Short answer: use Contour Map Creator for a quick free sketch with no account, TopoExport when you need a full architectural site base (buildings, parcels, BIM formats), and TopoLines when the contour lines themselves are the deliverable and need to look right. The three tools overlap less than their search results suggest, and each one is the better choice for someone.
We make TopoLines, so read this with that in mind. Everything below about the other two tools was checked on their own sites on 11 October 2026, and we say where we couldn’t confirm something. Prices change; check before you buy.
Try TopoLines on your own area →
At a glance
| Contour Map Creator | TopoExport | TopoLines | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | Quick contour sketches | Architects, planners (site bases) | Contour lines as a finished output (design, laser cutting, GIS, print) |
| Account | None | Yes | Google or GitHub sign-in, also for the free tier |
| Price | Free (donations) | Free up to about 1 km², then pay per export or subscribe (PRO / PRO+) | Free PNG; credit packs from €5 for vector and HD |
| Exports | SVG, KML | 2D: DXF, DWG, SKP, 3DM, PDF, SVG · 3D: OBJ, glTF, STL · RVT, IFC (PRO+) · satellite JPEG | PNG, SVG, DXF, GeoJSON |
| Layers | Contours only | Buildings, parcels, roads, rail, water, trees, contours | Contours (index lines, gradients, labels) and spot heights |
| Elevation data | Not named on the site | Global data; IGN data in France | GEDTM30 30 m worldwide; national 5–10 m models in 8 countries |
| Detail control | Sampling grid you set (20 × 20 by default, up to 400 × 400) | Interval (e.g. 5 m) | Interval, smoothing, simplification, data resolution |
| Area | No stated limit | Free up to ~1 km²; “up to 50 km²” on the homepage | 100 km² free; 2,000 km² PNG and 500 km² vector when paid |
Contour Map Creator: free, no account, minimal
Contour Map Creator is a long-running one-person project (online since 2013). You draw a rectangle on the map, click get data, then redraw contours. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to pay, and your settings can be saved in a browser cookie.
Where it’s strong
- Truly zero friction: no account, no email, no credits.
- Number of levels, custom levels or a fixed interval, in metres or feet.
- KML export that opens in Google Earth.
What to know before you rely on it
- Detail depends on a sampling grid you set yourself. The default is 20 × 20 points over the whole rectangle, so on a 20 km area that’s one elevation sample roughly every kilometre, and the lines come out blocky. You can raise it to 400 × 400 per direction.
- The SVG is square. The site notes that you may need to stretch the drawing to match the real proportions of your area.
- No PNG or DXF, and styling stays basic: a fixed colour ramp, no index lines, no smoothing control.
- The elevation dataset isn’t named on the site, so you can’t easily tell how accurate a given area is.
Pick it if you want a free, rough idea of the terrain in a minute and don’t mind the output needing work.
TopoExport: a site base for architects
TopoExport is a different kind of product. Contour lines are one layer among many: buildings, cadastral parcels, roads, railways, waterways, building shadows, trees and green spaces (with AI-detected trees and hedges on the PRO plan), plus satellite imagery and 3D modelling. It exports to the formats architects live in: DXF, DWG, SketchUp, Rhino, PDF and SVG in 2D; OBJ, glTF, STL and a terrain mesh in 3D; Revit and IFC on PRO+. Its sister tool, TopoSection, draws landscape and urban cross-sections.
Where it’s strong
- One export gives you a complete site plan, not just terrain.
- BIM-ready formats (DWG, RVT, IFC) that TopoLines doesn’t offer.
- In France it builds on IGN open data, and declares the 1 m RGE ALTI model for TopoSection. That’s finer than the 5 m model TopoLines uses there.
- LoD2 3D roofs in Germany and Switzerland.
What to know
- Pricing is per export and grows with area. Buildings, parcels or roads don’t change it; only the AI-detected trees and hedges add to it. PRO and PRO+ subscriptions are offered instead; we didn’t find their price on the export screen.
- Small zones are free. At 0.84 km² the checkout showed FREE (BASIC plan), in 2D and in 3D; at 1.61 km² it was already €12.30. The cut-off sits around 1 km².
- The site highlights 13 countries; check that yours is covered.
Prices we saw at checkout in France (5 m contours, DXF):
| Export | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 2D or 3D, contour layer only | 0.84 km² | Free |
| 2D, contour layer only | 1.6 km² | €12.30 |
| 3D, contour layer only | 1.6 km² | €16.50 |
| 2D, contour layer only | 8.5 km² | €21.90 |
| 2D, contour layer only | 34.8 km² | €64.60 |
| 2D, every layer incl. AI trees | 4.7 km² | €24.30 |
| 2D, every layer incl. AI trees | 23.3 km² | €71.80 |
| 3D, contour layer only | 13.2 km² | €46.30 |
| 3D, contour layer only | 45.8 km² | €125.20 |
Pick it if you’re preparing an architecture or planning project and need buildings, parcels and roads in your CAD or BIM software. For that job it does far more than TopoLines.
TopoLines: when the contour lines are the product
TopoLines does one thing: it traces contour lines from real elevation data and lets you get them out clean. You draw a zone, set the interval and smoothing, style the lines (index lines, gradient strokes, tapering, elevation labels, spot heights) and export.
Where it’s strong
- Worldwide data with a named source: the GEDTM30 30 m bare-earth model everywhere, and national 5–10 m models (lidar-derived where available) in France, the US, Spain, the UK, Switzerland, Germany (Bavaria and NRW), Austria and Italy.
- Vector files that are ready to use: SVG at the right proportions for Illustrator, Figma or a laser cutter, DXF for CAD, GeoJSON for GIS.
- Cheap on contour-only jobs. Credits cost €0.07 to €0.25 depending on the pack (20 for €5, 100 for €10, 500 for €35) and never expire. A zone under 10 km² costs 1 credit at 30 m or 3 credits in high resolution; under 50 km², 2 or 5 credits.
- Free tier: PNG export (1024 px wide) up to 100 km².
What it doesn’t do
- No buildings, cadastral parcels or BIM formats. If you need a full site base, that’s TopoExport’s job.
- An account is required, even for the free PNG.
- In France our high-resolution data is 5 m, not 1 m.
Pick it if the contour lines are what you’ll hand over or make: a poster, a laser-cut model, a map illustration, a GIS layer, a print.
Same job, three tools
Take an 8.5 km² zone in France, contours every 5 m, as a vector file:
- Contour Map Creator: free, as SVG or KML. You’ll set the sampling grid high for usable detail, then stretch the SVG to the right proportions.
- TopoExport: €21.90 as DXF, from IGN data, with buildings and parcels one tick away.
- TopoLines: 3 credits in high resolution (5 m RGE ALTI), so €0.21 to €0.75, as SVG, DXF or GeoJSON.
That price gap only makes sense on a contour-only job. If you would have ticked the buildings and parcels anyway, you’re comparing two different products.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to TopoExport?
TopoExport itself is free for very small zones, up to about 1 km². Beyond that, for contour lines alone: Contour Map Creator is free with no account, and TopoLines exports a free PNG up to 100 km² after a Google sign-in. Neither replaces TopoExport’s buildings, parcels and BIM formats.
Why does the Contour Map Creator SVG look stretched or blocky?
The SVG is drawn as a square whatever the shape of your area, so it needs stretching to the real proportions. Blocky lines come from the sampling grid: raise the number of points per axis (up to 400) before fetching the data.
Which tool is best for laser cutting?
You need closed, clean vector lines at the right scale, one file per layer of material. TopoLines’ SVG is built for that; see our laser cutting guide.
Can I use the exports commercially?
Check each tool’s terms. TopoLines exports are yours to use commercially (posters, products, client work) without crediting us. The elevation data stays under its open licences, and the attribution each source asks for is included in the export’s metadata.
Which one has the most accurate data?
It depends on the country. Where TopoExport uses 1 m IGN data in France, it’s finer than our 5 m. Elsewhere, TopoLines names its source for every area so you can see what you’re getting. What is a contour map explains why data resolution matters for small intervals.