Compare software

Pelias vs Photon: catalog facts
Pelias	Photon
Best for: Running your own geocoder that combines several open data sources	Best for: Developers adding OpenStreetMap place search to a map or app
Free Free and open source to self-host; a separate cloud webservice is also offered.	Free Free and open source; the public API is free for fair use.
Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Imports OpenStreetMap, OpenAddresses, Who's On First, GeoNames and CSV data Forward and reverse geocoding All 3 strengths for Pelias Imports OpenStreetMap, OpenAddresses, Who's On First, GeoNames and CSV data Forward and reverse geocoding Docker setup for local installation	Typeahead search with typo tolerance Multilingual results and reverse geocoding All 4 strengths for Photon Typeahead search with typo tolerance Multilingual results and reverse geocoding Simple HTTP API returning GeoJSON Public API available for light use
Several services and Elasticsearch to run and maintain Aimed at developers rather than end users	Public API is throttled under heavy use and has no availability guarantee Self-hosting requires running OpenSearch with OSM data
Self-hosted	Self-hosted, Hosted service
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Pelias pelias.io Catalog checked September 23, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Photon photon.komoot.io Catalog checked September 23, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.