openrouteservice 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?
openrouteservice
Routing, isochrones, and matrix API on OpenStreetMap
VS
Valhalla
Open-source routing engine with multimodal support
| Feature | openrouteservice | Valhalla |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 8,192 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,945 | ★ 6,050 |
| First released | 2017 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Google Directions API | Google Directions API |
Why pick each one
Choose openrouteservice if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.9k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
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 openrouteservice or Valhalla better?
Neither is universally better. Valhalla has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are openrouteservice and Valhalla free and open-source?
Yes. openrouteservice is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Valhalla under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run openrouteservice and Valhalla with Docker?
openrouteservice: yes. Valhalla: yes.