onX Hunt vs Spartan Forge
onX Hunt 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 | onX Hunt | Spartan Forge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Purpose-built for whitetail — 100% of the product aimed at the deer you actually hunt | Generalist — all species across all 50 states, with deep public-land tools | 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 basic · Premium $34.99/yr covers one state · $49.99/yr two states · Elite $99.99/yr or $14.99/mo for all states + Canada | Free version · Paid $79.99/yr or $12.99/mo, one tier |
| Free trial | 7 days — free trial on Pro and Unlimited | 7 days | Varies; free version available |
| State coverage | Every state included on every plan | Per-state on Premium; all 50 + Canada requires Elite ($99.99/yr) | 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 | Proprietary basemaps with satellite, topo and hybrid views; Elite adds recent + leaf-off imagery | 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 | Elite adds TerrainX terrain analysis | 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 | Landowner information on paid plans — but coverage follows the per-state tiering: one state at $34.99/yr, two states at $49.99/yr, and all 50 states requires Elite at $99.99/yr | 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 | TerrainX terrain tools on Elite | 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 Cam Analysis on Elite | Not advertised |
| Deer prediction / analysis | Buck Refuge Model — a bedding-security heat map computed from your own boundary, cover and pressure | Not advertised | AI deer-movement prediction model |
| Weather | 16-day forecast with wind, thermals and deer-movement conditions | Wind and weather layers on paid plans | 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 onX Hunt if…
Breadth matters to you: every species, every state, hunting units, public-land research, and the largest ecosystem of layers. Elite at $99.99/yr with Canada included is the most complete general-purpose hunting map subscription available.
Choose Spartan Forge if…
Terrain is your edge and deer are your quarry. Spartan Forge’s LiDAR layer at 1-meter resolution over roughly two-thirds of the lower 48, plus UAV imagery in covered areas and an AI deer-movement model, gives the sharpest read of the ground itself — at a single $79.99/yr all-states price.
Bottom line
onX Hunt wins on breadth, coverage and public-land research. Spartan Forge wins on imagery depth and deer-specific analysis at a lower all-states price. 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. onX Hunt 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 onX Hunt · 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
