Maps API analysis

This comparison evaluates performance, pricing and customization of the most common maps API providers. Tested integrations are either their own native platforms (MapKit JS, Maps JS API and Mapbox GL JS) or the most common open source libraries (Leaflet and MapLibre).

API	Pricing	Caching	Visual	Integration
MapKit	Fixed fee 2790,00 CZK/YEAR	Does not cache	two 2D appearances, 3D support	MapKit JS
Mapbox	50,000 tile requests per month	Caches all of the tiles	highly customizable 2D appearance, 3D support	Mapbox GL JS
Google Maps	10,000 tile requests per month	Caches all of the tiles	nine appearances, 3D support	Maps JS API
Open Street Map	Unlimited	Caches all of the tiles	basic 2D appearances	Leaflet
Mapy	250,000 tile requests per month	Caches all of the tiles (Leaflet), Caches most of the tiles (MapLibre)	four 2D appearances	Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre GL, Cesium JS
Thunderforest	150,000 tile requests per month	Caches all of the tiles	OpenCycleMap, Transport, Landscape, Outdoors, Atlas, Transport Dark, Spinal Map, Pioneer, Neighbourhood, Mobile Atlas	Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre GL

Performance

Note

All APIs were tested on the online version of this project, except MapKit integration, which was evaluated externally. Measuring has been conducted through pagespeed.web.dev. Each integration had separate data and API fetching to mitigate caching between individual measurements.

Used metrics

Metric	Description
First Contentful Paint	First Contentful Paint marks the time at which the first text or image is painted. Learn more about the First Contentful Paint metric.
Total Blocking Time	Sum of all time periods between FCP and Time to Interactive, when task length exceeded 50ms, expressed in milliseconds. Learn more about the Total Blocking Time metric.
Speed Index	Speed Index shows how quickly the contents of a page are visibly populated. Learn more about the Speed Index metric.
Largest Contentful Paint	Largest Contentful Paint marks the time at which the largest text or image is painted. Learn more about the Largest Contentful Paint metric.

Mobile

API	Markers	First Contentful Paint	Total Blocking Time	Speed Index	Largest Contentful Paint
$\color{red}{\text{MapKit}}$	Loads after tiles	$\color{red}{9.1 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{1,380 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{red}{9.1 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{15.2 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Mapbox}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{2,130 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{4.8 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{3.6 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Google Maps}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{50 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{3.9 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{7.1 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Open Street Map (Leaflet)}}$	Loads parallelly	$\color{red}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{50 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{6.0 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Mapy (Leaflet)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{3.4 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{40 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{5.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{5.2 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Mapy (MapLibre)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{5.0 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{80 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{5.0 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{5.2 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Thunderforest (Leaflet)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{40 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{3.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{5.2 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Thunderforest (MapLibre)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{red}{5.0 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{260 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{5.0 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{5.3 \text{ s}}$

Paint

MapKit

Mapbox

Google Maps

Open Street Map

Mapy (Leaflet)

Mapy (MapLibre)

Thunderforest (Leaflet)

Thunderforest (MapLibre)

Desktop

API	Markers	First Contentful Paint	Total Blocking Time	Speed Index	Largest Contentful Paint
$\color{orange}{\text{MapKit}}$	Loads after tiles	$\color{green}{0.5 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{3,440 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{2.2 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{1.5 \text{ s}}$
$\color{orange}{\text{Mapbox}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{green}{0.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{red}{2,180 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{1.9 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{1.2 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Google Maps}}$	Loads parallelly	$\color{green}{0.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{60 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{orange}{1.3 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{1.5 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Open Street Map (Leaflet)}}$	Loads parallelly	$\color{green}{0.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{40 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{green}{1.3 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{1.7 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Mapy (Leaflet)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{green}{0.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{10 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{green}{1.1 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{1.0 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Mapy (MapLibre)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{green}{0.9 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{50 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{green}{1.1 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{1.0 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Thunderforest (Leaflet)}}$	Loads almost parallelly	$\color{green}{0.7 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{50 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{green}{1.1 \text{ s}}$	$\color{orange}{1.3 \text{ s}}$
$\color{green}{\text{Thunderforest (MapLibre)}}$	Loads before tiles	$\color{green}{0.9 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{50 \text{ ms}}$	$\color{green}{1.2 \text{ s}}$	$\color{green}{1.0 \text{ s}}$

Paint

MapKit

Mapbox

Google Maps

Open Street Map

Mapy (Leaflet)

Mapy (MapLibre)

Thunderforest (Leaflet)

Thunderforest (MapLibre)

Conclusion

Based on comprehensive performance testing and feature analysis, Mapy with Leaflet integration is the optimal solution for Czech market applications. This recommendation is supported by several critical factors:

Performance superiority: Mapy (Leaflet) demonstrates exceptional desktop performance with the lowest Speed Index (1.1s) and Largest Contentful Paint (1.0s), while maintaining competitive mobile metrics. The integration efficiently handles marker rendering before tile loading, ensuring a smooth user experience.

Caching efficiency: Unlike MapKit, which notably lacks caching capabilities, Mapy properly caches all tiles through Leaflet integration, significantly reducing load times and API requests during repeated usage. This represents a substantial performance advantage in real-world scenarios.

Cost-effectiveness: With 250,000 free tile requests per month, Mapy offers the most generous pricing tier among commercial alternatives, surpassing Google Maps (10,000), Mapbox (50,000), and Thunderforest (150,000), while MapKit requires a fixed annual fee regardless of usage.

Market advantages: As the de facto standard mapping platform in Czechia, Mapy provides seamless integration with local features and subsequent directions functionality—a critical capability shared only with Google Maps among the evaluated options. This positions Mapy as both technically sound and strategically aligned with primary market requirements.

While alternatives like Open Street Map offer unlimited requests and Google Maps provides extensive global features, Mapy's combination of strong performance metrics, extensive caching, generous free tier, and Czech market alignment makes it the recommended choice for applications primarily targeting Czech users.

Project Setup

npm install # Install Node
npm run dev # Compile and Hot-Reload for Development
npm run build # Type-Check, Compile and Minify for Production