Leaflet
Maps & GISLightweight JavaScript library for interactive maps
Replaces Google Maps JavaScript API
Best Lightweight Maps & GIS for self-hosting
The 14 best Lightweight maps & gis you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
deck.gl
Maps & GISWebGL-powered framework for large-scale data visualization on maps
Replaces Mapbox visualization, ArcGIS
kepler.gl
Maps & GISOpen-source geospatial data visualization tool
Replaces Tableau, ArcGIS
OSRM
Maps & GISHigh-performance routing engine for OpenStreetMap
Replaces Google Directions API
React Leaflet Maps
Maps & GISReact components for embedding Leaflet maps
Replaces Google Maps React, Mapbox React
Martin
Maps & GISBlazing-fast vector tile server written in Rust
Replaces Mapbox
Protomaps
Maps & GISServerless maps from a single PMTiles archive
Replaces Mapbox, Google Maps
TileServer GL
Maps & GISServe vector and raster map tiles from MBTiles
Replaces Mapbox
Tangram
Maps & GISFlexible WebGL map rendering engine
Replaces Mapbox GL JS, Google Maps
Hauk
Maps & GISSelf-hosted real-time location sharing service
Replaces Google Maps location sharing
Overpass API
Maps & GISRead-only query API for OpenStreetMap data
Replaces Google Places API
MapProxy
Maps & GISTile cache and proxy for geospatial web services
Replaces ArcGIS Server
MapTiler SDK
Maps & GISOpen-source JavaScript library for interactive maps
Replaces Google Maps Platform, Mapbox GL JS
GeoMoose
Maps & GISWeb mapping framework for spatial applications
Replaces ArcGIS Online
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaflet | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 128 MB | BSD-2-Clause | 45,742 |
| deck.gl | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 14,658 |
| kepler.gl | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 512 MB | MIT | 12,046 |
| OSRM | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 8,192 MB | BSD-2-Clause | 8,140 |
| React Leaflet Maps | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 64 MB | Hippocratic-2.1 | 5,604 |
| Martin | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | MIT | 3,993 |
| Protomaps | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | BSD-3-Clause | 3,082 |
| TileServer GL | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | BSD-2-Clause | 2,910 |
| Tangram | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | MIT | 2,338 |
| Hauk | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 256 MB | Apache-2.0 | 938 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: Leaflet (45,742 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: React Leaflet Maps (from 64 MB RAM, against 8,192 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 5 of 14 use MIT; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the maps & gis category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.