deck.gl vs Valhalla
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
Valhalla
Open-source routing engine with multimodal support
| Feature | deck.gl | Valhalla |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 8,192 MB |
| Deployment | source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 14,360 | ★ 6,050 |
| First released | 2016 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Mapbox visualization, ArcGIS | Google Directions API |
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 Valhalla if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is deck.gl or Valhalla better?
deck.gl is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Valhalla if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are deck.gl and Valhalla free and open-source?
Yes. deck.gl is licensed under MIT and Valhalla under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run deck.gl and Valhalla with Docker?
deck.gl: check the project docs for container support. Valhalla: yes.