# 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. Category…

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

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 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
- OpenCage Geocoding API: grade B, 69.2/100, rank #164 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencage.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 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

| Category | Weight | Amazon Location Service | OpenCage Geocoding API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 95 | 85 | Amazon Location Service +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 77 | Amazon Location Service +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 86 | Amazon Location Service +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 73 | 47 | Amazon Location Service +26 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | OpenCage Geocoding API +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 66 | OpenCage Geocoding API +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 84 | OpenCage Geocoding API +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **74.1 · BB** | **69.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Location Service | OpenCage Geocoding API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | OpenCage |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://places.geo.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | `https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| 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 | MIT (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | none | 3 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-08-17 | 2026-06-25 |
| 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 | 19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (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.


## For agents

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

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