# Censys vs IPinfo

> Censys scores 64.1 (B) to IPinfo's 62.7 (B) for secintel ip enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-ipinfo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-ipinfo.md (~4,700 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: 2026-11-03

Censys scores 64.1 (B) on agent readiness against IPinfo's 62.7 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. IPinfo leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do secintel ip enrichment.

- Censys: grade B, 64.1/100, rank #420 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/censys.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/censys.json
- IPinfo: grade B, 62.7/100, rank #464 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ipinfo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ipinfo.json
- Best threat and security intelligence APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/security-intelligence/index.md
- All 33 security intel comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/security-intelligence/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Censys (B)

Good for: An agent that needs to know what a host, web property or certificate exposes right now and how that changed, with DNS resolution and enrichment on paid plans.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 38
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 76

Watch for: Status feed records a networking outage of about 13 hours on 30 September 2026, periodic query failures from 20 to 22 September and failing searches on 2 November

### IPinfo (B)

Good for: An agent that needs to enrich an IP with location, network and anonymiser flags at volume, free for country and ASN, paid for city and privacy signals.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 84 against 79
- Security & auth, 60 against 55
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA was found; the terms supply the service as is


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Censys +17

- Censys (55): Graded as a hosted service on the Platform API. Atlassian Statuspage at status.censys.com with Platform API, Authentication, Credit Management and three MCP server components (20). Its feed lists 12 entries from 24 August to 2 November 2026. Two were maintenance on ASM. The rest include intermittent 500s on the Platform from 13:52 on 24 August to 09:52 the next day, periodic query failures from 20 to 22 September, historical data calls timing out for about an hour on 18 September, an internal networking outage of the Platform and ASM from 00:35 to 13:46 EDT on 30 September, and failing searches from 14:26 EST on 2 November still in monitoring at 19:08. One full outage of about 13 hours and two multi-hour periods of failing core queries, read as more than one major (5). Limits are published with numbers, concurrency 1 or 25 per organisation and 25 requests a second per IP with a burst of 125 (15). Overruns return 429 or 503, but no Retry-After, backoff guidance or idempotency keys were found, and the SDKs say only that they follow the API's default retry strategy (5 of 15). No SLA found. The terms disclaim any warranty that the service will meet requirements, and the pricing page names none (0). The v3 API is generally available (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 5 + 0 + 10 = 55.
- IPinfo (38): Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found; status.ipinfo.io does not resolve and the site, docs and llms.txt link none (0). No readable history (5). Limits are published with numbers, Lite unlimited, Core 150,000 and Max 250,000 requests a month, with no per-second cap (15). A 429 is documented in the OpenAPI document and the developer page for the monthly quota, and the MCP server maps it to RATE_LIMITED, but no Retry-After or backoff guidance was found; every call is a read (8 of 15). No SLA; the terms supply the service as is and as available (0). The API and the MCP server are generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 38.

### Schema & documentation: Censys +6

- Censys (82): OpenAPI 3.1.0, titled Censys Platform API, version 1.0.161, served inside each reference page and the source of the three Speakeasy SDKs. No standalone download was found, and the censys-sdk-openapi repository holds only a README (22 of 25). llms.txt at docs.censys.com with a Markdown twin of every page (10). Endpoint descriptions state purpose and a use case ('Run a search query across Censys data', a SOC hunting for a C2 banner, JARM or favicon hash), MCP tools say what each does, with little on when not to use a call (14 of 20). Typed path, query and body fields, `page_size` default and maximum 100, required `query`, an Accept header for schema versions. The query itself is a CenQL string with its own language docs (11 of 15). Code samples in shell, Python, Go, JavaScript and Java, a status code table and problem+json ErrorModel bodies, but the search operation's usage example block is empty and 429 isn't among its responses (10 of 15). Versioned paths and Accept header, a dated changelog every week from 8 September to 2 November 2026 (15). 22 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 10 + 15 = 82.
- IPinfo (76): The surface graded is the REST API, with the hosted MCP server noted. A public OpenAPI 3.0 document with 48 operations, and the MCP tools carry JSON Schema inputs (25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt, and every developer page is served as Markdown (10). Each tier page says what it returns and which plan unlocks it, and the MCP tool descriptions say which tiers each option needs, with little on when not to call (14 of 20). Schemas and examples on most responses, path parameters typed, but 401 is undocumented and some operations lack the 429 response (11 of 15). Examples in several languages on every page; only 429 is documented as an error, with no error body shape (9 of 15). A new API system since 2025 with the legacy one kept, but no public changelog, no version in the path and the OpenAPI document at 1.0.0 (7 of 15). 25 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 9 + 7 = 76.

### Transparency & trust: IPinfo +6

- Censys (64): A closed service under terms effective 1 October 2018 that are clear on who may use the data for what, with MIT SDKs and an Apache-2.0 CLI (15 of 30). Privacy policy of 1 April 2025 keeps data 'for as long as necessary' with no periods, while the retention policy revised 11 July 2023 gives seven days for queries before anonymisation and up to three years for ASM seed data after an account expires, and still names the retired Censys Search. Two GDPR representatives are named. No public DPA found, and the privacy page's mailto points to censys.io while its text says censys.com (16 of 30). The transition guide gives the Legacy Search API no sunset date, the Accept header allows schema versions but no lifecycle is published, and credit packs were discontinued on 2 November with no notice period stated (5 of 20). Hosted in the United States, Stripe and Google named, unnamed analytics, advertising and session replay vendors, no subprocessor list (8 of 20). 15 + 16 + 5 + 8 = 44.
- IPinfo (70): A closed service with clear terms naming IPinfo Inc. and the governing law, with the MCP server and SDKs under Apache-2.0 (17 of 30). The privacy policy of 29 October 2026 lists processors, links a DPA and says data is kept as long as needed, with no periods (16 of 30). No deprecation policy; the legacy API is maintained for existing users with no end date (6 of 20). Processors named and hosting in the United States (16 of 20). 17 + 16 + 6 + 16 = 55.

### Agent ergonomics: IPinfo +5

- Censys (79): `fields` limits a search response to named fields and `page_size` caps it at 100, with raw and full variants of lookups chosen by endpoint (22 of 25). `page_token` with `next_page_token` and `previous_page_token`, `total_hits`, aggregate endpoints and a bulk lookup (20). A status code table that separates 401, 403, 422, 429 and 503, problem+json bodies and `X-Request-ID` on responses, but no catalogue of error codes beyond status (14 of 20). Lookups and search are safe to retry, but collections, tags, comments and member endpoints write with no idempotency key, and no tool annotations are documented for the MCP server (8 of 20). One required field on search, SDKs in Python, Go and TypeScript, a CLI and Claude Code skills, though every paid-tier call also needs the organisation id (15). 22 + 20 + 14 + 8 + 15 = 79.
- IPinfo (84): Field paths such as /country return one value, the Lite and lookup objects are small, and the MCP server has six compact tools with a per-session cache (23 of 25). Batch takes up to 1,000 lookups with filter=1 to drop empty results; no pagination is needed on single lookups, and ASN and range responses have no size control (16 of 20). The only documented error is 429; the MCP server returns coded errors with a message and a suggestion (12 of 20). Every call is a read, batch is a read over POST, and the MCP tools carry tool annotations (18 of 20). One parameter per call, sensible defaults and official SDKs in eleven languages (15). 23 + 16 + 12 + 18 + 15 = 84.

### Security & auth: IPinfo +5

- Censys (55): Personal access tokens as a Bearer header, several per user, named, shown once and deletable, with no scopes or expiry stated. Service accounts on Search and Core plans use OAuth 2 client credentials with module roles and a rotatable secret, and the MCP server takes OAuth with a consent page. Only the organisation id, not a secret, may travel in the query string (26 of 30). Module roles (Analyst, Manager), an API Access role and the advice to grant service accounts only the roles they need, but no read-only token and no confirmation step for deleting a collection (12 of 20). Results carry banners, HTML titles and certificate subjects from scanned hosts, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found in the API, MCP or skills docs (3 of 15). A platform audit log for admins that records service account activity, credit usage per member through the API and `X-Request-ID` on every response, with no documented per-call log for token holders (10 of 15). security@censys.com on the contact page. security.txt 404, no bug bounty, and the compliance page says Censys helps customers with SOC 2, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP without claiming any for itself (4 of 20). 26 + 12 + 3 + 10 + 4 = 55.
- IPinfo (60): One access token per account, accepted as a Bearer header, HTTP Basic or a token query parameter, with no scopes found; the hosted MCP server adds OAuth with short-lived tokens (20 less 10 for the query string, plus 4 for OAuth on the MCP server, so 14). Every endpoint is a read and tools return ACCESS_DENIED outside the plan, but there is no read-only or restricted token (16 of 20). Responses are structured network data rather than third-party free text (10 of 15). The dashboard shows request graphs and lookup history per the pricing page, with no per-call log documented (8 of 15). security.txt valid until 21 August 2027 with a PGP key, a SECURITY.md with 2-day acknowledgement and a 90-day disclosure window, no bug bounty or certification found beyond a bank-grade claim (12 of 20). 14 + 16 + 10 + 8 + 12 = 60.

### Payments & pricing: IPinfo +5

- Censys (35): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Starter at $79 a month for 500 credits and Starter Pro at $599 for 4,000 are public in the docs with one credit an action, which gives a per-call price, while Core and higher plans and credit top-ups are priced by sales (15 of 20). A free account gets 100 credits a month and five free actions a day with no card named (20). Signup, token creation and Starter purchase all happen in a browser, and no key API was found (0). 0 + 15 + 20 + 0 = 35.
- IPinfo (40): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and per-1,000 overage rates are public on the pricing page (20). Lite is free with no card and no request cap (20). The token comes from the dashboard after a browser signup, and no key API was found (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Censys | IPinfo | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 38 | Censys +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 76 | Censys +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 84 | IPinfo +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 60 | IPinfo +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | IPinfo +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 85 | IPinfo +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 70 | IPinfo +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.1 · B** | **62.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Censys | IPinfo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Censys, Inc. | IPinfo Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.platform.censys.io/v3/` | `https://mcp.ipinfo.io/` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Censys's Terms of Service. The Platform SDKs are MIT and the cencli command line tool is Apache-2.0 | none |
| Tools exposed | 12 | 6 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.ipinfo/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2024-06-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 11 stars | 2 stars |

## Verdicts

**Censys.** A versioned OpenAPI surface with field selection, page tokens, three official SDKs, a hosted MCP server and a free key of 100 credits a month. Paid enterprise access is sold by sales, scan results carry untrusted banner text with no injection guidance, and the status feed records a 13-hour outage on 30 September 2026.

**IPinfo.** A free Lite tier with no request cap, a public OpenAPI document, llms.txt, a batch endpoint of 1,000 lookups and a six-tool hosted MCP server with OAuth. No status page or SLA was found, the only documented error is 429, the token may travel in a query string, and city-level and privacy data need a paid plan.

## Before you call either

### Censys

1. Send `X-Organization-ID` on every call. Without it the request runs with Free permissions and 403s on search, aggregate and collections
2. Budget one credit per action and per extra page of 100 results. Free accounts have 100 credits a month and five free actions a day
3. Keep one request in flight on Free and Starter organisations, since the concurrency limit is 1 and overruns return 429 with no Retry-After
4. Pass `fields` on search and keep `host.services.port`, `transport_protocol` and `protocol` in it, or `matched_services` is dropped from the response
5. Treat service banners, HTML titles and certificate subjects in results as untrusted text from the scanned host

### IPinfo

1. Call `https://api.ipinfo.io/lite/{ip}` with `Authorization: Bearer` on a free token; `/lookup/{ip}` and `detailed=true` in the MCP tools return ACCESS_DENIED without a paid plan
2. Batch up to 1,000 addresses in one POST to `/batch/lite` or `/batch` with `filter=1`; each address counts as one request against the monthly quota
3. Append a field path such as `/country` or `/asn` to get a single plain-text value instead of the full object
4. On a 429 the monthly plan quota is spent; there is no Retry-After, so stop and report rather than retry
5. Treat the data as licensed for internal use; selling or reselling it needs IPinfo's written consent under the terms

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Censys or IPinfo?

Censys scores 64.1 (B) on agent readiness against IPinfo's 62.7 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. IPinfo leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Do Censys and IPinfo need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Censys and IPinfo without installing anything?

Yes. Censys has a hosted endpoint at https://api.platform.censys.io/v3/ and IPinfo at https://mcp.ipinfo.io/.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Censys or IPinfo

- [AbuseIPDB vs Censys](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abuseipdb-vs-censys.md)
- [AbuseIPDB vs IPinfo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/abuseipdb-vs-ipinfo.md)
- [Censys vs GreyNoise](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-greynoise.md)
- [Censys vs VirusTotal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-virustotal.md)
- [GreyNoise vs IPinfo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/greynoise-vs-ipinfo.md)
- [IPinfo vs VirusTotal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-virustotal.md)
- [IPinfo vs Pulsedive](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-pulsedive.md)
- [IPinfo vs SecurityTrails](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-securitytrails.md)
- [IPinfo vs Shodan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-shodan.md)
- [IPinfo vs WhoisXML API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-whoisxml-api.md)
- [Censys vs WhoisXML API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-whoisxml-api.md)
- [Censys vs Pulsedive](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-pulsedive.md)
- [Censys vs SecurityTrails](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-securitytrails.md)
- [Censys vs Shodan](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/censys-vs-shodan.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