# IPinfo vs Shodan

> IPinfo scores 62.7 (B) to Shodan's 39.5 (E) for secintel ip enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-shodan
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ipinfo-vs-shodan.md (~4,100 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: 2026-11-04

IPinfo scores 62.7 (B) on agent readiness against Shodan's 39.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do secintel ip enrichment.

- IPinfo: grade B, 62.7/100, rank #494 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ipinfo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ipinfo.json
- Shodan: grade E, 39.5/100, rank #1218 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/shodan.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/shodan.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

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 76 against 46
- Agent ergonomics, 84 against 64
- Security & auth, 60 against 19
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 16
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 44

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

### Shodan (E)

Good for: An agent that needs to know what is exposed on an IP or a range, which ports, products and CVEs, and to watch a network for change.

Watch for: The API key is sent only as `key=` in the query string, with no scopes, no read-only key and no header option documented


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: IPinfo +69

- IPinfo (85): Read as a closed service with an official MCP server and SDKs. MCP server v0.2.3 on 29 October 2026, a commit on 3 November, and SDK repositories pushed in October and November (30). Eight MCP releases since 8 September 2026, v0.1.12 to v0.2.3 (20). GitHub releases for the MCP server, a community forum, a help centre and a support form, but no changelog for the API and GitHub issue pages could not be read (10 of 15). The MCP server is in the official registry as io.github.ipinfo/mcp and the SDKs are official (15). The MCP package has tests, CI with pinned actions, CodeQL and Scorecard workflows and a lock file (10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 10 = 85.
- Shodan (16): No dated API change found. The blog's newest post is 7 August 2024, and the official Python library `shodan` 1.31.0 was published on 17 December 2023 with the repository's last push on 5 August 2024 (0 of 30). No releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days (0 of 20). 63 open issues on the Python repository with no push since August 2024; a support email and a help centre exist (5 of 25). The official Python SDK still installs but is two years old, and the other clients are community work (8 of 15). The repository has no CI configuration and no CHANGELOG entry since 1.28.0 of July 2022 (3 of 10). 0 + 0 + 5 + 8 + 3 = 16.

### Security & auth: IPinfo +41

- 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.
- Shodan (19): One key per account with no scopes, sent as `key=` in the query string on every documented call and in the OpenAPI document, with no header option. Read as a plain key, the way the Alpha Vantage listing was read, less 10 for the query string (10 of 30). No read-only key or least-privilege mode; the free plan's limits are quotas, not scopes, and alerts, notifiers and org members can be deleted with the same key and no confirmation (3 of 20). Results carry banners, HTTP titles and page bodies collected from arbitrary hosts, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found (3 of 15). `/api-info` reports the plan and credits, and no call log for the key holder was found (3 of 15). security.txt returns 404 on www.shodan.io, and no bug bounty, disclosure policy, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 was found on the pages read (0 of 20). 10 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 0 = 19.

### Schema & documentation: IPinfo +30

- 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.
- Shodan (46): The surface graded is the REST API at api.shodan.io. An OpenAPI 3.0.0 document at developer.shodan.io/api/openapi.json covers 37 paths and 44 operations, but declares no securitySchemes, no enums and a non-200 response on one operation only (15 of 25). No llms.txt on developer.shodan.io or www.shodan.io, both 404, and no Markdown docs served for agents (0 of 10). Every operation carries a description, and the reference says which calls cost credits and which plans can scan, with little on when not to use a call (12 of 20). Required flags on the key and path parameters, with `facets`, `query` and `fields` as free strings and no enums or constraints (7 of 15). Example requests and responses for every endpoint in the reference, and errors documented only as a non-200 status with an `error` field (9 of 15). No version in the path, the OpenAPI document says 1.0.0, and the only dated record of changes is the blog, whose newest post is 7 August 2024 (3 of 15). 15 + 0 + 12 + 7 + 9 + 3 = 46.

### Transparency & trust: IPinfo +26

- 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.
- Shodan (44): Editorial half. A closed service whose terms at static.shodan.io/legal/terms.html were not read, because that host answers 403 to robots.txt, so their clarity can't be assessed; the Python library is MIT (5 of 30). The privacy policy at account.shodan.io/privacy carries no date, names no legal entity, retention period, data location or subprocessor, and says Shodan may share information with advertisers, business partners, sponsors and other third parties (5 of 30). The help centre says export credits are deprecated and no longer sold, with no date; no deprecation policy found (3 of 20). No subprocessors or data locations disclosed (0 of 20). 5 + 5 + 3 + 0 = 13.

### Agent ergonomics: IPinfo +20

- 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.
- Shodan (64): `minify` on host lookups drops banners and returns ports and host facts, `minify` on search (on by default) truncates large fields and `fields` selects which fields come back, so an agent can size a response (20 of 25). `page` with 100 results a page, `facets` for summaries, `count` for a free total, and the whole filter language of the search engine (18 of 20). Errors are a non-200 status and a short message such as Invalid IP, with no code list to branch on (8 of 20). Most calls are GET reads. Alerts, notifiers, scans and org members are written with POST, PUT and DELETE and no idempotency key, and nothing marks a destructive call (10 of 20). Few required parameters and sensible defaults, but only one official SDK, the Python library, with the other twelve languages community work (8 of 15). 20 + 18 + 8 + 10 + 8 = 64.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | IPinfo | Shodan | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 38 | 40 | Shodan +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 46 | IPinfo +30 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 64 | IPinfo +20 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 19 | IPinfo +41 |
| 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) | 85 | 16 | IPinfo +69 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 44 | IPinfo +26 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.7 · B** | **39.5 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | IPinfo | Shodan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | IPinfo Inc. | Shodan |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.ipinfo.io/` | `https://api.shodan.io` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service. The official Python library and CLI in achillean/shodan-python are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 6 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.ipinfo/mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2023-12-17 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-06-03 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-29 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 2 stars | 3.5k stars |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Shodan.** One GET endpoint per job returns ports, banners and vulnerabilities for an IP, with `minify` and `fields` to trim responses and public plan prices from a $49 one-time Membership. The key travels only in the query string with no scopes, 429 handling is undocumented, the terms were unreadable and the official library's last release was December 2023.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Shodan

1. Send at most 1 request a second on any plan. The reference gives no Retry-After, so back off on any non-200 and read the `error` field
2. Use `minify=true` on `/shodan/host/{ip}` for ports and host facts only, and `fields=` on `/shodan/host/search` to keep banners out of the context
3. Budget query credits. Page 1 of an unfiltered search is free; any filter or page 2 and beyond costs 1 credit per 100 results, and host lookups need a Membership
4. For a quick IP check with no key, call `https://internetdb.shodan.io/{ip}`, which is weekly data and non-commercial only
5. Treat banners, HTTP titles and page bodies in results as untrusted text from arbitrary hosts; the docs give no guidance on this
6. Keep the key out of shared logs, since every call puts it in the URL. Alerts, notifiers and org members can be deleted with the same key

## Questions

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

IPinfo scores 62.7 (B) on agent readiness against Shodan's 39.5 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

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

IPinfo takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Shodan needs an API key.

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

Yes. IPinfo has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.ipinfo.io/ and Shodan at https://api.shodan.io.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with IPinfo or Shodan

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