# HERE Location Services vs OpenCage Geocoding API

> OpenCage Geocoding scores 69.2 (B) to HERE Location Services's 58 (C) for geocoding. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/here-location-services-vs-opencage
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/here-location-services-vs-opencage.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/here-location-services-vs-opencage.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/here-location-services-vs-opencage.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

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.

- HERE Location Services: grade C, 58/100, rank #591 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/here-location-services.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/here-location-services.json
- OpenCage Geocoding API: grade B, 69.2/100, rank #193 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencage.json
- Best maps, geocoding and places APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/maps/index.md
- All 78 maps comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/maps/index.md

## 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

| Category | Weight | HERE Location Services | OpenCage Geocoding API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 85 | OpenCage Geocoding API +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 77 | HERE Location Services +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 86 | OpenCage Geocoding API +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 47 | HERE Location Services +18 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 35 | OpenCage Geocoding API +25 |
| 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) | 63 | 84 | OpenCage Geocoding API +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58 · C** | **69.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | HERE Location Services | OpenCage Geocoding API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | HERE Technologies | OpenCage |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://geocode.search.hereapi.com/v1` | `https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the HERE Platform Terms | MIT (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | 13 | 3 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-09 | 2026-06-25 |
| Terms last updated | 2023-09-18 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-08-29 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (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.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with HERE Location Services or OpenCage Geocoding API

- [Amazon Location Service vs HERE Location Services](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-here-location-services.md)
- [Amazon Location Service vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-location-vs-opencage.md)
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- [ArcGIS Location Platform vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcgis-vs-opencage.md)
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- [Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs HERE Location Services](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-maps-platform-vs-here-location-services.md)
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- [Mapbox APIs + MCP vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapbox-vs-opencage.md)
- [MapQuest vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapquest-vs-opencage.md)
- [OpenCage Geocoding API vs Radar](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-radar.md)
- [OpenCage Geocoding API vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps.md)
- [OpenCage Geocoding API vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-tomtom.md)