Protomaps vs wanderer
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?
Protomaps
Serverless maps from a single PMTiles archive
VS
wanderer
Trail database where you can upload your recorded tracks or create new
| Feature | Protomaps | wanderer |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Maps & GIS | Maps & GIS |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | binary, bare-metal, source | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,980 | ★ 3,802 |
| First released | 2021 | 2026 |
| Replaces | Mapbox, Google Maps | — |
Why pick each one
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
Choose wanderer if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Protomaps or wanderer better?
Neither is universally better. wanderer has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Protomaps and wanderer free and open-source?
Yes. Protomaps is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and wanderer under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Protomaps and wanderer with Docker?
Protomaps: check the project docs for container support. wanderer: yes.