# LocationIQ vs Radar

> LocationIQ scores 60.3 (C) to Radar's 53.3 (D) for geocoding. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-radar
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-radar.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-radar.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-radar.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

LocationIQ scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Radar's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Radar leads on maintenance & community. Both do geocoding.

- LocationIQ: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #518 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/locationiq.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/locationiq.json
- Radar: grade D, 53.3/100, rank #713 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/radar.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/radar.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

### LocationIQ (C)

Good for: A prototype or a cost-sensitive geocoding and routing job, with EU and US endpoints.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 70
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 50
- Agent ergonomics, 74 against 65
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 10
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 55

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No changelog, release notes or blog

### Radar (D)

Good for: A company that already has a Radar contract, or wants geofencing and trip tracking with geocoding and routing on one key.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 3

Watch for: The pricing page says Radar has no free tier and every plan is an annual commitment set by quote


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | LocationIQ | Radar | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 70 | LocationIQ +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 50 | LocationIQ +28 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 65 | LocationIQ +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 56 | Radar +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 10 | LocationIQ +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 77 | Radar +74 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 55 | LocationIQ +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **60.3 · C** | **53.3 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | LocationIQ | Radar |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | LocationIQ (Unwired Labs) | Radar Labs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://us1.locationiq.com/v1` | `https://api.radar.io/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under Radar's Terms of Use. The web SDK in radarlabs/radar-sdk-js is Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-14 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-31 | 2023-05-24 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-05-22 | 2025-05-13 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

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

**Radar.** Radar documents 36 REST operations in Markdown with a rate limit on each, and its status feed shows two short API incidents in 90 days. Access is sales-led. The pricing page says there is no free tier, every plan is an annual commitment, and no OpenAPI description or API changelog was found.

## 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

### Radar

1. Send the key in the `Authorization` header with no `Bearer` prefix, and call `https://api.radar.io/v1`, not radar.com
2. Use a publishable key for geocoding, search and routing. Keep the secret key for users, trips, geofences and beacons
3. Call `/v1/search/autocomplete` for partial addresses and place names. `/v1/geocode/forward` is documented as best for complete addresses
4. Set `units=metric` on routing calls. The default is imperial, with distances in feet
5. Treat 429 as one of three things (rate limit, no state change or selective throttling) and 402 as usage exceeded. No Retry-After header is documented
6. Do not keep geocoding, autocomplete or place results for more than 30 days

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, LocationIQ or Radar?

LocationIQ scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Radar's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Radar leads on maintenance & community.

### Do LocationIQ and Radar need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call LocationIQ and Radar without installing anything?

Yes. LocationIQ has a hosted endpoint at https://us1.locationiq.com/v1 and Radar at https://api.radar.io/v1.


## For agents

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

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