ipyleaflet vs prettymaps
A data-driven comparison of two Python map & geospatial visualization libraries: popularity, development activity, licensing and installation. Updated .
Interactive Leaflet maps in Jupyter notebooks, built on ipywidgets.
Draws stylized maps from OpenStreetMap data, using osmnx and matplotlib.
Key differences
- prettymaps has 9.3× as many GitHub stars as ipyleaflet (14.3K vs 1.5K).
- prettymaps had more development activity over the last 12 months: 9 commits vs 4.
- ipyleaflet is downloaded 693× as often on PyPI (55.4K vs 80 per week).
- ipyleaflet is licensed under MIT; prettymaps under AGPL-3.0.
- ipyleaflet is written primarily in TypeScript, prettymaps in Python.
- ipyleaflet is the older project: its repository was created in 2014, prettymaps's in 2021.
By the numbers
- ipyleaflet
- prettymaps
Show data as a table
| Metric | ipyleaflet | prettymaps |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 1,543 | 14,321 |
| PyPI downloads / week | 55,433 | 80 |
| Commits, last 12 months | 4 | 9 |
| Contributors | 85 | 20 |
| Forks | 365 | 735 |
Development activity
Commits per month to each default branch, last 12 complete months.
- ipyleaflet
- prettymaps
Show data as a table
| Month | ipyleaflet | prettymaps |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan 2026 | 1 | 0 |
| Feb 2026 | 1 | 0 |
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Apr 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| May 2026 | 2 | 0 |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Jul 2026 | 0 | 9 |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 2026 | 0 | 0 |
Side by side
| Attribute | ipyleaflet | prettymaps |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Interactive Leaflet maps in Jupyter notebooks, built on ipywidgets. | Draws stylized maps from OpenStreetMap data, using osmnx and matplotlib. |
| Category | Python map & geospatial visualization libraries | Python map & geospatial visualization libraries |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Status | Maintained | Maintained |
| Latest release | 0.20.0 () | v1.4.2 () |
| Last commit | ||
| Repository created | ||
| Open issues | 269 | 16 |
| Install | pip install ipyleaflet | pip install prettymaps |
Which should you choose?
Popularity and activity are only part of the story. Consider which ecosystem you work in, the chart types and interactions you need, how much data you render, and whether the license fits your project. Both tool pages list alternatives if neither is quite right.
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ipyleaflet
Interactive Leaflet maps in Jupyter notebooks, built on ipywidgets.
-
prettymaps
Draws stylized maps from OpenStreetMap data, using osmnx and matplotlib.