Martin vs deck.gl
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?
Martin
Blazing-fast vector tile server written in Rust
VS
deck.gl
WebGL-powered framework for large-scale data visualization on maps
| Feature | Martin | deck.gl |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,814 | ★ 14,360 |
| First released | 2018 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Mapbox | Mapbox visualization, ArcGIS |
Why pick each one
Choose Martin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Choose deck.gl if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Mature project with 14.4k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Martin or deck.gl better?
Neither is universally better. deck.gl has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Martin and deck.gl free and open-source?
Yes. Martin is licensed under MIT and deck.gl under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Martin and deck.gl with Docker?
Martin: yes. deck.gl: check the project docs for container support.