# Tile38

> MIT in-memory geospatial database and geofencing server

**Category:** Databases  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://tile38.com  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/tidwall/tile38  
**Added:** 2026-10-18

---

## The Hook

Tile38 is an in-memory geolocation data store, spatial index and realtime geofencing server: store points, polygons and GeoJSON, query Nearby/Within/Intersects, and get webhooks when objects cross a fence.

## What's Good

MIT (tidwall/tile38), release 1.38.0 (2026-06-09), developed since 2016. Object types include lat/lon points, bounding boxes, Geohash, GeoJSON, QuadKey and XYZ tiles. It speaks HTTP, WebSockets, telnet and the Redis RESP protocol (so Redis clients work), persists to disk, supports leader/follower replication and ships a CLI and benchmark tool. ★~9.7k.

## The Catch

It is mostly a one-maintainer project, and releases are a few a year. Data must fit in memory. It is a specialised geofencing engine, not a general GIS database; for complex spatial SQL, PostGIS is the tool.

## Verdict

The quickest way to add live geofencing — Redis-style simplicity for location data.