Mapnik vs Martin
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
Martin
Blazing-fast vector tile server written in Rust
| Feature | Mapnik | Martin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,949 | ★ 3,814 |
| First released | 2006 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Google Maps, Mapbox | Mapbox |
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 Martin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Mapnik or Martin better?
Neither is universally better. Mapnik has the larger community, while Martin is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Mapnik and Martin free and open-source?
Yes. Mapnik is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Martin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mapnik and Martin with Docker?
Mapnik: yes. Martin: yes.