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Head to head · Geo geocode · October 2026 research run

Mapbox APIs + MCP vs Stadia Maps

Mapbox APIs + MCP has a score of 75.2 (BB) against Stadia Maps's 65.5 (B). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is security & auth, 31 points.

Mapbox APIs + MCPMapbox · HTTP API BB75.2/100#39 of 452 Stadia MapsStadia Maps · HTTP API B65.5/100#171 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Mapbox APIs + MCP for

  • reliability (+19)
  • agent ergonomics (+8)
  • security & auth (+31)
  • transparency & trust (+7)

Pick Stadia Maps for

  • payments & pricing (+10)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMapbox APIs + MCPStadia MapsEdge
Reliability16%208263Mapbox APIs + MCP +19
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28586Stadia Maps +1
Agent ergonomics13%16.28880Mapbox APIs + MCP +8
Security & auth14%17.57140Mapbox APIs + MCP +31
Payments & pricing10%12.53040Stadia Maps +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88080even
Transparency & trust7%8.88679Mapbox APIs + MCP +7
Negative events≤1500
Total75.2 · BB65.5 · B

Facts side by side

FactMapbox APIs + MCPStadia Maps
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorMapboxStadia Maps
Hosted endpointhttps://api.mapbox.comhttps://api.stadiamaps.com
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdioHTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceMIT (MCP server)BSD-3-Clause (MCP server)
Tools exposed296
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.github.mapbox/mcp-servernot listed
Last release2026-07-302026-09-30
Popularity353 stars, 2k npm/wk23 stars, 6.1k npm/wk, 192 PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3.6/5 (8)3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

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.

Stadia Maps

Public OpenAPI spec (11.1.0) with generated TypeScript and Python SDKs. Free plan is for development, testing and demos only.

Before you call either

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

Stadia Maps

  1. Send the key as Authorization: Stadia-Auth <key> rather than in the URL
  2. Try Autocomplete v2 (1 credit) before a full geocode (20 credits) when a name is enough
  3. Check the dashboard's credit balance before retrying a 429, since it may mean the month is spent
  4. Don't write geocodes to a database on Free or Starter
  5. Use bulk-geocode for addresses only, not POI names

Other comparisons with Mapbox APIs + MCP or Stadia Maps

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