OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap, operated by the UK-registered OpenStreetMap Foundation, is a community-built, open-license world map. It serves developers, humanitarian organisations, routing services and national mapping agencies via free geospatial data, public APIs and editor tooling, funded by donations and corporate memberships.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2004
- HeadquartersDenver, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What OpenStreetMap does
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a community-built, open-license map of the world, formally operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) — a UK-registered not-for-profit with its registered office in Cambridge and operational ties to University College London's Bartlett Centre. Contributors — including enthusiast mappers, GIS professionals, humanitarian volunteers and engineers — collaboratively maintain the underlying geospatial database, which exposes its three core primitives (nodes, ways, relations) plus GPS traces and map notes. The platform is freely available under the Open Database License (ODbL), meaning anyone can browse, edit, embed, download or build on the data without paying royalties.
The technical stack is a distributed open-source system: a PostgreSQL/PostGIS core database, the RESTful Editing API v0.6 (deployed April 2009, OAuth 2.0, changeset-based CRUD), the Nominatim geocoding service, the Overpass API for advanced queries, vector and raster tile servers fronted by the Fastly CDN, multiple open routing engines (GraphHopper, OSRM, Valhalla), and editor tooling ranging from the in-browser iD editor to the desktop JOSM, Potlatch and Merkaartor clients. Infrastructure is donated across Equinix Amsterdam/Dublin, UCL, OSUOSL, AWS, CloudFerro, Scaleway, Bytemark and others, running Debian 13 / Ubuntu 22.04 on HPE ProLiant, Supermicro and Lenovo hardware, monitored via Prometheus and Grafana.
The OSMF is a non-profit that does not sell map data. Revenue comes from individual donations (average ~€35, with suggested tiers from €20 to €1,000), a tiered corporate membership programme (Supporter at €750/year to Platinum at €30,000/year), free or paid individual/Active Contributor memberships, occasional one-off grants (e.g., Pineapple Fund, American Red Cross), and profits from the annual State of the Map conference series and its regional editions. The Foundation runs 'extremely lean' with a very small paid staff (Pablo Brasero Moreno joined as Core Software Engineer in September 2025) supplemented by a large volunteer community. Downstream consumers include routing services, humanitarian mapping initiatives, and sovereign platforms such as France's IGN cartes.gouv.fr, which integrated the OSM-codeveloped Panoramax street-level imagery platform in June 2026.
OpenStreetMap firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- OpenStreetMap
- Legal name
- OpenStreetMap Foundation
- Website
- https://openstreetmap.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2004
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- OpenStreetMap, operated by the UK-registered OpenStreetMap Foundation, is a community-built, open-license world map. It serves developers, humanitarian organisations, routing services and national mapping agencies via free geospatial data, public APIs and editor tooling, funded by donations and corporate memberships.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
OpenStreetMap industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Geospatial Data Platform
- NAICS
- Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Mapping & Basemap Platforms (Tiles/SDKs) (BPAMANAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)
Keywords
Where OpenStreetMap is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Denver
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
OpenStreetMap business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Individual donations: Donations collected by the OpenStreetMap Foundation (UK-registered not-for-profit) via credit card, European SEPA transfer, PayPal, Bitcoin and other channels. Average donation is about €35; suggested tiers €20, €50, €100, €500, €1,000. Donations cover core operational expenses: hardware and hosting costs, legal fees, administrative assistant and other working group expenses.
- Corporate Membership dues: Tiered annual corporate membership programme for organizations: Supporter level starts at €750/year and Platinum level at €30,000/year. Provides recurring funding from companies that build on or benefit from OSM data.
- Individual / Active Contributor Memberships: Free Active Contributor Membership (annual, fee-waived for mappers with 42 mapping days/year or other volunteer activity), plus Normal and Associate paid memberships. Provides recurring support from individual community members.
- State of the Map conferences: Profits generated by the annual State of the Map conferences (e.g., State of the Map 2025, 2026 in Paris, SotM Africa 2026, SotM Latam, SotM Colombia) contribute to OSMF revenue.
- Bitcoin and cryptocurrency donations: One-off large crypto donations accepted (e.g., 2 Bitcoin donation received and publicly thanked in 2025).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Corporate Membership: Supporter tier from €750/year up to Platinum at €30,000/year |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Donations: suggested €20, €50, €100, €500, €1,000 (one-off or organisation-level) |
| Freemium | Annual | Individual / Active Contributor Membership: free or paid annual membership |
Go-to-market motion3 records
OpenStreetMap product offering
Product offeringCore offering
OpenStreetMap is a community-built, editable map of the world released under an open license. The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) operates the project's data platform, RESTful editing API, geocoding (Nominatim), Overpass query API, vector/raster tile service, routing engine integrations (GraphHopper, OSRM, Valhalla), and editors (iD in-browser; JOSM, Potlatch, Merkaartor desktop). Map data is free to browse, edit, download, embed and build upon, with the Foundation funded by donations, individual memberships and tiered corporate memberships (Supporter to Platinum).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- State of the Map: Annual conference series organized by the OpenStreetMap Foundation; a registered trademark of the OSMF.
Products and services
- OpenStreetMap Map Data
- OpenStreetMap API v0.6
- Nominatim Geocoding Service Forward and reverse geocoding service built on OSM data, operated across multiple Nominatim servers (dulcy, vhagar, longma, poldi, stormfly-04) hosted on Equinix Amsterdam, Equinix Dublin and OSUOSL infrastructure.
- OpenStreetMap Tile Service Distributed global vector and raster tile-serving fleet (dribble, odin, culebre, ysera, piasa, wawel, cmok, nidhogg, orm, azure-01, azure-02, palulukon) running on HPE ProLiant/Supermicro/Lenovo hardware and Debian 13, fronted by Fastly CDN for embedded and consumer map rendering.
- iD In-Browser Editor Default in-browser OpenStreetMap editor that allows new users to start mapping without installing any software, lowering the barrier to community contribution.
Companies that use OpenStreetMap
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
OpenStreetMap technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
Feature6 records
OpenStreetMap partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
OpenStreetMap competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- GraphHopper: Open-source routing engine built on OSM data, with both open-source and commercial offerings; it is integrated directly into the OSM site but also competes as a standalone routing API.
- MapTiler: OSM-derived commercial map-tile and hosting service with self-hosting and cloud products; overlapping customer base with OSM consumers, focused on premium map-rendering and aerial-imagery layers.
Direct peers
- CARTO: Location intelligence and GIS-as-a-service platform serving enterprise and developer customers with map visualisation, spatial analytics and data layers, many of which are powered by OSM-derived data.
- Mapbox: Commercial mapping platform that builds heavily on OSM data and competes for the same developer and enterprise customers with proprietary APIs, vector tiles and SDKs. Most direct commercial analogue to OSM's platform offering.
- Felt: Collaborative cloud-based mapping platform competing for team-based GIS and mapping workflows, offering a modern, product-led alternative to OSM's editor-centric experience.
- Stadia Maps: Commercial OSM-based map-tile and routing service that targets developers and enterprises wanting OSM-quality data with commercial SLAs — a direct monetisation play on top of the OSM dataset.
- Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT): Non-profit that organises volunteer mapping within the OSM ecosystem for humanitarian and development use cases; shares OSM's community-led, open-data model and a meaningful overlap in contributor base and tooling.
Others
- Wikimedia Foundation (OpenStreetMap's open-knowledge peer): Operates Wikipedia and Wikidata on a similar open-content, community-driven, donation-funded model; the most structurally analogous open-knowledge non-profit, with shared SSO integration and contributor-mindshare overlap.
Broad incumbents
- HERE Technologies: Large commercial location platform serving automotive, logistics and enterprise customers; competes with OSM-derived services in routing, geocoding and fleet management, with a proprietary data backbone.
- Google Maps Platform: Dominant commercial mapping platform with proprietary basemap, Places API, and developer tooling; competes for the same end-user and developer mindshare but at much larger scale and with a closed-data model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
OpenStreetMap social profiles
Digital presenceOpenStreetMap financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
OpenStreetMap leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
OpenStreetMap funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
OpenStreetMap M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about OpenStreetMap
What does OpenStreetMap do?
OpenStreetMap is a community-built, editable map of the world released under an open license. The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) operates the project's data platform, RESTful editing API, geocoding (Nominatim), Overpass query API, vector/raster tile service, routing engine integrations (GraphHopper, OSRM, Valhalla), and editors (iD in-browser; JOSM, Potlatch, Merkaartor desktop). Map data is free to browse, edit, download, embed and build upon, with the Foundation funded by donations, individual memberships and tiered corporate memberships (Supporter to Platinum).
Is OpenStreetMap a public or private company?
OpenStreetMap is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was OpenStreetMap founded?
OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is OpenStreetMap based?
OpenStreetMap is headquartered in Denver, United States, in the North America region.
How does OpenStreetMap make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Individual donations are the primary driver. The others are corporate Membership dues, individual / Active Contributor Memberships, state of the Map conferences and bitcoin and cryptocurrency donations.
Who are OpenStreetMap's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are GraphHopper and MapTiler. Direct peers are CARTO, Mapbox, Felt, Stadia Maps and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). Wikimedia Foundation (OpenStreetMap's open-knowledge peer) is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are HERE Technologies and Google Maps Platform.
Does OpenStreetMap have an API?
Yes. OpenStreetMap exposes API v0.6, the current RESTful Editing API deployed 17-21 April 2009, accessible at https://api.openstreetmap.org/. The API supports XML and JSON formats, with authentication via OAuth 2.0 (OAuth 1.0a and HTTP Basic Auth were shut down in June 2024). It provides endpoints for creating, reading, updating and deleting the three core map elements (nodes, ways, relations), managing changesets (with limits of 10,000 elements per changeset, 2,000 nodes per way, 32,000 members per relation), uploading GPS traces (GPX), interacting with map notes, changeset discussions, user blocks, preferences, and user details. Read requests do not require authorization. The Overpass API (linked from API documentation) provides read-only access for downloading data for purposes other than editing. A test environment is available at https://master.apis.dev.openstreetmap.org/. Developer documentation is at wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/API_v0.6.
What industry is OpenStreetMap in?
OpenStreetMap's product category is Open Geospatial Data Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMANAB, Mapping & Basemap Platforms (Tiles/SDKs), with a secondary code of BPAMABAM, Open-Source & Developer Communities. Its NAICS code is 54137 and its SIC code is 7370.