At a glance
The short version, row by row. The Waymorphic column is the same on every comparison.
| Waymorphic Map | Google Maps Platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Waymorphic MapFree. No plan, no quota set in advance, no invoice. | Google MapsPay as you go with a free amount per SKU each month: 10,000 free Dynamic Maps loads, then a price per 1,000. The flat $200 monthly credit ended in March 2025. |
| API key | Waymorphic MapNone. A style URL is the whole setup. | Google MapsAn API key on a Google Cloud project with billing enabled, restricted to your domains. |
| Usage limits | Waymorphic MapFair use: normal maps in browsers and apps. Bulk downloads and scraping are blocked. | Google MapsMetered per SKU: map loads, geocodes, routes and so on each count separately. |
| Commercial use | Waymorphic MapYes. Personal, commercial, public sector, hobby. | Google MapsYes. |
| Map data | Waymorphic MapOpenStreetMap, in the OpenMapTiles schema, refreshed from new planet builds. | Google MapsGoogle's own map data, satellite imagery, Street View and business listings. |
| Styles | Waymorphic MapFive: Positron, Bright, Liberty, Dark and Fiord. Any MapLibre style written for the OpenMapTiles schema also works. | Google MapsCloud-based styling in the console, with a fixed set of features to recolour. |
| Coverage | Waymorphic MapThe whole planet, zoom 0 to 14 (the tiles overzoom cleanly to street level). | Google MapsThe whole planet to street level, satellite and Street View in most countries. |
| Works with | Waymorphic MapMapLibre GL JS, MapLibre Native, Leaflet with a plugin, QGIS, anything that reads a MapLibre style or TileJSON. | Google MapsThe Maps JavaScript API and Google's own mobile SDKs. Not MapLibre, Leaflet or QGIS, apart from the separate Map Tiles API. |
| Self-hosting | Waymorphic MapNot this service itself: it is not open source. But it is built from open-source parts and follows open formats, so you can run a compatible server of your own that answers the same URLs. | Google MapsNo. |
| Beyond the basemap | Waymorphic MapTiles, styles, fonts, sprites and shaded relief, plus search, address lookup and place lookups, all free and keyless. No routing; the examples show free public services for that. | Google MapsPlaces, geocoding, directions with live traffic, Street View, satellite, elevation and more. |
| Support | Waymorphic MapBest effort. It is fast and stable, but there is no contract or uptime guarantee. | Google MapsSupport and SLAs through Google Cloud. |
Where Google Maps Platform is the better choice
The honest list. If one of these is what you need, this is not the page that talks you out of it.
- Places and business data
Opening hours, reviews, photos and the search that finds "the pharmacy near me" are Google's. Nothing free matches that catalogue.
- Street View and satellite
Street-level photography and up-to-date aerial imagery are a big part of why people choose Google.
- Routing with live traffic
Directions that know about today's traffic and transit timetables. OpenStreetMap routers give good routes but no live traffic.
- The look people expect
For a consumer audience the Google look is a comfort. If that matters to your product, that is the reason to pay for it.
Where Waymorphic Map fits
What you gain by pointing the map here instead.
- A basemap under your own data
If the map is a backdrop for your markers, shapes, heatmaps and charts, a free vector basemap does the job and does it fast.
- No billing account
No Google Cloud project, no card on file, no key restrictions to manage, no surprise invoice when a page gets popular.
- An open renderer and open data
MapLibre GL JS is open source and the data is OpenStreetMap, so the map can be restyled layer by layer and used in a native app the same way.
- Nothing from Google on the page
No Google script and no Google cookies on your site. For a privacy policy that is a shorter paragraph.
How to switch
The two APIs are different, so this is a rewrite of the map code rather than a swap. The ideas are the same: a map in a container, a centre and a zoom, markers with popups, and events. Note that MapLibre takes coordinates as [longitude, latitude].
<script async src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=YOUR_KEY&callback=init"></script>
<script>
function init() {
const map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map'), {
center: { lat: 51.5074, lng: -0.1276 },
zoom: 11,
});
new google.maps.Marker({ position: { lat: 51.5074, lng: -0.1276 }, map });
}
</script><script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/maplibre-gl.js"></script>
<script>
const map = new maplibregl.Map({
container: 'map',
style: 'https://tiles.waymorphic.com/styles/bright',
center: [-0.1276, 51.5074], // [longitude, latitude]
zoom: 11,
});
new maplibregl.Marker().setLngLat([-0.1276, 51.5074]).addTo(map);
</script>- Directions need a service of their own. Search and address lookup are built in: the examples show search and addresses from Waymorphic Map's own service, and routes with OSRM, all free and keyless.
- For a plain embedded map with no code, the embed builder writes an iframe tag, the way the Google embed does.
- The examples page covers markers, popups, clusters, heatmaps, drawing and the rest.
Questions and answers
Can I replace Google Maps with Waymorphic Map completely?
For the basemap, yes. For Places, Street View and live traffic, no; there is no free equivalent of those, and Waymorphic Map does not try to be one.
Is the map data as good?
OpenStreetMap is very detailed in most of the world and is the same data many commercial services build on. Business listings and opening hours are where Google is far ahead.
What about a mobile app?
MapLibre Native draws the same styles on iOS and Android, from the same URLs, free.