Mapnik 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?
Mapnik
Toolkit for rendering raster map tiles from spatial data
VS
Tileserver PHP
Lightweight PHP server for map tiles and UTFGrids
| Feature | Mapnik | Tileserver PHP |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | C++ | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,949 | ★ 594 |
| First released | 2006 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Google Maps, Mapbox | Mapbox, Google Maps tiles |
Why pick each one
Choose Mapnik if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
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
Frequently asked questions
Is Mapnik or Tileserver PHP better?
Neither is universally better. Mapnik 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 Mapnik and Tileserver PHP free and open-source?
Yes. Mapnik is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Tileserver PHP under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mapnik and Tileserver PHP with Docker?
Mapnik: yes. Tileserver PHP: check the project docs for container support.