Comparison
Nominatim is the canonical OpenStreetMap geocoder — a single PostgreSQL-backed service that mirrors OSM's data model closely. Pelias is a modular, Elasticsearch-based geocoder designed to blend OSM with other datasets (WOF, OpenAddresses, custom POIs) and offers finer search tuning.
| Nominatim | Pelias | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Web App | Web App |
| Pricing | open-source | open-source |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 4.5k | 3.6k |
| Last commit | 1 weeks ago | 2 months ago |
| Categories | geocoding | geocoding |
| Platforms | — | — |
| Languages | — | — |
| API style | — | — |
Choose Nominatim if…
You want straightforward OSM geocoding with a well-documented, single-database setup.
Full Nominatim profileChoose Pelias if…
You need to combine multiple data sources, tune autocomplete behaviour, or scale search horizontally on Elasticsearch.
Full Pelias profile