# Cesium vs MapLibre GL JS

## Key differences

- Cesium has 1.3× as many GitHub stars as MapLibre GL JS (15.8K vs 11.8K).
- Cesium had more development activity over the last 12 months: 3,159 commits vs 1,416.
- MapLibre GL JS is downloaded 12× as often on npm (6.8M vs 570.1K per week).
- Cesium is licensed under Apache-2.0; MapLibre GL JS under BSD-3-Clause.
- Cesium is written primarily in JavaScript, MapLibre GL JS in TypeScript.
- Cesium is the older project: its repository was created in 2012, MapLibre GL JS's in 2020.

| | Cesium | MapLibre GL JS |
|---|---|---|
| Description | WebGL 3D globes and maps. | WebGL-based interactive vector tile maps in the browser; community fork of Mapbox GL JS. |
| GitHub stars | 15,798 | 11,801 |
| Commits (12 months) | 3,159 | 1,416 |
| Contributors | 311 | 385 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Status | Active | Active |
| Install | `npm install cesium` | `npm install maplibre-gl` |

Source: https://awesomedataviz.com/compare/cesium-vs-maplibre-gl-js/ · Data updated 2026-10-04 · Content: CC BY 4.0, Awesome Dataviz (https://awesomedataviz.com).