Your world.
A clear way forward.

Start small. Make it yours.

1. Open the free editor. On a fresh map, the first-map guide offers a small starter region.
2. Paint a little terrain, place a village, and give it a name.
3. Wait for “On this device,” then export a JSON backup from the file menu.

The guide leaves existing maps alone. You can also start on a blank map. No account is required for local mapping.

Choose Classic, Old-School, Old-School B&W, Painted, or Low Poly. Painted is the name for the illustrated style; Low Poly is the sculpted 3D style. Painted dungeons use painterly floors and furnishings.

Understand where your world is saved.

On this device: the working copy is saved in this browser. It does not automatically follow you to another browser or device. Clearing browser data, using private browsing, or losing your device can remove local work.

Cloud saved: your map has synced to your account. Cloud pending or Save failed means cloud sync is not confirmed. Keep the tab open, check your connection, and export a backup.

Keep an independent copy: JSON export is available on Free. Download a backup before clearing browser data or making major changes. Image export is useful for sharing, but a JSON file preserves editable map data.

Your original map data remains yours. Third-party artwork has its own licenses; see Art & credits. Buying Cloud Membership or the Holiday Styles does not transfer ownership of artwork or automatically grant commercial publishing rights.

Chart a whole solar system.

Solar systems are maps in the editor. Choose File → New Map → Solar System to start one with a star at its centre. Solar systems are still a preview feature: open the editor with solar systems turned on.

• Pick the Body tool (shortcut L) to place planets, moons, stars, asteroids, asteroid belts, and objects such as satellites and stations. Each body sits on its own hex.
• A system is a hex map. Use Paint with Brush Settings' brush, Fill and Erase to paint space terrain (nebulae, dust, asteroid fields, ion storms, void), Token for ships, Text for labels, Measure to read cells and AU (set the distance one cell measures in the Paint tool's Space terrain section, where the grid can be hidden), and Fog to hide cells from players.
• Select a body to rename or resize it (Tab then steps through the bodies). Create world starts a new world map for it and zooms into it, and Link existing map… adds one you already made.
• Already have a world? Open it and choose File → Add to a solar system… to put it in a new or existing system.
• To chart a galaxy, open a solar system and choose File → Add to a galaxy…: the galaxy is a hex map of nebulae, dust and star systems with yours at its centre. Its System tool places more star systems, and Create system on one starts its solar system map.
• Zoom into a planet, or double-click it, to open its world as a globe; keep zooming in to reach the flat map. Zoom all the way out, or use ↑ Up or the breadcrumbs, to return to the system.
• A solar system saves, exports and imports like any other map: free in your browser, or in the cloud with Cloud Membership.

Go below the surface.

Dungeons are battlemaps linked to a landmark on your world map. They are available on Free with Experimental Features enabled, including local maps without an account.

1. Turn on Experimental Features in the editor settings. Your world and its landmark dungeon can stay on this device; no cloud save is required.
2. Select a landmark and choose Create or Link Dungeon to start a new dungeon or link one you saved before.
3. Drag in Wall mode to draw, or click anchors and press Enter to finish. Click a wall point to select it before dragging it to move. Room mode draws whole rooms.
4. Add doors, paint floors, and place furnishings. Press R to turn the selected object. Hold Shift when pressing to draw or move a wall point to flip grid snap for that click or drag.
5. The Back to button returns you to your world map. Open Dungeon on the landmark takes you back in.

Bring the whole world to Foundry.

The Foundry module and every Foundry export are free: single maps, a selected area as one scene, individual dungeon, settlement and solar-system maps, whole-world packages and selected areas with linked maps. Choose Export → Foundry to download a ZIP. A linked-world ZIP includes one aligned scene per exported map level, plus linked settlements and dungeons. Import it with the HexAtlas Foundry module, version 5.4.1 or later. Install the module once from Foundry's setup screen: Add-on Modules → Install Module, paste https://hexatlas.net/foundry/module.json into Manifest URL and press Install; Foundry offers later updates from the same address. Prefer a file? Download hexatlas-importer-5.5.0.zip and unpack it to Data/modules/hexatlas-importer.

Cloud worlds are part of Cloud Membership ($3.99/month); every file export stays free. In the Foundry export choose Publish cloud world for Foundry: HexAtlas uploads one archive per map and downloads a small connection file. In Foundry (module 5.5 or later), choose Connect HexAtlas Cloud World in the Scenes tab and open that file; each map downloads the first time you enter it. A cloud world is the full GM export, GM-only records included, and anyone with its connection file can load all of it, so keep the file private and use Revoke a cloud connection… in the Foundry export if it leaks. You can have 10 cloud worlds published at a time, 2 GB in total, with each map or building up to 150 MB. A cloud world is a snapshot: to share changes, publish again and revoke the old one.

Dungeons include working walls and open or closed doors. Journal pins are created only for records you wrote, so generated map markers do not fill the scene. The Minecraft export has been removed; JSON and image exports remain available on Free.

Two plans. One consistent promise.

Everything is free except cloud and the Holiday Styles. Free maps of every kind (worlds, settlements, dungeons, solar systems) save in your browser; export a JSON backup to keep a copy or move a map to another device. Cloud saving and sync, sharing a map with players, and Foundry cloud worlds (all hosted in the cloud) come with Cloud Membership. Every Foundry file export, whole-world packages included, is free. Previously used “Early Adopter” and “Pro” labels refer to Cloud Membership, not a separate plan.

Holiday Styles · $1.99 once. Painted and Low Poly come with Cloud Membership while you are subscribed, or on their own with the Holiday Styles bundle: join the $1.99 Holiday Styles tier on Patreon, link your account, and both styles stay unlocked on that HexAtlas account, even after you cancel. Anyone whose support for HexAtlas on Patreon has already reached $1.99 has them too. Classic, Old-School and Old-School B&W stay free. A map already saved in Painted or Low Poly keeps its style for everyone, and its share links and exports always show it.

Choose how you support HexAtlas.

Cloud Membership is $3.99/month USD through Patreon. The Gentleman’s Lounge is the wider NerdyGentleman community on Patreon, and qualifying memberships include Cloud Membership. You only need one membership.

Sign in to HexAtlas before linking Patreon. After joining on Patreon, return to Cloud Membership in the editor and link or refresh your membership. The server verifies access with Patreon; returning to the editor on its own does not grant it.

Holiday Styles: after paying on Patreon, choose Painted or Low Poly in the editor and press Refresh my membership while signed in. It links your Patreon account if needed, then unlocks the styles. The tier renews monthly on Patreon until you cancel; cancel any time after the first payment and the styles stay.

Manage your membership, billing date, and cancellation on Patreon. Linking or unlinking your HexAtlas account does not cancel a Patreon membership.

Memberships renew until cancelled. Check Patreon for the billing date, final total, taxes, and any eligible trial.

When Cloud Membership ends, or if your free account saved cloud maps before November 2026, your cloud maps become read-only: you can still open, export, rename and delete them, and new changes are kept in your browser. Sharing pauses. Your Foundry cloud worlds stop loading new maps (scenes already imported stay in Foundry), you can still revoke them, and they are deleted if the membership is not renewed within 30 days. You can still sign in and load every cloud map to export it, subject to the service’s storage and account terms. Keep your own JSON backups; a subscription is not a backup guarantee.

Player sharing deserves a second look.

Player view and fog are presentation controls, not a security boundary. Shared links expose the underlying map data, including content hidden in the interface. Make a separate copy with private notes and unrevealed content removed before publishing. Check that copy in a signed-out browser before a session.

A real person behind the product.

Questions, billing issues, or a bug? Reach The NerdyGentleman at thenerdyGM@gmail.com or through the HexAtlas Discord. Include what happened, your browser, and reproduction steps. Never post passwords, payment details, or private maps publicly.

Read the development notes for completed work and launch preparation.

Help us improve, on your terms.

Optional analytics share event names such as “map saved” or “upgrade opened.” Map content, names, emails, and account identifiers are not included. Local counters stay in this browser; sharing is off by default. See Privacy.

Optional analytics are off unless you previously enabled them.