A reliable IP Address API from Developers for Developers

Many data sources are integrated into an accurate and frequently updated IP address API at api.ipapi.is

The free plan with 1,000 free daily requests covers use cases for most users.

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  "message": "Please make an API request",
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Accurate IP address data from developers for developers. Fast lookups, frequently updated, actively maintained. 1,000 free API lookups per day.

About Documentation

Comprehensive Hosting Detection

By using a proprietary hosting detection algorithm, thousands of hosting providers and their IP ranges are tracked.

ASN information

ipapi.is provides the best and most frequently updated ASN information on the market.

Geolocation

A proprietary geolocation database was built from scratch. The database is constantly updated and pruned for accuracy.

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"message": "Please make an API request",
}

Security Intelligence

The API provides Tor, Proxy, VPN, and Abuse information. Open source IP block lists and a custom VPN Exit Node Enumeration pipeline are used to source the data.

Organization Information

ipapi.is provides information for the organization that has ownership of the queried IP address. Millions of WHOIS records are crawled to source the data.

WHOIS Data

WHOIS data is the primary data source of ipapi.is. Millions of constantly updated WHOIS records are used in the API.

Key Numbers

ipapi.is was established in late 2022 and is constantly growing and expanding. Our vision is to be the most accurate and high-performing platform for security-related IP address metadata on the planet.

API Usage

Number of paid API requests in the last 30 days: 247,629,516

Registered Users

Number of registered users since January 2023: 3,330

Response Time

Average API response time per request in milliseconds (ms): 1.02ms

Server Locations

API servers in different locations: Germany, US East, Singapore

Quick Start

You can use ipapi.is from any programming language that supports HTTP requests. You can query any IP address (IPv4 and IPv6) or ASN by making a simple API request to the endpoint:
https://api.ipapi.is?q=23.236.48.55

Read the Documentation

Curl

Quickly test the API by using the ubiquitous curl command from the terminal 

# open a new terminal / shell and then paste:
curl 'https://api.ipapi.is?q=32.5.140.2'

JavaScript

Use the API from any browser easily with JavaScript or from Node.js 

fetch('https://api.ipapi.is?q=23.236.48.55')
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res));

Python

Of course you can also use Python with the requests module 

# install requests module first
import requests

url = 'https://api.ipapi.is?q=23.236.48.55'
response = requests.get(url)
print(response.json())

PHP

Integrate the API in PHP in your application with these lines 

$url = 'https://api.ipapi.is?q=23.236.48.55'; 
echo file_get_contents($url);

Testimonials

We are proud to have helped many customers to fortify their security architecture. Here are some real testimonials from our users:

Just wanted to send an email thanking you for the wonderful service provided. The website and API are easy to use and purchasing more credits is incredibly simple. The work in classifying IP addresses helps prevent real-life service abuse and even prevents criminal activity, which is greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work.

- Maks, CEO, uhmegle.com

ipapi.is is incredible value - it's a terrific service, great support, and uniquely accurate data. We've tested it head to head against several other providers and it outperforms!

- Henry LeGard, Founder & CEO, verisoul.ai

By the way, I'm really impressed with the product. There's quite a lot of IP API services, but this one is well documented, robust, and competitive. We use it to detect automated systems that interact with our tracking technology, to report only legit interactions to our customers. It's been highly reliable so far. Thank you for that.

- Corentin Brossault, CEO, mailmeteor.com

First of all, I must say that I am truly impressed with the amount of detail that the API returns! I have checked out about 9 other IP-API services, and this one returned the most accurate and complete information about my IP address — this is really great!

- Anonymous

Unique Strengths

Multiple API Servers

The API is hosted on multiple servers globally. Requests to the API endpoint at api.ipapi.is are routed to the geographically closest or most performant endpoint. This routing is achieved using Microsoft Azure Cloud DNS and Azure Traffic Manager.

Dedicated API Access

If you require a high request volume or need to host the API in your own infrastructure for technical or legal reasons, you can obtain the ipapi.is databases for offline usage.

IT Security

The API provides robust IT Security support. It offers TOR, VPN, Proxy, and Hosting Detection intelligence for each queried IP Address.

WHOIS First

The primary data source is WHOIS records obtained from the five major Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and their databases. WHOIS records are the most trustworthy data source for IP Address data, thus they are prioritized.

Constantly Updated

The API data is continuously updated from hundreds of sources. These include our own honeypot network, WHOIS databases from the five major RIRs, various threat intelligence feeds, internet-wide scans, and more.

Cyber Security First

Our IP API provides critical insights into key cybersecurity aspects such as:

VPN Exit Node Enumeration

We systematically enumerate VPN exit nodes from major VPN providers to maintain the most comprehensive VPN detection database. This matters because VPN traffic often indicates attempts to bypass geo-restrictions or mask malicious activity. Accurate VPN detection helps protect your services from abuse and ensures compliance with regional policies.

  • Number of VPN IPs from known VPN Services: 98,117
  • Number of interpolated VPN IPs: 1,039,355
  • Number of assumed VPN IPs: 339,681,143
IP to VPN Database
VPN Detection
Hosting Detection

Hosting Detection

Our hosting detection algorithm identifies traffic originating from datacenter and cloud provider networks. This is crucial for security because legitimate users typically connect from residential or mobile networks - not hosting providers. Automated attacks, scraping, and other malicious activities commonly originate from hosting infrastructure.

  • Number of IPv4 Hosting Networks: 580,495
  • Number of IPv6 Hosting Networks: 550,455
IP to Hosting Database

IP Abuse Detection

Our IP abuse detection system identifies IP addresses involved in malicious activities like brute force attacks, vulnerability scanning, and other forms of network abuse. This intelligence is gathered from our global honeypot network and threat feeds, helping you proactively block known bad actors before they can target your infrastructure.

  • Total Abuser IPs: 2,407,476
IP to Abuser Database
IP Abuse Detection

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ipapi.is?

ipapi.is is a fast and accurate IP address API. It can be used to get meta information about any IPv4 and IPv6 address on the Internet.

Our clients use ipapi.is for many different purposes:

  • Blocking malicious traffic from accessing their services (such as datacenter, TOR, or Proxy/VPN traffic).
  • Traffic classification - Our clients want to know the composition of their traffic. Is it normal residential ISP traffic (isp) or does a majority of the requests originate from hosting providers (hosting)?
  • Some customers need accurate IP Geolocation intelligence. This is necessary for launching targeted advertising campaigns or enforcing specific location-based actions (Only EU traffic allowed, Only US traffic allowed, etc.).

Is the API stable? How many servers are behind ipapi.is?

The API is hosted in the following geographical locations:

With the above server coverage, the average end-user latency is significantly decreased. Each API server is large and can handle 1,000 requests per second.

api.ipapi.is uses the following cloud services from Microsoft Azure to reduce latency for API lookups:

  • Azure Cloud DNS for handling DNS lookups
  • Azure Traffic Manager to route API requests to the geographically closest server

Why was ipapi.is developed?

Initially, ipapi.is was developed to provide accurate and reliable IP address data as a foundation for more complex IT security products. During development, we realized that many other organizations also need such basic (but accurate) IP data.

ipapi.is is technically a simple service that does not deal with live end-user traffic and its complex consequences.

However, our biggest challenge with ipapi.is is to provide basic IP address data in the most reliable, accurate, and updated manner possible. By providing this reliable data, your more complex IT security solutions and decisions will stand on a robust foundation.

What are the use cases of the API?

There are many different ways how IP address data can be used:

  • Geolocation: Determining the geographic location of a device connected to the Internet.
  • IP reputation: Identifying whether an IP address has been associated with spam or malicious activity.
  • Network troubleshooting: Identifying connectivity issues and diagnosing network problems.
  • IT security: Tracking the source of cyberattacks and implementing security measures to prevent them.
  • Targeted advertising: Using IP address data to target advertisements to specific regions or traffic types (e.g., locating only US visitors and excluding hosting traffic).
  • Personalization: Customizing website content based on the visitor's geographic location.
  • Analytics: Analyzing website traffic and visitor behavior based on their IP address.

How often is the API updated?

The core API data is updated every week. Some parts of the API are updated daily.

Can I rent the API as a whole and run it in my own infrastructure?

Yes, you can rent ipapi.is in its entirety and host it in your own infrastructure. To effectively run ipapi.is, a server with a minimum of 8GB of memory and 2 vCPUs is necessary. With these specifications, you can expect to handle approximately 1,000 API lookups per second or 100 million lookups per day. It is possible to run the API in more than one cluster.

The price to rent the full ipapi.is software (database included) is $200 per month, including automatic updates and support. This allows you to have complete control and customization of the service while still receiving regular updates and assistance.

How accurate is the API?

The accuracy of the API depends on the specific data point. While the general accuracy is constantly improved, some data is more accurate than others.

  • WHOIS data: Very accurate, as it comes directly from the source (ARIN, APNIC, RIPE, AFRINIC, LACNIC).
  • Geolocation: Very accurate at the country level and reasonably accurate at the city level.
  • ASN data: Very accurate.
  • Hosting/datacenter detection: Very accurate (superior to competitors).
  • TOR detection: Very accurate.
  • Proxy and VPN detection: Moderately accurate. Does not detect residential proxies or unknown VPN providers.

Why should we use ipapi.is and not competitors?

You should test for yourself and not trust anyone. Some of the biggest strengths of ipapi.is are:

  • Hosting/Datacenter detection - Likely much better than competitors
  • TOR detection - Very good and accurate
  • WHOIS data support - Broad coverage, including RWHOIS data from various ISPs
  • ASN metadata - Accurate type detection, better than many competitors
  • Accurate geolocation - ipapi.is is a strong alternative, but not the top performer currently

How fast is the API?

Very fast. On average, a simple IP lookup takes 1ms of processing time. A server with 8GB of memory and 2 vCPUs will give you roughly 1,000 API lookups per second or 100 million lookups per day.

How are purchased API credits handled?

Purchased API credits are valid indefinitely. You can buy more credits whenever needed.

Before using API credits, your daily volume from your subscription tier is utilized. In the default free plan, your free tier of 1,000 requests per day is used first.

Similarly, if you have a paid plan, your paid tier volume is used first before any purchased API credits are utilized.

In the API, what is the difference between the company and asn object?

Simply put, the company object contains information about the organization that owns the IP address. The asn object, on the other hand, contains information about an autonomous system. An IP address can be part of an ASN through a route or prefix.

If an IP address is part of an ASN, it does not necessarily mean that the IP address is owned by the organization associated with that ASN (although this is often the case). It only means that the ASN is responsible for routing the IP address and that the ASN has an assigned prefix or route that includes the IP address.

The company object, on the other hand, contains ownership information about the IP address. This information is sourced from WHOIS records and describes the organization that owns the IP address in question.

In summary:

  • company - Contains ownership information about the queried IP address.
  • asn - Contains information about the autonomous system that the queried IP address is part of. Usually the ASN organization is the same as the company organization, but this is not necessarily the case.