Mapnik vs Tegola
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted maps & gis options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Mapnik | Tegola |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 89 · Excellent | 69 · Good |
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | LGPL-2.1 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,961 | ★ 1,505 |
| First released | 2006 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Google Maps, Mapbox | Mapbox, Tilehosting |
What are Mapnik and Tegola?
Mapnik
Mapnik is an open-source toolkit for rendering raster map tiles from OpenStreetMap and other geospatial data using a flexible styling engine. It powers custom slippy maps without relying on commercial tile providers.
- Raster tile rendering
- Flexible styling
- OpenStreetMap data support
- No vendor lock-in
Tegola
Tegola is an open-source vector tile server that generates Mapbox Vector Tiles from PostGIS and other spatial data sources. It serves fast, styleable maps to web and mobile clients.
- Mapbox Vector Tile output
- PostGIS data source
- Tile caching
- Single-binary deploy
Mapnik vs Tegola: key differences
Mapnik is written in C++, while Tegola is built with Go. Licensing differs — LGPL-2.1 for Mapnik versus MIT for Tegola. Tegola is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Mapnik. Mapnik is the more established project (first released 2006), while Tegola arrived in 2016. Mapnik has the considerably larger community, at 3,961 GitHub stars versus 1,505.
Why pick each one
Choose Mapnik if…
- Released under the LGPL-2.1 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4k GitHub stars)
- Written in C++
Choose Tegola if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Mapnik or Tegola better?
Neither is universally better. Mapnik has the larger community, while Tegola is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Mapnik and Tegola free and open-source?
Yes. Mapnik is licensed under LGPL-2.1 and Tegola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mapnik and Tegola with Docker?
Mapnik: yes. Tegola: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Mapnik or Tegola?
Tegola has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Mapnik. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.