AwesomeDataviz

Mapnik

Toolkit for rendering maps, widely used to render OpenStreetMap tiles.

Website GitHub
GitHub stars
4K
Commits, last 12 months
191
Contributors
98
Last commit
Latest release
v4.3.2Sep 23, 2026

Overview

Mapnik is an open-source C++ visualization tool released under the LGPL-2.1 license. Its GitHub repository has 3,965 stars, 839 forks, and 98 contributors. It is actively developed with 191 commits in the last 12 months. The latest release, v4.3.2, was published on Sep 23, 2026.

Its GitHub description: Mapnik is an open source toolkit for developing mapping applications

GitHub topics: mapnikc-plus-plusmappingcartographygiswikipythonrenderingbeautiful-maps

Development activity

Commits per month to the default branch over the last 12 complete months.

0204060 Oct 2025 Nov Dec Jan 2026 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
0204060 Oct 2025 Jan 2026 Apr Jul
191 commits from Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.
Show data as a table
MonthCommits
Oct 202515
Nov 20258
Dec 202516
Jan 20268
Feb 20264
Mar 202610
Apr 20264
May 202613
Jun 20265
Jul 202631
Aug 202631
Sep 202646

Popularity among C++ visualization libraries & applications

ImPlot 6.2K PlotJuggler 6.2K Matplot++ 4.9K F3D 4.7K Mapnik 4K ROOT 3.3K VTK 3.2K
ImPlot 6.2K PlotJuggler 6.2K Matplot++ 4.9K F3D 4.7K Mapnik 4K ROOT 3.3K VTK 3.2K
GitHub stars for Mapnik and the most-starred alternatives.
Show data as a table
ToolStars
ImPlot6,239
PlotJuggler6,230
Matplot++4,937
F3D4,741
Mapnik3,965
ROOT3,307
VTK3,211

Alternatives to Mapnik

  • ImPlot

    Immediate-mode plotting library for Dear ImGui.

    6.2K starsC++MITMapnik vs ImPlot

  • PlotJuggler

    Open-source Qt5 application to plot charts (based on Qwt).

    6.2K starsC++MPL-2.0Mapnik vs PlotJuggler

  • Matplot++

    C++ graphics library for data visualization with a MATLAB-like API.

    4.9K starsC++MITMapnik vs Matplot++

  • F3D

    Cross-platform, fast, and minimalist 3D viewer with scientific visualization tools.

    4.7K starsC++BSD-3-ClauseMapnik vs F3D

  • ROOT

    CERN framework for analyzing, storing and visualizing large scientific datasets.

    3.3K starsC++Other

  • VTK

    Open-source library for 3d Graphics, image processing and visualization.

    3.2K starsC++BSD

More comparisons: ImPlot vs Mapnik · Mapnik vs PlotJuggler · Mapnik vs Matplot++ · F3D vs Mapnik

Mapnik FAQ

Is Mapnik open source?

Yes. Mapnik is released under the LGPL-2.1 license, and its source code is on GitHub.

Is Mapnik still maintained?

Yes. Mapnik is actively developed, with 191 commits in the last 12 months and the latest commit 11 days ago.

What are the best alternatives to Mapnik?

The most popular alternatives listed in C++ visualization libraries & applications are ImPlot, PlotJuggler, and Matplot++. See the full ranking.

What language is Mapnik written in?

Mapnik is primarily written in C++, according to GitHub.

Data: GitHub API. Updated Oct 4, 2026.