Head to head · Geo geocode · October 2026 research run
MapQuest vs Stadia Maps
Stadia Maps scores 65.2 (B) on agent readiness against MapQuest's 35.1 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do geo geocode.
Which one, for what
MapQuest F
Good for An agent that needs US-centred geocoding, routing with truck profiles, traffic and place search behind one account, with an MCP server ready to connect.
No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.
Watch for
No API terms of service found. The legal link leads to System1's 2021 website terms, which allow personal, non-commercial use only
Good for Cost-sensitive geocoding, routing and tiles on OpenStreetMap data, with traffic-influenced routing since April 2026.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 63 against 23
- Schema & documentation, 86 against 47
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 60
- Security & auth, 40 against 28
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 23
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 28
Also in its favour
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
Free plan is for development, testing and demos only
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | MapQuest | Stadia Maps | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 23 | 63 | Stadia Maps +40 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 47 | 86 | Stadia Maps +39 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 60 | 80 | Stadia Maps +20 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 28 | 40 | Stadia Maps +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 30 | 40 | Stadia Maps +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 23 | 80 | Stadia Maps +57 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 28 | 76 | Stadia Maps +48 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 35.1 · F | 65.2 · B |
Facts side by side
| Fact | MapQuest | Stadia Maps |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | MapQuest (System1) | Stadia Maps |
| Hosted endpoint | https://www.mapquestapi.com | https://api.stadiamaps.com |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| Price for geo geocode | not published | $0.40 per 1,000 requests |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service. No API terms were found published without a login | BSD-3-Clause (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | none | 6 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-07-16 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-03-18 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | |
| Popularity | none | 23 stars, 6.1k npm/wk, 192 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |
Verdicts
MapQuest
One account reaches geocoding, routing, place search and traffic through a REST API or a hosted MCP server with OAuth, at a published $0.0045 a transaction. No API terms, status page, changelog or product OpenAPI spec was found, and REST keys travel in the query string.
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
MapQuest
- Register an account and create an API key before connecting the MCP server. Every tool needs an active key, chosen by nickname on first use
- Send REST calls to
https://www.mapquestapi.comwithkeyin the query string, and redact it from logged URLs - Read
info.statuscodein geocoding and directions responses. 0 is success, and errors such as 610 (ambiguous location) arrive in the body - Set
thumbMaps=falseandmaxResultson geocoding, andpageSize(1 to 50) on place search, to keep responses small - Do not store or cache geocodes on a monthly or pay-as-you-go plan
Stadia Maps
- Send the key as
Authorization: Stadia-Auth <key>rather than in the URL - Try Autocomplete v2 (1 credit) before a full geocode (20 credits) when a name is enough
- Check the dashboard's credit balance before retrying a 429, since it may mean the month is spent
- Don't write geocodes to a database on Free or Starter
- Use bulk-geocode for addresses only, not POI names
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, MapQuest or Stadia Maps?
Stadia Maps scores 65.2 (B) on agent readiness against MapQuest's 35.1 (F), and leads in every scored category.
Do MapQuest and Stadia Maps need an API key?
MapQuest takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Stadia Maps needs an API key.
Can an agent call MapQuest and Stadia Maps without installing anything?
Yes. MapQuest has a hosted endpoint at https://www.mapquestapi.com and Stadia Maps at https://api.stadiamaps.com.
Other comparisons with MapQuest or Stadia Maps
- Amazon Location Service vs MapQuest
- Amazon Location Service vs Stadia Maps
- ArcGIS Location Platform vs MapQuest
- ArcGIS Location Platform vs Stadia Maps
- Azure Maps vs MapQuest
- Azure Maps vs Stadia Maps
- Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs MapQuest
- Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs Stadia Maps
- Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs MapQuest
- Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs Stadia Maps
- LocationIQ vs MapQuest
- LocationIQ vs Stadia Maps
- Mapbox APIs + MCP vs MapQuest
- Mapbox APIs + MCP vs Stadia Maps
- MapQuest vs OpenCage Geocoding API
- MapQuest vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP
- OpenCage Geocoding API vs Stadia Maps
- Stadia Maps vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/mapquest-vs-stadia-maps.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/mapquest.json·/api/v1/tools/stadia-maps.json - From a terminal
anchor compare mapquest stadia-maps(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "mapquest", "b": "stadia-maps"}at/mcp, no key