Tileserver PHP vs Tegola
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
Tegola
Vector tile server for geospatial data
| Feature | Tileserver PHP | Tegola |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 594 | ★ 1,498 |
| First released | 2013 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Mapbox, Google Maps tiles | Mapbox, Tilehosting |
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 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 Tileserver PHP or Tegola better?
Neither is universally better. Tegola 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 Tegola free and open-source?
Yes. Tileserver PHP is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Tegola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tileserver PHP and Tegola with Docker?
Tileserver PHP: check the project docs for container support. Tegola: yes.