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Show HN: IPLocate.io – a free IP geolocation service

20 points by tallytarik 9y ago

tallytarik 9y ago
Hi HN! I've developed IPLocate.io, a super simple IP geolocation service to return data like country, city, timezone, etc. for IP addresses. It's free up to 1,500 requests per day, beyond which we have a couple of paid plans to accommodate higher limits. We've got some code samples for various languages on the home page as well as documentation by Apiary. It's a super simple Rails app powered by MaxMind data. I've been developing in the web and mobile space for years, but this is my first web project I'm finally releasing to the public - I'm not expecting it to be a money maker but just wanted to get a feel for reaction from the hacker community!
- coderholic 9y ago
  Congrats on the launch! Looks very similar to my service, https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io :) I launched that around 3 years ago and at the time there weren't even any paid plans. It now handles close to 500 million API requests a day. I'd recommend killing the unlimited plan - you'll lose out on revenue with that. Good luck! Feel free to reach out to me if there's anything you think I could help with.
  - tallytarik 9y ago
    Thank you! And congratulations on 500m requests per day - that's insane! Thanks for the tip on pricing, the plans are essentially guesswork at the moment until I see some real users with real usage. I checked out some other services (including yours ;) ) and saw a wide range of pricing, some that had unlimited plans and some that didn't. Will definitely be something to revisit in the future.
    - JeanMarcS 9y ago
      I think coderholic gave you a good advice. If you're on amazon with a pay per use plan, you should immediately do the math of what it's going to cost you if someone does 1M request a day. Let's say someone who make an equivalent service, sells cheaper plans, and uses yours for example.
  - lykr0n 9y ago
    How many people pay for your service? Anything above $100 a month, and I can buy the database from MaxMind.
tequila_shot 9y ago
how is this different from ipinfo.info? curl ipinfo.io gives me the same info.
nodesocket 9y ago
What is the redundancy on this service? CloudFlare in front. How about the backends? Are you cross zone? Cross region? Also, nitpick, but using `X-` headers are deprecated, even though everybody still does it. Recommend changing auth header to `IPLocate-API-Key`.
- tallytarik 9y ago
  It's currently hosted on AWS, multi-instance in a single AZ. It has the ability to scale across zones easily, but my priority was to make sure I'm not hit with unreasonable costs for my small side project while it has 1 user. :) Thanks for the tip about the header - I didn't know that! I can certainly change the name.
  - nodesocket 9y ago
    Good luck. I'm running a Go app (https://github.com/fiorix/freegeoip https://github.com/fiorix/freegeoip) on a single f1-micro in Google Cloud for my startup. It works, no problems, no fuss, but certainly can see lots of people paying for GeoIP. Maybe focus on creating a Heroku plugin?
dsl 9y ago
Have you talked to MaxMind about becoming an authorized data reseller? The downloadable data file (which I assume you are using), does not allow selling lookups as a service. https://support.maxmind.com/geoip-faq/geoip2-and-geoip-legacy-license/can-i-set-up-a-website-where-my-clients-can-enter-an-ip-address-and-get-geoip2-information-back/ https://support.maxmind.com/geoip-faq/geoip2-and-geoip-legac...
- tallytarik 9y ago
  The database being used is under a licence that allows commercial use :)
xref 9y ago
I wonder how these services will work with ipv6, my address from hurricane electric just returns "North America"
rkwasny 9y ago
I would pay for an API that will let me lookup company name based on IP address, anyone providing this type of service?
- coderholic 9y ago
  We have a company details API that does exactly that at ipinfo.io - get in touch at support@ipinfo.io if you'd like more details or see https://ipinfo.io/products https://ipinfo.io/products
sitepodmatt 9y ago
Hmmm... The output is practically the same as https://freegeoip.net/json/ https://freegeoip.net/json/ But their free limit is a whooping 240x yours (and it's been very reliable for a client of mine). Are you piggybacking/bootstrapping off this? Why iplocate.io rather than the reliable freegeoip.net
justboxing 9y ago
How is this different from https://db-ip.com/api https://db-ip.com/api https://ipapi.co https://ipapi.co https://freegeoip.net https://freegeoip.net http://ipinfodb.com http://ipinfodb.com https://www.iplocation.net https://www.iplocation.net http://neutrinoapi.com http://neutrinoapi.com http://www.ip2location.com http://www.ip2location.com https://www.telize.com https://www.telize.com and a few dozen more....?[1] [1] Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14681118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14681118

20 points by tallytarik 9y ago

Hi HN! I've developed IPLocate.io, a super simple IP geolocation service to return data like country, city, timezone, etc. for IP addresses. It's free up to 1,500 requests per day, beyond which we have a couple of paid plans to accommodate higher limits. We've got some code samples for various languages on the home page as well as documentation by Apiary. It's a super simple Rails app powered by MaxMind data. I've been developing in the web and mobile space for years, but this is my first web project I'm finally releasing to the public - I'm not expecting it to be a money maker but just wanted to get a feel for reaction from the hacker community!

coderholic 9y ago
Congrats on the launch! Looks very similar to my service, https://ipinfo.io https://ipinfo.io :) I launched that around 3 years ago and at the time there weren't even any paid plans. It now handles close to 500 million API requests a day. I'd recommend killing the unlimited plan - you'll lose out on revenue with that. Good luck! Feel free to reach out to me if there's anything you think I could help with.
- tallytarik 9y ago
  Thank you! And congratulations on 500m requests per day - that's insane! Thanks for the tip on pricing, the plans are essentially guesswork at the moment until I see some real users with real usage. I checked out some other services (including yours ;) ) and saw a wide range of pricing, some that had unlimited plans and some that didn't. Will definitely be something to revisit in the future.
  - JeanMarcS 9y ago
    I think coderholic gave you a good advice. If you're on amazon with a pay per use plan, you should immediately do the math of what it's going to cost you if someone does 1M request a day. Let's say someone who make an equivalent service, sells cheaper plans, and uses yours for example.
- lykr0n 9y ago
  How many people pay for your service? Anything above $100 a month, and I can buy the database from MaxMind.

tequila_shot 9y ago

how is this different from ipinfo.info? curl ipinfo.io gives me the same info.

nodesocket 9y ago

What is the redundancy on this service? CloudFlare in front. How about the backends? Are you cross zone? Cross region? Also, nitpick, but using `X-` headers are deprecated, even though everybody still does it. Recommend changing auth header to `IPLocate-API-Key`.

tallytarik 9y ago
It's currently hosted on AWS, multi-instance in a single AZ. It has the ability to scale across zones easily, but my priority was to make sure I'm not hit with unreasonable costs for my small side project while it has 1 user. :) Thanks for the tip about the header - I didn't know that! I can certainly change the name.
- nodesocket 9y ago
  Good luck. I'm running a Go app (https://github.com/fiorix/freegeoip https://github.com/fiorix/freegeoip) on a single f1-micro in Google Cloud for my startup. It works, no problems, no fuss, but certainly can see lots of people paying for GeoIP. Maybe focus on creating a Heroku plugin?

dsl 9y ago

Have you talked to MaxMind about becoming an authorized data reseller? The downloadable data file (which I assume you are using), does not allow selling lookups as a service. https://support.maxmind.com/geoip-faq/geoip2-and-geoip-legacy-license/can-i-set-up-a-website-where-my-clients-can-enter-an-ip-address-and-get-geoip2-information-back/ https://support.maxmind.com/geoip-faq/geoip2-and-geoip-legac...

tallytarik 9y ago
The database being used is under a licence that allows commercial use :)

xref 9y ago

I wonder how these services will work with ipv6, my address from hurricane electric just returns "North America"

rkwasny 9y ago

I would pay for an API that will let me lookup company name based on IP address, anyone providing this type of service?

coderholic 9y ago
We have a company details API that does exactly that at ipinfo.io - get in touch at support@ipinfo.io if you'd like more details or see https://ipinfo.io/products https://ipinfo.io/products

sitepodmatt 9y ago

Hmmm... The output is practically the same as https://freegeoip.net/json/ https://freegeoip.net/json/ But their free limit is a whooping 240x yours (and it's been very reliable for a client of mine). Are you piggybacking/bootstrapping off this? Why iplocate.io rather than the reliable freegeoip.net

justboxing 9y ago

How is this different from https://db-ip.com/api https://db-ip.com/api https://ipapi.co https://ipapi.co https://freegeoip.net https://freegeoip.net http://ipinfodb.com http://ipinfodb.com https://www.iplocation.net https://www.iplocation.net http://neutrinoapi.com http://neutrinoapi.com http://www.ip2location.com http://www.ip2location.com https://www.telize.com https://www.telize.com and a few dozen more....?[1] [1] Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14681118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14681118