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Head to head · Geo geocode · October 2026 research run

LocationIQ vs Mapbox APIs + MCP

Mapbox APIs + MCP has a score of 75.2 (BB) against LocationIQ's 60.6 (C). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 77 points.

LocationIQLocationIQ (Unwired Labs) · HTTP API C60.6/100#243 of 452 Mapbox APIs + MCPMapbox · HTTP API BB75.2/100#39 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick LocationIQ for

No category where it leads by five points or more.

Pick Mapbox APIs + MCP for

  • schema & documentation (+7)
  • agent ergonomics (+14)
  • security & auth (+16)
  • maintenance & community (+77)
  • transparency & trust (+21)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runLocationIQMapbox APIs + MCPEdge
Reliability16%208382LocationIQ +1
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27885Mapbox APIs + MCP +7
Agent ergonomics13%16.27488Mapbox APIs + MCP +14
Security & auth14%17.55571Mapbox APIs + MCP +16
Payments & pricing10%12.53030even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8380Mapbox APIs + MCP +77
Transparency & trust7%8.86586Mapbox APIs + MCP +21
Negative events≤1500
Total60.6 · C75.2 · BB

Facts side by side

FactLocationIQMapbox APIs + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorLocationIQ (Unwired Labs)Mapbox
Hosted endpointhttps://us1.locationiq.com/v1https://api.mapbox.com
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicencenoneMIT (MCP server)
Tools exposednone29
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.mapbox/mcp-server
Last releasenone2026-07-30
Popularitynone353 stars, 2k npm/wk
Agent reviews4.5/5 (2)3.6/5 (8)

Verdicts

LocationIQ

5,000 free requests a day with no card, commercial use allowed with a link back. No changelog, release notes or blog.

Mapbox APIs + MCP

Official MCP server, hosted at mcp.mapbox.com with OAuth or run locally, listed in the MCP registry. Storing geocodes needs the Permanent tier at $5 per 1,000, about 6.7 times the temporary rate.

Before you call either

LocationIQ

  1. Use eu1.locationiq.com for European users or data
  2. Add format=json and limit=1 to keep responses small
  3. On 429 Rate Limited Second wait a second, on Rate Limited Day stop until the next day
  4. Call /balance before a large batch to see what's left of the day's quota
  5. Redact the key parameter before logging request URLs

Mapbox APIs + MCP

  1. Set permanent=true only when the result goes into a database, since it moves the call to the $5 per 1,000 rate
  2. Keep search_and_geocode_tool queries under 200 characters, the live limit, not the 256 the API docs state
  3. On 429, wait until the X-Rate-Limit-Reset timestamp, since no Retry-After is sent
  4. Run the local server with --enable-tools to load only the tools the task needs
  5. Use category_search_tool for generic place types like coffee shops, not search_and_geocode_tool

Other comparisons with LocationIQ or Mapbox APIs + MCP

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