# Nominatim (slim)

> Nominatim is open-source geocoding software that searches OpenStreetMap data by name and address and reverse geocodes coordinates. Operators self-host its HTTP API; the OpenStreetMap Foundation runs a free public instance under a strict usage policy.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim.md (~6,100 tokens) · this version ~1,380 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07 · pricing https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim#pricing · reviews https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim#reviews
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

**B · 63.5/100 · rank #511 of 1486 · #9 in Maps, geocoding & places · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Nominatim is the open-source OpenStreetMap geocoder, free to run with a documented search, reverse and lookup API, tested releases and two years of security support per release. It has no OpenAPI spec, no built-in authentication, and the public instance allows one request a second and restricts LLM-suggested use, so agents at scale need their own server.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Nominatim project (osm-search) · category: Maps, geocoding & places · legal entity: not named · provenance 37/100
- Local only (HTTP): pypi `nominatim-api`, pypi `nominatim-db`
- Auth: None · pricing: Free · x402: no · licence: GPL-3.0-or-later
- Benchmark probes: not run yet, so Performance is pending
- Surface listed: The Nominatim server's HTTP API, run by its operator, read from the 5.3.3 manual at nominatim.org, the osm-search/Nominatim repository, PyPI and the OSMF usage policy for the public instance on 6 November 2026. No query was sent to the public instance
- Endpoints: /search, /reverse, /lookup, /details (debugging only) and /status, with json, jsonv2, geojson, geocodejson and xml output
- Public instance: nominatim.openstreetmap.org, run by the OpenStreetMap Foundation on donated servers, for light use only under its usage policy
- Self-hosting: PostgreSQL with PostGIS and an OSM extract or the full planet, installed from PyPI or the Ubuntu guides
- Licence: Python code GPL-3.0-or-later, osm2pgsql Lua styles Apache-2.0, other files GPL-2.0. OSM data is under ODbL
- Maintainer: Sarah Hoffmann, who runs nominatim.org per its imprint, with funding from GitHub Sponsors, NLnet and the Sovereign Tech Fund fellowship named on the site

- Scores: Reliability 82, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 51, Agent ergonomics 75, Security & auth 50, Payments & pricing 60, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 60, Transparency & trust 59 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the local-software lines, since the listing is the Nominatim server an operator runs. · Schema & documentation, No OpenAPI or machine-readable contract (0). · Agent ergonomics, API reading. · Security & auth, The server has no authentication of its own; an operator puts it behind their own proxy. · Payments & pricing, Self-hosted rule. · Maintenance & community, Release 5.3.3 on 14 October 2026, 23 days before this check (30). · Transparency & trust, Open source, GPL-3.0-or-later for the Python code, GPL-2.0 for other files and Apache-2.0 for the osm2pgsql Lua styles (30).
- Sources: 8, open questions: 5, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nominatim.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/nominatim.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nominatim from a page on nominatim.org or one of its subdomains, or the README at the root of github.com/osm-search/Nominatim, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.
- Support: https://nominatim.org/release-docs/latest/; https://github.com/osm-search/Nominatim/issues; more in the full twin

## Before you call it

1. Don't send bulk or repeated queries to nominatim.openstreetmap.org; keep to one request a second, cache results and set an identifying User-Agent
2. Tell the user about the OSMF usage policy before suggesting the public instance, as the policy requires
3. For regular or large jobs, run your own Nominatim or use a commercial provider listed on the Nominatim wiki
4. Pass format=jsonv2 or geojson and limit, since omitting format sends the request to the web UI
5. Attribute OpenStreetMap and respect the ODbL share-alike terms when storing results

## Connect

```bash
pip install nominatim-db nominatim-api
```

```bash
curl -A "my-app/1.0 (contact@example.com)" "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Dresden&format=jsonv2&limit=1"
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/nominatim

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
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| Amazon Location Service | BB | 76.5 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-location.min.md |
| Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP | BB | 75.4 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-maps-platform.min.md |
| Azure Maps | B | 67.1 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-maps.min.md |
| ArcGIS Location Platform | B | 66.1 | geo.geocode, geo.reverse, geo.places | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arcgis.min.md |


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