Best map making program?

[Redhood101]

I’m a new dm and I’m making my own world. I want to make a world map to give to my players. I was wondering if there are any good map making programs. I’d prefer something free but you get what you pay for.

[Sparky McDibben]

Inkarnate has free and paid versions. Very nice.

[Copper_Dragon]

I used GIMP and followed this step-by-step process (https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=1142). The learning curve feels a little steep, but I like the results.

[Sigreid]

I've had pretty good results with Campaign Cartographer 3.

[Tiadoppler]

I started out using GIMP to make my DM maps (for four or five years). It's powerful and wonderful, but it also has a steep learning curve in general, and can be very, very time consuming. My life doesn't usually allow me to spend hours making huge, complex maps (unfortunately).

These days, I use Wonderdraft. It's not nearly as powerful (or free) as GIMP, but it's really easy to make good-looking maps (in several different visual styles). I'm hoping they release a download with more mountain and basic city variants: if you have lots (dozens) of cities or mountains, it can be hard to make them all look unique (which frustrates me, but my players probably don't notice).

The best thing about Wonderdraft is that you can spend just a few minutes and get a very decent looking, stylized small-area map. Regional maps take a bit more work, of course.