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Head to head · Geo geocode · October 2026 research run

Amazon Location Service vs OpenCage Geocoding API

Amazon Location Service scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenCage Geocoding API's 69.2 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. OpenCage Geocoding API leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do geo geocode.

Amazon Location ServiceAmazon Web Services · HTTP API BB74.1/100#68 of 722 OpenCage Geocoding APIOpenCage · HTTP API B69.2/100#164 of 722

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 85
  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 77
  • Security & auth, 73 against 47

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

OpenCage Geocoding API B

Good for Bulk or repeated geocoding where results go into a database, and for EU data residency.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 66 against 60
  • Transparency & trust, 84 against 70

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

Geocoding only, no place search or routing

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAmazon Location ServiceOpenCage Geocoding APIEdge
Reliability16%209585Amazon Location Service +10
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28777Amazon Location Service +10
Agent ergonomics13%16.28886Amazon Location Service +2
Security & auth14%17.57347Amazon Location Service +26
Payments & pricing10%12.52035OpenCage Geocoding API +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86066OpenCage Geocoding API +6
Transparency & trust7%8.87084OpenCage Geocoding API +14
Negative events≤1500
Total74.1 · BB69.2 · B

Facts side by side

FactAmazon Location ServiceOpenCage Geocoding API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorAmazon Web ServicesOpenCage
Hosted endpointhttps://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.comhttps://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json
TransportsHTTPHTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePaid
Price for geo geocode$0.50 per 1,000 requestsnot published
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the AWS Customer Agreement and AWS Service Terms. The AWS SDK clients and the agent context package on GitHub are Apache-2.0MIT (MCP server)
Tools exposednone3
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp
Last release2026-08-172026-06-25
Terms last updated2026-10-01no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-18no date given
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity427k npm/wk19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.5/5 (2)

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.

OpenCage Geocoding API

Permanent storage of results on every plan, including after you cancel. Geocoding only, no place search or routing.

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

OpenCage Geocoding API

  1. Add no_annotations=1 and limit=1 when you only need coordinates
  2. Stop on 402, which means the day's quota is gone, and back off on 429
  3. Add no_record=1 when the query holds personal data
  4. Redact the key parameter before logging request URLs
  5. Credit OpenStreetMap wherever you show results

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Location Service or OpenCage Geocoding API?

Amazon Location Service scores 74.1 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenCage Geocoding API's 69.2 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. OpenCage Geocoding API leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

Do Amazon Location Service and OpenCage Geocoding API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Amazon Location Service and OpenCage Geocoding API without installing anything?

Yes. Amazon Location Service has a hosted endpoint at https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com and OpenCage Geocoding API at https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json.

Other comparisons with Amazon Location Service or OpenCage Geocoding API

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