# Amazon Location Service vs NextBillion.ai

> Amazon Location Service scores 76.5 (BB) to NextBillion.ai's 55.4 (C) for geocoding. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-nextbillion
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-nextbillion.md (~5,800 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Amazon Location Service scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against NextBillion.ai's 55.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. NextBillion.ai leads on maintenance & community. Both do geocoding.

- Amazon Location Service: grade BB, 76.5/100, rank #43 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-location.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-location.json
- NextBillion.ai: grade C, 55.4/100, rank #874 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nextbillion.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nextbillion.json
- Best maps, geocoding and places APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/maps/index.md
- All 153 maps comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/maps/index.md

## 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 45
- Schema & documentation, 87 against 73
- Agent ergonomics, 88 against 77
- Security & auth, 76 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 58

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

### NextBillion.ai (C)

Good for: Fleet and delivery routing, distance matrices and route optimisation with truck profiles, plus geocoding and POI search, for companies ready for an annual contract.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 73 against 60

Watch for: Pricing is by quote on annual licences, with no public unit prices


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Amazon Location Service +50

- Amazon Location Service (95): Hosted reading. AWS Health Dashboard with a feed per service and region (20). The Amazon Location feeds for us-east-1 and eu-west-1 held no events on 1 November 2026 (last built 31 October), and the dashboard's event history, re-read on 1 November, names Amazon Location in no event. Its oldest event is the us-east-1 one of 28 October 2025, the open Middle East events of March 2026 don't list it, and the newest update is the API Gateway us-west-2 event of 30 October 2026. The public dashboard lists only broad events, so a clean feed says less than a small vendor's detailed page (30). Default rates published per operation, re-read on 1 November, 100 a second for each Places call, 20 for `CalculateRoutes`, isolines and `SnapToRoads`, 5 for `CalculateRouteMatrix` and `OptimizeWaypoints`, with a burst of 80 per cent (the burst rule per the 8 October check) (15). Throttling returns `ThrottlingException` with HTTP 429, marked retryable in the service model, and every v2 call is a read, but the guide gives no backoff or `Retry-After` guidance (10 of 15). Amazon Location SLA at 99.9 per cent monthly uptime per region (last updated 5 May 2022, re-read on 1 November) (10). GA (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 95.
- NextBillion.ai (45): Hosted lines, for the REST APIs at api.nextbillion.io and the hosted MCP server. A status page at status.nextbillion.io, 'NextBillion.AI API Status', renders only in a browser, and its Statuspage-style JSON paths return 404, so we couldn't see its components (10) or read any history. That's our limit, not a finding, and the rubric gives 5 (5). The API reference states 2,400 queries a minute, or 40 a second, for continuous requests (15). Each endpoint's error table lists 429 as 'QPM or API request count quota reached', with no Retry-After or backoff guidance (5). No SLA found; the terms say access isn't warranted to be uninterrupted (0). The REST APIs are GA. The MCP server is at version 0.5.3 (10). 10+5+15+5+0+10 = 45.

### Security & auth: Amazon Location Service +30

- Amazon Location Service (76): Three credential routes, SigV4 with IAM, Amazon Cognito, and API keys limited to named actions and resources with optional expiry and referrer or app restrictions, which earns 30 (the API key page re-read on 1 November). Less 10 because the API key is sent in the `key` query parameter, the only documented way to present it (20). API keys reach only read calls on Maps, Places and Routes, and IAM policies scope each action and resource (18 of 20). Results carry place names and third-party map data, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the reviewed documentation (5 of 15). CloudTrail records management events by default and data events on request, and CloudWatch reports usage by `ApiKeyName` (15). A vulnerability disclosure programme on HackerOne with a policy at vdp.aws.security, public security bulletins (none from 17 October to 1 November names Amazon Location), audit reports in AWS Artifact, Amazon Location Service in SOC 1, 2 and 3 scope on the list updated 11 August 2026 (per the 17 October check), and a FedRAMP High announcement of 28 October 2024. The aws.amazon.com security.txt, re-read on 1 November, expires on 16 October 2027. No paid bug bounty was found, so 2 points stay held back, as on the S3, SES, Polly and Secrets Manager re-checks of 17 October and the S3 re-check of 1 November (18 of 20). 20 + 18 + 5 + 15 + 18 = 76.
- NextBillion.ai (46): The REST APIs take a single `key` query parameter, so a plain key that travels in URLs, which earns 20 less 10. The MCP server adds OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, seals the key into tokens with AES-256-GCM, accepts a Bearer header and stores nothing server-side, so 5 back (15). Every tool is read-only, and keys can carry an IP allowlist (12). Places results are POI and address text with no prompt-injection guidance (7). Usage alerts at 50, 75 and 90 per cent of credits, per the pricing FAQ. No per-call log found (5). /.well-known/security.txt returns 404, and we found no disclosure policy or bug bounty. The about page says the company follows ISO 27001 standards, without naming a certificate (7). 15+12+7+5+7 = 46.

### Transparency & trust: Amazon Location Service +19

- Amazon Location Service (77): Closed service under the AWS Service Terms (last updated 30 October 2026, re-read on 1 November), whose section 82 sets out storage, caching and attribution rules in detail (15 of 30). The guide says device positions are kept 30 days, geofences until deleted, and that queries are stripped of customer metadata before they go to data providers (per the 8 October check). Section 82.1 agrees and adds that providers may process requests outside the chosen region. No retention period was found for Places and Routes requests (20 of 30). Section 82.3 still allows AWS to change or drop a provider or feature on notice "where practicable", and no dated deprecation notice or end date for the v1 APIs was found (5 of 20). AWS's sub-processor page, re-read on 1 November (last updated 30 October 2026), lists Esri for Amazon Location in Australia, Germany and the USA and Grabtaxi Holdings and HERE North America in Ireland, Japan, Singapore and the USA, says processing happens in the customer's selected Regions and the providers' locations, and promises 30 days' notice of a new sub-processor. The region is chosen per request (20 of 20, as for S3, SES and Secrets Manager). 15 + 20 + 5 + 20 = 60.
- NextBillion.ai (58): Editorial half only. Closed service under terms that name NextBillion.ai Pte. Ltd. and Singapore law, and an Apache-2.0 MCP server (18). The privacy policy keeps personal data while a legitimate business need exists, with no periods given. The MCP README says only tool arguments are sent to the API and nothing is retained between requests (14). No deprecation policy or dated notices found. The terms promise 10 days' notice of material changes to the terms (3). Data is mainly processed in Singapore, with transfers abroad under standard clauses. No sub-processor list found (8). 18+14+3+8 = 43.

### Schema & documentation: Amazon Location Service +14

- Amazon Location Service (87): The Smithy service models for `geo-places`, `geo-routes`, `geo-maps` and `location` (API version 2020-11-19) are public in aws/api-models-aws and in every AWS SDK, a machine-readable contract in the role OpenAPI plays (25). llms.txt for the developer guide, a Markdown twin of each page and the whole guide as `full.md` (10). A choose-an-API page and per-operation pages with use cases say when each call fits, with less on when not to use one (15 of 20). Inputs carry enums and ranges, such as `MaxResults` 1 to 100 and `QueryText` up to 200 characters (15). How-to pages give sample requests, responses, cURL and CLI commands, and each action lists its errors with HTTP codes, but the `ValidationException` fields are documented as "Test stub" (12 of 15). Versioned paths (`/v2/`), yet the document history, re-read on 1 November, still has one entry, dated 31 October 2024, and changes are announced only in AWS What's New posts (10 of 15).
- NextBillion.ai (73): No OpenAPI document for the REST APIs was found in llms.txt or the docs. The hosted MCP server's 27 tools are defined with Zod schemas, so they carry typed JSON Schema inputs (15 of 25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown file for each docs page (10). Endpoint pages explain each parameter, and MCP tool descriptions say when not to use a tool, such as the geometry tools being straight-line rather than road distance (16). Parameter tables give types, allowed values and defaults, such as `types` and `limit` (default 10), though `in` packs several filters into one string (12). curl examples and a per-endpoint error table with causes (13). The MCP server has a dated changelog. No API changelog or versioned path was found (7). 15+10+16+12+13+7 = 73.

### Maintenance & community: NextBillion.ai +13

- Amazon Location Service (60): Read as a closed service, by the listing's own service models, as the S3 re-check of 1 November read models/s3. The newest API change is still the `geo-maps` model on 17 August 2026 (point-of-interest density and category filters on maps), 76 days before the check. The models repository had commits to 30 October, none touching the `geo-places`, `geo-routes`, `geo-maps` or `location` models (20 of 30). In the last 90 days we found that one model change plus two releases of the agent context package, v1.1.0 on 6 August and v1.2.0 on 11 September 2026, with no later tag. The two package releases are agent guidance for the service, not changes to it, so half, as manifold-mcp's skills releases were read (10 of 20). AWS What's New posts for the service run to 2 April 2026 (none in the feed's 100 items from 20 to 30 October), re:Post and paid support exist, and the agent context repository had no open issues on 8 October (10 of 15). Official SDKs are current, the aws-sdk-js-v3 release v3.1161.0 and boto3 1.43.123, both tagged 30 October 2026 (15). SDKs regenerate from the model on AWS's release train, CI not checked (5 of 10). 20 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 5 = 60.
- NextBillion.ai (73): MCP server 0.5.3 on 30 October 2026 (30). Eleven tagged MCP releases between 7 October and 30 October, adding hosted mode, truck routing and geometry tools (20). Support by email, a public MCP repository with a changelog, but no public API changelog (8). The MCP server isn't in the official MCP registry, and we didn't check the mobile SDK versions (7). The MCP repository runs CI with unit and end-to-end tests (8). 30+20+8+7+8 = 73.

### Agent ergonomics: Amazon Location Service +11

- Amazon Location Service (88): API reading of the checklist. Places responses stay at the core fields unless `AdditionalFeatures` asks for more, and `MaxResults` caps the count, but there is no field selection and route responses can reach the 6 MB limit (20 of 25). `MaxResults` on six of seven Places calls, `NextToken` on `SearchText` and `SearchNearby`, and filters by country, bounding box and place type (18 of 20). Four typed errors per API, with a reason and field list on `ValidationException` (17 of 20). Every v2 operation is marked read-only in the model, so retries are safe. No hints apply to a plain API (18 of 20). One required field or none on most calls, an API key that avoids SigV4 signing, and SDKs on npm and PyPI among others (15).
- NextBillion.ai (77): MCP reading, since the hosted server is the agent surface. 27 tools, four of them for documentation and seven local geometry tools, with shapes simplified to a 500-vertex budget to save context (18). limit, types, country, bbox and circle filters, and batch geocoding of up to 100 queries (16). The error table explains each code, and the MCP masks the key in error text (15). Every API tool is marked readOnlyHint, idempotentHint and not destructive in the source (18). Few required parameters and explicit latitude and longitude objects, but no official server-side SDK, only mobile and web map SDKs (10). 18+16+15+18+10 = 77.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amazon Location Service | NextBillion.ai | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 95 | 45 | Amazon Location Service +50 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 73 | Amazon Location Service +14 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 77 | Amazon Location Service +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 46 | Amazon Location Service +30 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 20 | Amazon Location Service +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 73 | NextBillion.ai +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 58 | Amazon Location Service +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **76.5 · BB** | **55.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Location Service | NextBillion.ai |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | NextBillion.ai Pte. Ltd. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | `https://mcp.nextbillion.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| Price for geocoding | $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 | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 27 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-17 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 427k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Amazon Location Service

- +2.4 on 17 October 2026: security, new evidence, correction

### NextBillion.ai

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.

**NextBillion.ai.** NextBillion.ai covers routing, distance matrices, route optimisation, geocoding and places, and runs a hosted MCP server with 27 read-only annotated tools and OAuth sign-in. Pricing is by quote on annual licences, the REST API key travels in the query string, and no OpenAPI spec, API changelog or readable status history was found.

## 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

### NextBillion.ai

1. Connect through https://mcp.nextbillion.io so the key stays in a Bearer header or OAuth token rather than in request URLs
2. Use the geometry tools only for straight-line questions; use directions or distance_matrix for travel time
3. Batch up to 100 geocodes with geocode_batch instead of one call per address
4. On 429 the quota or the 2,400-a-minute limit is reached; slow down and tell the user if credits are spent
5. Search the docs with the MCP documentation tools before guessing a parameter

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Location Service or NextBillion.ai?

Amazon Location Service scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against NextBillion.ai's 55.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. NextBillion.ai leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Amazon Location Service and NextBillion.ai need an API key?

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

### Can an agent call Amazon Location Service and NextBillion.ai without installing anything?

Yes. Amazon Location Service has a hosted endpoint at https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com and NextBillion.ai at https://mcp.nextbillion.io.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Amazon Location Service or NextBillion.ai

- [Amazon Location Service vs ArcGIS Location Platform](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-arcgis.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Azure Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-azure-maps.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Geoapify Location Platform + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-geoapify.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Geocodio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-geocodio.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-google-maps-platform.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs HERE Location Services](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-here-location-services.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs LocationIQ](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-locationiq.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Mapbox APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapbox.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs MapQuest](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-mapquest.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs MapTiler Cloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-maptiler.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Nominatim](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-nominatim.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-opencage.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Radar](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-radar.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-stadia-maps.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-tomtom.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs Woosmap](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-woosmap.md)
- [ArcGIS Location Platform vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcgis-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [Azure Maps vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-maps-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geoapify-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [Geocodio vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geocodio-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-maps-platform-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [HERE Location Services vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/here-location-services-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [LocationIQ vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [Mapbox APIs + MCP vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapbox-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [MapQuest vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapquest-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [MapTiler Cloud vs NextBillion.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/maptiler-vs-nextbillion.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs Nominatim](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-nominatim.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-opencage.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs Radar](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-radar.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-stadia-maps.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-tomtom.md)
- [NextBillion.ai vs Woosmap](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nextbillion-vs-woosmap.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp