Google Maps works great — as long as you're fine with Google logging every trip you take. If you'd rather keep your location data to yourself, the open source ecosystem has matured a lot. Here are five Google Maps alternatives pulled from OpenAltFinder, split by what they actually replace.
TL;DR:
- Want turn-by-turn navigation on your phone? → Organic Maps
- Building something that needs a maps API and hate per-request billing? → Dawarich Atlas
- Want Google Timeline back, but on your own server? → Dawarich, Reitti, or GeoPulse
1. Organic Maps — offline navigation without the tracking
Organic Maps is the closest thing to a drop-in Google Maps replacement on mobile. It runs on crowd-sourced OpenStreetMap data and works fully offline.
- Turn-by-turn navigation for driving, walking, and cycling
- Works offline — great for hiking, traveling, and avoiding roaming charges
- Bookmarking, route planning, and detailed topographic layers
- Zero ads, zero tracking, zero data collection
Prefer something with community-owned governance? CoMaps is a not-for-profit fork of Organic Maps with the same experience.
License: Apache-2.0 · Android & iOS
2. Dawarich Atlas — a self-hosted Google Maps Platform
Dawarich Atlas flips the problem: instead of replacing the consumer app, it replaces Google Maps Platform itself. One Phoenix app bundles OpenStreetMap tiles, Photon search, Valhalla routing, Overpass POIs, and OpenTripPlanner transit — all served locally, with zero outbound API calls at runtime.
- Search, routing, POIs, and transit in a single self-hosted stack
- Auto-generated secrets and local SQLite storage out of the box
- Region presets: scope the data to one city, one country, or the whole planet
- No per-request billing, no telemetry, no rate limits — just a public JSON API and an admin API If you've ever opened a Mapbox or Google Maps Platform invoice and winced, this is the escape hatch.
License: AGPL-3.0 · Docker
3. Dawarich — your own Google Timeline
Dawarich is a privacy-first, self-hosted replacement for Google Maps Timeline (formerly Location History). Your movement data lives on your server. Full stop.
- Import from Google Takeout, OwnTracks, GPSLogger, and more
- Interactive map of your journeys plus stats: distance, cities visited, time spent
- Attach notes and memories to locations
- Real-time tracking via OwnTracks; Rails app, deploys via Docker
License: AGPL-3.0 · Docker
4. Reitti — location history with automatic trip detection
Reitti (Finnish for "route") turns raw GPS pings from OwnTracks, GPSLogger, Overland, or Home Assistant into a timeline of visits, trips, and significant places — automatically. Bulk imports from Google Takeout, GPX, and GeoJSON make switching painless.
- Automatic stay/trip detection with transport-mode classification
- Daily timeline on an interactive map, with multi-user support
- Immich integration puts your photos right on the timeline
- Reverse geocoding with multi-provider failover + custom tile servers
- Ships as a Docker Compose bundle (PostgreSQL + PostGIS, Redis) with OIDC/SSO
License: AGPL-3.0 · Docker
5. GeoPulse — movement analytics on a Raspberry Pi
GeoPulse is a self-hosted location timeline platform that turns raw GPS data into a searchable history of stays, trips, and movement patterns. The footprint is tiny — under 100 MB of RAM — so it's a perfect Raspberry Pi or small-VPS workload.
- Auto-detects stays, trips, and data gaps with configurable rules
- Ingests from OwnTracks, Overland, GPSLogger, Home Assistant, Traccar, and more
- Bulk import from Google Timeline, GPX, GeoJSON, CSV
- Multi-user with role-based access, OIDC/SSO, and password-protected guest links
- Optional AI features via your own OpenAI-compatible key One caveat for the license-conscious: GeoPulse uses BSL-1.1 — free for personal and non-commercial use, but commercial use needs a paid license.
License: BSL-1.1 · Docker Compose / Kubernetes
Which one should you pick?
- Phone navigation: Organic Maps — install and go
- Maps API for your own apps: Dawarich Atlas — own the whole stack
- Self-hosted Timeline: Dawarich, Reitti, or GeoPulse — all three import your Google Takeout data, so migration is a download-and-upload job
Every tool here is built on OpenStreetMap and keeps your location history out of Big Tech's logs. Pick the one that matches your use case and take your coordinates back.
What are you running? Self-hosting your own timeline or sticking with the offline map apps? Drop a comment — and if you know a solid maps tool that's missing, OpenAltFinder takes suggestions.
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