Tileserver PHP 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?
Tileserver PHP
Lightweight PHP server for map tiles and UTFGrids
VS
Martin
Blazing-fast vector tile server written in Rust
| Feature | Tileserver PHP | Martin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 594 | ★ 3,814 |
| First released | 2013 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Mapbox, Google Maps tiles | Mapbox |
Why pick each one
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
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 Tileserver PHP or Martin better?
Neither is universally better. Martin 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 Tileserver PHP and Martin free and open-source?
Yes. Tileserver PHP is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Martin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tileserver PHP and Martin with Docker?
Tileserver PHP: check the project docs for container support. Martin: yes.