Mapbox
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 5 mapping APIs
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.
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.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 77%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Built on OpenStreetMap data
“I use mapbox for turn-by-turn for hours a day every day, and it's based on OSM.”
Comment from 30 Aug 2026 in “Google: Lake Ontario/Lake America name change in the U.S. will appear in Maps” “MapBox[0] does a good job. I think they use OSM maps.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Claude Desktop spins up a VM without no way of stopping it” Responsive, good-performing maps
“MapBox is about the only one that has tolerable performance.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite” “the beautiful and much more responsive Mapbox maps”
Comment from 10 Nov 2025 in “Itiner-e: the Google Maps of Roman Roads” Good results in practice
“MapBox[0] does a good job. I think they use OSM maps.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Claude Desktop spins up a VM without no way of stopping it” “Honestly Mapbox worked really well here.”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: I built an interactive globe for verified combat events”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Blocks signups with Proton Mail aliases
“Within the last month both Mapbox and Etsy blocked my attempts to signup using a Proton Mail alias.”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless” “Etsy and Mapbox block signups with Proton Mail aliases”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”
Other mapping APIs people recommend
The four most recommended other mapping APIs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MapboxThis page | 10 | 3 | 77% | 9 | — | Approved |
| MapLibre | 9 | 2 | 82% | 4 | — | — |
| Protomaps | 8 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Google Maps API | 6 | 17 | 26% | 5 | — | — |
| Nominatim | 6 | 4 | 60% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Usage like this should be with a provider like Mapbox, or your own supplied tiles.”
“I use mapbox for turn-by-turn for hours a day every day, and it's based on OSM.”
“Mapbox forgave it fortunately”
“MapBox is about the only one that has tolerable performance.”
“Within the last month both Mapbox and Etsy blocked my attempts to signup using a Proton Mail alias.”
“Etsy and Mapbox block signups with Proton Mail aliases”
“MapBox[0] does a good job. I think they use OSM maps.”
“Honestly Mapbox worked really well here.”
“I have heard good things about it.”
“has recently made a larger pushback against open source and open standards”
“combined with Mapbox for frontend”
“Using mapbox to do this straight would be to slow.”
“the beautiful and much more responsive Mapbox maps”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.