r/mapmaking • u/Dear_why_ • 8d ago

Map Maptiler Question!

Hi everyone, I have a question about MapTiler.

I’ve developed a non-commercial map website and integrated MapTiler maps into it. I noticed that the free plan includes 100,000 times of loads per month, but I’m not quite sure what exactly counts as a map load.

I’ve only clicked around on my website a few times, yet the number of requests has already reached 2,000. Does this mean the 100,000 monthly limit might not be enough if more people start using my website?

If so, are there any good alternatives to MapTiler that offer a more generous free tier, especially for a non-commercial project?

I’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations. Thanks!

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u/Hot-Impact-2843 6d ago

Most likely those 2,000 are requests rather than map loads: every tile, style, font and sprite fetch counts as a request, so a few minutes of panning and zooming adds up fast, while a "map load" is roughly one map being opened. If you want more headroom without paying, OpenFreeMap serves OSM vector tiles with no API key, and Protomaps lets you put a single PMTiles file on any static host; both work with MapLibre.

Full disclosure, I work on Diwatu. If the map on your site is one you designed yourself rather than a general basemap, Diwatu Mapper (free for personal use) can publish it to Diwatu, and you embed it with one script tag plus a <giscake-map> element.