OpenTripPlanner vs Photon
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?
OpenTripPlanner
Multimodal trip planning and transit routing engine
VS
Photon
Fast, typo-tolerant geocoder built on OpenStreetMap
| Feature | OpenTripPlanner | Photon |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,709 | ★ 2,972 |
| First released | 2009 | 2013 |
| Replaces | Google Maps Transit | Google Geocoding API |
Why pick each one
Choose OpenTripPlanner if…
- Released under the LGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.7k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
Choose Photon if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenTripPlanner or Photon better?
Photon is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider OpenTripPlanner if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are OpenTripPlanner and Photon free and open-source?
Yes. OpenTripPlanner is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Photon under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenTripPlanner and Photon with Docker?
OpenTripPlanner: yes. Photon: yes.