Heartbound Maps vs Craft & Oak: which custom map print is right for you?

Craft & Oak (formerly YourOwnMaps) is one of the closer comparisons here, because its city-map product lets you drop up to about fifteen pins on a single map and add coordinates as text. You can mark several meaningful spots on one print.

The difference is what Heartbound Maps does with those places: it sets home at the center and draws an arrow to each place in its true compass direction, with the great-circle distance beside it. It's a measured, directional layout (not pins on a street map), and a layout engine keeps every label readable however many you add.

So if you want pinned landmarks on a city map, Craft & Oak handles that well. If you want the directions and distances from home (the measured story), that's Heartbound Maps's specific thing.

Heartbound Maps's edge: it measures each place (bearing + distance from home) rather than marking pins.

Craft & Oak prints on 250gsm matte, acid-free archival paper with HP Indigo pigment inks, and markets it as museum-grade. It's a legitimately good archival stock, closer to Heartbound Maps's than most competitors here.

Heartbound Maps's loose prints are on Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm (a heavily textured fine-art paper) with archival pigment inks. Framed prints use 300gsm 100% cotton-rag paper (smooth behind glass) in a premium natural-oak ready-to-hang frame. Both are archival; Heartbound Maps's German Etching 310gsm is the heavier, more distinctly textured fine-art substrate.

Heartbound Maps's edge: Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm vs. 250gsm matte (both genuinely archival).

Craft & Oak offers minimalist, high-contrast and monochrome map styles (Mapbox data), several colors and layouts, plus star-map and coordinate products (a flexible, well-built editor).

Heartbound Maps offers multiple print styles for the same set of places and re-renders them instantly with home fixed at the center. Its layout engine is the difference once you have many places: labels never overlap, and the arrows stay put so each bearing stays accurate.

Heartbound Maps's edge: a measured layout that stays readable as places add up.

The two start in the same place: Craft & Oak's prints are “from $44” (12×18), larger pieces from $100, and a 300 DPI PDF download is $25. Heartbound Maps's prints run $65.00 to $175.00, and its digital download is $19.00, included free with every print.

Framing is an add-on for both; Craft & Oak's exact frame surcharge is set in its editor, while Heartbound Maps's ready-to-hang frame adds $59.00 to $114.00.

On price they're close. Heartbound Maps's digital is a little cheaper and bundled with prints; Craft & Oak's headline floor is a dollar lower.

Heartbound Maps's edge: digital files cheaper and included with every print.

Here Craft & Oak has the clear advantage: free shipping worldwide on every order, with production in the US and Europe and typical delivery in about 3 to 7 business days (its terms allow up to 30).

Heartbound Maps currently ships within the United States only, though shipping is free with no minimum. If you're ordering internationally, Craft & Oak is the practical pick today.

Honest call: Craft & Oak ships free worldwide; Heartbound Maps is free but US-only.

Both are in-browser editors with live previews and no files to wrestle with. Craft & Oak's editor is polished across maps, coordinates and star maps.

Heartbound Maps is free to design with no account needed, includes the digital files, and automates the measured layout so a map of many places stays quick to build.