Free IP API Comparison 2026 — ipify, ipinfo & More

If you need to detect a visitor's IP, look up their country, or enrich an ASN in a backend script, you have roughly six free APIs to choose from in 2026. They differ wildly in rate limits, HTTPS support, data depth, CORS behaviour and what they consider "free". This guide is a hands-on comparison — what each is actually good at, where they bite you, and which one fits which job.

Yes, meine-ip.info's API is included in the comparison. We've kept the entry honest — it's not the best at everything, and we say so.

TL;DR — Quick Pick

The 6 Contenders — Comparison Matrix

Data quotas accurate as of May 2026, sourced from the providers' public pricing pages.

ipify

The simplest possible IP API: one endpoint, one job — return the caller's IP address. Nothing else. No keys, no rate limits documented, no geolocation, no ASN.

curl https://api.ipify.org?format=json
# {"ip":"203.0.113.42"}

Strengths

• Zero friction. No signup, no key, no quota you'll ever realistically hit.
• Rock-solid reputation (running since 2014, used by countless npm packages).
• HTTPS by default.

Weaknesses

• Only the IP. If you need country, city or ASN you must combine it with another API.
• No IPv6-vs-IPv4 distinction in the basic response (you have to pick the right endpoint: api.ipify.org vs api64.ipify.org).

Pick if: your backend just needs to know the client IP and doesn't care about anything else.

ipinfo.io

The polished commercial option with a generous free tier. 50,000 requests per month with a free API token, scaling up to enterprise plans with carrier detection, hosted-domains and abuse contact data.

curl 'https://ipinfo.io/8.8.8.8?token=<<YOUR_TOKEN>>'
# {"ip":"8.8.8.8","city":"Mountain View","region":"California",
#  "country":"US","loc":"37.4056,-122.0775","org":"AS15169 Google LLC",
#  "postal":"94043","timezone":"America/Los_Angeles"}

Strengths

• High data quality, used by Cloudflare, Salesforce and other large customers.
• Free tier of 50k/month is plenty for any side project.
• Excellent docs, SDKs in most languages.

Weaknesses

• Requires a token even on the free tier — friction if you want a browser-side fetch without exposing it.
• Paid tiers are pricey if you scale beyond 250k/month.
• US-hosted; for GDPR-sensitive scenarios this can matter.

Pick if: you need a polished, audited commercial-grade API and 50k/month is enough.

ip-api.com

The fast, no-key option with rich geo data. Free tier limits you to HTTP only (no HTTPS), 45 requests per minute per source IP, and 15 of the 26 data fields.

curl http://ip-api.com/json/8.8.8.8
# {"status":"success","country":"United States","countryCode":"US",
#  "region":"VA","regionName":"Virginia","city":"Ashburn",
#  "zip":"20149","lat":39.03,"lon":-77.50,"timezone":"America/New_York",
#  "isp":"Google LLC","org":"Google Public DNS","as":"AS15169 Google LLC"}

Strengths

• No signup, no key, fast response times.
• Rich data: country, region, city, ZIP, ISP, ASN, timezone — all in one call.

Weaknesses

• HTTP only on the free tier. You cannot call it directly from an HTTPS page (mixed content blocking). This is a deal-breaker for browser embeds.
• The 45/min limit is per their server's view of your IP, which can mean shared hosting or NAT gateways will hit it surprisingly fast.

Pick if: you're on a backend server, you don't need HTTPS, and you want the richest free data set.

ipapi.co

A solid all-rounder with currency and language detection.

curl https://ipapi.co/8.8.8.8/json/
# {"ip":"8.8.8.8","city":"Mountain View","region":"California",
#  "country":"US","country_name":"United States","postal":"94043",
#  "latitude":37.4056,"longitude":-122.0775,"timezone":"America/Los_Angeles",
#  "currency":"USD","languages":"en-US,es-US,haw,fr",
#  "asn":"AS15169","org":"GOOGLE"}

Strengths

• HTTPS by default, no key for low volume.
• Returns currency and languages — useful for multi-locale frontends.
• Decent free tier of 30,000 requests per month.

Weaknesses

• Free tier doesn't return all fields (some require the paid tier).
• Rate-limit responses (HTTP 429) can appear without warning when you cross thresholds.

Pick if: you want a balanced free tier with locale data and don't mind a slightly aggressive rate-limit.

ipgeolocation.io

The maximalist data option — they pack everything into one response: geo, currency, timezone, threat intelligence, even astronomy data.

curl 'https://api.ipgeolocation.io/ipgeo?apiKey=<<KEY>>&ip=8.8.8.8'
# 25+ fields including country_emoji, calling_code, currency.symbol,
# time_zone.current_time, threat_score…

Strengths

• Most data fields per call of any API in this list.
• Threat intelligence (proxy/Tor/VPN flags) on higher tiers.
• HTTPS, CORS, generous on data.

Weaknesses

• Free tier is only 1,000 requests per day — quickly runs out.
• API key required even for the free tier.

Pick if: you need timezone, currency or threat data in the same response.

meine-ip.info

Our own free API. Built for the "I just want IP geo + ASN in a browser without dealing with API-keys" use case.

curl https://meine-ip.info/api/ip?q=8.8.8.8
# {"ip":"8.8.8.8","version":"IPv4","hostname":"dns.google",
#  "geo":{"country":"United States","country_code":"US","city":"Mountain View",
#         "region":"California","postal_code":"94043","latitude":37.4056,
#         "longitude":-122.0775,"timezone":"America/Los_Angeles"},
#  "asn":{"number":15169,"organization":"GOOGLE","network":"8.8.8.0/24"}}

// Browser-side, no key, no preflight headaches:
fetch('https://meine-ip.info/api/ip')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(data => console.log(data.ip, data.geo.country));

Strengths

• No API key, ever.
• CORS enabled (Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *) — works directly from a browser.
• EU-hosted (Switzerland) — relevant for GDPR-sensitive deployments.
• Geo + ASN in one call. IPv4 and IPv6 supported.
• Powered by MaxMind GeoLite2 — same data source as many paid services.
• We also expose /api/dns/{domain} and /api/whois/{query} on the same shared 60 req/min limit.

Weaknesses

• 60 requests per minute per source IP — fine for a per-visitor fetch, not for batch enrichment.
• No SLA. Hobbyist-funded and best-effort.
• No threat intelligence or carrier data — we don't have that data source.
• City-level accuracy is MaxMind-grade, not "we paid for street-level" grade.

Pick if: you want a fire-and-forget JS embed that shows visitor location, or a backend script that runs once per request, and you don't want to manage another key.

Decision Matrix

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are there so many free IP APIs? Because the underlying GeoIP databases (MaxMind GeoLite2, IP2Location LITE) are free for redistribution under attribution. Most of these APIs are thin wrappers around the same two data sources, differentiated by their commercial tier, rate-limit policy and developer experience.

Is "no API key" actually a security problem? Not in the sense most people fear. The API key authenticates your account to the provider so they can bill you. Without a key, the provider rate-limits by source IP instead. Both models leak the same data (you're asking about an IP from an IP). The relevant question is: do you want to manage a key, and do you want to share it with a frontend?

Can I rely on a free API for production traffic? Define "rely". If your service degrades gracefully when the IP-lookup fails (you show "Unknown country" and move on), yes — any of these are fine. If your billing or fraud-detection breaks when the API is down, no — you need a paid SLA-backed provider, period.

Why is ip-api.com HTTPS not free? The provider sells HTTPS access as a paid feature. It's a viable business model — but it makes free-tier browser usage impossible because of mixed-content blocking. If browser usage matters, skip them.

Do I need to attribute meine-ip.info if I use the API? No attribution required. Linking back is appreciated but not mandatory. The MaxMind GeoLite2 license that powers our geo data does require attribution to MaxMind in your end-user docs — see their license.

What happens at the rate limit?

• ipify: no public rate limit (don't be a jerk).
• ipinfo.io: HTTP 429, monthly quota.
• ip-api.com: HTTP 429 with X-Rl headers.
• ipapi.co: HTTP 429.
• ipgeolocation.io: HTTP 429.
• meine-ip.info: HTTP 429 with X-RateLimit-* headers, 60-second reset window.

Conclusion

There's no single "best" free IP API — the right pick depends on your use case. If you just need the IP, ipify. If you need data and you're on a backend without HTTPS hangups, ip-api.com. If you can budget for a paid SaaS later, start with ipinfo.io's free tier so you don't have to switch later.

If you want geo + ASN in a key-free, browser-friendly, EU-hosted API, give our /api/ip a try — it powers our own IP geolocation tool and our embeddable JS widget, and we keep the rate limits generous enough that side projects don't hit them. We obviously have a horse in this race, but we're aware we're a budget option, not an enterprise SLA. That's the trade-off you should make consciously.