SHSelfHostIndex

OpenStreetMap Carto 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?
OP OpenStreetMap Carto The standard map style for OpenStreetMap rendering VS OP OpenStreetMap Website The Rails application powering openstreetmap.org
FeatureOpenStreetMap CartoOpenStreetMap Website
CategoryMaps & GISMaps & GIS
LicenseCC0-1.0GPL-2.0
LanguageCartoCSSRuby
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM4,096 MB4,096 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 1,723★ 2,796
First released20122006
ReplacesGoogle MapsGoogle Maps

Why pick each one

Choose OpenStreetMap Carto if…

  • Released under the CC0-1.0 license
  • Active community (1.7k GitHub stars)
  • Written in CartoCSS
OpenStreetMap Carto details

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
OpenStreetMap Website details

Frequently asked questions

Is OpenStreetMap Carto or OpenStreetMap Website better?

Neither is universally better. OpenStreetMap Website has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are OpenStreetMap Carto and OpenStreetMap Website free and open-source?

Yes. OpenStreetMap Carto is licensed under CC0-1.0 and OpenStreetMap Website under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run OpenStreetMap Carto and OpenStreetMap Website with Docker?

OpenStreetMap Carto: check the project docs for container support. OpenStreetMap Website: yes.

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