Free IP Geolocation APIs

There are several free IP geolocation APIs available. This comparison helps you understand the trade-offs and choose the right one for your project.

Quick Comparison

Service	Free Requests	No API Key	Risk Score	Self-Host
IPBot	Fair use	Yes	Yes	Yes
IP-API.com	45/min	No (paid)	No	No
ipapi.co	1,000/day	No (paid)	No	No
ipwhois.io	10,000/month	No (paid)	Yes	No
ipgeolocation.io	1,000/month	No (paid)	No	No
Cloudflare (-workers)	Unlimited	Yes	No	No

Detailed Comparison

IPBot

URL: https://api.ipbot.com

Free Tier:

Fair-use policy (no hard cap)
No API key required
Full feature access

Features:

Geolocation (country, region, city, postal, coordinates, timezone)
ASN and organization data
Risk scoring (0-100)
Proxy/VPN detection
Datacenter identification
Tor exit node detection

Response Time: <50ms

Best For: Production applications needing security features without cost

IP-API.com

URL: http://ip-api.com/json/{ip}

Free Tier:

45 requests per minute
1,000 requests per day (with key)
HTTP only (no SSL on free tier)

Features:

Geolocation
ASN data
Timezone
Mobile/carrier detection
Proxy detection (paid only)

Response Time: ~100ms

Best For: Low-volume, non-critical applications

ipapi.co

URL: https://ipapi.co/{ip}/json/

Free Tier:

1,000 requests per day
30,000 requests per month
Rate limited after free tier

Features:

Geolocation
ASN data
Timezone
Currency data
User agent parsing

Response Time: ~150ms

Best For: Applications needing currency or extended data

ipwhois.io

URL: https://ipwhois.app/json/{ip}

Free Tier:

10,000 requests per month
Requires API key

Features:

Geolocation
Basic security information
Currency data

Response Time: ~100ms

Best For: Mid-volume applications with moderate accuracy needs

ipgeolocation.io

URL: https://api.ipgeolocation.io/ipgeo?ip={ip}

Free Tier:

1,000 requests per month
Requires API key
IP-based rate limiting

Features:

Geolocation
Timezone
Currency
User agent details
Android device info

Response Time: ~120ms

Best For: Applications needing timezone or currency data

Cloudflare Workers (1.1.1.1)

URL: https://1.1.1.1/cdn-cgi/trace

Free Tier:

Unlimited (when using Cloudflare Workers)

Features:

Basic country code
No detailed geolocation
No risk assessment

Response Time: <10ms (Cloudflare edge)

Best For: Cloudflare Workers users needing simple country detection

Feature Matrix

Feature	IPBot	IP-API	ipapi.co	ipwhois.io	ipgeolocation
Country	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Region	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
City	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Postal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Coordinates	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Timezone	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ASN	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Risk Score	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Proxy Detection	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
HTTPS	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
No API Key	Yes	No	No	No	No

Performance Comparison

Benchmarks from US East region (average of 100 requests):

Service	P50 Latency	P95 Latency	Success Rate
IPBot	28ms	45ms	99.9%
IP-API.com	95ms	180ms	98.5%
ipapi.co	140ms	250ms	97%
ipwhois.io	88ms	160ms	99%
ipgeolocation.io	110ms	200ms	98%

Accuracy Comparison

Based on testing against known IP locations:

Service	City Accuracy	Country Accuracy	Notes
IPBot	85%	99%	IP2Location DB
IP-API.com	80%	99%	Proprietary
ipapi.co	82%	99%	Multiple sources
ipwhois.io	78%	98%	WHOIS-based
ipgeolocation.io	81%	99%	Mixed sources

When to Use Each Service

Use IPBot when you:

Need a production-ready free API
Want security features (risk scoring, proxy detection)
Prefer HTTPS without API keys
Need consistent, reliable responses
Want the option to self-host

Use IP-API.com when you:

Have very low volume requirements
Don’t need HTTPS (development/testing)
Want simple JSON responses
Can tolerate rate limits

Use ipapi.co when you:

Need currency data alongside geolocation
Require user agent parsing
Have moderate monthly volume (<30k requests)

Use ipwhois.io when you:

Need basic risk assessment
Require API key-based authentication
Have moderate monthly volume (<10k requests)

Use ipgeolocation.io when you:

Need timezone conversions
Require Android device detection
Have low monthly volume (<1k requests)

Use Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 when you:

Are already using Cloudflare Workers
Only need country-level detection
Want absolute lowest latency
Don’t need detailed location data

Recommendation

For most production applications, IPBot offers the best combination of:

No API key required
HTTPS support
Included security features
High accuracy
Fast response times
Option to self-host

The self-hosting option is particularly valuable for applications that need:

Unlimited requests
Data privacy (no external API calls)
Custom rate limiting
Integration with internal threat intelligence

Code Example: Simple Fallback Pattern

Here’s a pattern for using multiple free APIs with fallback:

async function getIPInfo(ip) {
  const services = [
    { name: "IPBot", url: `https://api.ipbot.com/${ip}` },
    { name: "IP-API", url: `http://ip-api.com/json/${ip}` },
    { name: "ipapi.co", url: `https://ipapi.co/${ip}/json/` },
  ];

  for (const service of services) {
    try {
      const response = await fetch(service.url);
      if (response.ok) {
        const data = await response.json();
        // Normalize response format
        return normalizeData(data, service.name);
      }
    } catch (error) {
      console.warn(`${service.name} failed, trying next...`);
      continue;
    }
  }

  throw new Error("All IP services failed");
}

This pattern provides resilience by falling back to alternative services if the primary one fails.