OpenTripPlanner vs Protomaps
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
Protomaps
Serverless maps from a single PMTiles archive
| Feature | OpenTripPlanner | Protomaps |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | LGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Java | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 8,192 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | binary, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,709 | ★ 2,980 |
| First released | 2009 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Maps Transit | Mapbox, Google Maps |
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 Protomaps if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenTripPlanner or Protomaps better?
Protomaps 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 Protomaps free and open-source?
Yes. OpenTripPlanner is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Protomaps under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run OpenTripPlanner and Protomaps with Docker?
OpenTripPlanner: yes. Protomaps: check the project docs for container support.