CARTO vs Mapbox Studio
CARTO
carto.comMapbox Studio
mapbox.comSide by side
| Figure | CARTO | Mapbox Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 5 |
| Spec score · Location Intelligence Software | 8.1 (#8) | 8.5 (#5) |
| Spec score · Location Platform Software | 8.1 (#6) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · GIS Software | 8.1 (#17) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · Geo Tools | 8.0 (#8) | 8.4 (#3) |
| Spec score · Interactive Map Software | 8.1 (#15) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Founded | 2012 | 2010 |
| Headquarters | New York, United States | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Security | CARTO is SOC 2 Type II certified and undergoes annual audits by an independent third-party certified auditor. | Mapbox says it is SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 compliant and serves its APIs over HTTPS and TLS 1.2 or higher by default. |
| Self-hosting | CARTO Self-Hosted runs on GCP, AWS, Azure, sovereign or regional clouds, or on-premises using a virtual machine or Kubernetes cluster. | Studio styles are hosted on the Mapbox platform and published through Mapbox style URLs, so the documented workflow is Mapbox-hosted rather than self-hosted. |
| Support | CARTO offers support options ranging from onboarding to ongoing platform guidance, plus professional services for spatial data science, app development, GIS, and cloud architecture. | Mapbox lists self-serve resources, account help, and technical assistance among its support options. |
Plans
CARTO
- CustomPrice not published
- EnterprisePrice not published
- Pay As You GoPrice not published
- StrategicPrice not published
Mapbox Studio
- Mapbox GL JS (Map Loads)Free
- Mapbox StudioFree
- Maps SDKs for MobileFree
- Pay-as-you-goFree
- Static Images APIFree
In their own words
Mapbox Studio
Mapbox Studio is a suite for designing custom map styles and managing location data. You can upload and edit Shapefiles, GeoJSON, and CSV data, which Studio converts into vector tiles. Style controls cover colors, typography, road width, point-of-interest density, sky, 3D buildings, and terrain. Studio can visualize point, line, and polygon data through options such as choropleths and scaled point maps. You can add your own fonts, icons, and textures to a map design. Published styles can be used through Mapbox SDKs and APIs; a stylesheet can also be downloaded or a high-resolution image exported for print. Component styles work with Maps SDK for Web v1.0+, iOS v5.0+, and Android 8.0+. Users cannot author their own Style Components, and components cannot be restored after they are ejected from a style. The plan costs nothing and is available to all Mapbox users, though related API and custom tileset usage may be billed separately. Mapbox says it was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco.