Tileserver PHP vs Protomaps
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted maps & gis options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Tileserver PHP | Protomaps |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 84 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | binary, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 593 | ★ 3,056 |
| First released | 2013 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Mapbox, Google Maps tiles | Mapbox, Google Maps |
What are Tileserver PHP and Protomaps?
Tileserver PHP
Tileserver PHP is a lightweight server that hosts raster and vector map tiles, MBTiles, and UTFGrids over standard protocols. It is simple to deploy on common PHP hosting for serving custom maps.
- Serves MBTiles and UTFGrids
- TMS and WMTS protocols
- Runs on shared PHP hosting
- Raster and vector tiles
Protomaps
Protomaps is an open-source project for displaying maps from a single static file in the PMTiles format. It enables serverless map hosting on object storage or a CDN with no tile server required.
- Single-file map archives
- Serverless hosting
- Works on object storage
- Cheap to operate
Tileserver PHP vs Protomaps: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Tileserver PHP's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Protomaps is actively maintained. Tileserver PHP is written in PHP, while Protomaps is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Tileserver PHP versus BSD-3-Clause for Protomaps. Tileserver PHP is the more established project (first released 2013), while Protomaps arrived in 2021. Protomaps has the considerably larger community, at 3,056 GitHub stars versus 593.
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 Protomaps if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Tileserver PHP or Protomaps better?
Neither is universally better. Protomaps 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 Protomaps free and open-source?
Yes. Tileserver PHP is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Protomaps under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Tileserver PHP and Protomaps with Docker?
Tileserver PHP: check the project docs for container support. Protomaps: check the project docs for container support.