Install
PostGIS alternatives
3 tools to consider instead of PostGIS, shown against it.
| PostGIS | QGIS | CARTO | kepler.gl | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | PostGIS Project | QGIS.org | CARTO | Originally Uber; open-source community project |
| Pricing model | Open source + paid options | Open source + paid options | Usage-based | Open source + paid options |
| Free tier | — | — | No | — |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, Cloud | Self-hosted | Cloud, Self-hosted | Cloud, Self-hosted |
| Open source | Yes (GPL-2.0) | Yes (GPL-2.0) | No | Yes (MIT) |
| Best for | Teams that want spatial analysis expressed as SQL directly inside their existing PostgreSQL database. | GIS analysts and researchers wanting a full-featured desktop GIS without a commercial license. | Analytics teams wanting to run spatial analysis on data that already lives in a cloud warehouse. | Analysts exploring large geospatial or trip datasets visually without writing GIS code. |
| Pricing | Free and open source; costs come only from hosting PostgreSQL itself or from managed-database vendors. Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site. | Free to download and use; funded by community donations and a non-profit foundation rather than licenses. Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site. | A metered Pay-As-You-Go plan bills monthly usage with no commitment; Enterprise, Strategic and Custom tiers require an annual quote. Checked on the vendor's own page on September 21, 2026: no prices are published. Expect to be quoted. | Free, open-source and run standalone in the browser or self-hosted; no vendor pricing. Pricing has not been verified yet — see the vendor's site. |
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