SHSelfHostIndex

MapLibre GL JS vs OpenMapTiles

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 OP OpenMapTiles Toolset for generating vector tiles from OpenStreetMap
FeatureMapLibre GL JSOpenMapTiles
CategoryMaps & GISMaps & GIS
LicenseBSD-3-ClauseBSD-3-Clause
LanguageTypeScriptPLpgSQL
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM256 MB8,192 MB
Deploymentsource, bare-metaldocker
GitHub stars★ 11,304★ 3,133
First released20202016
ReplacesMapbox GL JS, Google Maps JavaScript APIMapbox

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 OpenMapTiles if…

  • Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
  • Written in PLpgSQL
OpenMapTiles details

Frequently asked questions

Is MapLibre GL JS or OpenMapTiles better?

MapLibre GL JS is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenMapTiles if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are MapLibre GL JS and OpenMapTiles free and open-source?

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

Can I run MapLibre GL JS and OpenMapTiles with Docker?

MapLibre GL JS: check the project docs for container support. OpenMapTiles: yes.

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