OpenMapTiles vs Tegola
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted maps & gis options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | OpenMapTiles | Tegola |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 69 · Good |
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | PLpgSQL | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,170 | ★ 1,505 |
| First released | 2016 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Mapbox | Mapbox, Tilehosting |
What are OpenMapTiles and Tegola?
OpenMapTiles
OpenMapTiles is an open-source toolset for self-hosting the entire pipeline of generating vector map tiles from OpenStreetMap data. It produces ready-to-use tiles and styles for serving custom maps.
- Full vector tile pipeline
- OSM data import
- Multiple map styles
- Self-hosted tile generation
Tegola
Tegola is an open-source vector tile server that generates Mapbox Vector Tiles from PostGIS and other spatial data sources. It serves fast, styleable maps to web and mobile clients.
- Mapbox Vector Tile output
- PostGIS data source
- Tile caching
- Single-binary deploy
OpenMapTiles vs Tegola: key differences
OpenMapTiles is written in PLpgSQL, while Tegola is built with Go. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for OpenMapTiles versus MIT for Tegola. Tegola is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 8,192 MB for OpenMapTiles. OpenMapTiles has the considerably larger community, at 3,170 GitHub stars versus 1,505.
Why pick each one
Choose OpenMapTiles if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in PLpgSQL
Choose Tegola if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenMapTiles or Tegola better?
Neither is universally better. OpenMapTiles has the larger community, while Tegola is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are OpenMapTiles and Tegola free and open-source?
Yes. OpenMapTiles is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Tegola under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenMapTiles and Tegola with Docker?
OpenMapTiles: yes. Tegola: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, OpenMapTiles or Tegola?
Tegola has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 8,192 MB for OpenMapTiles. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.