head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Organic Maps
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars, 15,326 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Organic Maps has 15,439 stars, 1,589 forks, 3,510 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 756% (132,233 vs 15,439 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Organic Maps is written in C++ under a custom or non-standard licence. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Organic Maps 10%. Excalidraw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Excalidraw | Organic Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 132K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 15K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 132K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Organic Maps if
- You want the Organic Maps feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Organic Maps fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw is an open source virtual whiteboard application built in TypeScript, designed for sketching hand drawn style diagrams, wireframes, and freeform ideas. It lives within the web based productivity and design visualization ecosystem, offering a lightweight alternative to commercial tools like Figma, Miro, and Canva. The project includes both a standalone web app at excalidraw.com and an embeddable npm package for integration into third party applications.
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Organic Maps
Organic Maps is a free Android and iOS offline maps and GPS app. It lives in the mobile maps and navigation ecosystem. It uses crowd sourced OpenStreetMap data. The app was created by the MapsWithMe (MAPS.ME) founders and maintained by an open source community. It is installed by more than 6 million users worldwide.
read the full Organic Maps overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Organic Maps more popular?
Excalidraw has 132,233 GitHub stars and Organic Maps has 15,439. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Organic Maps free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT, and Organic Maps has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Organic Maps?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Organic Maps in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Excalidraw or Organic Maps?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (132,233 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Organic Maps if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.