IPinfo is a widely used IP intelligence provider that offers an IP geolocation API. Yet, it isn't a one-size-fits-all solution — many businesses complain about its cost, data limitations, and the level of support offered.
If IPinfo doesn’t quite meet your app’s needs, don’t worry! Alternatives like IPLocate, Maxmind, ipdata, ipgeolocation, and DB-IP each offer unique features and pricing structures that may be a better fit.
In this article, we will compare the top IPinfo alternatives in detail, examining their key features, cost-effectiveness, and best suitability for specific scenarios to help you make a more informed decision.
Why you might want to switch from IPinfo
While IPinfo is a popular choice, users often complain about:
Cost and limitations
IPinfo can be very expensive, with basic plans starting at $49/month, and significantly more if you need more data or need to make lots of requests.
In 2025, they changed their free tier so it no longer gives access to city-level geolocation. Instead, it’s limited to country-level geolocation.
They offer paid databases, but no public pricing. You need to “contact sales” to get a quote.
Complexity
IPinfo’s pricing structure is complex. They offer 6 different named plans, all with different levels of data access. Users have noted their APIs return different data depending on the plan you’re on.
Limited support
Some users have reported less-than-stellar support experiences with IPinfo. They claim to offer “priority support” only to customers on Enterprise plans.
Opaque data collection and accuracy
IPinfo uses a proprietary process to geolocate IP addresses, often ignoring known-good data from registered network operators published under open standards. While they claim to have great accuracy, they don’t publish any accuracy metrics.
As such, many users have reported confusing or unexplainable geolocation results from IPinfo.
Top IPinfo alternatives in 2025
1. IPLocate
If you want modern IP intelligence with fair, flexible prircing and based on open data, IPLocate is the straightforward choice.
What you get
- One API, all the data: geolocation (country, city, region, coordinates, timezone), ASN and WHOIS-derived network info, company data, hosting/datacenter detection, and privacy & threat flags (proxy/VPN/Tor/relay, abuse signals). All plans—including the free tier—use the same endpoints and return the same data.
- Generous free tier: 1,000 requests per day, full dataset access.
- Flexible billing: either monthly quotas or credit top-ups that don’t expire, so burst traffic doesn’t surprise you.
- Public database pricing: city/postcode geolocation DB, privacy/threat, company, hosting, WHOIS, ASN, abuse contacts, and more—each with posted monthly rates and daily/weekly/monthly refresh options. (Two daily-updated, full-accuracy databases are also available for free: IP to Country and IP to ASN)
- Open-source friendly: free datasets under an open license; support for OSS/non-commercial projects (API credits or access to raw datasets).
Good fits
- Teams that need transparent, flexible pricing.
- Developers who prefer one unified API platform rather than juggling product-by-product add-ons.
- Security/fraud and personalization use cases that benefit from company/hosting/threat in the same call.
Key points
- Free: 1,000/day. Pre-paid credits or subscription beyond that.
- Data coverage: geo + ASN + company + hosting + privacy/threat in one API. (Docs)
- Databases: Full catalog with public prices. (See pricing)
- Open source: free IP to Country and IP to ASN databases, updated daily. Free support for open source and research projects.
2. Maxmind
Maxmind has provided IP geolocation data for over 20 years, as well as their well-known GeoIP databases.
What stands out
- Clear per-query pricing for web services (Country, City Plus, Insights).
- Accuracy radius & confidence. City-level results include an accuracy radius; some products also return confidence factors.
- Mature data/SDK ecosystem. The long-running GeoLite/GeoIP stack, auto-update tooling, and official clients are battle-tested and widely integrated.
- Self-serve database pricing for internal use; commercial/redistribution requires a separate license via sales.
Key points
- Web services: $0.0001–$0.002 per lookup depending on tier.
- Databases: published prices for internal use (e.g., Country $34/mo, City $134/mo), negotiated for premium or commercial use.
- Ecosystem and brand familiarity benefit procurement and compliance.
3. ipdata
ipdata packages several useful datapoints into simple plans with daily quotas.
What stands out
- Straightforward plans starting at $10/month with 1,500 free daily requests for non-commercial use.
- Enterprise uptime SLA. Advertises a 99.999% SLA at the enterprise tier.
- Security-leaning additions: OSINT/Commercial blocklists, VPN detection, and ML reputation scores on higher tiers.
Key points
- Plans: $10 (2,500/day), $30 (10,000/day), $50 (50,000/day), $120 (100,000/day).
- Target: developers who like daily caps and bundled risk signals.
4. ipgeolocation.io
ipgeolocation.io offers a broad API suite with transparent entry-level pricing and downloadable databases.
What stands out
- Free 1,000/day, Standard $9/month (50k/mo), plus Security and Advance tiers with proxy/VPN detection, abuse contacts, and company/ASN enrichment.
- Broader API suite. Beyond IP geo, there are Timezone, User-Agent, and even Astronomy APIs—handy if you’re consolidating vendor sprawl into one provider.
- Threat scoring. The Security API computes a threat score and classifies VPN/proxy/Tor/bot/cloud to support simple allow/deny policies.
- Downloadable databases are available for teams that need offline/self-hosted use.
Key points
- Versatile: geolocation, ASN, company, abuse, and security APIs under one roof.
- Good if you want both API and DB options with published rates.
5. DB-IP
DB-IP offers pragmatic plans across API and databases.
What stands out
- Frequent threat refresh. Backend threat/vpn/tor data is updated several times per hour; location data is refreshed roughly twice daily.
- Threat level classification. The Extended API includes proxy/crawler detection and a vendor threat level that some teams use as a single control input.
- Localization & batching. 50+ language localizations and built-in batch lookups (e.g., 256 IPs).
Key points
- Suitable for teams that want budget-friendly entry plans and the option to self-host data.
Next steps
IPLocate stands out as the ultimate IPinfo alternative for teams of all size — from solo developers to enterprise applications. With a single, developer-first integration, you get accurate geolocation, ASN, company, hosting, and privacy/threat detection. Plus, a generous free tier and flexible pricing that scales with your needs.
- Get started fast: With SDKs for popular languages, easy-to-follow documentation, and great support, you can implement IP geolocation in minutes rather than weeks.
- No risk: Free tier covers 1,000 requests per day with no credit card required.
- Pricing that makes sense: No surprises, no hidden fees, and no overages. Unlike IPinfo, you don't have to spend hundreds or thousands to get high quality IP intelligence data.
