A MaxMind GeoIP2 alternative for hosting and Tor signals without per-query billing
MaxMind is the standard for geolocation databases, and its pay-as-you-go web services are cheap per query. The free GeoLite tier is capped at 1,000 lookups a day per service, carries no support, and its City data is described by MaxMind itself as not recommended for commercial use. The IP Intelligence API covers a different need: routing, hosting and anonymity signals for any address, on the same monthly token plan as the rest of the catalog, with no per-query accounting.
| What | MaxMind GeoIP2 | IP Intelligence API |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | GeoLite web services: 1,000 lookups per day per service; databases limited to 30 downloads a day (as published). | 500 tokens a month, no card; one lookup costs 1 token. |
| Entry paid price | Pay as you go: Country $0.0001, City Plus $0.0003, Insights $0.002 per query; $20 purchase minimum (as published). | Starter $6.99 for 25,000 tokens, Pro $24.99 for 150,000. |
| Authentication | A license key (as published; call format not stated on the pages read). | One API key, sent as the X-Api-Key header. The same key works for every API in the catalog. |
| Data source | Proprietary. GeoLite databases must be deleted within 30 days of a new release (as published). | RouteViews BGP data via iptoasn.com (public domain), DB-IP country lite (CC BY 4.0, attribution required), the published address ranges of AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare, Fastly and GitHub, and the Tor Project exit list. 1.37 million ranges in total. |
| Support | No support for GeoLite databases and web services (as published). | Email support on paid plans; the free plan has community support. |
Facts about MaxMind GeoIP2 were read from its own pages on October 29, 2026. If something has changed since, tell us and we will update the page. Sources: MaxMind GeoIP web services, GeoLite2 free data.
Reasons to pick IP Intelligence API
- Hosting intelligence is the point: datacenter, cloud provider, CDN and Tor exit detection from published operator ranges, which GeoIP Country and City do not set out to answer.
- Registry country and geolocation country side by side, with a mismatch flag.
- A flat monthly plan instead of per-query accounting, and the same key opens 127 other APIs.
- No database to download, rotate or delete on a schedule.
When MaxMind GeoIP2 is still the better choice
- You need city-level geolocation or MaxMind Insights fields such as user type and ISP; the IP Intelligence API stops at country.
- You want an offline database on your own servers.
Try it with your key
The first endpoint of the API as a curl command. Create a free key and paste it in. (Data Sources, 1 token).
curl "https://api-ip-intelligence.dataandapis.com/v1/sources" \
-H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"Plans
Free 500 tokens a month · Starter $6.99 for 25,000 · Pro $24.99 for 150,000 · Ultra $99.99 for 1,000,000. Every plan covers every API.
Questions people ask
- Is the country data as accurate as MaxMind's?
- The API uses DB-IP's country database and RouteViews registry data, two independent sources, and returns both countries. For city-level precision MaxMind's paid City services remain the better tool.
- Does it work for IPv6?
- Yes. IPv4 and IPv6 addresses return the same fields, including mapped IPv4 addresses.
- Is there a batch endpoint?
- Yes. POST a list of addresses to the batch endpoint and get one record per address.
One key, 128 APIs, free to start
500 tokens a month without a card. Most calls cost one token.
Create a free account