ip-api.com is one of the easiest IP geolocation APIs to test. If you need HTTPS on every plan, richer response data, and a global 16-region network built for production workloads, IPWho is a practical alternative.
ip-api.com is extremely easy to test because the free endpoint does not require an API key. For production teams, IPWho provides authenticated access, HTTPS, full feature availability, and predictable plan limits from the start.
ip-api.com wins on quick non-commercial usage, but its free endpoint is limited to 45 requests per minute and does not include SSL. IPWho’s free plan is lower-volume, but includes full feature access, HTTPS, and access to its 16-region global network.
ip-api.com Pro is very competitive for high-volume basic geolocation. IPWho is designed for teams that want geolocation, timezone, currency, connection intelligence, user agent parsing, and security signals in one consistent response.
ip-api.com is a strong choice when you want a fast, simple, no-key IP geolocation endpoint for testing or non-commercial usage. The API returns useful location and network fields such as country, region, city, ZIP code, latitude, longitude, timezone, currency, ISP, organization, AS, mobile, proxy, and hosting status.
Their free endpoint is especially convenient for prototypes because it supports multiple response formats including JSON, XML, CSV, Newline, PHP, and batch-style usage. The main limitation is that the free endpoint is not intended for commercial use, is limited to 45 requests per minute from an IP address, and does not include SSL access.
ip-api.com is one of the closer competitors on price because its Pro plan is positioned around unlimited commercial requests at a low monthly rate. The tradeoff is in plan behavior and feature packaging: the free endpoint is non-commercial, rate-limited, and HTTP-only, while IPWho includes full feature access, SSL, and its global 16-region network across every plan.
| Service Plan | ip-api.com | IPWho.org |
|---|---|---|
| Free Limited, non-commercial use | $0 45 requests/minute per IP | $0 ~60k requests/month |
| Pro Commercial use, SSL, API keys, usage statistics | €13.3/month Unlimited requests | $69/month Unlimited Requests |
| Enterprise Customized support, custom terms, SLA and agreements | Custom Unlimited requests | $69/month Unlimited Requests |
Pricing based on official ip-api.com documentation as of April 8, 2026: https://members.ip-api.com/#pricing
Updated: April 8, 2026
| Factor | ip-api.com | IPWho |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan use | Non-commercial use only; no API key required | Personal projects, testing, and non-profits |
| Free plan limit | 45 requests per minute per IP address | 2,000 requests per day |
| SSL on free plan | No, SSL is available on Pro | Yes |
| Origin regions / PoPs | 8 PoPs on Free, 23 PoPs on Pro | 16 global data centres on all plans |
| Commercial usage | Requires Pro or Enterprise | Available on paid plans |
| Security fields | Proxy, hosting, and anonymity-related fields | VPN detection, Tor detection, and threat level assessment |
| Response formats | JSON(P), CSV, XML, Text, PHP, Batch | JSON, XML, CSV, bulk lookup, and field filtering |
ip-api.com is not a weak competitor. It has been running since 2012, serves more than 1 billion requests per day, and is trusted by thousands of businesses. Its strongest advantage is simplicity: developers can make a request without registration and immediately receive a usable IP intelligence response.
The comparison becomes more nuanced when the use case moves from testing to production. ip-api.com’s free endpoint does not allow commercial use and does not provide SSL. Their Pro plan solves those issues and offers unlimited commercial requests, API keys, usage statistics, access restrictions, priority support, and a 99.9% SLA.
IPWho competes differently. Instead of trying to win only on raw request volume, IPWho focuses on full feature access, SSL, global origin coverage, low median latency, and a consolidated response that includes geolocation, timezone, currency, connection, security, flag, and optional user agent data.
Our comparison is based on publicly available pricing, plan limits, feature availability, and infrastructure details as of April 2026. For ip-api.com, we considered the distinction between the free non-commercial endpoint and the Pro service, including SSL availability, Anycast PoPs, request limits, commercial usage, and response fields. For IPWho, we considered published plan limits, 16 global data centres, full feature availability across plans, and published median latency below 50ms.
Latency is one of ip-api.com’s strongest claims. Their public materials describe dedicated servers across US, EU, and APAC, Anycast-based routing, and real response times under 50 milliseconds in most parts of the world.
IPWho also targets low-latency global delivery, with published median latency below 50ms, regional hotpaths below 28ms, and 16 global data centres. The practical difference is that IPWho combines this with HTTPS access and full feature availability across all plans.
| Location | ip-api.com | IPWho.org |
|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt, DE | 92 ms | 49 ms |
| Ashburn, VA, USA | 9 ms | 30 ms |
| Singapore, SG | 32 ms | 37 ms |
| Mumbai, IN | 152 ms | 30 ms |
| Los Angeles, CA, USA | 18 ms | 39 ms |
Note: Measurement figures represent median values from a sample of HTTP synthetic request measurements per city, executed via GlobalPing datacenter network probes on April 8, 2026.
Latency figures can be independently verified via the GlobalPing network.
Verify vs ip-api.com