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Head to head · Geocoding · October 2026 research run

HERE Location Services vs OpenCage Geocoding API

OpenCage Geocoding API scores 69.2 (B) on agent readiness against HERE Location Services's 58 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. HERE Location Services leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do geocoding.

Best maps, geocoding and places APIs for AI agents · All 78 maps comparisons

HERE Location ServicesHERE Technologies · HTTP API C58/100#591 of 950 OpenCage Geocoding APIOpenCage · HTTP API B69.2/100#193 of 950

Which one, for what

HERE Location Services C

Good for Fleet and logistics work that needs truck routing, large matrices, isolines, traffic and transit from one vendor with an SLA.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 77
  • Security & auth, 65 against 47

Watch for

Platform Terms section f forbids using HERE Materials in connection with a machine learning or AI system, generative AI included. This matters before any probe is run

OpenCage Geocoding API B

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

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 85 against 57
  • Agent ergonomics, 86 against 74
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 10
  • Maintenance & community, 66 against 60
  • Transparency & trust, 84 against 63

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine
  • Free to start without a card
  • No incidents deducted, where HERE Location Services loses 3 points for them

Watch for

Geocoding only, no place search or routing

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runHERE Location ServicesOpenCage Geocoding APIEdge
Reliability16%205785OpenCage Geocoding API +28
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28777HERE Location Services +10
Agent ergonomics13%16.27486OpenCage Geocoding API +12
Security & auth14%17.56547HERE Location Services +18
Payments & pricing10%12.51035OpenCage Geocoding API +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86066OpenCage Geocoding API +6
Transparency & trust7%8.86384OpenCage Geocoding API +21
Negative events≤15-30
Total58 · C69.2 · B

Facts side by side

FactHERE Location ServicesOpenCage Geocoding API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorHERE TechnologiesOpenCage
Hosted endpointhttps://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the HERE Platform TermsMIT (MCP server)
Tools exposed133
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp
Last release2026-09-092026-06-25
Terms last updated2023-09-18no date given
Privacy policy last updated2024-08-29no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularitynone19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

HERE Location Services

Each endpoint page carries an OpenAPI 3.0 definition as Markdown, and HERE publishes 99.9 per cent monthly availability targets and a six-month deprecation policy. The Platform Terms of September 2023 forbid using HERE Materials in connection with a machine learning or AI system, and the price table could not be read.

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

HERE Location Services

  1. Send Authorization: Bearer with an OAuth token where logs are kept. The apiKey query parameter puts the secret in every URL
  2. Do not store results for more than 30 days, and follow the HTTP caching headers on each response
  3. Treat 429 and 503 as throttling. HERE says a traffic surge can be throttled for about 10 minutes below the account's quota
  4. Read code, cause and action in the error body, and quote correlationId to support
  5. For Location Reasoning, send initialize, keep the Mcp-Session-Id header on later calls, and send a bearer token on tools/call

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, HERE Location Services or OpenCage Geocoding API?

OpenCage Geocoding API scores 69.2 (B) on agent readiness against HERE Location Services's 58 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. HERE Location Services leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.

Do HERE Location Services and OpenCage Geocoding API need an API key?

HERE Location Services takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. OpenCage Geocoding API needs an API key.

Can an agent call HERE Location Services and OpenCage Geocoding API without installing anything?

Yes. HERE Location Services has a hosted endpoint at https://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1 and OpenCage Geocoding API at https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json.

Other comparisons with HERE Location Services or OpenCage Geocoding API

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