Software Alternatives & Reviews

MapTool VS Inkarnate

Compare MapTool VS Inkarnate and see what are their differences

MapTool logo MapTool

MapTool is a 100% community driven and 100% free to use online, multiuser, networked, graphical, interactive, programmable virtual tabletop.

Inkarnate logo Inkarnate

A free-form map editor for role-playing games, focusing on overland and continental maps.
  • MapTool Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-12

Community links: Wiki Forums Discord

  • Inkarnate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12

MapTool

$ Details
Release Date
2006 January

MapTool videos

MapTool Tutorial - 01. Introduction (MapTool Tutorials playlist)

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Maptool The Simple Way (Updated)
  • Tutorial - MapTool Tutorial - D&D 5e Framework 2.4
  • Tutorial - MapTools Tutorial - My Way
  • Review - MapTool - Virtual Table Top Software

Inkarnate videos

Inkarnate Review (2020)

More videos:

  • Review - Wonderdraft - Inkarnate Killer? (map-making app review)
  • Review - Inkarnate - Let's Make a Fantasy Map! (free version)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to MapTool and Inkarnate)
Game Engine
19 19%
81% 81
Gaming
39 39%
61% 61
Maps
7 7%
93% 93
Online Games
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare MapTool and Inkarnate

MapTool Reviews

10 Best Sites Like Roll20 Alternatives For Tabletop Gaming
Map Tool can be best described as a virtual dashboard. This interactive software supports multi-user interaction.

Inkarnate Reviews

The Best Map Makers For 2022
There is a free version of Inkarnate but the paid version unlocks a massive library of graphics and is not very expensive— just $25 per year.
10 Best Sites Like Roll20 Alternatives For Tabletop Gaming
Inkarnate also supports fantasy races. A whole of maps is also provided for the ease of the user.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Inkarnate seems to be a lot more popular than MapTool. While we know about 307 links to Inkarnate, we've tracked only 1 mention of MapTool. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

MapTool mentions (1)

  • 1.10.4 build virus
    "Latest Release" on rptools.net points to 1.10.4. Source: over 2 years ago

Inkarnate mentions (307)

  • CC0-licensed fantasy map brushes based on historical cartography
    Adding to the other answers, there are also -besides Photoshop, Gimp, etc- specialized tools to draw fantasy maps. The site mentions Wonderdraft [0], but there are a bunch of others though not all of them support using external brushes. Some other tools in this space may be Watabou's tools [1], Azgaar's tools [2], Inkarnate [3], Mapforge [4], or quite a few more which you can find links to in this list [5]. Again:... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • [PF2E][FoundryVTT][Saturday][CST-12:30PM][PAID] -|- Experienced GM seeking both new and experienced players! Explore a personalized fantasy world that is slowly changing as the Planes Converge! -|- [3-week trial period at (5$) per session. After that it's just (10$)!][2/5 slots open]
    Two, it incentivizes me to be best I can be, as I can as well as enabling me to more easily afford things like Dungeondraft or Inkarnate to create custom maps or battles for you guys! Also I kinda need more food money lol. Source: 10 months ago
  • Mapping Software
    Inkarnate for pretty, colourful maps. Has free and paid tiers. Source: 10 months ago
  • Temperate rainforest
    Erm. What do you mean? Like a map maker kinda deal that lets you place all the plants + details? Inkarnate allows users to make detailed maps of that extent. Source: 10 months ago
  • Blank Map/Grid Asset
    As a side note - I have been using https://inkarnate.com/ and it has a lot of cool features for making maps. The Portrait or Landscape options with a 10x13 or 13x10 grid is pretty similar to the hero kids grids and prints well on regular letter sized paper. There's also a huge gallery of maps created by others you can browse through for ideas. There's a pretty limited free version to play around with but if you're... Source: 10 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing MapTool and Inkarnate, you can also consider the following products

Roll20 - Roll20 is a suite of easy-to-use digital tools that expand pen-and-paper gameplay.

Dungeon Scrawl - A dungeon scrawling tool by ProbableTrain

Astral Tabletop - Create, host, and manage your tabletop role-playing games — online or in person

donjon.bin.sh - Freely accessible online collection of random generators for tabletop games.

Fantasy Grounds - Fantasy Grounds is a virtual tabletop to help facilitate play of tabletop-style role-playing games...

Campaign Cartographer - Campaign Cartographer is the leading map making software for games (RPGs, miniatures and wargaming).