GeoServer is built openly, governed transparently, and maintained by a global network of developers, researchers, and organizations committed to advancing open geospatial standards.
We believe geospatial technology should be accessible, auditable, and continuously improved by the community.
Every line of code is publicly reviewed. Security, performance, and standards compliance are verified by peers worldwide.
Decisions are made openly through mailing lists, community votes, and transparent project leadership rotations.
Open licensing ensures long-term availability, vendor independence, and continuous evolution through shared contributions.
GeoServer doesn't exist in isolation. It's part of a rich ecosystem of complementary open geospatial tools.
The flagship project. Publish and edit geospatial data using OGC standards (WMS, WFS, WCS, TMS). Enterprise-ready and highly extensible.
The underlying geospatial library. Provides standards-compliant reading, writing, and transformation of spatial data formats.
High-performance mosaic database. Seamlessly stitches and serves large collections of raster datasets as a single layer.
Distributed tile caching system. Accelerates map rendering by pre-generating and storing tiles in multiple formats.
Whether you write code, fix documentation, report bugs, or triage issues, every contribution moves the project forward.
Browse GitHub issues. Look for `good first issue`, `help wanted`, or `documentation` tags.
Fork the repo, create a feature branch, and follow our coding standards and commit conventions.
Run `mvn clean install`. Add unit tests, update docs, and verify compatibility with target standards.
Open a pull request. Maintainers will review, suggest improvements, and merge after approval.
GeoServer and its ecosystem use open licenses designed for commercial and academic use with clear attribution requirements.
Licensed under LGPL 2.1 or later. Allows commercial use, modification, and distribution. Dynamic linking is permitted without requiring your application to be open source.
LGPL-2.1+Licensed under GPL 2.0. Strong copyleft license. If you statically link or modify GeoTools, your distribution must also be GPL-compatible. Exception available for commercial licensing.
GPL-2.0We bundle several Apache 2.0, MIT, and BSD licensed libraries (JTS, GDAL bindings, Jackson, etc.). All dependencies are tracked and disclosed in our NOTICE and LICENSE files.
Apache 2.0 / MIT / BSDThe GeoServer name and logo are trademarks of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Commercial distributors must follow branding guidelines and may not imply endorsement.
OSGeo TrademarkTwo decades of transparent development, supported by universities, NGOs, startups, and Fortune 500 companies.
Whether you're a developer, mapper, or data scientist, your expertise helps shape the future of spatial infrastructure.