Top 10 Best IP Geolocation APIs (in 2023)

IP Geolocation APIs are a specific type of application programming interface that allow developers to access geographic data associated with a particular IP address. They can provide information such as the country, city, and region of the user's origin. This is useful for various purposes, including advertising targeting, fraud detection, website localization and personalization, content delivery networks (CDNs), geo-targeted search engines, analytics, location-based marketing campaigns, data protection compliance checks and more.

Some services also employ data sources like WHOIS records which contain ownership and registration information about certain Internet resources such as domain names or IP addresses. This type of source is often used when dealing with dedicated server hosting solutions where traditional geocoding methods may fail due to false positives caused by virtual private networks (VPNs), proxies or other shared resources that make it difficult to determine the exact physical location of an IP address.

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.

FAQS

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.

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.

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:

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) 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.

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.

This is a more advanced and sophisticated technique where companies use trace routes, 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.

What is the best IP Geolocation API?

After reviewing over 27 IP Geolocation APIs, we found these 10 APIs to be the very best and worth mentioning:

• Telize API
• IP Geo Location API
• Referential API
• RedLine Zipcode API
• Geocoder - United States Census Bureau API
• Get IP Info API
• IP Location API
• Geocode address to location API
• IP geolocation API
• IP Adress Geolocation API

Our Top 10 Best IP Geolocation APIs for 2023

Our Top Picks for Best IP Geolocation APIs

1. Telize

Telize was previously a public API, but due to abuse the API was rebuilt with a paid plan on the Rapid API Hub.

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 for a friendly user experience.

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

Popularity Score: 9.8/10/10

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Best Forgetting visitor IP address & location information

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2. IP Geo Location

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

Supported languages:

• en: English
• ru: Russian
• zh: Chinese
• es: Spanish
• ar: Arabic
fr: French
• fa: Persian
• ja,: Japanese
• pl: Polish
• it: Italian
• pt: Portuguese
• de: German

Popularity Score: 9.9/10/10

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Best For for geo-targeting

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3. Referential

The Referential API provides developers access to countries, states, cities, continents, dial, and zip codes in up to 20 languages. A collection of data APIs to support forms, signups, search, and lookup. The endpoints are optimized for speed and size, and the data is regularly maintained and comes from international standardization bodies, the United Nations, government surveys, and GIS datasets. No scraping of WikiPedia.

The API service offers fast and global APIs to:

• list or search countries in 20 languages
• list or search state or country regions
• lookup international zip codes
• lookup international country and area codes
• time zone
• international holidays

Popularity Score: 9.8/10/10

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Best For direct invocation from applications

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4. RedLine Zipcode

The Zip Code API provides the following functions:

• Distance between zip codes API - quickly and easily figure out the distance between zip codes.
• Codes in Radius API - find all zip codes within a given radius from another zip code.
• Code to City and State API and Zip Code to Latitude/Longitude API - Converts a zip code to the primary location of the zip code. This includes the city, state, latitude, and longitude for the primary location.
• City to Zip Code - looks up the zip code based on the city and state.

Popularity Score: 9.8/10/10

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Best For zipcode data

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5. Geocoder - United States Census Bureau

The Census Geocoder provides interactive & programmatic (REST) access to users interested in matching addresses to geographic locations and entities containing those addresses.

Popularity Score: 9.6/10/10

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Best For matching addresses to geographic locations

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6. Get IP Info

This is an API to get the longitude and latitude Information on the basis of an IP.

Popularity Score: 7.9/10/10

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Best For longitude and latitude Information

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7. IP Location

The IP Location API provides geographical info including continent, country, district, city, latitude and longitude, currency, phone-code, etc.

Popularity Score: 9.1/10/10

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Best For geo location data

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8. Geocode address to location

The Geocode address to location API converts any address to a lat/lon location - parse, validate, and format the address to store it in a database or show on a map.

Popularity Score: 8.9/10/10

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Best For converting address to a Lat/Lon

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9. IP geolocation

The IP geolocation API allows developers to locate the IP addresses and IP data of their website visitors and users as well as those addresses contained in their network logs.

Popularity Score: 8.9/10/10

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Best For IP addresses

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10. IP Adress Geolocation

This API returns the real-time IP location of an IP address (country, region, city, zipcode, latitude and longitude) and the associated timezone in JSON or XML format.

Popularity Score: 5.9/10/10

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Best For IP geo-location

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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 how to get started with Rapid SDKs.

Summary: Best IP Geolocation APIs for Developers

Complete List of the Best IP Geolocation APIs

• 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 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.
• Free Geo IP - The Free Geo IP API allows developers to get free Geo IP information.
• 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.
• 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 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.

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