# Amazon Location Service vs MapQuest

> Amazon Location Service scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against MapQuest's 35.1 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. MapQuest leads on payments & pricing. Both do geo geocode. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Amazon Location Service scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against MapQuest's 35.1 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. MapQuest leads on payments & pricing. Both do geo geocode.

- Amazon Location Service: grade BB, 74.1/100, rank #68 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-location.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-location.json
- MapQuest: grade F, 35.1/100, rank #710 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mapquest.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mapquest.json

## Which one, for what

### Amazon Location Service (BB)

Good for: Operators already on AWS who want geocoding, places and routing inside IAM, CloudTrail and one bill, with HERE data and GrabMaps for Southeast Asia.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 95 against 23
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 47
- Agent ergonomics, 88 against 60
- Security & auth, 73 against 28
- Maintenance & community, 60 against 23
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 28

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: The API key is sent as the `key` query parameter, the only documented way to present it

### MapQuest (F)

Good for: An agent that needs US-centred geocoding, routing with truck profiles, traffic and place search behind one account, with an MCP server ready to connect.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20

Watch for: No API terms of service found. The legal link leads to System1's 2021 website terms, which allow personal, non-commercial use only


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amazon Location Service | MapQuest | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 95 | 23 | Amazon Location Service +72 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 47 | Amazon Location Service +40 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 60 | Amazon Location Service +28 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 73 | 28 | Amazon Location Service +45 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | MapQuest +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 23 | Amazon Location Service +37 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 28 | Amazon Location Service +42 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **74.1 · BB** | **35.1 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Location Service | MapQuest |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | MapQuest (System1) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | `https://www.mapquestapi.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for geo geocode | $0.50 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the AWS Customer Agreement and AWS Service Terms. The AWS SDK clients and the agent context package on GitHub are Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service. No API terms were found published without a login |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-17 | 2026-07-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 427k npm/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Amazon Location Service.** Places, Routes and Maps calls work over plain HTTPS with an API key limited to named actions, and every one of the 17 operations is read-only with typed inputs. Access starts with an AWS account a person opens, the key travels in the URL query string, and stored results cost eight times the single-use rate.

**MapQuest.** One account reaches geocoding, routing, place search and traffic through a REST API or a hosted MCP server with OAuth, at a published $0.0045 a transaction. No API terms, status page, changelog or product OpenAPI spec was found, and REST keys travel in the query string.

## Before you call either

### Amazon Location Service

1. Call the v2 endpoints (`places.geo.<region>.amazonaws.com/v2/geocode`, `routes.geo`, `maps.geo`). They need no resource creation, unlike the v1 place index and route calculator calls
2. Set `IntendedUse` to `Storage` before saving or caching any Places result. The default `SingleUse` results may not be stored under section 82.4 of the AWS Service Terms
3. Read `PricingBucket` in each response. Requesting `Contact`, `Access`, `TimeZone` or `Phonemes` in `AdditionalFeatures` moves a Places call from $0.50 to $1.50 per 1,000
4. Keep the API key out of logs and shared URLs, since it travels as `?key=`. Use SigV4 with an IAM role for server-side work, and for the Jobs API, which refuses API keys
5. Back off on HTTP 429 `ThrottlingException`. The burst allowance is 80 per cent of the per-second rate within any part of a second

### MapQuest

1. Register an account and create an API key before connecting the MCP server. Every tool needs an active key, chosen by nickname on first use
2. Send REST calls to `https://www.mapquestapi.com` with `key` in the query string, and redact it from logged URLs
3. Read `info.statuscode` in geocoding and directions responses. 0 is success, and errors such as 610 (ambiguous location) arrive in the body
4. Set `thumbMaps=false` and `maxResults` on geocoding, and `pageSize` (1 to 50) on place search, to keep responses small
5. Do not store or cache geocodes on a monthly or pay-as-you-go plan

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Location Service or MapQuest?

Amazon Location Service scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against MapQuest's 35.1 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. MapQuest leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Amazon Location Service and MapQuest need an API key?

Amazon Location Service needs an API key. MapQuest takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Amazon Location Service and MapQuest without installing anything?

Yes. Amazon Location Service has a hosted endpoint at https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com and MapQuest at https://www.mapquestapi.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "amazon-location", "b": "mapquest"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare amazon-location mapquest`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-location.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mapquest.json

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