# Geocodio vs MapTiler Cloud

> Geocodio scores 72.2 (BB) to MapTiler Cloud's 62.1 (B) for geocoding. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geocodio-vs-maptiler
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geocodio-vs-maptiler.md (~4,800 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

Geocodio scores 72.2 (BB) on agent readiness against MapTiler Cloud's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. MapTiler Cloud leads on security & auth. Both do geocoding.

- Geocodio: grade BB, 72.2/100, rank #137 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/geocodio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/geocodio.json
- MapTiler Cloud: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #574 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/maptiler.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/maptiler.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

### Geocodio (BB)

Good for: Batch geocoding and district or census enrichment of addresses in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, where results must be stored.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 43
- Schema & documentation, 92 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 70
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 70
- Transparency & trust, 87 against 80

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: Covers only the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and UK needs a Flex or Unlimited plan

### MapTiler Cloud (B)

Good for: Map tiles, static maps and worldwide geocoding with storable results for apps that also show a map, with EU data residency.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 64 against 58

Watch for: The API key is always sent as a query parameter


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Geocodio +27

- Geocodio (70): Hosted lines. incident.io status page at status.geocod.io with five components (Geocodio API, Dashboard, Enterprise API, Enterprise Dashboard, Website) and an incidents feed at /api/v2/incidents.json (20). In the 90 days to 6 November 2026 the feed lists one incident marked major, 'Spreadsheet geocoding jobs are failing' on 27 October from 12:35 to 15:15 UTC, and a PHP security patch on 21 October marked no impact, so one major outage of a core feature (10). 1,000 requests a minute on single geocoding for pay-as-you-go and Flex, 100 on Enterprise Flex (15). 429 carries X-RateLimit-Remaining, -Limit and -Period, and llms.txt and AGENTS.md give a retry rule per status code with capped backoff, plus client-side idempotency guidance for the non-idempotent list and batch writes (15). The pricing page lists custom SLAs as an add-on on Unlimited and Enterprise plans, with no published terms, so no SLA (0). GA (10). 20+10+15+15+0+10 = 70.
- MapTiler Cloud (43): Hosted lines. status.maptiler.com is a StatusCake public uptime report rather than a component incident page (15). Its data loads from app.statuscake.com, whose robots.txt answered with a redirect, so we didn't fetch it and read no history. That's our limit, not a finding, and the rubric gives 5 (5). Monthly request and session quotas are published per plan, but no per-second limit (5). No 429, Retry-After or backoff guidance found in the API reference, the OpenAPI spec or llms-full.txt (0). The pricing page lists a 99.9% SLA on the Custom plan, while the Cloud terms call availability best effort and point to a custom SLA (8). The public APIs are GA (10). 15+5+5+0+8+10 = 43.

### Maintenance & community: Geocodio +16

- Geocodio (86): API v2.1 released 3 November 2026 (Australia and New Zealand), and PHP library 3.4.1 on 4 November (30). Dated changelog entries on 8 September, 1, 8, 9, 19, 22 and 31 October and 3 November 2026, plus library releases in October (20). Public changelog, support by email and a team-staffed help desk named on the pricing page. We didn't read GitHub issue reply times (12). Official Python 1.6.0 and Node 2.3.0 from 12 October and PHP 3.4.1 from 4 November are current (15). Each library and the CLI run CI on GitHub Actions; we didn't check whether the runs pass (9). 30+20+12+15+9 = 86.
- MapTiler Cloud (70): @maptiler/client 3.1.0 and @maptiler/sdk 4.2.0 on 2 October 2026, 35 days before this check, with the agent skill updated on 21 October (20). Platform updates entries for August (EU endpoint, key security) and September 2026 (terrain blending) plus the two October releases (20). A Discord community and support answered on a best-effort basis within two business days, per the Cloud terms. We didn't read GitHub issues (10). Official JavaScript client and SDK current, no Python client (12). The SDK repository runs unit and end-to-end tests in CI; we didn't check results (8). 20+20+10+12+8 = 70.

### Schema & documentation: Geocodio +13

- Geocodio (92): OpenAPI 3.0.1 spec, version 2.1.0, with 11 paths (25). llms.txt and an AGENTS.md written for agents (10). llms.txt and AGENTS.md say when to use each endpoint and when not to, such as the Lists API over looping single calls, the upload tool for a one-off spreadsheet and straightline over driving distance unless road distance is needed (19). Typed parameters with country values, component fields and documented limits, though `fields` is a comma-separated string (12). Error table with retry guidance, examples throughout, but the spec documents 200, 400, 403, 404, 422 and 424 and not 429 or 500 (11). Versioned paths from v1 to v2.1 and a dated public changelog with entries back to 2024 (15). 25+10+19+12+11+15 = 92.
- MapTiler Cloud (79): OpenAPI 3.1.0 document with 32 paths for the public APIs (25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Each API page says what it's for and when to use the SDK instead (session billing), with little on when not to call it (13). Parameters are typed with defaults, such as limit (default 5 forward, 1 reverse) and a types enum, but bbox and proximity are strings (11). Examples on every endpoint, and the spec documents 400, 403, 404 and 414, without an error reference page (10). A dated platform updates page and a geocoding index changelog, but no version in the API path and the spec is version '1.0' (10). 25+10+13+11+10+10 = 79.

### Agent ergonomics: Geocodio +10

- Geocodio (80): API reading. `limit`, opt-in `fields` appends and `stable_address_key` re-lookups size responses and cost, and results are ordered best first (20). Batches of 10,000 lookups, Lists for 10 million, distance filters (max_distance, max_results, order_by) and paginated list listings (17). Codes 403, 422, 429 and 500 each carry a documented meaning and retry rule, error bodies link a help page, and `_warnings` reports ignored parameters (18). Geocoding reads are safe to retry, but there's no idempotency key on batch or list creation and AGENTS.md says a retried request is billed again (10). One required parameter on a single geocode, and official libraries for Python, Node, PHP and Ruby plus a CLI with `--agent` output (15). 20+17+18+10+15 = 80.
- MapTiler Cloud (70): API reading. limit, types, bbox, proximity, country, language and fuzzyMatch size geocoding results, and the batch endpoint takes up to 50 queries (20). Country, bbox and type filters, no pagination (geocoding rarely needs it) (16). Errors are documented as 400 and 403 with no recovery guidance (10). Every public API reads and is safe to retry (12). Few required parameters, but official clients are JavaScript and TypeScript only, plus native mobile SDKs (12). 20+16+10+12+12 = 70.

### Transparency & trust: Geocodio +7

- Geocodio (87): Editorial half only. Closed service with clear, dated terms under Virginia law, and libraries and CLI under MIT (20). The privacy policy says API and spreadsheet input and results are deleted within 45 days, error logs kept 90 days, and customer data isn't used to train AI models. A separate data retention policy and llms.txt put Lists API data at 72 hours. Results may be stored permanently by the customer (27). Replaced API versions are guaranteed for at least 12 months, breaking changes come only with a new version, and the changelog marks each one 'Breaking' (18). The privacy policy names its processors, such as Sentry and Laravel Nightwatch, and the security page says self-serve is hosted in Europe (15). 20+27+18+15 = 80.
- MapTiler Cloud (80): Editorial half only. Closed service with general and Cloud-specific terms under Swiss law, and SDKs under BSD 3-Clause and the skill under MIT (20). The privacy policy covers account and payment data and says legal-claim data is kept up to 10 years, but says nothing about how long API request logs are kept (15). A dated deprecation page for v3 maps and migration guides, with no written notice period (12). Hosting with OVHcloud and Google Firebase, data mainly in Switzerland and the EEA, and an EU-only endpoint. Google Analytics, Firebase and FastSpring named in the privacy policy (17). 20+15+12+17 = 64.

### Security & auth: MapTiler Cloud +6

- Geocodio (58): Revocable keys, five on pay-as-you-go, each with permissions (Lists and Distance off by default), which earns 25. Less 10 because the docs say 'All requests require &api_key=YOUR_API_KEY' and the OpenAPI spec defines only the query scheme, though an Authorization header has worked since March 2025 (15). Per-key permissions limit what a key can reach. DELETE on lists and distance jobs needs no confirmation (13). Results are addresses and government district, census and legislator data rather than user-written text. No prompt-injection guidance found (9). Usage per API key in the dashboard, downloadable as CSV, and billable-lookup headers on every response (8). Valid security.txt to 30 January 2030 with a PGP key and a responsible disclosure policy. SOC 2 Type II and annual penetration tests apply to the Enterprise platform only. No bug bounty found (13). 15+13+9+8+13 = 58.
- MapTiler Cloud (64): Revocable keys that can be limited to origins and a User-Agent substring and managed by the API keys API, and service tokens that sign requests so the token itself never travels, which earns 27. Less 10 because the key is 'always passed as a query parameter' (17). The public APIs are read-only, and account changes need a separate service token (16). Geocoding returns OpenStreetMap names and addresses, community-edited text, with no prompt-injection guidance (7). An Analytics API and account usage statistics (8). security.txt, a vulnerability disclosure policy and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification per the security page. No bug bounty found (16). 17+16+7+8+16 = 64.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Geocodio | MapTiler Cloud | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 43 | Geocodio +27 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 79 | Geocodio +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 70 | Geocodio +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 64 | MapTiler Cloud +6 |
| 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) | 86 | 70 | Geocodio +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 80 | Geocodio +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **72.2 · BB** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Geocodio | MapTiler Cloud |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Dotsquare LLC | MapTiler AG |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for geocoding | $1600 per month (plan) | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2018-05-25 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | 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 | yes |
| Popularity | 21k npm/wk, 921 PyPI/wk | 115k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Geocodio.** Geocodio publishes llms.txt, an AGENTS.md on cost and retries, an OpenAPI spec and a dated changelog, and its results may be stored permanently. Coverage stops at six countries, there's no MCP server or published SLA for self-serve plans, and the docs still put the key in the query string by default.

**MapTiler Cloud.** MapTiler Cloud has an OpenAPI 3.1 reference, llms.txt with Markdown pages, an agent skill and ISO 27001 certification, and allows geocoding results to be stored. The key always travels in the query string, there's no routing API, no documented rate limit or 429 handling, and the free plan excludes commercial use.

## Before you call either

### Geocodio

1. Always set `country`, because an address with none falls back to the US and is billed even when it's wrong
2. Send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`, not in the query string, so it stays out of logs
3. Use batch POST /geocode (up to 10,000 lookups) or the Lists API rather than looping single requests
4. Treat accuracy_type place, county or state as not found, and check `_warnings` for appends that were billed but skipped
5. Don't retry 403 or 422. On 429 read X-RateLimit headers and back off, and never re-upload a list sitting in ENQUEUED

### MapTiler Cloud

1. Restrict the key to an origin or User-Agent, or sign requests with a service token from a backend, since the key appears in every URL
2. Use the batch geocoding path (up to 50 semicolon-separated queries) rather than one call per address
3. Use api.maptiler.eu when the user's requests must stay in the EU
4. Read docs pages as Markdown by appending .md, starting from https://docs.maptiler.com/llms.txt
5. Don't cache map tiles server-side; the Cloud terms forbid it, though geocoding results may be stored with attribution

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Geocodio or MapTiler Cloud?

Geocodio scores 72.2 (BB) on agent readiness against MapTiler Cloud's 62.1 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. MapTiler Cloud leads on security & auth.

### Do Geocodio and MapTiler Cloud need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Geocodio and MapTiler Cloud without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Geocodio. No hosted endpoint is listed for MapTiler Cloud.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Geocodio or MapTiler Cloud

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