Observable: Data notebooks and dashboards with D3 and Plot maps. Protomaps: Self-host an entire world basemap as a single PMTiles file.
| Observable | Protomaps | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Geospatial Data Visualization | Basemaps & Map Tiles |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Open source |
| Starts at | See website | Free |
| Free tier | Free for public notebooks | — |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Software licence | — | BSD-3-Clause (code); ODbL (OSM data) |
| API | — | — |
| Platforms | Web, JavaScript | Web, JavaScript, Command line |
| Made by | — | — |
| Commercial use | Check terms | Allowed |
| Export / print images | Check terms | Allowed |
| Offline / caching | Check terms | Allowed |
| Visits from MapTools | 2 | 9 |
| Visit | Visit |
Observable features
- Reactive notebooks
- Observable Plot geo marks
- D3 projections
- Data apps framework
Protomaps features
- PMTiles single-file tile archives
- Daily world basemap builds from OpenStreetMap
- Serve from S3, R2 or any static host
- Open basemap styles for MapLibre
When you host the tiles yourself, only the OpenStreetMap attribution and ODbL terms apply.
Protomaps alternativesSummary based on public information. Check each provider's current pricing and terms.