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Maps · head to head

Bing Maps vs Lonboard

Bing Maps logo

Bing Maps

Maps

Web mapping services with street maps, aerial imagery, and APIs for developers

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lonboard logo

Lonboard

Maps

Python map rendering in Jupyter that skips GeoJSON and moves millions of features without choking

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Lonboard has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Bing Maps bing Maps for Enterprise is deprecated and will be retired by 6/30/2025 for free accounts and 6/30/2028 for enterprise accounts; Lonboard it is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file
  • They diverge on capability: Bing Maps covers Core Functionality, Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bing Maps and Lonboard actually diverge.

Attributes where Bing Maps and Lonboard differ
AttributeBing MapsLonboard
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maps).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bing Maps

  • Core Functionality
  • User Interface

Only in Lonboard

  • GeoArrow binary transfer
  • GeoPandas input
  • deck.gl layers
  • Jupyter widget
  • Large dataset handling
  • Styling by attribute
  • Open source licence

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bing Maps

  • Driving directions and turn-by-turn navigation guidancenot Lonboard
  • Real-time traffic monitoring and road condition updatesnot Lonboard
  • Commuter route planning with live traffic intelligencenot Lonboard

Lonboard

  • An analyst exploring a national road or parcel dataset in a notebook where pydeck or ipyleaflet becomes unusable at that sizenot Bing Maps
  • A researcher publishing a reproducible analysis where the visualisation must run from the same script as the processingnot Bing Maps
  • A data scientist joining spatial data to model outputs in pandas and needing to see the result immediately without exporting to a GISnot Bing Maps
  • A team building an internal analysis pipeline on GeoParquet that wants rendering without a serialisation step in the middlenot Bing Maps

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bing Maps

  • Bing Maps for Enterprise is deprecated and will be retired by 6/30/2025 for free accounts and 6/30/2028 for enterprise accounts
  • All implementations must migrate to Azure Maps to avoid service disruption

Lonboard

  • It is a notebook visualisation library, not a mapping application, so there is no editing, no layout, no map export for print and no sharing beyond distributing the notebook or an HTML file
  • Maintenance sits with Development Seed as an open source side output of a consultancy, so roadmap priorities follow client projects and there is no support contract to buy
  • Layer coverage is a subset of deck.gl, so an analyst needing a less common layer type has to drop to pydeck or write JavaScript rather than staying in Python
  • It expects data already in GeoPandas or Arrow form, which means the performance benefit depends on the rest of your pipeline being Arrow-friendly; reading a large Shapefile is still the slow step
  • Rendering happens in the browser, so very large datasets are ultimately limited by the client machine's memory and GPU rather than by the server, and a laptop will still fail on data a workstation handles

Pricing, plan by plan

Bing Maps

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Bing Maps review.

Lonboard

Free
  • LonboardFree
    • Open source, no licence fee
    • No usage limits
    • Installed from PyPI or conda

Which should you pick?

Choose Bing Maps if

  • You need core functionality.
  • You also want user interface.
Bing Maps review

Choose Lonboard if

  • You need geoarrow binary transfer.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want geopandas input.
Lonboard review

Questions people ask

Is Bing Maps or Lonboard better?
Neither clearly leads. Bing Maps starts at On request and Lonboard at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bing Maps or Lonboard?
Lonboard has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Bing Maps and Free for Lonboard.
Does Bing Maps or Lonboard run on more platforms?
Bing Maps runs on Web. Lonboard runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Lonboard for free?
Yes. Lonboard has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Bing Maps starts at On request.
What is Bing Maps best used for?
Bing Maps is most often used for driving directions and turn-by-turn navigation guidance, real-time traffic monitoring and road condition updates, commuter route planning with live traffic intelligence. Of those, driving directions and turn-by-turn navigation guidance and real-time traffic monitoring and road condition updates are not what Lonboard is typically brought in for.
What can Bing Maps do that Lonboard cannot?
Bing Maps covers Core Functionality, User Interface. Lonboard covers GeoArrow binary transfer, GeoPandas input, deck.gl layers, Jupyter widget.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bing Maps: What happened to Bing Maps for Enterprise?

Bing Maps for Enterprise is deprecated and will be retired. Free account customers can continue using the service until 6/30/2025, while enterprise account customers can continue until 6/30/2028. Microsoft recommends migrating implementations to Azure Maps to avoid service disruptions.

Source
Lonboard: Why not just use pydeck?

pydeck serialises geometry to GeoJSON to reach the browser. Lonboard uses a binary GeoArrow pipeline, which is the reason it handles far larger datasets in the same notebook.

Bing Maps: When will Bing Maps for Enterprise be discontinued?

Bing Maps for Enterprise retires 6/30/2025 for free accounts and 6/30/2028 for enterprise accounts. All implementations using Bing Maps for Enterprise REST APIs and SDKs must be updated to use Azure Maps before the retirement dates.

Source
Lonboard: Who maintains it?

Development Seed, a geospatial engineering consultancy, as an open source project. There is no commercial support offering.

Bing Maps: What should I use instead of Bing Maps?

Microsoft is transitioning customers to Azure Maps, which provides consumption-based pricing with volume-based discounts and pay-only-for-what-you-use cost structure. Azure Maps offers all mapping features without throttling.

Source
Lonboard: Does it work outside Jupyter?

It is built as a Jupyter widget. Exporting to standalone HTML is possible, but the intended environment is a notebook.

Lonboard: Is it free for commercial use?

Yes, it is open source with no licence fee.

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