Maps · head to head
Potree vs Trailforks
Potree
Maps
Open source WebGL viewer for publishing very large point clouds in a browser
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Trailforks
Maps
Mountain-bike-specific trail database and navigation app owned by Outside Inc
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Potree there is no vendor, no support contract and no service level, so anything you build on Potree is your organisation’s responsibility to maintain when a browser update breaks rendering.; Trailforks the free tier only allows one offline region downloaded at a time, which is limiting for a rider visiting multiple trail areas.
- They diverge on capability: Potree covers Octree streaming, Trailforks covers Mountain bike trail database.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Potree and Trailforks actually diverge.
| Attribute | Potree | Trailforks |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Open source, no licence fee | Freemium, standalone Pro or bundled with Outside+ |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | iOS, Android, Web |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Potree
- Octree streaming
- Large dataset rendering
- Measurement tools
- Clipping and profiles
- Annotations
- Attribute colouring
- PotreeDesktop
- Self-hosting
Only in Trailforks
- Mountain bike trail database
- Community trail reports
- Offline maps
- Premium basemaps
- Heatmap overlay
- Weather and fire overlays
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Potree
- A drone survey firm delivering a point cloud to a client who has no desktop software, by publishing a browser viewer link instead of a 40 GB LAZ filenot Trailforks
- A heritage or archaeology project publishing a scanned site for public access without paying per-gigabyte hosting to a commercial platformnot Trailforks
- An engineering consultancy embedding a point cloud viewer inside its own client portal without licensing a commercial web viewernot Trailforks
- A university or research group that needs measurement and profiling in a shareable viewer for a dataset too large to emailnot Trailforks
Trailforks
- A mountain biker planning a ride on unfamiliar singletrack who needs direction-of-travel and difficulty datanot Potree
- Someone riding in an area with no signal who needs an offline downloaded trail mapnot Potree
- A rider checking recent community trail condition reports before heading outnot Potree
- Someone comparing several mountain bike regions using the usage heatmap before choosing where to ridenot Potree
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Potree
- There is no vendor, no support contract and no service level, so anything you build on Potree is your organisation’s responsibility to maintain when a browser update breaks rendering.
- Conversion is a separate manual step with PotreeConverter, and building an automated publishing pipeline around it is engineering work the project does not provide.
- Rendering quality and performance depend on the client machine and WebGL support, so a client on a locked-down corporate laptop with poor graphics may see a viewer that stutters or fails outright.
- A WebGPU rewrite, Potree-Next, is in progress and is not a drop-in upgrade, so current integrations face an eventual migration with no vendor to manage it.
- There is no access control, user management or audit layer; anyone with the URL sees the data unless you build authentication around the static files yourself, which is a real problem for confidential sites.
Trailforks
- The free tier only allows one offline region downloaded at a time, which is limiting for a rider visiting multiple trail areas.
- Pro pricing appears to be shifting toward bundling with the wider Outside+ media subscription, making the standalone price less stable and worth checking directly before buying.
- Its focus on mountain biking means it is a weaker choice than Ride with GPS for road or gravel route planning.
- Trail data quality depends on community contribution, so newer or less-ridden regions can have sparse or outdated information.
- Being owned by a media company with a broader outdoor content bundle strategy introduces some uncertainty about how the standalone app product is prioritised long term.
Pricing, plan by plan
Potree
Free- PotreeFree
- BSD-style open source licence
- Unlimited datasets and viewers
- Self-hosted on any static web server
Trailforks
Free- Trailforks FreeFree
- Trail database access
- Basic basemaps
- One offline region at a time
- Trailforks Pro$undefined/year
- Unlimited offline regions
- Premium basemaps including Gaia and ArcGIS satellite
- Heatmap, weather and fire overlays
Which should you pick?
Choose Potree if
- You need octree streaming.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
- You also want large dataset rendering.
Choose Trailforks if
- You need mountain bike trail database.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on iOS, Android, Web.
- You also want community trail reports.
Questions people ask
- Is Potree or Trailforks better?
- Neither clearly leads. Potree starts at Free and Trailforks at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Potree or Trailforks?
- Potree starts at Free and Trailforks at Free.
- Does Potree or Trailforks run on more platforms?
- Potree runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. Trailforks runs on iOS, Android, Web.
- Can I use Potree for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Potree best used for?
- Potree is most often used for a drone survey firm delivering a point cloud to a client who has no desktop software, by publishing a browser viewer link instead of a 40 gb laz file, a heritage or archaeology project publishing a scanned site for public access without paying per-gigabyte hosting to a commercial platform, an engineering consultancy embedding a point cloud viewer inside its own client portal without licensing a commercial web viewer, a university or research group that needs measurement and profiling in a shareable viewer for a dataset too large to email. Of those, a drone survey firm delivering a point cloud to a client who has no desktop software, by publishing a browser viewer link instead of a 40 gb laz file and a heritage or archaeology project publishing a scanned site for public access without paying per-gigabyte hosting to a commercial platform are not what Trailforks is typically brought in for.
- What can Potree do that Trailforks cannot?
- Potree covers Octree streaming, Large dataset rendering, Measurement tools, Clipping and profiles. Trailforks covers Mountain bike trail database, Community trail reports, Offline maps, Premium basemaps.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Potree: Does Potree cost anything?
No. It is open source and free. You supply the hosting, which for a static viewer is inexpensive.
Trailforks: Is Trailforks free?
A free tier exists with trail data and one offline region at a time; Pro removes that limit and adds premium map layers.
Potree: Is there commercial support?
No. There is no vendor and no support contract. Support is GitHub issues and the community.
Trailforks: Who owns Trailforks?
Outside Inc, which also owns Pinkbike and CyclingTips, acquired it in 2021.
Potree: Who maintains it?
It originated at TU Wien and is maintained principally by Markus Schütz, with community contributions.
Trailforks: Is it only for mountain biking?
Mountain biking is the core focus, though it has secondary support for hiking, gravel and motorised trail use.
Potree: Can it handle very large clouds?
Yes, hundreds of millions of points, because PotreeConverter builds a multi-resolution octree that streams only what is visible.
Potree: Is my data private?
Only if you make it so. Potree serves static files with no built-in authentication, so access control is entirely your responsibility.
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