Photon 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?
Photon
Fast, typo-tolerant geocoder built on OpenStreetMap
VS
Valhalla
Open-source routing engine with multimodal support
| Feature | Photon | Valhalla |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 8,192 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,972 | ★ 6,050 |
| First released | 2013 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Google Geocoding API | Google Directions API |
Why pick each one
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
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 Photon or Valhalla better?
Neither is universally better. Valhalla has the larger community, while Photon is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Photon and Valhalla free and open-source?
Yes. Photon is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Valhalla under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Photon and Valhalla with Docker?
Photon: yes. Valhalla: yes.