If your online business relies on the user’s location, you should think of leveraging Geolocation API to offer the relevant products, services, news, and notifications. Technically, there are two possible ways to use Geolocation IP.
Geo IP database – you buy an IP database and host it on your server and refer to your application. The problem in using the IP database is that you have to update it; otherwise, regularly, you will not have up-to-date IP location information.Geo API – you don’t need to worry about maintaining and updating it regularly. You refer to the API within your application to retrieve the necessary IP information. You pay for what you use.
Let’s take a look at the following Geo IP offering.
ipstack
They are trusted by HubSpot, Samsung, Microsoft, Airbnb, and thousands of brands. ipstack infrastructure is scalable to serve millions of requests daily. They offer three endpoints.
Standard lookup – to get the data behind an IP addressBulk – single query to retrieve multiple IPs dataRequester – to fetch data behind requester’s IP address to API
ipstack data is divided into five modules.
Location – a standard GeoIP dataTime zone – get the time zone so you can serve personalized greetings or productsSecurity – detect if a request is from proxy, TOR, crawler and tag them with a threat levelCurrency – show the pricing in the user’s local currencyConnection – get the ASN and ISP details
The average response time of ipstack API is 25ms, which is excellent. Their free plan includes a location module with 100 requests per month.
Positionstack
2+ billion addresses covered around the world | 1+ billion geocode API lookups handled per day. PositionStack is a Free geocoding API for global places and coordinates trusted by developers and businesses worldwide.
Forward GeocodingReverse GeocodingBatch RequestsEmbeddable MapsJSON, XML & GeoJSONMultiple Languages
Start geocoding today with any programming language of your choice — it’s free
ipapi
Use it with PHP, JavaScript, or REST API. ipapi helps with the following information.
Location – all the standard geolocation information, including calling codeConnection – ASN, hostname, etcSecurity – Proxy, TOR, Crawler detection, and threat level
ipapi can help with many use cases like:
Personalizing the content to your customers,Redirect the webpage based on language detectionShow the local currency on a pricing pagePrevent fraud signup
Abstract API
Abstract’s IP Geolocation API is serving over 3 billion calls per month to startups and websites like Shopify, Payoneer, Google, and even Stanford. Their API is returning data like:
City, country, and regional locationLong lat coordinatesTimezone detailsCurrencyInternet service provider nameSecurity data including VPN, TOR, proxy, and crawler detection
Their API can be used for a variety of use cases including:
Geolocating websites visitorsShowing GDPR and cookie banners to European usersTranslating websites based on a visitor’s locationIdentifying VPNs, proxies, and botsBlocking visitors from specific countriesPreventing fraudulent purchases
And many more… They provide the largest free plan on the market with up to 20,000 free requests per month.
ipdata
ipdata.co leverage AWS global infrastructure to offer reliable performance. You can look up a single IP or bulk – your choice. You can get it started from as low as $10 per month. And, you can play around with their services by using a free API key. Features
Carrier detection support to help you find the ISP nameProvides detailed Geological data like organization, timezone, ISP, postal code, latitude or longitude, language, country, city, and region.Supports Tor detection – A flag is returned to inform you if the IP address resembles a node of Tor Exit.Provides a country’s major currency details
You can use the API through REST or language-specific libraries – Python, Golang, and Javascript.
Maxmind
Maxmind offers a GeoIP database and fraud detection services. If you are looking to offer personalized service, ads targetting with fraud detection, Maxmind would be a good choice. Maxmind also offers the GeoLite2 database, which is free to use under CC international license.
IP Geolocation API by WhoisXML API
IP Geolocation API allows users to gather IP location data enabling various use cases, including web experience customization, fraud prevention, ensuring regulatory compliance, digital rights management, and location-based access blocking, among others. The API is powered by a massive IP geolocation database covering 12.9 million+ IP netblocks for 99.5% of IP addresses in use, 230000+ locations, and 215000 ISPs. For a given IPv4 or IPv6 address, domain name, or email, IP Geolocation API retrieves:
IP geolocation details: country, region, city, postal code, latitude, and longitude, time zoneGeoNames ID: ID of location in the GeoNames databaseISP: Internet Service ProviderAS details: Autonomous System number, Autonomous System name, Autonomous System route, Autonomous System website’s URLASN type: “Cable/DSL/ISP”, “Content”, “Educational/Research”, “Enterprise”, “Non-Profit”, “Not Disclosed”, “NSP”, or “Route Server”Associated domains: array of domains associated with the IPConnection type: “Modem”, “Mobile”, “Broadband”, or “Company”
Developers can integrate the API as a building block to existing applications and systems using different programming languages. Currently, integration with the Splunk platform is available. Users can also access client libraries in PHP, Node.js, Python, Flask, Express.js, and Go. The first 1,000 IP Geolocation API calls are complementary when registering for a free developer account.
IP-API
IP-API is an efficient API available at a very economical charge. Moreover, it contains a free tier package that allows you to try the APIs. However, it cannot be used for commercial purposes. API data formats are available in JSON, CSV, XML & Newline. It supports batch query, and you can format the request for the output you want. You can query IPv4, IPv6, or URL.
ipgeolocation
ipgeolocation focuses on providing in-depth geolocation data. Help customers to autocomplete country, city, zip code, and more on your order page, lead generation, signup, etc. Threat intelligence is included to detect proxy, spam traffic, bad bots, etc.
Ipify
A simple public IP address without any limits, Ipify works flawlessly irrespective of the technology you’re using. You can use IPv4 and IPv6 addresses with this open-source API, and the great thing is that none of the visitors’ data is logged into the system. You can be sure Ipify will continue functioning no matter the season. Even if one of the most disastrous tornado strikes, you can sit back, knowing their service won’t get interrupted. It’s also important to mention that Randall Degges fund this service, so there’s literally no worry of them disappearing in a flash of light. Ipify is here to stay, and you should make full use of it.
IPwhois
Used by thousands of developers worldwide, IPwhois is free to use for up to 10,000 requests/month. It delivers accurate data in JSON, XML, and Newline formats, and you can easily integrate it as per your preferences. This service is known for its great speed and simplicity of the way it works. You won’t have a hard time figuring out the interface or waste time waiting for a single element to load. You can also enjoy support in multiple languages, including German, Spanish, French, and Chinese. Every data that goes back and forth from IPwhois is secured with 256-bit SSL encryption.
Ipregistry
With a pay-as-you-go payment plan, Ipregistry keeps a great balance of affordability and rich features. You can seamlessly integrate their API in JSON and XML formats without worrying about making too many requests because it’s highly scalable. Here are some of the many things this API allows you to do:
Detect and prevent online fraudLocate visitors by IP and identify their currency, timezone, company data, threat data, etc.Analyze logs and enrich formsPerform redirections based on geo IPIdentify and target users by a device used
Ipregistry has a long list of happy customers, and you can be one of them by getting started for free. You get 100,000 lookups at no cost for the beginning.
IP2Location
IP2Location is trusted by Asus, Ubisoft, Sony, FedEx, and Viacom. It offers:
Accurate geolocation that retrieves information using the client’s IP addressEasy integration into any platform to retrieve data using SDK, REST API, databases, etc.Supports IPv4 & IPv6 in one API and databaseIt comes with different IP database packages
This Geo IP solution can help in identifying region, country, longitude, latitude, time zone, domain name, ZIP code, connection speed, weather station data, area code, IDD country code, mobile carrier, mobile country codes (MCC), mobile network codes (MNC), advertising category, address type, usage type, elevation, residential proxies, and VPN.
DB-IP
dbip offers API and a downloadable database both. It comes with an excellent administrative panel where you can create usage notification alerts, real-time analytics, historical trends, and more.
IPInfo
Reliable and lightning-fast – IPinfo offers the following.
Hosting data – know who is hosting the site/IPGeolocation – user’s exact location with standard GeoIP dataNetwork – ASN or ISP details of visitorsCarrier detection – detect carrier name and mobile network code.IP type – check if IP belongs to a consumer, business, or hosting provider.Company – know the visitor’s company name.
With IPInfo data, you can genuinely power your business in many ways.
Conclusion
Most of the GeoIP API products offer FREE or trial, so perform few IP lookups to see which one returns satisfying data. Check out this article for Geocoding and Maps API.