WeedMaps is a veteran of the cannabis information industry that has gradually transformed into both an online and IRL cannabis behemoth. Acquiring software companies, opening museums, and consistently running a top-tier cannabis website for more than a decade, WeedMaps has done more than enough to earn our respect.
At Best Dosage, we commonly lean on WeedMaps as a source. Here’s why:
WeedMaps quick facts
- Founded in 2008
- Reliable source of information on dispensaries, strains, and cannabis news
- Operates a cannabis museum, wholesale exchange, and dispensary POS software
- Well-written, well-cited content
WeedMaps was the earliest in the cannabis info game
Some cannabis sites, like marijuana.com (which WeedMaps later acquired for $4.2 million), had already been on the web for some time. But when WeedMaps rolled into town in 2008, it became the first place on the internet where medical cannabis users could reliably find information on local dispensaries.
Over the next five years or so, WeedMaps remained true to its core functionality while incorporating rapid growth. These days, WeedMaps consists of a megalithic conglomeration of different functions and services, but it remains a great place to find out more about dispensaries in your local area.
It’s a major, well-funded website
As we select which sites should be our sources, funding makes a difference. Well-to-do websites can afford to hire informed writers who produce thoughtful content.
Content on mainstream, well-funded cannabis websites is more likely to be accurate and properly sourced. It’s often possible to use the content posted on WeedMaps to find scientific studies and other authoritative sources related to a certain topic.
Of course, WeedMaps’ position at the top of the totem pole also makes it a great place to research strains, dispensaries, brands, and even individual products. WeedMaps is always rolling out additional features, including a deal-finder that automatically finds discounts on cannabis products in your local area.
As WeedMaps continues to grow, its content will continue to grow even more robust along with it.
WeedMaps is involved in many partnerships and projects
From a perspective of authority and accuracy, WeedMaps is pristine as a cannabis information source. WeedMaps, however, also appears to have a community-oriented side that we’re pleased to see from an ethical perspective.
Starting with a well-publicized partnership with the long-time cannabis advocacy group NORML in 2011, WeedMaps started taking a more hands-on approach toward the national cannabis community.
Now technically owned by the holding company WeedMaps Holdings (WMH), the WeedMaps empire spans everything from a Museum of Weed in West Hollywood to a venture capital firm that funds promising cannabis startups.
As such a major player in the American cannabis industry, it’s hard not to take WeedMaps seriously.
WeedMaps offers many services
You can access the WeedMaps website on any device. WeedMaps also produces apps for iOS and Android centered around its core dispensary-finder and strain-lookup services.
In addition to its vast internet database of strains, dispensaries, products, conditions, studies, and an entire compendium of other cannabis-related information, WeedMaps also offers comprehensive SaaS services to cannabis businesses.
This customizable software can help retailers take payments, logistics companies optimize deliveries, wholesalers arrange stock in warehouses, and purchasing managers order products. WeedMaps has essentially become the software backbone of thousands of different cannabis companies around the country.
What’s more, WeedMaps has its own wholesale cannabis marketplace called WM Exchange. Currently available in California and Oklahoma, this service allows buyers and sellers within specific states to perform cannabis transactions online.
WeedMaps content is informative, on-point, and well-written
WeedMaps distinguishes itself from similar platforms with its content. While perhaps slightly less authoritative and not quite as well-sourced as Leafly’s, WeedMaps’ content spans a much wider range of data.
On WeedMaps, for instance, you can find brief dossiers of practically every terpene ever discovered in cannabis. Leafly, on the other hand, has much more in-depth terpene profiles but only for a handful of different terpenes.
The majority of the links in WeedMaps content link to other WeedMaps pages, but where appropriate, this site’s authors use proper citation. From reading the average content available on WeedMaps, it’s clear that the authors this site employs are quite well-informed and reasonably skilled at conveying credible information to large audiences.
It’s an undeniable staple of the cannabis web community
For people who were just getting involved with cannabis during the era when WeedMaps launched, this site will always be a reliable place to look up all the closest dispensaries. Many cannabis users have similar fond memories, ensuring a place for WeedMaps in cannabis culture for decades to come.
WeedMaps isn’t likely to become a nostalgic relic of the past, however. Out of all the main cannabis information platforms, WeedMaps is perhaps the most focused on growth and diversification.
This company’s dispensary SaaS solutions alone draw incredible revenue and help establish WeedMaps (or “WMH Holdings”) as a central player within the cannabis community. The fact that WeedMaps runs an actual museum of cannabis further shows that this site is intent on building a lasting legacy — or even an immortal empire.
WeedMaps overall score
As a source of cannabis information, we award WeedMaps a very favorable score of 4.94 out of 5.
Authority: 4.9/5
Clarity: 4.9/5
Sourcing: 4.9/5
Topics: 5/5
Community: 5/5
WeedMaps knows what it’s doing, and its heart is in the right place. Content quality can be a little less than constant, however, slightly diminishing average clarity and sometimes skipping relative sources.
In terms of the sheer wealth of available knowledge, WeedMaps appears to have its competitors beat. If there’s an obscure cannabis-related topic you want to know about and you’re interested in finding at least one or two credible sources, WeedMaps pulls through almost every time.
WeedMaps is more of a presence than a website. It will certainly be interesting to see what WeedMaps becomes as it gains more funding and draws an ever-increasing number of new services into its orbit.
Our bet is that WeedMaps will just become more authoritative than ever before.
