Hangboard Brand Guide: Reviews and Comparisons
Ten years ago, buying a hangboard meant choosing between maybe three options. Today the market looks completely different, with over a dozen brands making serious training boards. This guide breaks down the major hangboard brands, their histories, what they make, what they do well, and where they fall short.
Today the market looks completely different. There are over a dozen brands making serious training boards, from massive climbing companies to small workshops run by climbers who just wanted a better tool. Wood, resin, polyurethane, polyester, portable, wall-mounted, two-piece, minimalist, fully loaded. The choices are almost overwhelming.
That's good news. Competition drives innovation, and hangboards in 2026 are better designed, more comfortable, and more thoughtfully built than anything we had a decade ago. But it also means choosing takes more homework.
This guide breaks down the major hangboard brands, their histories, what they make, what they do well, and where they fall short. If you want head-to-head product reviews with specs and scoring, check out our best hangboards guide. This article is about the brands themselves: who makes these boards, why they build them the way they do, and which company's philosophy matches your training goals.
Chalk up. Let's get into it.
Beastmaker
The Brand That Started the Wood Revolution
If you've spent any time in the climbing training world, you've seen a Beastmaker. The distinctive curved tulipwood boards are practically synonymous with hangboard training, and for good reason. Beastmaker didn't invent the fingerboard, but they arguably made it cool.
History
Beastmaker was born when Dan Varian and Ned Feehally were climbing out of the University of Sheffield in 2007. Both were serious boulderers pushing into the upper grades, and both were frustrated with the same problem: the resin fingerboards available at the time destroyed their skin. Long training sessions meant blood blisters and raw fingertips, which meant days off from actual climbing.
Their solution was to build their own board from wood. Working with a friend's homemade CNC machine, they designed and produced the first Beastmaker fingerboard. The response from the UK climbing community was immediate. Climbers loved how the wood felt on their skin, how the holds were shaped, and how the board looked hanging on a wall. Word spread, production scaled up, and within a few years Beastmaker boards were the training tool of choice for elite climbers worldwide.
Today, climbers like Adam Ondra, Alexander Megos, and Alex Honnold all use Beastmakers. The company remains based in Sheffield and remains focused on what they do best: wooden training products for climbers.
Product Line
The entry-level board, V1 through V10
The entry-level board, designed for climbers from V1 through V10. Features larger holds, jugs for warm-ups, and pocket depths from deep to 10mm. No aggressive slopers or monos. Read our full Beastmaker 1000 review.
Built for experienced climbers with input from the UK's strongest
The advanced board. Includes 45-degree slopers, shallow three-finger pockets, back-two pockets, sloping two-finger pockets, and monos. The famous 22mm middle edge is a benchmark. Read our full Beastmaker 2000 review.
Both boards are also now available in FCS-certified beech wood at a premium price (~$150+), which Beastmaker markets as a lower carbon footprint option with a denser, more durable wood and a darker grain. The beech editions are the same design, just a different (and pricier) material.
Beastmaker also makes wooden holds for home climbing walls, micro edges for advanced training, and a training app (now through the Grippy platform) with workouts designed by top UK climbers and coaches.
Material: Tulipwood (and Beech)
The classic Beastmaker is North American tulipwood (Liriodendron tulipifera, from the tulip poplar tree). It's sustainably sourced, finishes with a fine texture that's gentle on skin, and has a beautiful natural grain. The newer beech editions use EU-sourced hardwood that's denser and slightly more durable. Both feel excellent, and the wood is one of the big reasons Beastmaker boards feel so different from resin alternatives.
- Gorgeous build quality and tulipwood grain
- Wide hold variety: slopers, pockets, edges
- Beastmaker ecosystem: app, guides, community
- Proven at the highest level by world-class climbers
- No labeled edge depths for structured tracking
- Hold-based rather than edge-based progression
- Importing to the US adds cost
- Two boards needed to cover the full spectrum
Climbers who value hold variety and beautiful craftsmanship. Boulderers who want to train slopers, pockets, and pinches alongside edges. Anyone who wants the most iconic and time-tested wooden fingerboard in climbing.
Metolius
The OG of Climbing Training Gear
Metolius has been making climbing gear longer than most climbers have been alive. The Metolius Simulator is literally the best-selling hangboard in the world, and it has been for decades. If there's a hangboard mounted above a doorway in a climbing gym, there's about a 60% chance it's a Metolius.
History
Doug Phillips started Metolius in 1983 out of his garage in Bend, Oregon. The company grew out of the Smith Rock climbing scene, which was at the epicenter of American sport climbing's development in the 1980s. By 1987, Metolius employee Chris Grover had designed the original Simulator hangboard along with modular training wall tiles, making Metolius one of the earliest American companies to produce climbing-specific training equipment.
The Simulator has gone through multiple generations since then (the current model is the Simulator 3D), but the core philosophy has stayed the same: pack as many different hold types as possible into one board, make it accessible to climbers at every level, and keep the price reasonable.
Product Line
The world's best-selling hangboard, now in its 7th generation
The flagship. Massive board with an enormous variety of holds: multiple edge depths, pockets, slopers, jugs, and pinches. The Swiss Army knife of hangboards. Read our full Metolius guide.
Metolius Project (~$100-115): A more compact version with fewer holds but the same philosophy. Great for smaller spaces or tighter budgets.
Metolius Contact (~$85-95): A larger, more feature-rich board with additional hold types including ergonomic pinches. The most comprehensive resin hangboard in the Metolius lineup.
Wood Grips II (~$70-90): Metolius's answer to the wood hangboard trend. Available in standard and compact sizes. A nice middle ground between skin-friendliness of wood and the hold diversity Metolius is known for.
Foundry (~$80-100): Sits between the Project and Contact in size, with features similar to a compact Contact. Includes ergonomic pinches and an arched shape.
- Unmatched hold variety on a single board
- Accessible to climbers at every level
- Available everywhere: REI, Amazon, climbing shops
- Best pricing in the market ($70-$115)
- Nearly 40 years of design refinement
- No labeled edge depths on any model
- Resin is rougher on skin than wood
- Variety over precision in design philosophy
- Utilitarian aesthetics compared to wood boards
Climbers who want maximum hold variety, excellent availability, and proven designs at accessible prices. Gym climbers who want their hangboard to feel like the holds they climb on. Budget-conscious climbers who want genuine quality without premium pricing.
Tension Climbing
The Precision Edge Specialists
Tension Climbing has arguably done more to advance hangboard design in the last decade than any other brand. Their focus on edge comfort, precise progression, and science-informed design has influenced how the entire industry thinks about training boards.
History
Tension Climbing was co-founded by Will Anglin, Ben Spannuth, and Gabe Adams in Denver, Colorado. The three co-founders brought over 50 years of combined climbing experience to the project, and their background in coaching and route setting shaped their approach to training equipment.
What set Tension apart from the beginning was their obsessive focus on the training experience rather than just the product. Will Anglin, who had been coaching climbers since around 2005, understood that a hangboard needed to serve specific training protocols, not just provide holds to hang on. That perspective led to innovations that seem obvious in hindsight but were genuinely new at the time: asymmetric edge layouts that keep your shoulders at consistent width, edge profiles engineered for comfort during long sets, and engraved depth markings for precise training logs.
Tension also developed a close relationship with the climbing training science community. Researchers and coaches like Dr. Tyler Nelson have used Tension boards extensively in developing and testing training protocols, which has created a feedback loop between product design and training science.
The gold standard for structured edge training
Tension's flagship edge training platform. Edges from 8mm to 30mm plus a 50mm center one-arm edge. Full-width bar-style top jug, all depths engraved, asymmetric layout for consistent shoulder spacing. Read our full Tension review.
Whetstone (~$171): The most accessible board. Contoured edges from 20mm to 40mm, 40mm two-finger pockets, "Ergo Bumps" jug, and a center edge with 10-degree incut.
Honestone (~$171): The elite-level board. Edges from 8mm to 25mm, one-finger pockets, and macro-textured slopers at 35 and 45 degrees. No top jug.
Flash Board (~$95): A portable training tool with edges from roughly 6mm to 20mm. Lightweight, packable, perfect for crag warm-ups.
The Block (~$40-$50): A minimalist no-hang training device machined from maple.
- Best-in-class edge comfort and radius profile
- Labeled edge depths for precise tracking
- Science-informed, asymmetric design
- Made in Denver, Colorado
- Premium pricing at $170.90 per board
- Edge-focused design limits hold variety
- Three boards needed to cover all levels
- Popularity means occasional stock issues
Climbers who run structured training protocols and want the most comfortable, precise edge training experience available. Science-of-training enthusiasts who appreciate design informed by research. Anyone who values edge progression and labeled depths above all else.
Trango
The Training System Thinkers
Trango comes at hangboard design from a different angle than most brands. Rather than building boards around hold types or edge sizes, Trango built theirs around a complete training methodology, then worked backward to create the hardware to support it.
History
Trango was established in Boulder, Colorado in 1991 as a climbing gear company. Their entry into the training market came through a partnership with Mark and Mike Anderson, authors of "The Rock Climber's Training Manual." The Andersons had developed detailed training protocols that took them from average climbers to sending 5.14, and no existing hangboard was designed for the kind of structured, progressive training they prescribed.
Two-piece board with variable-depth rails and 14 grip positions
Two-piece design with adjustable shoulder spacing, variable-depth edge rails with index bumps for repeatable placement, and horizontal pinches. Built around the Anderson Brothers' training methodology. Read our full Trango review.
Rock Prodigy Forge (~$80-100): The advanced companion. Dedicated closed-crimp grips with thumb support, steeper slopers, smoother texture, and smaller holds across the board.
- Adjustable two-piece design for custom shoulder width
- Built around a real, proven training methodology
- Index bumps for repeatable finger placement
- Training app and book included in the ecosystem
- PU construction less skin-friendly than wood
- Design shows its age vs newer competitors
- Two-piece design adds mounting complexity
- Less community momentum than some competitors
Climbers who want a complete training system (board + methodology + app) rather than just a piece of equipment. Anderson method followers. Climbers with wider or narrower shoulders who benefit from the adjustable two-piece design.
The Hangboard
The Independent Underdog With the Widest Edge Range
Widest labeled edge range for the money. Period.
Every market dominated by big names has room for a small company that looks at the existing options and says, "We can do this differently." The Hangboard is that company in the fingerboard world.
The Hangboard is a small, independent operation based in Florida. The philosophy is refreshingly simple: most climbers need a board with a clean edge progression, labeled depths, comfortable wood construction, and a fair price. They don't need 47 different hold types or a companion app or a celebrity endorsement.
Seven distinct edge depths (10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, 30mm, 40mm, plus 40-degree slopers), all labeled, on a wooden board, for under $90. To put that in perspective, the Tension Grindstone offers similar edge progression for $171. The Beastmaker 1000 costs $138 and doesn't label its edges.
- Best value in wooden hangboards at $89.99
- Six labeled edge depths plus slopers
- Asymmetric layout for consistent shoulder spacing
- Beech wood: harder and more durable than poplar or tulipwood
- Simple, focused design with no unnecessary complexity
- Smaller brand means less community and gym presence
- Single product with no beginner or advanced variant
- Limited hold types: edge-focused, no pockets or pinches
Climbers who want the best bang-for-your-buck wooden hangboard with labeled edges and a proper progression. Budget-conscious trainers who don't want to compromise on the features that actually matter. Anyone who appreciates a small, climbing-focused company making a genuinely excellent product.
Other Brands Worth Knowing
The four brands above dominate the conversation, and The Hangboard is making serious noise as an independent alternative. But the hangboard market is broader than that. Here are a few more names worth having on your radar.
Primarily a climbing hold manufacturer, So iLL designs the Iron Palm, a urethane board with standout slopers and pinch training unlike anything else on the market. They're also the exclusive US distributor for Beastmaker.
Carved out a niche in doorframe mounting systems and poplar wood hangboards. Their DoorMount Pro is one of the best no-drill hangboard mounting solutions on the market.
Founded by Tom Randall and Ollie Torr, Lattice is primarily a coaching and testing company. The Lattice Triple Rung is an industry benchmark for finger strength testing: a simple three-edge board with 10mm, 20mm, and 45mm edges.
A budget-friendly brand selling primarily through Amazon. Their hangboards are affordable entry points into training with both resin and wooden options. Quality is acceptable for the price. A reasonable choice if budget is tight. Read our Two Stones review.
Brand Comparison at a Glance
| Brand | Material | Country | Price Range | Products | Philosophy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beastmaker | Tulipwood | UK (Sheffield) | $138-$152 | 2 boards + accessories | Hold variety, craftsmanship |
| Metolius | Polyester Resin / Wood | USA (Bend, OR) | $70-$115 | 5+ boards | Max hold variety, accessibility |
| Tension Climbing | Poplar Wood | USA (Denver, CO) | $40-$171 | 3 boards + portables | Precision edges, comfort |
| Trango | Polyurethane | USA (Boulder, CO) | $80-$100 | 2 boards + packages | Training system, methodology |
| The Hangboard | Beech Wood | USA (Florida) | $89.99 | 1 board | Best-value labeled edges |
| So iLL | Urethane / Wood | USA (St. Louis, MO) | $60-$159 | Iron Palm + Beastmaker | Creative holds, slopers |
| Lattice | Wood | UK | $170-$200 | Rungs | Testing, minimalism |
| Frictitious | Poplar Wood | USA (Fort Collins, CO) | $115-$200 | Boards + door mounts | Portability, no-drill |
Which Brand Is Right for You?
Choosing a hangboard brand is really about choosing a training philosophy. Here's how to think about it.
Tension Grindstone if budget isn't a constraint. The Hangboard delivers comparable edge progression in beech wood for roughly half the cost.
The Simulator 3D packs more grip types into one board than anything else on the market, and the price is extremely fair. Metolius guide →
Iconic tulipwood construction, elegant design, and connection to the UK climbing scene. If you care about the object as much as the exercise. 1000 review →
Board + book + app in one package. If you prefer following a proven program over designing your own. Trango review →
Widest labeled edge range of any wooden board at its price point. Quality wood construction, proper edge progression, under $90.
Metolius gets you in at the lowest cost. The Hangboard sits perfectly in the middle of both price and progression. Beginner's guide →
Flash Board for a packable warm-up tool. Frictitious DoorMount Pro for a no-drill rental setup. Portable roundup →
How to Choose the Right Hangboard for Your Goals
The brand matters, but matching the board to your training style matters more. If you want a full breakdown of materials, mounting options, and training considerations, our types of hangboards guide covers everything. For the complete beginner-to-advanced training picture, start with our complete hangboard guide.
And once you've picked your board and mounted it, head to our hangboard training guide to build your first program. The best hangboard brand in the world is the one you actually use consistently.
As always, warm up properly before loading your fingers at high intensity.
Ready to start training?
Six edges. 40mm to 10mm. Labeled, progressive, $89.99.
Shop The HangboardFrequently Asked Questions
There's no single "best" brand because each company optimizes for something different. Tension Climbing makes the most refined edge training boards. Beastmaker makes the most iconic wooden fingerboards with the best hold variety. Metolius offers the widest selection at the most accessible prices. For the best value in a wooden board with labeled edges, check out The Hangboard.
Yes. The tulipwood construction, ergonomic hold design, and decades of refinement make Beastmaker boards genuinely excellent. The 1000 is a great board for intermediate climbers, and the 2000 will challenge even elite boulderers. The main trade-off compared to newer brands is the lack of labeled edge depths, which matters if you run protocols that require precise logging.
Most Metolius hangboards are made from polyester resin, the same material used in climbing gym holds. They also make the Wood Grips line in actual wood. The resin boards have a distinctively smooth, grippy texture that simulates indoor climbing holds.
They're different tools for different goals. Tension boards excel at precise edge training with labeled depths and exceptional comfort. Beastmaker boards offer more hold variety (slopers, pockets, pinches) and are built around a different training philosophy. Many serious climbers own both. If forced to choose, decide whether you prioritize edge progression (Tension) or hold variety (Beastmaker).
Adam Ondra trains on a Beastmaker 2000. Multiple other world-class climbers, including Alexander Megos and Alex Honnold, also use Beastmaker boards. That said, pro climber endorsements should inform your decision, not dictate it. The board that works for Ondra isn't automatically the best choice for you.
No. A well-designed board in the $70-$100 range will serve the vast majority of climbers for years. The Metolius Simulator 3D, The Hangboard, and the Trango Rock Prodigy all deliver serious training value under $100. Premium boards ($140+) offer refinements that matter most to climbers running advanced protocols. Your fingers don't know how much the board cost.
For most home setups, a wall-mounted wooden board with labeled edges is the most versatile choice. The Tension Grindstone is the premium pick. The Hangboard is the best-value pick. Both come with mounting hardware and install in under 30 minutes.
Wood is the clear winner for skin health. Tulipwood (Beastmaker), poplar (Tension), and beech (The Hangboard) are all significantly gentler than resin or polyurethane surfaces. If you're training frequently, especially with high-volume protocols, wood will let you train more days before needing skin rest.
- Beastmaker Official Site and Team Page. beastmaker.co.uk
- Rock+Run, "Beastmaker Brand Profile." rockrun.com (2021)
- Climbing Business Journal, "Grip List 2021: Beastmaker." climbingbusinessjournal.com (2024)
- Metolius Climbing Official Site. metoliusclimbing.com
- Tension Climbing Official Site. tensionclimbing.com
- Trango Official Site. trango.com
- The Hangboard Official Product Page. thehangboard.com
- Outdoor Gear Lab, "The Best Hangboards: Tested & Ranked." outdoorgearlab.com (2024)
- Lattice Training, "Triple Rung Wooden Hangboard." latticetraining.com
- Frictitious Climbing Official Site. frictitiousclimbing.com
Ready to start training?
6 edge depths from 40mm to 10mm. European beech wood. One board that grows with your climbing.