Self-hosted / open sourceMaps & NavigationHeadquarters: CH

MapLibre: sovereignty score and 8 European alternatives

MapLibre is an open-source umbrella project for mapping libraries. Its best-known components are MapLibre GL JS, a TypeScript library that draws GPU-accelerated vector-tile maps in web pages, and MapLibre Native, a C++ library for mobile, desktop, embedded and automotive applications. The project also maintains the MapLibre Style Specification, a next-generation vector tile format and Martin, a Rust tile server for PostGIS, PMTiles and MBTiles files. It began as a fork of Mapbox GL JS, made before Mapbox moved to a non-open-source licence in December 2020. Developers embed the libraries in their own applications.

MapLibre GL JS is released under the 3-Clause BSD licence, so it can be used and self-hosted without a vendor contract. The MapLibre Organization works under a public charter and publishes its finances quarterly. Its fiscal host is Open Source Collective, a US non-profit based in California that handles sponsor payments. Because the libraries run inside your own application, where the map data is hosted depends on the tile source you choose.

See the 8 European alternatives ↓Assess your stack with MapLibre pre-selected

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Sovereignty score

94 / 1000 = high exposure
100 = sovereign

Jurisdiction SOV-2100
Headquartered in Switzerland: Swiss law, recognised by the EU as adequate
Data residency SOV-3100
EU-only hosting
Cryptographic key sovereignty SOV-390
Self-hostable: encryption keys under your own control
Freedom from lock-in SOV-680
Open source: low switching costs
Source & runtime sovereignty SOV-4 · SOV-6100
Source code auditable, forkable and self-hostable

SOV codes: the matching objective in the European Commission's Cloud Sovereignty Framework. Official source

How the score is calculated

Facts and evidence

Last checked July 2, 2026

Headquarters	CH (EU)Verified by hand
Sovereignty model	Open-source, distributedVerified by hand
Data hosting	EUVerified by hand
Open-source	YesVerified by hand
GDPR-compliant	YesVendor-stated
Hosting signal	FASTLY - Fastly, Inc., US (US)Technically measured
Category	Maps & Navigation
Type	Product
Website	maplibre.org ↗

The hosting signal shows the network that serves the vendor's website, often a CDN, and not necessarily where the service or your data is hosted. How we verify · Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Top EU-based & GDPR-compliant alternatives to MapLibre

The European alternatives to MapLibre come from our knowledge base of over 8,000 vendors. We only list vendors headquartered in the EU or the EEA; fully European-owned vendors rank before vendors with a foreign owner. For each alternative you see the country, the open-source status and a short description.

Score per alternative: 0 = high exposure, 100 = sovereign

45 European Maps & Navigation vendors are in the catalogue. View the whole category · Submit an alternative · View category on the map

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Why digital sovereignty matters with MapLibre

MapLibre is headquartered in Switzerland and falls under Swiss law, including the revised Swiss data protection act. Switzerland is not an EU member, but the European Commission recognises its level of data protection as adequate. Its Swiss headquarters does not by itself bring it under US legislation such as the CLOUD Act.

Data is hosted exclusively in the EU, so MapLibre scores best on data residency.

MapLibre is open source. You can audit the source code, self-host the software and keep the encryption keys under your own control. Switching is easier because data and software are not tied to a single party.

What this means for your organisation depends on your whole stack and context. The free assessment weighs MapLibre together with your other vendors and gives a total score, a heatmap and the main risk drivers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best European alternative to MapLibre?

It depends on your use case. Strong EU alternatives to MapLibre include Bikemap, BRouter and calimoto. On this page you can compare 8 EU alternatives by jurisdiction, data residency and open-source status.

Are there open-source alternatives to MapLibre?

Yes. Open-source EU alternatives to MapLibre include BRouter, Digitransit and GraphHopper. These keep your data fully under your own control and let you self-host if you want to.

Is MapLibre GDPR-compliant and where is the data hosted?

MapLibre is headquartered in CH (EFTA) and hosts data in EU. It is also open-source, so you can self-host it. That makes MapLibre an EU-sovereign choice in its own right; the EU alternatives on this page are comparable European tools.

Details and sources

Verified by handHeadquarters, owner, hosting locations and licence have been checked by us against public sources. Free of charge and for every vendor, not a paid label. Nothing in this knowledge base is taken over automatically. Last checked on July 2, 2026.

Sources

This record was checked via the vendor's website and legal notice during the full audit of June and July 2026. Source links have been recorded per record since 20 September 2026.

Compliance evidence

The links below point to the vendor's own public documents. We only record what we found: a missing link means "not found publicly", not "not compliant".

No public compliance evidence has been recorded for this vendor yet. Do you know its DPA or subprocessor list? Something wrong? Suggest a correction

Digital sovereignty in Maps & Navigation

Maps & Navigation: Maps, route planning and navigation services. In this category the choice of vendor determines who has legal access to your data, where that data lives and how easily you can switch later.

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