MaxMind review
IP dataUS provider of GeoIP2 geolocation databases and APIs with a published per-country accuracy breakdown, plus the free GeoLite2 tier.
- Claimed accuracyThe provider does not give an overall accuracy figure; it publishes a per-country breakdown of the percentage of IP addresses correctly located within a 50 km radius at the city level for the GeoIP2/GeoLite City database (stated examples: 100% in Andorra, 87% in Albania, 61% in the US, 52% in Algeria), and warns that it "cannot guarantee any specific level of future accuracy."
- Update frequencyevery business day (Monday through Friday) for most databases
- GDPR compliance
GeoIP2 Country database, annual subscription billed monthly (34.83 USD/month; 418 USD/year). The pay-per-query web service (GeoIP Country) starts at 0.0001 USD per query, with a 20 USD minimum purchase and a 25,000 USD maximum.
MaxMind is the US company, headquartered in Malden, Massachusetts, behind the GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases, built for developers and fraud teams who need to resolve country, region, city, ISP, autonomous system number, connection type, mobile carrier, or proxy/VPN/Tor detection from an IP address. It offers two routes in: a downloadable database for unlimited local lookups with no network latency, and a pay-per-query web service with a claimed 99.99% uptime record over eleven years.
It is one of the few vendors in this space that publishes how it measures its own accuracy: rather than a single figure, it gives a per-country breakdown of the share of IPs placed correctly within a 50 km radius at city level — from 100% in Andorra to 61% in the United States and 52% in Algeria — while warning it cannot guarantee any future accuracy level. The GeoIP2 Country database starts at 34.83 USD a month billed annually, and the web service from 0.0001 USD per query with a 20 USD minimum purchase. The free GeoLite2 tier is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence, requires crediting MaxMind, and the vendor itself warns it "does not reliably identify any geographic level more precise than zip/postal code." MaxMind states it complies with the GDPR and has an EU representative.
Features
- Data included
- Delivery
- Claimed accuracy
- The provider does not give an overall accuracy figure; it publishes a per-country breakdown of the percentage of IP addresses correctly located within a 50 km radius at the city level for the GeoIP2/GeoLite City database (stated examples: 100% in Andorra, 87% in Albania, 61% in the US, 52% in Algeria), and warns that it "cannot guarantee any specific level of future accuracy."
- Update frequency
- every business day (Monday through Friday) for most databases
- Free tier
- GeoLite2: free databases and web service for development, personal, or community use, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) license, with the provider's own warning that it does not reliably locate below the postal/ZIP code level.
- IPv6 coverage
- Licence
- Monthly or annual subscription for the GeoIP2 databases; pay-per-query for the web service (from $0.0001/query); GeoLite2 free under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- GDPR compliance
MaxMind
From $34.83
On our blog
Why two sites place your IP in different cities
Of six IP geolocation providers, only one publishes a measured accuracy figure by country. The rest use adjectives. Here is what the data actually says, and what to ask before choosing one.
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