ip-api.com vs Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)
Category: Geocoding · Updated August 2026
ip-api.com has a more generous free tier (45 calls/min (HTTP only), no key, no credit card) and requires no API key, making it the easier choice for getting started. Both show similar reliability — ip-api.com at 100% uptime and Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) at 100% uptime over 30 days. Pick ip-api.com for hobby projects; consider Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) if you need its specific feature set.
Side-by-side comparison
ip-api.com
Free IP geolocation API returning country, city, region, ISP, and coordinates for any IP address. No key required.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 100% |
| Response time | 45 ms |
| Free tier | 45 calls/min (HTTP only), no key, no credit card |
| Auth | No key required |
| Tier score | 1.0 — no friction |
Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)
Free forward and reverse geocoding from OpenStreetMap data. Rate-limited.
| Status | 🟢 Online |
| 30-day uptime | 100% |
| Response time | 472 ms |
| Free tier | 1 req/sec, must set User-Agent, no key |
| Auth | No key required |
| Tier score | 0.7 — free key, no card |
Which to choose?
- Pick ip-api.com if…you want zero friction — no account, no key, just call the endpoint. Also good if geocoding data without signup is a hard requirement.
- Pick Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) if…you want zero friction — no account, no key, just call the endpoint. Also good if geocoding data without signup is a hard requirement.
- Use both if…one goes down — they serve the same geocoding use case from different data sources, so you can implement a quick fallback.
Or use these alternatives
Other top-ranked Geocoding APIs you might consider:
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ip-api.com or Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) more reliable?
Both ip-api.com and Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) show identical 30-day uptime (100%) in our monitoring. Either is a safe choice from a reliability standpoint.
Which one has a more generous free tier — ip-api.com or Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)?
ip-api.com has a more generous free tier. Its plan offers 45 calls/min (HTTP only), no key, no credit card vs Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)'s 1 req/sec, must set User-Agent, no key. ip-api.com also requires no API key at all, making onboarding instant.
Can I use ip-api.com and Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) together?
Absolutely — neither requires an API key, so you can call both with no setup. A round-robin or primary/fallback pattern is trivial to implement, giving you redundancy at zero cost.
What's the cheapest paid alternative if both ip-api.com and Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) fail?
If you need a paid fallback, ip-api Pro is one of the more affordable options (from $15/mo). You can find the full list of paid alternatives on each API's detail page. Paid tiers typically offer SLA guarantees, higher rate limits, and dedicated support.
See full profiles: ip-api.com · Nominatim (OpenStreetMap) · All Geocoding APIs