# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-mapbox
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-mapbox.md (~1,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-mapbox.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-mapbox.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: 2026-10-05

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.

- LocationIQ: grade C, 60.6/100, rank #243 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/locationiq.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/locationiq.json
- Mapbox APIs + MCP: grade BB, 75.2/100, rank #39 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mapbox.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mapbox.json

## Which one, for what

Pick LocationIQ for nothing in particular (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

| Category | Weight | LocationIQ | Mapbox APIs + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 82 | LocationIQ +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 85 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 88 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 71 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 80 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +77 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 86 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.6 · C** | **75.2 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | LocationIQ | Mapbox APIs + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | LocationIQ (Unwired Labs) | Mapbox |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://us1.locationiq.com/v1` | `https://api.mapbox.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | MIT (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | none | 29 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.mapbox/mcp-server` |
| Last release | none | 2026-07-30 |
| Popularity | none | 353 stars, 2k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (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

- [Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs LocationIQ](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geoapify-vs-locationiq.md)
- [Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs Mapbox APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geoapify-vs-mapbox.md)
- [Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs LocationIQ](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-maps-platform-vs-locationiq.md)
- [Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs Mapbox APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-maps-platform-vs-mapbox.md)
- [LocationIQ vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-opencage.md)
- [LocationIQ vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-stadia-maps.md)
- [LocationIQ vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-tomtom.md)
- [Mapbox APIs + MCP vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapbox-vs-opencage.md)
- [Mapbox APIs + MCP vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapbox-vs-stadia-maps.md)
- [Mapbox APIs + MCP vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mapbox-vs-tomtom.md)