CARTO (formerly CartoDB) vs Mapbox

Likelihood to Recommend

CartoDB is great for generating geographic visualizations of data where the geographies are well-defined. It would be great for analysts to develop visualizations of data with spatial elements. That being said, the software is limited if you want to do any real data munging or analysis, as it can be cumbersome to use and there isn't a great interface for actually saving the results of different manipulations (you can save it as a new file, but it's hard to do version control, etc.). I would recommend preparing the data outside of CartoDB and only using the tool for visualization once the data is well prepared.

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Diana Lam

Senior Analyst

Capital OneArchitecture & Planning, 51-200 employees

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For services that require maps and basic geo-functionality in production, Mapbox is one of the greatest choices out there. They're free, provide much more refined/modern productions compared to Google maps, and have very good support on different platforms. For services that require higher-computation products, like matrix routing, optimization, etc..., the prices can get quite high very quickly, and you should consider moving those services to an on-premise server at that point.

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Fedor Paretsky

Co-Founder/CEO

aspace, Inc.Computer Software, 1-10 employees

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Pros

It is amazing at allowing control of the visualizations. It takes a little bit to get used to but the combination of full SQL queries and CSS-like styling is very powerful.
The services are built on a robust stack of open source software. I was able to build a standalone instance of CartoDB relatively easily (after some research and trial and error).
Server side map rendering is key for handling large data sets. The way the images are returned makes them very easy to catch in an HTTP cache to minimize the hits to the server. The interactivity that CartoDB has built in makes this completely transparent to the end user, they can click on parts of the static images and be presented with popups or change map styles. It's a very clever implementation.

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Brandon Christensen

Senior Software Engineer

Solekai SystemsComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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Documentation is clean, easy to read, and very well organized which makes it easy to get going or learn something new
The online user interface makes it quick and easy to edit maps, upload new datasets, view analytics, or get API keys
Great integrations with Tableau and easy to develop for Android, iOS, or Web

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Verified User

Engineer in Engineering

Computer Software Company, 51-200 employees

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Cons

I don't like the new Builder UI as it has been tough to explain. Other than that I have no complaints.

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Bhavika Tekwani

GIS Specialist

George Mason UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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The product is not always that easy to use, aimed at professionals understanding colors and palettes etc.
Being a full cloud product it can be complicated working with the interface when your connectivity is not great.
Tutorials and samples could be more visual and could cover more ideas on how to use Mapbox.

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John Roberts

Enterprise Reporting Manager

Anglo AmericanMining & Metals, 10,001+ employees

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Alternatives Considered

CartoDB is more user friendly and quicker to learn than ArcGIS Online and Mapbox

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Sacha Selim

GIS Analyst and IT Specialist

ICF InternationalEnvironmental Services, 5001-10,000 employees

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One feature that made me go in favor of Mapbox was its stellar documentation. Google Maps and Bing Maps are the other alternatives I considered, but the learning curve with both of them is steeper than it is with Mapbox. Also, Mapbox Studio gives newbies a very simple, clean and easy to use environment to make and store maps online

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Firaz Peer

Instructor

Georgia Institute of TechnologyHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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Return on Investment

CartoDB definitely saves a lot of time when creating visualizations. Previously, I would use different software and have to make edits manually (or just create the visualizations manually to start with). I would say that the software definitely cuts the time required to create certain visualizations by a half or two-thirds.

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Diana Lam

Senior Analyst

Capital OneArchitecture & Planning, 51-200 employees

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Easier basemaps
Makes faster custom visualizations
Increased speed to map deployment

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Anthony DiBiase

Geospatial Data Analyst

Terra Global CapitalEnvironmental Services, 1-10 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

CARTO (formerly CartoDB) Editions & Modules

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Additional Pricing Details

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General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Mapbox Editions & Modules

Edition

Starting Price	$0.50¹

Per 1000 users

Additional Pricing Details

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