MaxMind offers IP intelligence data through our databases and web services. IP intelligence data includes information about the network, user context, and anonymizers of IP addresses. In addition, MaxMind has GeoIP2 products and services that offer IP geolocation. Learn more about our IP geolocation products and services.
To choose the right product or service, you will have to decide:
- whether you prefer to download a database to your local servers or query a web service
- what kind of IP intelligence you need
If you already know the answer to these questions, you can see a table of our GeoIP2 IP intelligence products and services below.
Databases versus web services
Depending on the kind of IP intelligence data you need, databases may be the more economical solution for a high volume of IP lookups because you pay a single subscription fee to download and query the database as much as you would like, while web services charge on a per-query basis.
There are a number of other differences between the databases and web services:
| Better Choice | Comparison | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability and Latency | GeoIP2 databases | Our web services have had 99.99% uptime since January 2010 and are served from data centers in Oregon, Virginia, London, and Singapore. However, with a local copy of the database you should have greater uptime and lower network latency. |
| Mix and Match Data | GeoIP2 databases | You can purchase subscriptions to several individual databases that contain the specific IP intelligence data you need. The web services provide access to geolocation data, or comprehensive access to most of our IP intelligence data in a single web service. |
| Maintenance | GeoIP2 web services | With databases, you need to update the data yourself in order to have access to the latest and most accurate GeoIP2 data. This process can be automated by your development team. With the web services, you always receive the latest available data and may only occasionally need to update your client API. |
| High Volume | GeoIP2 databases | Once you have purchased a license to a database, there is no limit on the number of queries you can perform on that database for Internal Restricted Business purposes. Learn more about acceptable use of the databases. Based on the number of queries you are doing per month, you may find that either the databases or the web services are less expensive. If you have an estimate of the number of IP lookups you anticipate, you can multiply this by the cost per query of the web service and compare it to the cost of a database subscription over the same period of time. |
| Low Volume | GeoIP2 web services | For a low volume of queries, the GeoIP2 web services would likely be a more economical option, and would give you access to our most accurate data. If you have an estimate of the number of IP lookups you anticipate, you can multiply this by the cost per query of the web service and compare it to the cost of a database subscription over the same period of time. |
| Cost for Premium Data | GeoIP2 web services | Anonymizer and proxy data, and user context data are only available for purchase as databases with a custom contract. Unless you are expecting a very high volume of queries, the cost of a subscription to these databases will likely be more than the cost of web service queries. |
| Commercial Uses | GeoIP2 web services | Online pricing of the databases is for Internal Restricted Business purposes only. Learn more about acceptable use of the databases. Use of the databases to provide IP geolocation functionality for applications or products accessible to anyone other than you or your employees requires a commercial license. Learn more about commercial licensing. Online pricing of the web services is applicable to both internal and commercial purposes. You may purchase the web services via our website and use it to provide IP geolocation functionality for applications or products, even if they are accessible to third-parties, without commercial licensing. If you anticipate a very high volume of lookups, it may be more cost effective to purchase a commercial license instead of using the web service. |
Sometimes you may also be constrained in which option you can choose based on your company's data policies or other technology. You should consult with your developers about which option is best for your integration.
Kinds of IP intelligence data
GeoIP2 products and services can provide the following kinds of IP intelligence data:
| network | the connection type, ISP, and domain name used by the IP address Learn more about network data. |
| user context | user type, average income, population density, etc. Learn more about user context data. |
| anonymizers | VPNs, TOR exit nodes, and other proxies Learn more about anonymizer and proxy data. |
Pick an IP intelligence product or service
If you know whether you will be using a database or web service, and what kind of IP intelligence data you need, you can pick the product or service from the table below and follow the link to the product page on our main website.
| Databases | Web Services | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Network Data | |||
| Connection Type | |||
| ISP (Internet Service Provider) | |||
| Domain Name | |||
| User Context Data | |||
| Anonymizer Data | |||
* These products and services also contain city-level geolocation data. Learn more about our geolocation products and services.
You can also download various charts to compare the data in our database and web service offerings:
- Compare all web services (GeoLite2 vs GeoIP2 web services)
- Compare all GeoIP databases
- Compare premium data offerings (GeoIP Anonymous IP database vs GeoIP Enterprise database vs GeoIP Insight web service)
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