OpenStreetMap commercial use: the data is free, the servers are not

OpenStreetMap commercial use is allowed: the data's license lets a business build on it as long as it credits OpenStreetMap. The free tile and geocoding servers are a separate matter, with their own rules on caching, offline use and autocomplete, and they can block you without notice. Below are the policies, quoted as we read them on October 25, 2026.

What we read, and what this is not

We read five OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) and OpenStreetMap pages on October 25, 2026: the tile usage policy, the vector tile policy, the Nominatim usage policy, the attribution guideline and the copyright and license page. These documents change. The tile and vector tile policies each say "This policy may change at any time," the Nominatim policy says it "may change without notice," and the attribution guideline says the OSMF may "propose or ask for different attribution guidelines in the future."

This is not legal advice. It is a plain-language reading of public documents, written for a business that wants a map on its site or in its app. Read the current terms before you ship, and take advice from a lawyer where real money rests on the answer, for example a paid product whose core feature is a map. The server policies say the OSMF Terms of Use also govern the services; we did not read those, and we make no claim about which country's law applies.

OpenStreetMap commercial use: the license allows it, with two conditions

The OpenStreetMap copyright page says the data is licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL) and summarizes it: "You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. If you alter or build upon our data, you may distribute the result only under the same license."

Neither sentence mentions a fee or a ban on commercial products. The two conditions are credit and share-alike. For a store locator, a delivery-zone map or a booking map, the practical duty is the credit. Whether share-alike reaches you depends on whether you "alter or build upon" the data and distribute the result, which is a question for the license text itself; we did not analyze the ODbL beyond this summary. The Nominatim policy notes that "small extractions are likely to be covered by fair usage / fair dealing," which is a hedge, not a guarantee.

The tile policy opens with the line that causes most of the confusion: "OpenStreetMap (OSM) data is free for everyone to use. Our tile servers are not." The rest of this guide is about that second sentence.

Five assumptions the tile policy contradicts

The standard map tiles at tile.openstreetmap.org are what Leaflet's tutorial points to. Leaflet's quick start says the tiles "are fine for programming your Leaflet map, but read the Tile Usage Policy of OpenStreetMap if you're going to use the tiles in production." Here is what that policy says on the points developers most often guess.

Does the tile server allow commercial apps?

The policy neither approves nor forbids them. It sets conditions that any app must meet and reserves the right to cut you off: "We may block access, without notice, if your usage degrades the service." It also says "We may try to contact you if possible, but cannot guarantee this." In our view, that makes the public tile server a poor foundation for a product that charges customers for the map. That judgment is ours; the policy states the risk, not a verdict.

What the technical rules mean for a web page

In a browser, you largely get compliance by default. The policy notes that "Modern browsers, with default settings, already satisfy these technical requirements." The failures come from what developers add on top:

• A restrictive Referrer-Policy header, which the policy lists under "You must not."
• Cache-busting headers such as Cache-Control: no-cache, also under "You must not."
• A proxy or CDN that strips the Referer or tunnels every client behind one anonymous identity.
• Pre-fetching tiles the visitor is not looking at.

The caching rule is specific: honor the server's caching headers, or "at least 7 days" if your cache cannot read them.

Why offline maps break the policy

The policy defines bulk downloading as "any pre-emptive fetching of tiles other than those a user is actively viewing," and says "Download city/country for offline use" or "Save area for later" features "rely on prefetch/bulk downloading and are therefore prohibited." For a field-service or delivery app that must work without signal, this is the rule that rules out the public server entirely. The policy points to self-hosted tiles or "a provider that explicitly allows offline/prefetching." Vector tiles from the separate vector.openstreetmap.org service are no way around it: that policy also says bulk downloading "is prohibited."

Attribution: what it must look like

The attribution guideline says the credit must be to "OpenStreetMap" and make clear the data is under the ODbL, which can be done by linking the word to openstreetmap.org/copyright. The historical form "© OpenStreetMap contributors" is acceptable. For an interactive map it should "typically appear in a corner of the map," and may collapse after a dismiss click, on map interaction or "automatically after five seconds," as long as the license information stays findable, for example behind an "(i)" button.

The tile policy is stricter in tone than the guideline on one point, hiding it "behind toggles." We would follow the stricter wording for any map served from tile.openstreetmap.org, and keep the credit visible without a click. The same guideline says attribution is needed only for public use, and exempts small static images, those under 100 features or 10,000 square meters.

Nominatim: where address autocomplete gets apps banned

The public geocoder at nominatim.openstreetmap.org has its own usage policy, and it is tighter than the tile one. The requirements start with "an absolute maximum of 1 request per second," a valid Referer or User-Agent, and attribution. The limit applies "per website/application," so "the sum of traffic by all your users should not exceed the limits."

Can I use Nominatim for address autocomplete?

No. Under the heading "Unacceptable Use," the policy lists "Auto-complete search" as "strictly forbidden and will get you banned," adding that autocomplete "is not yet supported by Nominatim and you must not implement such a service on the client side using the API." A checkout form that suggests addresses as the customer types is exactly that pattern.

The same list forbids systematic queries, such as reverse lookups in a grid or downloading all points of interest in an area, and scraping the details page. It also forbids "Reselling of geocoding results": "Applications and services whose primary function is related to geocoding must run their own service. This includes but is not limited to package/vehicle tracking applications and API resellers like Postman or Apify."

The new clause for AI-built apps

The policy has a section on LLMs. It says "The public Nominatim API must not be built into, offered through, suggested by, or automatically generated by no-code, low-code, or vibe-coding platforms as a generic geocoding, address lookup, place search, or map search service." Use of the public API "is only permitted where the application developer has made a deliberate, informed decision to use it and is directly responsible for complying with this policy."

If an AI coding tool or no-code builder generated your address search, check what it called. The API it picked may be this one, and the duty to comply is yours. Upfynd lists website and app builders and automation tools where this can come up.

Where to host the map instead

For a commercial product, the usual route is a provider that sells or donates the tile hosting. The OSM community's switch2osm provider list groups tile hosts into those that allow free usage and those for paying customers only. We read four providers' own pages on October 25, 2026, and the table shows what each says about commercial use. Upfynd lists 67 products in Maps & Location as of October 2026.

All prices were shown in US dollars when we read the pages. The takeaway is not which one is cheapest. Stadia's free plan bars commercial use and MapTiler's describes itself as for non-commercial use, which is the same trap as the public OSM server in a different form, so read the plan terms before you read the price.

OpenFreeMap's terms, last updated October 14, 2026, allow offline downloads of at most 3,000 tiles or 50 MB each, with at most four parallel requests and a unique User-Agent. That is a contrast with the OSMF servers, though the page also says there are no warranties and that it "may discontinue it at any time without notice." If the map is core to what you sell, note that its FAQ says "I don't offer SLA guarantees or personalized support" at the moment.

Attribution still travels with the data. OpenFreeMap says attribution is required, and Geoapify's FAQ asks for its own link plus data-source credit. Leaflet's quick start adds that "Most other tile providers (such as Mapbox, Stamen or Thunderforest) require an attribution as well." Whichever host you pick, the OpenStreetMap credit is part of the job. Open-source libraries such as OpenLayers draw whatever tiles you point them at, so they do not change which policy applies to the tiles.

If you are weighing OSM against the paid default, our guide to whether the Google Maps API is free covers the per-SKU limits. Builders of e-commerce and on-demand marketplace products will meet the map question early, for store locators and delivery tracking.

A pre-launch checklist for a commercial map

1. Write down every OSMF service your product calls: tile.openstreetmap.org, vector.openstreetmap.org, nominatim.openstreetmap.org.
2. Check that no feature pre-fetches tiles or saves an area for offline use.
3. Check the User-Agent your app sends is unique and names the app, and that your CDN or proxy does not strip the Referer.
4. Remove any address autocomplete built on public Nominatim, and any grid or bulk geocoding.
5. Put "OpenStreetMap" with a link to openstreetmap.org/copyright where users see it without clicking.
6. Make the tile URL configurable, so you can switch without an app update. The tile policy recommends this, and the Nominatim policy requires apps to be able to switch at OSMF's request.
7. Decide now where traffic goes if access is withdrawn, and re-read the three policies before each major release.

If you build a map-based product, you can submit it to Upfynd for a free listing, and a person on our team checks each submission before it goes live.