# Radar vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP

> TomTom Maps scores 54.9 (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/radar-vs-tomtom
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/radar-vs-tomtom.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/radar-vs-tomtom.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/radar-vs-tomtom.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

TomTom Maps APIs + MCP scores 54.9 (C) on agent readiness against Radar's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Radar leads on reliability and security & auth. Both do geocoding.

- 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
- TomTom Maps APIs + MCP: grade C, 54.9/100, rank #675 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tomtom.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tomtom.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

### 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:
- Reliability, 70 against 30
- Security & auth, 56 against 51

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

### TomTom Maps APIs + MCP (C)

Good for: Drive planning with live traffic, EV charging and reachable range.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 50
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 65
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 77

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Terms, rate limits and deprecation policy render client-side, so storage rules and notice periods are unverified


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Radar | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 30 | Radar +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 71 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 78 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 51 | Radar +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 25 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 86 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 58 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.3 · D** | **54.9 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Radar | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Radar Labs | TomTom |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.radar.io/v1` | `https://api.tomtom.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Radar's Terms of Use. The web SDK in radarlabs/radar-sdk-js is Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | none | 15 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-14 | 2026-09-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2023-05-24 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-05-13 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 55 stars, 996 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**TomTom Maps APIs + MCP.** No-card free allowance of 20,000 geocodes, 20,000 reverse geocodes and 20,000 routes a month. Terms, rate limits and deprecation policy render client-side, so storage rules and notice periods are unverified.

## Before you call either

### 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

### TomTom Maps APIs + MCP

1. Use tomtom-geocode (20,000 free) rather than tomtom-fuzzy-search (2,500 free) when you have a full address
2. Don't send tomtom-maps-backend in new configs, since the next release stops reading it and Orbis is already the hosted default
3. Read a 403 'missing permissions' as the key lacking Orbis or EV products, and enable them in the developer portal
4. Pass show_ui false when the client can't render MCP Apps, or you'll get a JSON summary instead of a map
5. Redact the key parameter before logging REST URLs

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Radar or TomTom Maps APIs + MCP?

TomTom Maps APIs + MCP scores 54.9 (C) on agent readiness against Radar's 53.3 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Radar leads on reliability and security & auth.

### Do Radar and TomTom Maps APIs + MCP need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Radar and TomTom Maps APIs + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Radar has a hosted endpoint at https://api.radar.io/v1 and TomTom Maps APIs + MCP at https://api.tomtom.com.


## For agents

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

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