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I built a free reverse geocoding api about 4 years ago ( https://api.3geonames.org https://api.3geonames.org ) Usage grew steadily sometimes crashing the server

by eruci 5y ago

I built a free reverse geocoding api about 4 years ago ( https://api.3geonames.org https://api.3geonames.org ) Usage grew steadily sometimes crashing the server. So I loaded the software on GCP and AWS Marketplaces. Those needing a dedicated api launched their own servers for a fee. It has made an average pf $500 a month since I made those machine images available on https://3geonames.org/api https://3geonames.org/api about 2 years ago.

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_august 5y ago
this is pretty awesome -- may use it for some hobby projects. how does it work?
- eruci 5y ago
  Yes, of course you can use it. The API is free, does not require an api key. The only issue is when many use it and the server crashes. It runs on a t2.micro free tier EC2 instance.
fm2606 5y ago
If it is free how are you making money? I didn't see any advertisement, i.e. Google Ads, etc.
- eruci 5y ago
  I get a portion of the server fee on either AWS or GCP.