# OpenCage Geocoding API vs Stadia Maps

> OpenCage Geocoding API has a score of 69.5 (B) against Stadia Maps's 65.5 (B). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is reliability, 22 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps.md (~1,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps.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

OpenCage Geocoding API has a score of 69.5 (B) against Stadia Maps's 65.5 (B). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is reliability, 22 points.

- OpenCage Geocoding API: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #113 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencage.json
- Stadia Maps: grade B, 65.5/100, rank #171 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/stadia-maps.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/stadia-maps.json

## Which one, for what

Pick OpenCage Geocoding API for reliability (+22), agent ergonomics (+6), security & auth (+7), transparency & trust (+8).

Pick Stadia Maps for schema & documentation (+9), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+14).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenCage Geocoding API | Stadia Maps | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 63 | OpenCage Geocoding API +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 86 | Stadia Maps +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 80 | OpenCage Geocoding API +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 40 | OpenCage Geocoding API +7 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Stadia Maps +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 80 | Stadia Maps +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 79 | OpenCage Geocoding API +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **69.5 · B** | **65.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenCage Geocoding API | Stadia Maps |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | OpenCage | Stadia Maps |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json` | `https://api.stadiamaps.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (MCP server) | BSD-3-Clause (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | 3 | 6 |
| 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 | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-06-25 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | 19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk | 23 stars, 6.1k npm/wk, 192 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**OpenCage Geocoding API.** Permanent storage of results on every plan, including after you cancel. Geocoding only, no place search or routing.

**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

### OpenCage Geocoding API

1. Add no_annotations=1 and limit=1 when you only need coordinates
2. Stop on 402, which means the day's quota is gone, and back off on 429
3. Add no_record=1 when the query holds personal data
4. Redact the key parameter before logging request URLs
5. Credit OpenStreetMap wherever you show results

### 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 OpenCage Geocoding API or Stadia Maps

- [Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geoapify-vs-opencage.md)
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