Pelias 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?
Pelias
Modular open-source geocoder powered by Elasticsearch
VS
Protomaps
Serverless maps from a single PMTiles archive
| Feature | Pelias | Protomaps |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Twig | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes | binary, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,562 | ★ 2,980 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Geocoding API, Mapbox Geocoding | Mapbox, Google Maps |
Why pick each one
Choose Pelias if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Kubernetes-ready with Helm charts available
- Active community (3.6k GitHub stars)
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 Pelias or Protomaps better?
Neither is universally better. Pelias has the larger community, while Protomaps is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pelias and Protomaps free and open-source?
Yes. Pelias is licensed under MIT and Protomaps under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pelias and Protomaps with Docker?
Pelias: yes. Protomaps: check the project docs for container support.