Maptoolkit.org vs. VersaTiles
Both services do the same job on paper: free, no-key vector basemaps for MapLibre, built on OpenStreetMap. In practice they solve different problems. VersaTiles is a lean, self-hostable tile stack built around its own Shortbread schema and a single Rust binary, and operated by an individual. That makes it a fit if you want full control over your tile stack or basic maps with small file sizes.
Maptoolkit.org is a free, production-grade tile server with opinionated cartography. The same tiles power commercial deployments at Deutsche Bahn, Red Bull Media House and the Austrian and German National Tourism Offices - including outdoor-specific styles (Hiking, Cycling, Winter), global hillshading, contour lines, water depths and 3D terrain out of the box. There's no self-hosting on the Community License, but you get edge-cached delivery across 350+ Cloudflare data centers and weekly OSM updates taken care for you.
See the cartography side by side
The differences that matter.
All of these solutions are highly innovative, each tailoring to different strengths. Choose the one that best fits your project requirements.
| Dimension | Maptoolkit.org | VersaTiles | Protomaps | OpenFreeMap | OpenMapTiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Available as | Free tile server | Free tile server, data download | Limited tile server, data download | Free tile server, data download | Do-it-yourself toolchain |
| Cost | Free | Free | Free tile server for non-commercial use, free downloads | Free | Free |
| Monthly request limits | unlimited | unlimited | 1M tile requests/month | unlimited | |
| Attribution | © Maptoolkit © OSM + logo | © OpenStreetMap contributors | © Protomaps © OpenStreetMap | OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles – Data from OpenStreetMap | © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors |
| API key / sign-up | None | None | API key | None | |
| Commercial use | (< €1M/year) | (downloads only) | |||
| OSM updates | Weekly | Several times per year | Daily | Weekly | |
| Max data zoom | 15 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| Tile schema | Maptoolkit | Shortbread | Protomaps | OpenMapTiles | OpenMapTiles |
| Standard styles | Summer, Light, Hiking, Winter, Dark, Street, Cycling (7) | Colorful, Eclipse, Graybeard, Shadow, Neutrino (5) | Light, Dark, White, Grayscale, Black (5) | Liberty, Positron, Bright, Dark, Fiord (5) | OpenMapTiles, Basic, Bright, Positron, Dark Matter, Fiord Color, Toner (7) |
| Style editor | MapMaker | tiles.versatiles.org | |||
| Hillshading / contour lines | Just hillshade, download only | ||||
| Swiss-style rock drawing in the Alps | |||||
| Water depths | Download only | ||||
| 3D terrain | Download only | ||||
| Labels for regions, mountain ranges, valleys, etc. | |||||
| Provider | Maptoolkit.com, Austria & Germany | Michael Kreil (individual), Germany | Brandon Liu (individual), USA | Zsolt Ero (individual), Hungary | Maptiler.com, Switzerland |
| Privacy | Privacy Policy | Privacy info | Privacy Policy |
Compare cartographic density and file sizes
Colors are random. Feature density: Click on any feature to inspect its data. File size: Red squares show tile boundaries. The kB value in the top left corner (to the right of the tile number) shows its file size before compression.
Pick the one that fits your project.
Both are excellent within their remit. Here's the short version.
Pick VersaTiles if…
- You need to self-host via a single Rust binary.
- Your project is large-commercial and you need a free, public-domain licensed solution.
- You like the cartography better.
Pick Maptoolkit if…
- You want outdoor-grade cartography (hiking, cycling, winter, hillshading, contour lines, water depths, 3D terrain).
- You need air-tight privacy and GDPR compliance.
- You like the cartography better.