HuntStand vs Spartan Forge
HuntStand and Spartan Forge are two of the most popular hunting map apps in the country, and hunters comparing them are usually deciding where a season’s subscription money goes. Here is how they line up — with Contors in the first column, since that is the app this page belongs to on each company’s own published pricing and features — followed by which hunter each serves best.
| Contors | HuntStand | Spartan Forge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Purpose-built for whitetail — 100% of the product aimed at the deer you actually hunt | Generalist — hunting plus land management, whitetail to Western big game | Deer-focused mapping built around LiDAR and UAV imagery |
| Pricing | Free plan (no card) · Pro $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr · Unlimited $9.99/mo or $79.99/yr | Free tier · Pro from $34.99/yr · Ultimate $99.99/yr for the advanced whitetail tools | Free version · Paid $79.99/yr or $12.99/mo, one tier |
| Free trial | 7 days — free trial on Pro and Unlimited | No stated trial; free tier available | Varies; free version available |
| State coverage | Every state included on every plan | All 50 states + most of Canada on paid plans | All states, one price |
| Satellite & base maps | Three satellite providers in one app — Google, Esri, and USDA NAIP aerial — plus full USGS topo; switch per hunt | National aerial imagery with monthly satellite updates on paid plans | UAV imagery where covered, satellite elsewhere |
| Lidar / terrain shading | USGS 3DEP lidar shading on both paid plans — layers over topo and satellite; USGS topo and contour lines are on every tier, free included | 3D mapping on paid plans | Proprietary LiDAR layer — 1m resolution for roughly two-thirds of the lower 48, on the paid plan |
| Property lines & owners | All 50 states with full parcel detail — owner name & contact info — on BOTH paid plans. Pro and Unlimited get identical parcel data, from $39.99/yr; boundary lines are on the free plan too | All 50 states with ownership data and owner search on paid plans — genuinely nationwide, like Contors | Private and public land boundaries on paid plan; basic ownership on free |
| AI assistant | Scout acts, not just answers — drops pins, draws routes, plans hunts, grades wind on your terrain, and shows its work | Not advertised | CyberScout assistant (question-and-answer style) |
| AI stand rating | AI stand rating — every stand graded live against wind, thermals and your bedding | Not advertised | Not advertised |
| AI terrain analysis | AI terrain analysis reads your ground for draws, saddles and benches | 3D terrain fly-through | LiDAR and slope layers for manual terrain reading |
| Buck tracking & trophy room | Buck Tracker & Trophy Room — hit-list profiles with AI age & score from trail-cam photos, sightings linked to your journal | Trail-camera photo tools | Not advertised |
| Deer prediction / analysis | Buck Refuge Model — a bedding-security heat map computed from your own boundary, cover and pressure | 15-day activity forecasts and rut maps — on the $99.99 Ultimate tier | AI deer-movement prediction model |
| Weather | 16-day forecast with wind, thermals and deer-movement conditions | Detailed weather forecasts | Weather and lunar data |
| In-app support | Two taps to a monitored inbox — feedback and support built into the app, read by the builder | Help center and support channels | Help center and support channels |
| Referral program | Refer a buddy — you both earn a free month | Not advertised | Not advertised |
| Offline maps | Offline map areas — maps, pins and routes with zero signal | Unlimited offline maps on paid plans | Offline maps on paid plan |
| Platforms | iOS and Android apps + full web/desktop | iOS, Android, web | iOS, Android, desktop |
Choose HuntStand if…
You want hunting plus land management in one account — property lines with owner search across all 50 states, monthly satellite imagery, 3D terrain and rut maps — or you want to start free with a genuinely usable tier.
Choose Spartan Forge if…
You scout terrain first. LiDAR and UAV imagery show the ground with the foliage stripped away, and the AI movement model plus CyberScout assistant lean the whole product toward deer-specific analysis.
Bottom line
HuntStand is the stronger pick for land managers and free-tier starters. Spartan Forge is the stronger pick for terrain-obsessed deer hunters. Both offer free tiers or trials — the honest answer is to run your own ground through each.
The whitetail-specialist alternative to both
Disclosure: this comparison is published by Contors. HuntStand and Spartan Forge are generalists; Contors is the whitetail specialist — Scout, an AI that works your map directly (pins, routes, hunt plans, wind calls on your terrain), a Buck Refuge Model built from your own ground, every state on every plan from $39.99/yr, and a 7-day trial on its paid plans. Head to head: Contors vs HuntStand · Contors vs Spartan Forge · all four compared.
Maps and data, side by side
Three satellite basemaps, two topos, lidar shading over either one, and the same county-record parcel data the big apps use — on a $39.99/yr plan.
| Maps & data | ContorsPro $39.99/yr | onX HuntElite $99.99/yr |
|---|---|---|
| Satellite basemaps | 3 — Google, Esri, USDA NAIP aerial | 1 |
| Topo basemaps | 2 — USGS Topo, Esri Outdoor | 1 — plus a Hybrid view that adds contours to satellite |
| Lidar shading over satellite | Yes — it's the default view | No — the Lidar toggle lives on the Topo basemap |
| Lidar shading over topo | Yes | Yes, on Elite |
| Lidar is included from | Pro, $39.99/yr, all 50 states | Elite, $99.99/yr |
| Parcel lines & owner names | All 50 states on Pro and Unlimited — county records via Regrid | One state on Premium ($34.99/yr); all 50 on Elite ($99.99/yr) |
| Offline maps | Pro: one saved area · Unlimited: as many as you want | Paid plans; lidar offline on Elite |
| AI that has read your map | Scout — knows your stands, boundaries, journal and today's conditions | Not advertised |
| Built for | Whitetail, and nothing else | Every species, every state |
Contors figures come from the app. onX figures come from onX's basemap guide, its Lidar support article and its pricing page, checked September 2026. onX® and onX Hunt® are trademarks of onXmaps, Inc.
onX® and onX Hunt® are trademarks of onXmaps, Inc. HuntStand® is a trademark of TerraStride Inc. Spartan Forge® is a trademark of Spartan Forge. Contors publishes this comparison and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by either company compared above. All information reflects each company’s own published materials as of August 2026; features and prices change — verify current details on their websites. “Not advertised” means we did not find the feature in the company’s published materials, not that it does not exist.
What Contors looks like
