# ArcGIS Location Platform vs Stadia Maps

> ArcGIS Location Platform and Stadia Maps score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 65.4 (B) and 65.2 (B). Stadia Maps leads on schema & documentation. Both do geo geocode. Stadia Maps is cheaper for geo geocode, $0.40 against $0.50 per 1,000 requests. Category…

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

ArcGIS Location Platform and Stadia Maps score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 65.4 (B) and 65.2 (B). Stadia Maps leads on schema & documentation. Both do geo geocode. Stadia Maps is cheaper for geo geocode, $0.40 against $0.50 per 1,000 requests.

- ArcGIS Location Platform: grade B, 65.4/100, rank #259 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arcgis.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/arcgis.json
- Stadia Maps: grade B, 65.2/100, rank #261 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stadia-maps.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stadia-maps.json

## Which one, for what

### ArcGIS Location Platform (B)

Good for: Organisations already on Esri software, and work that needs demographic enrichment, service areas or fleet routing beside geocoding.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 64 against 40

Watch for: The agreement bars benchmarking availability, performance or functionality, and publishing benchmark results, without prior written permission from Esri and its licensors (sections 3.1.b.6 and 3.1.c.6.F).

### Stadia Maps (B)

Good for: Cost-sensitive geocoding, routing and tiles on OpenStreetMap data, with traffic-influenced routing since April 2026.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 86 against 61

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for geo geocode, $0.40 against $0.50 per 1,000 requests
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Free plan is for development, testing and demos only


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ArcGIS Location Platform | Stadia Maps | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 63 | ArcGIS Location Platform +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 86 | Stadia Maps +25 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 80 | Stadia Maps +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 40 | ArcGIS Location Platform +24 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 80 | ArcGIS Location Platform +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 76 | Stadia Maps +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **65.4 · B** | **65.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ArcGIS Location Platform | Stadia Maps |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Esri | Stadia Maps |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://geocode-api.arcgis.com` | `https://api.stadiamaps.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for geo geocode | $0.50 per 1,000 requests | $0.40 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the ArcGIS Location Platform Agreement. The ArcGIS REST JS client library is Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 6 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-03-18 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-31 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| 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 | 392 stars, 65k npm/wk, 33k PyPI/wk | 23 stars, 6.1k npm/wk, 192 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**ArcGIS Location Platform.** Per-unit prices are public for every service, with a monthly free tier of 20,000 geocodes and 20,000 routes, keys limited to chosen privileges and a 99.9 per cent SLA. No rate limits or OpenAPI description were found, results may not be stored unless the dearer stored geocode is bought, and the agreement bars benchmarking without written permission.

**Stadia Maps.** Public OpenAPI spec (11.1.0) with generated TypeScript and Python SDKs. Free plan is for development, testing and demos only.

## Before you call either

### ArcGIS Location Platform

1. Send the token in an `X-Esri-Authorization: Bearer` or `Authorization` header. The docs' examples put it in a `token` parameter, which Esri's own best-practice page calls less secure.
2. Set `forStorage=true` on `findAddressCandidates` or `reverseGeocode` only when results will be kept. It needs pay-as-you-go and the Geocode (stored) privilege, and costs eight times the unstored rate.
3. Cap geocoding output with `maxLocations` (default and maximum 50) and `outFields`, because billing counts results returned and the default returns every field.
4. Page place searches with `pageSize` (maximum 20) and `offset`. A nearby or extent search costs $8 per 1,000 requests after 500 free a month.
5. Check the JSON body for an `error` object with `code`, `message` and `details`. Code 499 means the token is missing and 403 means it lacks the privilege.

### Stadia Maps

1. Send the key as `Authorization: Stadia-Auth <key>` rather than in the URL
2. Try Autocomplete v2 (1 credit) before a full geocode (20 credits) when a name is enough
3. Check the dashboard's credit balance before retrying a 429, since it may mean the month is spent
4. Don't write geocodes to a database on Free or Starter
5. Use bulk-geocode for addresses only, not POI names

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ArcGIS Location Platform or Stadia Maps?

ArcGIS Location Platform and Stadia Maps score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 65.4 (B) and 65.2 (B). Stadia Maps leads on schema & documentation.

### Which is cheaper for geo geocode, ArcGIS Location Platform or Stadia Maps?

Stadia Maps, at $0.40 per 1,000 requests against $0.50 per 1,000 requests for ArcGIS Location Platform. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do ArcGIS Location Platform and Stadia Maps need an API key?

ArcGIS Location Platform takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Stadia Maps needs an API key.

### Can an agent call ArcGIS Location Platform and Stadia Maps without installing anything?

Yes. ArcGIS Location Platform has a hosted endpoint at https://geocode-api.arcgis.com and Stadia Maps at https://api.stadiamaps.com.


## For agents

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

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