Headway vs TileServer GL
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted maps & gis options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Headway
Self-hostable maps stack you can run yourself
VS
TileServer GL
Serve vector and raster map tiles from MBTiles
| Feature | Headway | TileServer GL |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Rust | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,957 | ★ 2,872 |
| First released | 2022 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Maps | Mapbox |
Why pick each one
Choose Headway if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Choose TileServer GL if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Headway or TileServer GL better?
Neither is universally better. Headway has the larger community, while TileServer GL is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Headway and TileServer GL free and open-source?
Yes. Headway is licensed under Apache-2.0 and TileServer GL under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Headway and TileServer GL with Docker?
Headway: yes. TileServer GL: yes.