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ReviewsIs OpenStreetMap actually free?
How free96/100
Value9/10
How these scores work
Free Score (0–100) follows a fixed rubric: cards up front, auto-billing, hard time cutoffs, withheld core features, and paying with your data or attention all deduct points. 90–100 truly free · 70–89 free forever · 45–69 squeezed · 15–44 trial mechanics · under 15 fake or gone. Value (0–10) is editorial: real-world worth of the free offering measured against its paid equivalent. Full rubric on the methodology page.
Yes. The map data is free to download and free to use commercially, with attribution. It's the reason a mapping product doesn't have to mean a Google bill.
What it’s worth
The direct replacement for Google Maps Platform, whose bills start at zero and don't stay there.
What you get free
- The entire world map as downloadable data (planet file and regional extracts)
- Geocoding through Nominatim with no key
- Routing, tiles and editing tools built on top
- Commercial use permitted under ODbL
In practice: the world's map, yours to download, with a licence that permits business use.
Drawbacks
- Coverage quality varies sharply by region
- Self-hosting tiles or geocoding is real infrastructure work
- ODbL's share-alike terms need reading if you're building a product
Also paywalled
- Nothing — though hosted providers sell convenience on top
Free facts
| Verdict | Truly Free |
| Card required | No |
| Auto-bills | — |
| Account | Only to edit |
| Limits | None on the data; tile servers have a usage policy |
| The real cost | Nothing. Attribution under the ODbL licence is the only obligation. |
The catch
The data is free; serving it at scale is not. The community tile and geocoding servers run on donations and have a usage policy — build anything real and you self-host or pay a hosting provider.
The smart play
- Take a regional extract from Geofabrik rather than the whole planet file
- Never point a production app at the community Nominatim or tile servers — that's the one rule everyone breaks
- ODbL is share-alike for derived databases; read it before you mix it into a proprietary dataset
More info — tap to expand
The usage policy is the actual catch
The free community servers exist so people can learn and prototype. Pointing an app with real users at them will get you blocked, and rightly — you'd be spending a donation-funded budget. Either self-host, or use one of the commercial OSM hosts, which are still typically far cheaper than the proprietary alternatives.
ODbL versus CC0
OpenStreetMap is share-alike: if you build a derived database and distribute it, that derived database has to carry the same licence. Using OSM to draw a map in your product is fine and normal. Merging OSM into a proprietary dataset you then sell is where you need legal advice.
Last checked: July 2026 · Verdict: Truly Free — no card, no account wall, no meaningful catch. use it and go.
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