Mapping Services alternatives are worth considering when the incumbent gets expensive, restrictive, or invasive.

If you need to create your own custom map overlays, for adding custom Points of Interest that are not generally relevant to be added to a map, marking/highlight areas etc. you can use OSM as a map base layer, drawing your annotations on top of it.

Why consider the swap

If you currently rely on Google Maps and want more control over data, lower long-term costs, or a privacy-friendly licensing model, Custom maps with OSM covers most of the same ground.

What you trade off

Most privacy-friendly alternatives require more setup than their commercial counterparts and may lag on polish, mobile apps, or ecosystem integrations. Check the project’s documentation for current feature parity with Google Maps before committing.

Where to start

• Project page: Custom maps with OSM
• Comparison reference: Google Maps

This recommendation is indexed from switching.software. Read their full project notes for the latest changes.