Nominatim vs Photon
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?
Nominatim
Geocoding and reverse geocoding for OpenStreetMap data
VS
Photon
Fast, typo-tolerant geocoder built on OpenStreetMap
| Feature | Nominatim | Photon |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 16,384 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,406 | ★ 2,972 |
| First released | 2008 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Google Geocoding API | Google Geocoding API |
Why pick each one
Choose Nominatim if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Python
Choose Photon if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
Frequently asked questions
Is Nominatim or Photon better?
Neither is universally better. Nominatim has the larger community, while Photon is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Nominatim and Photon free and open-source?
Yes. Nominatim is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Photon under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nominatim and Photon with Docker?
Nominatim: yes. Photon: yes.