OpenLayers vs QGIS
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?
OpenLayers
High-performance library for all kinds of web maps
VS
QGIS
Free and open-source geographic information system
| Feature | OpenLayers | QGIS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | source, bare-metal | binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,532 | ★ 14,183 |
| First released | 2006 | 2002 |
| Replaces | Google Maps JavaScript API | ArcGIS |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenLayers if…
- Released under the BSD-2-Clause license
- Mature project with 12.5k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Choose QGIS if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- Mature project with 14.2k GitHub stars
- Written in C++
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenLayers or QGIS better?
Neither is universally better. QGIS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are OpenLayers and QGIS free and open-source?
Yes. OpenLayers is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and QGIS under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenLayers and QGIS with Docker?
OpenLayers: check the project docs for container support. QGIS: check the project docs for container support.