Top 9 Best IP Geolocation APIs

The progression of geolocation technology has made it possible for us to locate things via the internet. Whether it is locating your lost pet with its GPS embedded collar or finding your favorite restaurant, geolocation has graduated to become an imperative technology for everyday living. Besides, the technology has evolved and is now used on a bigger scale by enterprises to identify and target consumers based on location. However, before we delve deep into the core aspects of this technology, let's break it down.

What is IP Geolocation?

Geolocation is the identification or designation of the geographic location of an item, such as a mobile phone, radar source, or internet-connected computer. In that sense, IP Geolocation can be defined as the technique used to map a particular IP address to a geographic location from where the device is connecting to the internet. Through this technology, individuals or organizations can identify or estimate the real-world location of a device that you are using to connect to the internet. This technique provides your device's location details such as the country, state city, latitude/longitude, zip code, and even the street if fine-tuned further.

What is the best IP geolocation API?

After reviewing over 38 IP geolocation APIs, we found these 9 APIs to be the very best and worth mentioning:

• Telize API
• geoPlugin API
• IPWHOIS.io API
• Ipregistry API
• Weatherbit API
• BigDataCloud API
• ipgeolocation.io API
• IP Geo Location API
• ClearIP API

Our Top 9 Best IP Geolocation APIs for 2020

Our Top Picks for Best IP Geolocation APIs

What is IP Geolocation?

Geolocation is the identification or designation of the geographic location (sometimes referred to as IP Localization) of an item, such as a mobile phone, radar source, or internet-connected computer.

1. Telize

Telize was previously a public API, but due to abuse the API was rebuilt with a paid plan on RapidAPI's secure platform.

This REST API is a service to get a visitor's IP address and query their location information. It returns JSON-encoded IP geolocation data, and supports both Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) and JSONP.

Learn how to use the API in JavaScript to Build a Location Intelligence App.

Popularity Score: 9.8/10

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Best Forgetting visitor IP address & location information

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2. geoPlugin

The IP Geolocation API by geoPlugin claims to be the original and largest free IP geolocation web service since 2006.

Not only does this API provide IP geolocation, but also has currency conversion built in.

The API has available integrations for:

• JSON
• PHP
• XML
• CSV
• ASP
• JavaScript

Check out the API's status here: https://status.geoplugin.net/

Learn how to use the API with Python.

Popularity Score: 8.0/10

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Best For geo-targeting & currency conversion

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3. IPWHOIS.io

IPWHOIS.io offers a free real-time geolocation REST API that is used by thousands of developers around the world.

This API is convenient for small projects and is free up to 1,000 requests/day (IP and Referer identification).

Some use cases for this API include:

• Filter out bot traffic
• customize content based on visitor's location
• display full country names
• perform bulk IP geolocation

Popularity Score: 7.9/10

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Best For bulk IP geolocation & filtering out bot traffic

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4. Ipregistry

Ipregistry is an excellent IP info API that assists in:

• pinpointing your users' locations (using IP addresses)
• extracting company names, domains, and carriers
• enhance user experience
• enforcing GDPR compliance
• detecting proxies, Tor exit nodes, spammers, bad bots, and more

Popularity Score: 6.7/10

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Best For IP geolocation and detecting threat data

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5. Weatherbit

Weatherbit is a high performance weather API used by thousands of developers around the world.

Weatherbit's Geo IP API allows you to obtain a visitor's IP address or get location data from any IP address. The API returns JSON, JSONP and plaintext and supports cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).

Get started with Weatherbit's Geo IP API for just $5/month (1000 requests/day).

Popularity Score: 2.1/10

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Best For JSON IP/GeoIP

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6. BigDataCloud

BigDataCloud offers a multitude of APIs including time zone, country info, geocoding, and IP geolocation.

BigDataCloud's IP Geolocation API returns detailed information about the geographical location, ownership and connectivity of the provided IPv4 IP address. Powered by patent pending Next Generation IP Geolocation Technology.

BigDataCloud also provides an IP Geolocation service with Confidence Area, which includes confidence of area estimation for a specific geo.

Popularity Score: 1.8/10

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Best For geolocation and network information

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7. ipgeolocation.io

Ipgeolocation.io offers a freemium geolocation API that returns:

• city
• state
• province
• country
• continent
• latitude
• longitude
• region
• timezone
• current time
• organization
• ISP
• local currency
• country flags

The IP Location API can be used for:

• content personalization
• geotargeting
• geofencing
• ad targeting
• digital rights management
• form auto-completion

This API is free to use up to 1,000 requests/month. Paid plans start at $15/month.

Popularity Score: n/a/10

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Best For geotargeting, geofencing and local time info

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8. IP Geo Location

The IP geo location API gives detailed information about IP location of your visitors. Data includes information about country, city, latitude and longitude, timezone, asn, currency and some security data. API supports IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses.

The API also returns ASN, city population, country information, currency, postcode information, and more.

Popularity Score: 9.6/10

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Best For geographic location & currency information

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9. ClearIP

The Clearip API is an API to help build location-aware web and mobile applications. Based on an IP, the API returns:

• country
• continent
• country flag
• country code
• lat and long
• time zone
• ISP
• currency
• calling codes
• and much more

Popularity Score: n/a/10

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Best For location-aware web and mobile apps

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All IP Geolocation APIs and their endpoints are available to consume in:

• Node.js
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• Java
• Objective-C
• .NET
• RapidQL
• Google Sheets

Learn more how to get started here with all the different code snippets.

Additional Info about IP Geolocation Software

How Accurate is IP Geolocation?

IP Geolocation has become an essential technology when it comes to mapping IP addresses with geographic locations (continent, country, state/province, and City, as well as additional information such as postal/ZIP code, time zone and area code, others). However, its accuracy is contingent upon the database being used by the service provider. Most vendors claim they provide 98 to 99% accuracy for the IP-to-country database. However, the IP2country database accuracy is considered to be about 95%. The accuracy of IP-to-City is estimated to be somewhere between 50% and 70%, while that of IP-to-Region is around 50% since there is no official source of IP2Region data.

What is IP Geolocation Used For?

The benefits of IP geolocation are far-reaching and are used by organizations from all sectors, including manufacturing, insurance, banking transportation, governments, and utilities, among others. By identifying their consumer's location, businesses craft more targeted and personalize adverts, as well as provide more tailored products and services. In partnership with cross-platform mobile applications, IP geolocation offers the basis for enhanced and personalized experiences. It also allows organizations to leverage location data, social media, and other platforms to provide context-enriched services.

In the banking sector, determining the user location is part and parcel of the authentication process that helps prevent money laundering, "phishing" attacks, and other security concerns. It also plays a pivotal role in fraud detection for online merchants, credit card providers, and online payment platforms.

Law enforcement agencies use IP geolocation services to track financial transactions done by corrupt government officials, drug dealers, and money launders. Government agencies also use the service to monitor online deals with terrorists associated groups or trading with banned nations.

Related: Get Weather Forecast for a Flight using IP Geolocation

Can a fake IP Address be Traced?

Since there are plenty of ways in which users can use fake IP addresses, there is a bugging question of whether they can still be traced. The answer is yes. Even if you fake your IP address using additional services, they will be mapped to the location that is provided by the service you are using. What happens is that the tool you are using makes others think that you are accessing the internet using another IP, in another Country. However, with more search, the address can be flagged as fake.

How Do IP Geolocation Service Providers Collect Data?

Geolocation services boast access to vast databases that provide them with the necessary information they need to locate someone using IP addresses. However, their sources of data include:

Regional Internet Registries (RIR)

These are large organizations that are mandated with the role of managing and controlling internet access in various regions. RIR is responsible for the assigning and distribution of IP addresses, as well as registration of domains. Due to the rapid growth of the internet and the fact that every computer needs an IP to connect to the internet, the demand for IP addresses has risen, forcing the RIR to have subsidiary registries in various regions. Since the Regional Internet Registries are the custodians of the IP addresses, they are the primary source of data for geolocation service providers.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may also be a source of data for databases that are used by IP geolocation service providers. Because ISPs have perfect knowledge of their IP addresses, they sometimes share information with other online companies. The companies might, in turn, use statistical formulas and other advanced analytical tools to analyze data collected by IPS when we go about our regular online activities. Using such data, service providers can fine-tune their search and get more precise locations.

Data Submitted by User's tied to IP addresses

In some cases, companies may take anonymous data that is linked to particular IP addresses and use the information to populate their databases. These include things like postal codes, a city, or any other information relating to your location that you provide when buying something online. They may also scour other data sources where your IP address had manifested before. For instance, when you log in to online weather sites and type your ZIP code or City, the data is tied to your IP since the request was made in real-time.

IP Spidering

This is a more advanced and sophisticated technique where companies use traceroutes, pings, and other methods to visit websites, read their information, and collect data that can help in the identification of IP addresses geographic locations. The complexity of this technique makes it time-consuming. It is hard to map routing infrastructure around the internet, considering that there are millions if not billions of addresses that are allocated, moved, or de-allocated every single day.

Summary: Best IP Geolocation APIs for Developers

Complete List of the Best IP Geolocation APIs

• IP Location API - Low-latency IP location API with mobile IPv6 support
• SmartIP.io - With SmartIP you can enrich any IP address with geolocation data, ASN and hostname information, enforce GDPR compliance, assess potential risks and much more.
• ipTwist - The reliable, secure, and simple IP geolocation API.
• Telize - Telize offers a JSON IP and GeoIP REST API allowing to get a visitor IP address and to query location information from any IP address. It outputs JSON-encoded IP geolocation data, and supports both Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) and JSONP.
• IP Geolocation - This API endpoint returns the geo location of any IP, with relevant information like Continent, Country, Region, City, Postal code, Latitude and Longitude, Autonomous System and Reverse Hostname.
• IP Geo Location - API returns location data such as country, city, latitude, longitude, timezone, asn, currency, security data for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in JSON or XML formats.
• Free IP Geolocation - A Free IP Geolocation service
• BIN Lookup - Perform a BIN (Bank Identification Number) or IIN (Issuer Identification Number) lookup. This API is ideal for fraud protection systems and payment analysis. Our BIN database is comprehensive and covers all countries, we update it on a regular basis as new cards are issued. This API also includes some extra fraud detection measures if a customer IP address is passed in. In this mode the API will also perform IP geolocation and IP blocklist lookups. Please Note: processing and transmitting BIN numbers is perfectly safe as long as no other card information is present, BIN numbers on there own pose no security risk to the card holder or merchant. To prevent abuse this API is restricted to a maximum of 5 API calls per day for Free API accounts.
• IP Geolocation - geoPlugin - the original and largest free IP geolocation web service API since 2006 Available in JSON, PHP, XML, CSV, Javascript
• IP Address Geolocation - This API returns the location of an IP address (country, region, city, zipcode, latitude and longitude) and the associated timezone in JSON or XML format.
• IP Info - Get location information about an IP address. Depending on the specific IP address you can determine the country, region, city, longitude and latitude of the address. Our high quality database for geolocation data is being constantly updated as the internet address allocation changes (the database is usually updated at least once per month). This API can also be used to do reverse DNS (PTR) lookups.
• IP Geolocation - IPWHOIS.io - You can use https://ipwhois.io/ to filter out bot traffic, customize content based on visitor's location, display full country names, perform bulk IP geolocation, and more.
• Ipregistry - Fast, Reliable IP Geolocation and Threat Data API.
• BIN - Issuer Identification Number database - This API endpoint returns the information of BIN/IIN numbers. BIN typically show the type of card like Debit or Credit, brand of card (e.g. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, etc.), and level of card such as Classic, Standard, Gold, Platinum, and World Signia. All these information combined with geolocation of the user, card and IP can help to reduce fraud.
• Geo Location - Get Geo Location based on IP or dns name
• IP Sidekick - IP Sidekick is a geolocation API that returns information about an IP address. You can use it to customize your content based on the visitor's location or display their country.
• IP2Location IP Geolocation Web Service - IP2Location web service provides reverse lookup of an IP address to an ISO3166 country code, region or state, city, latitude and longitude, ZIP/Postal code, time zone, ISP, net speed, area code, weather station code, weather station name, mobile carrier data, elevation, and usage type. Visit https://www.ip2location.com/web-service for more info.
• Geo IP - The Geo IP API from Weatherbit offers a JSON IP / GeoIP API which allow you to obtain a visitor's IP address, or query location data from any IP address. Valid outputs include JSON, JSONP, and plantext. Supports Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).
• geolocation - Geolocation api. Have you ever needed to know where the person visiting your website is coming from? Just use this API.
• IP Geolocation - This API returns detailed information about the geographical location, ownership and connectivity of the provided IPv4 IP address. Powered by patent pending Next Generation IP Geolocation Technology.
• IP GEOLOCATION - Output Json format. Check location latitude and longitude, city name, country name, country code, isp name, region, zip code and more.
• Magento 2 Currency Language Switcher - Magento 2 currency and language switcher automatically changes the store's language and currency based upon the user's location. The extension detects every visitor's Geo location with the help of its MaxMind IP database and redirects them to a store view with their local language and currency.
• IP Address Geolocation - IP Address Geolocation Service to Identify the Continent, Country Code, Country Name, Region (State, County, Province, Region, Territory, District, etc), City, Postal/ZIP Code, Metro Code, Area Code, Latitude, Longitude, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Organization
• IP2Location - The IP2Location Geolocation Web Service allows instant identification of online visitors geographical location by using IP address. The IP2Location Geolocation Web Service returns geographic information such as country, region, city, latitude, longitude, ISP and domain name.
• IP to Geolocation - IP addresses to Geolocation RESTful API. Geolocalize IPv4 and IPv6, multi output formats. Simple and well documented, easy and fast to implement. Large free plan available.
• IP Geolocation with Confidence Area - This API returns detailed information about the geographical location, ownership and connectivity of the provided IPv4 IP address. This particular API also includes Geolocation confidence and area estimation. Powered by patent pending Next Generation IP Geolocation Technology.
• DB-IP IP Geolocation - Lookup geographical location data like country code, state and city by IPv4 or IPv6 address.
• Clearip - API to build location-aware web and mobile applications. The only IP to Geolocation API you will ever need.
• IP Geolocation by ipgeolocation.io - IP Geolocation API allows developers to get geolocation information for a given IP address. Data points returned by this GeoIP API include city, state, province, country, continent, latitude, longitude, region, timezone, current time, organization, ISP, local currency, and country flags. This IP Location API can be used for content personalization, geotargeting, geofencing, ad targeting, digital rights management, form auto-completion, etc. With the free plan, you can make 15,000 IP lookup API calls per month. Paid plans are starting from $15 per month.
• IP 2 Location - IP2Location offers a powerful, real-time IP to geolocation API capable of looking up accurate location data and assessing security threats originating from risky IP addresses. Results are delivered within milliseconds in JSON. Using the IP2Location API you will be able to locate website visitors at first glance and adjust your user experience and application accordingly
• IP geolocation - Instantly find an IP address' physical location.
• IP Anomaly Detection - Monapi's digital assets API enables business to automate lookup Real Time Reputation for any given IPv4. Get Threat Classification, Geo Location & more Data in one API Call. Devs can use this API to reduce undesirable signups, localize IPs and Domains, reduce Fraud, secure Deployment Pipelines and so much more! Join our secure your App Movement and enjoy build in security.
• Geo Location - Real-time IP address to location JSON API
• IP to Country Geolocation - This API returns detailed information about the country identified by geolocating the provided IPv4 IP address. This includes ISO defined names, languages, currencies, United Nations and Word Bank defined region names and income levels. Powered by patent pending Next Generation IP Geolocation Technology.
• IP - The IP API offers a JSON REST API to retrieve geo location and network information of IP addresses and users. IPv4 and IPv6 is supported.
• https://ipfinder.io/ - ipfinder offers one of the leading IP to geolocation APIs and global IP database services worldwide.
• IPLegit - Quick get an IP addresses information.
• IP Geo Location | Geoipify - We provide GeoIP location, demographic information about your user.

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