Self-hosted alternatives to Google Maps Platform
API billing starts the moment you exceed the credit, and geocoding costs add up silently.
Below are 10 open-source projects that cover the same ground, each scored 0–100 on how actively it is actually maintained — commit volume, release cadence and recent trend. 7 of the 10 are currently rated healthy or better. Ordering reflects that score, not sponsorship.
| Project | Health | Activity (11 mo) | Stars | Licence | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawarich Visualize your location history, track your movements, and analyze your travel patterns with complete privacy | Thriving · 93 | 11k | AGPL-3.0 | 22 Sept 2026 | |
| Shelf Asset and equipment tracking software used by teams who value clarity. Shelf is an asset database and QR asset | Thriving · 90 | 3k | AGPL-3.0 | 23 Sept 2026 | |
| OpenTripPlanner Multimodal trip planning software based on OpenStreetMap data and consuming published GTFS-formatted data to s | Thriving · 83 | 2.7k | LGPL-3.0 | 9 Sept 2026 | |
| OpenRouteService Route service with directions, isochrones, time-distance matrix, route optimization, etc. | Healthy · 75 | 2k | GPL-3.0 | 24 Sept 2026 | |
| Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM) High performance routing engine designed to run on OpenStreetMap data and offering an HTTP API, C++ library in | Healthy · 69 | 8.1k | BSD-2-Clause | 1 Sept 2026 | |
| AdventureLog Travel tracker and trip planner. | Healthy · 69 | 3.8k | GPL-3.0 | 12 Aug 2026 | |
| TRIP Minimalist POI Map tracker and Trip planner. | Healthy · 68 | 1.9k | MIT | 27 Sept 2026 | |
| TileServer GL Vector and raster maps with GL styles. Server side rendering by Mapbox GL Native. Map tile server for Mapbox G | Steady · 66 | 2.9k | BSD-2-Clause | 31 Aug 2026 | |
| OpenStreetMap Collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. | Steady · 66 | 2.8k | GPL-2.0 | — | |
| Nominatim Server application for geocoding (address -> coordinates) and reverse geocoding (coordinates -> address) on Op | Steady · 62 | 4.5k | GPL-2.0 | 19 Apr 2026 |
How these were picked
Every project listed here is open source and can run entirely on hardware you control. We start from the categories that match Google Maps Platform's job — Maps and Global Positioning System (GPS) — then rank by health score so that a popular-but-abandoned project never appears above a smaller one that is actively shipping. The scoring method is documented in full.
The scores are recomputed from repository data on every rebuild, so this page reflects the state of these projects as of 1 Oct 2026 — not the day it was written.
Dawarich
Visualize your location history, track your movements, and analyze your travel patterns with complete privacy and control (alternative to Google Timeline a.k.a. Google Location History).
Best fit: This is a strong fit for privacy-conscious users who want to collect and analyse their location history on their own infrastructure rather than relying on commercial cloud tracking.
Worth knowing: You will need to maintain a reliable method for continuously feeding location data from your mobile devices into the instance, which can impact battery life and require careful client-side configuration.
Shelf
Asset and equipment tracking software used by teams who value clarity. Shelf is an asset database and QR asset label generator that lets you create, manage and overview your assets across locations. Unlimited assets, free forever.
Best fit: Teams managing physical inventory or equipment pools who want an internal directory without per-user SaaS subscription costs.
Worth knowing: Because asset tracking depends heavily on reliable physical tagging and consistent user scanning habits, adoption friction within your team is a primary risk.
OpenTripPlanner
Multimodal trip planning software based on OpenStreetMap data and consuming published GTFS-formatted data to suggest routes using local public transit systems.
Best fit: It suits transport authorities, researchers, or developers who need to run a self-hosted journey planner using standard open geographic and transit data.
Worth knowing: Ingesting and indexing large regional transit datasets and street networks can require substantial memory and processing resources.
OpenRouteService
Route service with directions, isochrones, time-distance matrix, route optimization, etc.
Best fit: It suits developers and system administrators who require a dedicated, locally hosted mapping and routing backend without relying on third-party commercial APIs.
Worth knowing: The codebase requires substantial system memory and compute resources to process large geographic datasets and routing graphs efficiently. It also demands careful handling of spatial data imports during initial setup.
Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM)
High performance routing engine designed to run on OpenStreetMap data and offering an HTTP API, C++ library interface, and Nodejs wrapper.
Best fit: Self-hosters who need to build custom mapping applications or require local, high-speed routing services using OpenStreetMap data without relying on third-party APIs.
Worth knowing: Setting up and preprocessing large geographical datasets can be computationally demanding and requires careful hardware planning. It also has a specific dependency on OpenStreetMap data formats.
Full health breakdown for Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM) →