At a glance
The short version, row by row. The Waymorphic column is the same on every comparison.
| Waymorphic Map | Mapbox | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Waymorphic MapFree. No plan, no quota set in advance, no invoice. | MapboxPay as you go after a free tier: 50,000 web map loads a month free, then a price per 1,000 loads that falls at higher volumes. |
| API key | Waymorphic MapNone. A style URL is the whole setup. | MapboxAn access token in every page and app, restricted to your domains. |
| Usage limits | Waymorphic MapFair use: normal maps in browsers and apps. Bulk downloads and scraping are blocked. | MapboxMetered by map load on the web and by monthly active user in the mobile SDKs. |
| Commercial use | Waymorphic MapYes. Personal, commercial, public sector, hobby. | MapboxYes. |
| Map data | Waymorphic MapOpenStreetMap, in the OpenMapTiles schema, refreshed from new planet builds. | MapboxMapbox Streets, built from OpenStreetMap and other sources, plus Mapbox satellite imagery and terrain. |
| Styles | Waymorphic MapFive: Positron, Bright, Liberty, Dark and Fiord. Any MapLibre style written for the OpenMapTiles schema also works. | MapboxMany ready-made styles and Mapbox Studio to design your own. |
| Coverage | Waymorphic MapThe whole planet, zoom 0 to 14 (the tiles overzoom cleanly to street level). | MapboxThe whole planet to street level, with satellite imagery to zoom 22 in many places. |
| Works with | Waymorphic MapMapLibre GL JS, MapLibre Native, Leaflet with a plugin, QGIS, anything that reads a MapLibre style or TileJSON. | MapboxMapbox GL JS and the Mapbox mobile SDKs, both under a proprietary licence since version 2. |
| 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. | MapboxNo. |
| 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. | MapboxGeocoding, directions, a navigation SDK, static images, satellite, traffic and a data pipeline for your own tilesets. |
| Support | Waymorphic MapBest effort. It is fast and stable, but there is no contract or uptime guarantee. | MapboxSupport and service-level agreements on the paid and enterprise plans. |
Where Mapbox 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.
- Satellite imagery and 3D terrain
Mapbox has its own satellite layer and a global terrain source. Waymorphic Map has neither; the examples use NASA and Mapterhorn instead, which are free but not the same product.
- Navigation
Turn-by-turn navigation, traffic-aware directions and a navigation SDK for apps are things Mapbox sells and Waymorphic Map does not do at all.
- Studio and your own data
Mapbox Studio is a full style editor with hosting for your own tilesets. Waymorphic Map gives you five styles and the freedom to edit them in code.
- A contract
If you need an SLA, invoices and someone to call, Mapbox has those. Waymorphic Map is best effort.
Where Waymorphic Map fits
What you gain by pointing the map here instead.
- The bill
A page that gets popular costs nothing more on Waymorphic Map. On Mapbox every load past the free tier is billed, and the free tier is per account, not per site.
- No token
No account, no token to rotate, no domain allow-list to keep up to date, no billing alerts.
- An open renderer
MapLibre GL JS is open source under a BSD licence and has moved on with its own features, such as the globe. Mapbox GL JS has been proprietary since version 2.
- Nothing phones home
Mapbox GL JS reports usage to Mapbox from the browser. Waymorphic Map has no accounts, no cookies and no analytics on the tiles.
How to switch
MapLibre GL JS is a fork of Mapbox GL JS version 1, so the API is nearly the same: the map object, the events, the layers and the expressions carry over. Swap the library, drop the token and point the style at Waymorphic Map.
<script src="https://api.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/v3.13.0/mapbox-gl.js"></script>
<script>
mapboxgl.accessToken = 'pk.your-token';
const map = new mapboxgl.Map({
container: 'map',
style: 'mapbox://styles/mapbox/streets-v12',
center: [-0.1276, 51.5074],
zoom: 11,
});
</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],
zoom: 11,
});
</script>- Anything that starts with
mapbox://(styles, sprites, tilesets) has no equivalent; use one of the five styles, or a MapLibre style of your own. - Mapbox-only features such as the satellite layer and the Standard style need a replacement. The geocoder plugin keeps working: the geocoder control example points it at Waymorphic Map's own search, free and keyless.
- Mapbox GL JS version 2 and 3 code mostly still fits; the main differences are listed in the MapLibre documentation.
Questions and answers
Is Waymorphic Map really free for commercial use?
Yes. There is no plan to choose and nothing to pay. The fair-use terms ask you to keep the attribution and to use it like a map, not as a bulk download.
Do I lose anything by leaving Mapbox?
The basemap and the interactivity carry over. Satellite imagery, navigation, Studio and the paid support do not; those are the reasons to stay.
Can I use the Waymorphic tiles inside Mapbox GL JS?
Yes, as a vector source with a style of your own, but Mapbox GL JS still needs a token to run, so most people switch to MapLibre GL JS.