OpenFreeMap

What is OpenFreeMap?

OpenFreeMap lets you display custom maps on your website and apps for free. You can either self-host or use our public instance. Everything is open-source, including the full production setup — there’s no ‘open-core’ model here. Check out our GitHub. The map data comes from OpenStreetMap. Using our public instance is completely free: there are no limits on the number of map views or requests.

Why did you build this project?

OpenStreetMap is one of the most important collective projects in history. It began 20 years ago, and today, 3 million edits are made each day! For a long time, when you wanted to use the map on your website or app, you had to look for a commercial map tile provider and hope your site didn’t become too popular. Otherwise, you might end up with a $10,000 bill in a single day, as Hoodmaps did.

How can you offer a free public instance?

There is no technical reason why map hosting costs as much as it does today. Vector tiles are just static files. It’s true that serving hundreds of millions of files is not easy, but at the end of the day, they are just files. Financially, the plan is to keep renting servers until they cover the bandwidth. I believe it can be self-sustainable if enough people subscribe to the support plans.

How can I sponsor the project?

If this project helps you save on your map hosting costs, please consider sponsoring me on GitHub Sponsors. If possible, please choose a monthly donation, even if it’s a smaller amount. The nature of this project needs recurring donations to cover the server costs. Sponsor me

Can my app download areas for offline use?

Yes, as long as each download is at most 3,000 tiles or 50 MB, uses at most 4 parallel requests, and sends a unique User-Agent identifying your app. For anything larger, please contact us.