Maps · head to head
Lonboard vs onX Maps
Lonboard
Maps
Python map rendering in Jupyter that skips GeoJSON and moves millions of features without choking
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
onX Maps
Maps
Land ownership and offline navigation apps sold as separate subscriptions per activity: Hunt, Offroad, Backcountry
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Lonboard has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Lonboard it is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file; onX Maps hunt, Offroad and Backcountry are entirely separate subscriptions, so a user needing more than one activity pays for more than one product with no combined bundle discount.
- They diverge on capability: Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer, onX Maps covers Land ownership boundaries.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Lonboard and onX Maps actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maps).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Lonboard
- GeoArrow binary transfer
- GeoPandas input
- deck.gl layers
- Jupyter widget
- Large dataset handling
- Styling by attribute
- Open source licence
Only in onX Maps
- Land ownership boundaries
- Offline maps
- Waypoint and track marking
- Elite tier private land data
- 3D terrain view
- Weather overlay
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Lonboard
- An analyst exploring a national road or parcel dataset in a notebook where pydeck or ipyleaflet becomes unusable at that sizenot onX Maps
- A researcher publishing a reproducible analysis where the visualisation must run from the same script as the processingnot onX Maps
- A data scientist joining spatial data to model outputs in pandas and needing to see the result immediately without exporting to a GISnot onX Maps
- A team building an internal analysis pipeline on GeoParquet that wants rendering without a serialisation step in the middlenot onX Maps
onX Maps
- A hunter who needs to know exact private and public land boundaries before crossing onto a propertynot Lonboard
- An off-road driver planning a trail route with land ownership and access datanot Lonboard
- A backcountry skier or hiker wanting offline terrain maps without cell signalnot Lonboard
- Someone who does two or more of these activities and needs to budget for two or three separate subscriptionsnot Lonboard
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Lonboard
- It is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file
- Maintenance sits with Development Seed as an open source side output of a consultancy, so roadmap priorities follow client projects and there is no support contract to buy
- Layer coverage is a subset of deck.gl, so an analyst needing a less common layer type has to drop to pydeck or write JavaScript rather than staying in Python
- It expects data already in GeoPandas or Arrow form, which means the performance benefit depends on the rest of your pipeline being Arrow-friendly; reading a large Shapefile is still the slow step
- Rendering happens in the browser, so very large datasets are ultimately limited by the client machine's memory and GPU rather than by the server, and a laptop will still fail on data a workstation handles
onX Maps
- Hunt, Offroad and Backcountry are entirely separate subscriptions, so a user needing more than one activity pays for more than one product with no combined bundle discount.
- Elite-tier pricing at roughly $99.99 a year per product is expensive if a buyer only occasionally needs the private land ownership data it adds.
- The apps are US and Canada focused, with more limited usefulness for international travel compared to a global mapping product.
- Land ownership data, while extensive, can lag real-world changes in property boundaries in fast-changing areas.
- It is not a general-purpose hiking or trail-review app in the way AllTrails or Gaia GPS are, so casual hikers without a land-boundary need may find the focus narrower than expected.
Pricing, plan by plan
Lonboard
Free- LonboardFree
- Open source, no licence fee
- No usage limits
- Installed from PyPI or conda
onX Maps
On request- onX Hunt Elite$99.99/year
- Nationwide private land ownership data
- Recent satellite imagery
- Offline maps
- onX Offroad Premium$34.99/year
- Trail and land ownership maps for off-road use
- Offline maps
- onX Offroad Elite$99.99/year
- Everything in Premium plus nationwide land ownership and recent imagery
- onX Backcountry$29.99/year
- Backcountry ski and hike focused maps
- Offline maps
- Avalanche and terrain data
Which should you pick?
Choose Lonboard if
- You need geoarrow binary transfer.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want geopandas input.
Choose onX Maps if
- You need land ownership boundaries.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want offline maps.
Questions people ask
- Is Lonboard or onX Maps better?
- Neither clearly leads. Lonboard starts at Free and onX Maps at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Lonboard or onX Maps?
- Lonboard has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Lonboard and On request for onX Maps.
- Does Lonboard or onX Maps run on more platforms?
- Lonboard runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. onX Maps runs on iOS, Android, Web.
- Can I use Lonboard for free?
- Yes. Lonboard has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. onX Maps starts at On request.
- What is Lonboard best used for?
- Lonboard is most often used for an analyst exploring a national road or parcel dataset in a notebook where pydeck or ipyleaflet becomes unusable at that size, a researcher publishing a reproducible analysis where the visualisation must run from the same script as the processing, a data scientist joining spatial data to model outputs in pandas and needing to see the result immediately without exporting to a gis, a team building an internal analysis pipeline on geoparquet that wants rendering without a serialisation step in the middle. Of those, an analyst exploring a national road or parcel dataset in a notebook where pydeck or ipyleaflet becomes unusable at that size and a researcher publishing a reproducible analysis where the visualisation must run from the same script as the processing are not what onX Maps is typically brought in for.
- What can Lonboard do that onX Maps cannot?
- Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer, GeoPandas input, deck.gl layers, Jupyter widget. onX Maps covers Land ownership boundaries, Offline maps, Waypoint and track marking, Elite tier private land data.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Lonboard: Why not just use pydeck?
pydeck serialises geometry to GeoJSON to reach the browser. Lonboard uses a binary GeoArrow pipeline, which is the reason it handles far larger datasets in the same notebook.
onX Maps: Can I use one onX subscription for both hunting and off-roading?
No, onX Hunt, onX Offroad and onX Backcountry are separate apps with separate subscriptions.
Lonboard: Who maintains it?
Development Seed, a geospatial engineering consultancy, as an open source project. There is no commercial support offering.
onX Maps: What does the Elite tier add?
Elite tiers add nationwide private land ownership data, more recent satellite imagery and partner discounts on top of the base Premium tier.
Lonboard: Does it work outside Jupyter?
It is built as a Jupyter widget. Exporting to standalone HTML is possible, but the intended environment is a notebook.
onX Maps: Does onX work outside the US?
Coverage is strongest in the US and Canada; usefulness elsewhere is limited.
Lonboard: Is it free for commercial use?
Yes, it is open source with no licence fee.
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