional topo layers plus the ability to upload custom maps for detailed printed output
Map-buffet delight
High-resolution global and regional topo layers plus the ability to upload custom maps for detailed printed output
Recreational Enjoyment
Skill Development & Mastery
Time-Saving Convenience
Gaia GPS Premium combines a wide selection of high-quality topo basemaps with strong mobile sync and cloud route planning, making it an excellent all-around choice for printable custom route topographic maps tied to a device-first workflow. Its subscription model bundles access to multiple map sources and straightforward print/export tools, offering good value for backcountry planners who want reliable basemap aesthetics without the steep learning curve of CalTopo. While not as granular in print styling as CalTopo or as PDF-focused as Avenza, Gaia provides the best balance of map quality, cross-device convenience, and predictable annual pricing.
Multi-source tiles
Seamless sync
Map-buffet delight
High-resolution global and regional topo layers plus the ability to upload custom maps for detailed printed output
Comprehensive route planning with elevation profiles and multi-format exports (PDF, GPX, KML) tailored for printing
Multi-source tiles
Seamless sync
Map-buffet delight
High-resolution global and regional topo layers plus the ability to upload custom maps for detailed printed output
Comprehensive route planning with elevation profiles and multi-format exports (PDF, GPX, KML) tailored for printing
$60-140 USD