SHSelfHostIndex

MapLibre GL JS vs Tileserver PHP

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?
MA MapLibre GL JS Open-source interactive vector map library for the web VS TI Tileserver PHP Lightweight PHP server for map tiles and UTFGrids
FeatureMapLibre GL JSTileserver PHP
CategoryMaps & GISMaps & GIS
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseBSD-2-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptPHP
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM256 MB256 MB
Deploymentsource, bare-metalbare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 11,304★ 594
First released20202013
ReplacesMapbox GL JS, Google Maps JavaScript APIMapbox, Google Maps tiles

Why pick each one

Choose MapLibre GL JS if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • Mature project with 11.3k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
MapLibre GL JS details

Choose Tileserver PHP if…

  • Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in PHP
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Tileserver PHP details

Frequently asked questions

Is MapLibre GL JS or Tileserver PHP better?

Neither is universally better. MapLibre GL JS has the larger community, while Tileserver PHP is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are MapLibre GL JS and Tileserver PHP free and open-source?

Yes. MapLibre GL JS is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Tileserver PHP under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run MapLibre GL JS and Tileserver PHP with Docker?

MapLibre GL JS: check the project docs for container support. Tileserver PHP: check the project docs for container support.

Related comparisons