# Mapbox

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Mapbox and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend Mapbox for responsive maps and turn-by-turn navigation, and it works well for developers building map features. Critics note it blocks signups using Proton Mail aliases.

## Why people recommend it

- Built on OpenStreetMap data (2 comments): "I use mapbox for turn-by-turn for hours a day every day, and it's based on OSM." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503286)) "MapBox[0] does a good job. I think they use OSM maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48482458))
- Responsive, good-performing maps (2 comments): "MapBox is about the only one that has tolerable performance." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48568693)) "the beautiful and much more responsive Mapbox maps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45872929))
- Good results in practice (2 comments): "MapBox[0] does a good job. I think they use OSM maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48482458)) "Honestly Mapbox worked really well here." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47337558))

## What people warn about

- Blocks signups with Proton Mail aliases (2 comments): "Within the last month both Mapbox and Etsy blocked my attempts to signup using a Proton Mail alias." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48562587)) "Etsy and Mapbox block signups with Proton Mail aliases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48562576))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [MapLibre](https://hackerapproved.com/p/maplibre.md): 9 recommend
- [Protomaps](https://hackerapproved.com/p/protomaps.md): 8 recommend
- [Google Maps API](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-maps-api.md): 6 recommend
- [Nominatim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nominatim.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.mapbox.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Mapbox", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mapbox/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).