What Leaflet JS does

Leaflet is an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps, created in 2010 by Volodymyr Agafonkin and distributed under the BSD-2-Clause license. The library weighs approximately 42 KB of JavaScript with no external dependencies, and provides core mapping primitives including tile layers, markers, popups, vector layers (polylines, polygons, circles, rectangles), image overlays, GeoJSON support, and a full interaction layer (drag panning with inertia, scroll wheel zoom, pinch-zoom, keyboard navigation). It is provider-agnostic by design, enabling tile sources from OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Google Maps, HERE, Azure Maps, Esri ArcGIS, Bing Maps, and others without vendor lock-in. The library is modular, hardware-accelerated for mobile performance, and supports custom map projections (EPSG:3857/4326/3395 out of the box). Leaflet 2.0.0-alpha.1, released in May 2025, modernized the codebase with full ESM module support, PointerEvents adoption, and dropped Internet Explorer support.

The product surface is extended by a substantial ecosystem of hundreds of community-built plugins covering basemap providers, clustering, heatmaps, routing, geocoding, drawing, print/export, and integration with web frameworks (React via react-leaflet, Vue, Angular, Ember, Polymer) and CMS platforms (Django, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla). Notable users displayed on the project website include GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, Foursquare, Etsy, Evernote, Flickr, 500px, The Washington Post, Financial Times, NPR, USA Today, the European Commission, the U.S. National Park Service, Data.gov, and OpenStreetMap itself. Distribution occurs via the official website, npm, the unpkg CDN, GitHub, and CDN providers; there is no commercial sales channel.

Leaflet operates as a community-driven open-source project rather than a commercial entity. There is no formal corporate legal structure, no recorded venture or institutional funding, no headcount, no offices in the conventional sense (the firmographic city of San Francisco does not correspond to a verified corporate address), and no monetization strategy. Revenue is zero by design, and the project is sustained by community contribution and the ongoing stewardship of its original creator.

Name

Leaflet JS

Legal name

Leaflet (open-source project, no formal legal entity)

Website

https://leafletjs.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Leaflet is a free, open-source JavaScript library (~42 KB, BSD-2-Clause license) for embedding mobile-friendly interactive maps in web applications, maintained since 2010 by a global community of contributors and used by enterprises such as GitHub, Facebook, and the European Commission.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

JavaScript Mapping Library

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Mapping & Basemap Platforms (Tiles/SDKs) (BPAMANAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Developer Portals, SDKs & Documentation Platforms (BPAMADAG), Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)

Keywords

• JavaScript mapping library
• Interactive map components
• Open source mapping
• Web mapping framework
• Mobile map library

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Open Source Free Distribution: Leaflet is an open-source project distributed completely free of charge. There is no commercial revenue model. The project is maintained by a community of contributors with no stated commercial entity or monetization strategy.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Leaflet is an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps, weighing approximately 42 KB of JavaScript with no external dependencies. It provides core mapping primitives (tile layers, markers, popups, vector layers, GeoJSON support) and is provider-agnostic, allowing developers to use any tile provider (OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Google, HERE, Esri). The library is extended by a large community-built plugin ecosystem covering clustering, heatmaps, routing, geocoding, drawing, and integrations with web frameworks such as React, Vue, Angular, Django, and WordPress.

Product overview

Leaflet is the leading open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps, weighing approximately 42 KB. The core product is the Leaflet library itself, which provides essential mapping features including tile layers, markers, popups, vector layers, GeoJSON support, and interaction features like drag panning, zoom controls, and keyboard navigation. The ecosystem is extended by a comprehensive plugins ecosystem with hundreds of third-party plugins for basemap providers (Azure Maps, Bing, Esri, Google Maps, HERE, Mapbox, OpenStreetMap), data visualization, routing, geocoding, and integration with web frameworks including React, Vue, Angular, Ember, Django, Ruby on Rails, WordPress, and Drupal. The recently released Leaflet 2.0 marks a major modernization with ESM support, Pointer Events adoption, and dropping legacy browser support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Leaflet An open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. Weighing about 42 KB of JS, it provides all mapping features most developers need — tile layers, markers, popups, vector layers, GeoJSON support — with simplicity, performance, and usability as design priorities. Distributed free of charge under the BSD-2-Clause license via the official website, npm, CDN, and GitHub.
• Leaflet 2.0 Major modernization release of the Leaflet library featuring full ESM module support, standardized Pointer Events replacing legacy Mouse and Touch events, new BlanketOverlay renderer, removal of Internet Explorer support, and a modernized codebase using standardized ES6 classes. Backward compatibility is maintained via a bundled leaflet-global.js build exposing the global L variable.

Named customers17 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration52 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• OpenStreetMapcoreTechnology or IntegrationOpenStreetMap is the default and most commonly used tile provider for Leaflet maps. OSM tile layers are used in virtually all Leaflet tutorials and examples. The relationship is informal and community-based, as both are open-source projects.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• MapLibre GL JS: MapLibre GL JS is a community-maintained fork of Mapbox GL JS that emerged after Mapbox's license change. It targets the same vector-tile mapping niche as Leaflet's Mapbox integrations and is increasingly used as an open-source WebGL alternative; integrates with Leaflet via the maplibre-gl-leaflet plugin.
• CesiumJS: CesiumJS is an open-source JavaScript library for 3D geospatial visualization, often used for globe rendering and large-scale GIS. It is comparable to Leaflet as a developer-focused open-source mapping library, though its focus on 3D/WebGL differs from Leaflet's 2D tile paradigm.

Broad incumbents

• ArcGIS API for JavaScript (Esri): Esri's ArcGIS API for JavaScript is the enterprise GIS incumbent for web mapping, serving government and large-organization customers. It overlaps with Leaflet in the developer mapping SDK category but targets the high-end GIS market with paid licensing, and integrates with Leaflet via the Esri Leaflet plugin.
• Azure Maps Web SDK: Microsoft's Azure Maps offers a commercial web SDK as part of its broader Azure cloud platform. It provides similar interactive map embedding capabilities as Leaflet with Azure authentication, and integrates with Leaflet via an official Azure Maps Leaflet plugin.
• HERE Maps JavaScript API: HERE provides commercial JavaScript mapping SDKs focused on location services, fleet, and automotive use cases. It overlaps with Leaflet as a tile/rendering layer and integrates via community plugins like L.TileLayer.HERE.
• TomTom Maps SDK for Web: TomTom's web SDK provides interactive maps backed by TomTom's location data, targeting enterprise and automotive customers. It competes in the same JavaScript mapping SDK category as Leaflet but with a commercial model and stronger location-services focus.
• Google Maps JavaScript API: Google Maps' JavaScript API is the dominant commercial mapping SDK, backed by Google's data and infrastructure. It overlaps with Leaflet's core use case (embedding interactive maps in web apps) but is part of a much broader Google Cloud portfolio and carries usage-based pricing that Leaflet explicitly avoids.

Direct peers

• Mapbox GL JS: Mapbox GL JS is a commercial JavaScript library for interactive, vector-tile-based web maps. It directly competes with Leaflet in the same developer mapping SDK category but is backed by venture funding, offers hosted styles and pricing tiers, and uses a different rendering pipeline (WebGL).
• OpenLayers: OpenLayers is a long-standing open-source JavaScript library for displaying map data in web browsers. It competes head-to-head with Leaflet in the same open-source mapping SDK category, with a comparable developer audience but a heavier bundle and more GIS-oriented feature set.

Others

• D3.js: D3.js is an open-source JavaScript library for data-driven visualizations that overlaps with Leaflet in geospatial data viz via plugins like Leaflet.D3SvgOverlay. It is thematically related as developer-focused JS data tooling rather than a direct mapping SDK competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/leafletjs
• GitHubgithub.com/Leaflet/Leaflet

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Leaflet JS