Nominatim vs Protomaps
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
Protomaps
Serverless maps from a single PMTiles archive
| Feature | Nominatim | Protomaps |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 16,384 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,406 | ★ 2,980 |
| First released | 2008 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Geocoding API | Mapbox, Google Maps |
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 Protomaps if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Nominatim or Protomaps better?
Neither is universally better. Nominatim has the larger community, while Protomaps is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Nominatim and Protomaps free and open-source?
Yes. Nominatim is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Protomaps under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nominatim and Protomaps with Docker?
Nominatim: yes. Protomaps: check the project docs for container support.