deck.gl vs OpenStreetMap Website
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?
deck.gl
WebGL-powered framework for large-scale data visualization on maps
VS
OpenStreetMap Website
The Rails application powering openstreetmap.org
| Feature | deck.gl | OpenStreetMap Website |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,360 | ★ 2,796 |
| First released | 2016 | 2006 |
| Replaces | Mapbox visualization, ArcGIS | Google Maps |
Why pick each one
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
Choose OpenStreetMap Website if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Ruby
Frequently asked questions
Is deck.gl or OpenStreetMap Website better?
deck.gl is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenStreetMap Website if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are deck.gl and OpenStreetMap Website free and open-source?
Yes. deck.gl is licensed under MIT and OpenStreetMap Website under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run deck.gl and OpenStreetMap Website with Docker?
deck.gl: check the project docs for container support. OpenStreetMap Website: yes.