The best offline maps apps, according to Hacker News commenters
3 offline maps apps were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and October 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 3 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
On Hacker News, the most recommended offline maps app that earns the badge is CoMaps: 96 people recommended it, 17 had mixed feelings and 26 criticized it between November 2025 and October 2026. Next is Organic Maps (80 recommend, 22 mixed, 38 criticize), most often for “Works fully offline”.
Top picks
The three most recommended offline maps apps with the badge. Each figure is 10 people. RecommendsMixed feelingsCriticizes One comment
Fast, simple interface
“My family members, especially the older ones, all use CoMaps because it is much more friendly to them.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “CoMaps: The Offline App That Guided Rescuers Without a Signal in Venezuela” A free, open-source offline map app on OpenStreetMap data, liked for speed, simplicity, frequent map updates and easy OSM edits, though it lacks traffic, topo layers and power features.
Works fully offline
“Excellent open-source mapping alternative. The fact that it's fully offline-capable and privacy-respecting makes it invaluable.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Organic Maps” A privacy-friendly Google Maps alternative that works fully offline, is strong for hiking and small POIs, and has a clean UI; critics cite governance disputes that spawned the CoMaps fork.
Feature-rich and highly configurable
“OSMAnd is a really great full featured mapping app. A real tool that you can configure in detail.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” A deeply configurable offline map app built on OpenStreetMap, especially good for hiking and non-car travel; expect a clunky interface, weak place search and slowness.
All 3 offline maps apps, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Mixed counts the people with mixed feelings, who count toward neither side. Approval share is recommenders out of recommenders and critics; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 12, in which someone recommended it. Had for is the median time people say they have had or used it, shown when 10 or more said.
| Rank | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CoMaps | 96 | 17 | 26 | 79% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Organic Maps | 80 | 22 | 38 | 68% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 3 | OsmAnd | 64 | 26 | 27 | 70% | 12 | — | Approved |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment between November 2025 and October 2026. Someone who praises the same offline maps app in five threads counts once, in the column of their latest opinion.
A offline maps app earns the badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.
Counts come from Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How it works