IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits & What You Get
IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits, and How to Choose
IPWHOIS.io has become a popular choice for developers who need IP geolocation data without a complicated onboarding process. The service is known for its no-signup free tier, simple REST API, and transparent pricing that scales from hobby projects to high-volume production applications. This guide breaks down each IPWHOIS.io pricing plan, what you actually get at each level, and how to decide which tier fits your use case.
IPWHOIS.io Pricing Plans at a Glance
IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits & What You Get - IPWHOIS.io Pricing Plans at a Glance.
IPWHOIS.io keeps its pricing structure deliberately simple: four tiers, no hidden fees, and the ability to cancel anytime. Here is the current lineup:
| Plan | Price | Request Limit | Uptime SLA | Key Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 requests/day | None | No API key required |
| Basic | $19.99/month | 600,000 requests/month | 99.9% | Dashboard, currency data |
| Business | $39.99/month | 3,000,000 requests/month | 99.9% | Security data, bulk endpoint |
| Unlimited | $99.99/month | Unlimited | 99.99% | Priority routing, priority support |
The pricing page emphasizes commercial use is allowed on every plan, including Free. That is a meaningful differentiator: many IP geolocation APIs restrict their free tiers to non-commercial or evaluation use.
Free Plan: What 1,000 Requests Per Day Actually Covers
IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits & What You Get - Free Plan: What 1,000 Requests Per Day Actually Covers.
The Free plan is designed for testing, learning, and small projects. You can start sending requests immediately without creating an account or obtaining an API key. The endpoint https://ipwho.is/ accepts a plain IP address and returns a JSON response with core geolocation fields.
A sample Free-tier response includes:
- IP address and type (IPv4/IPv6)
- Continent, country, region, and city
- Latitude and longitude
- Postal code and calling code
- Capital and bordering countries
- Flag image and emoji
- Connection details (ASN, ISP, organization, domain)
- Timezone information
What the Free plan does not include matters just as much. You miss out on native-language localization, currency data with exchange rates, security flags for proxies and VPNs, the bulk endpoint, and a usage dashboard. There is also no uptime guarantee, so the Free tier is not appropriate for anything mission-critical.
For a developer testing an integration or a small personal project, 1,000 requests per day is usually plenty. For a production SaaS product that geolocates every visitor, it will run out quickly.
Basic Plan: The Production-Ready Starting Point
IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits & What You Get - Basic Plan: The Production-Ready Starting Point.
At $19.99 per month, the Basic plan raises the limit to 600,000 requests per month and adds the first meaningful reliability guarantee: a 99.9% uptime SLA. You also get access to the dashboard for usage analytics and API key management.
Basic includes currency data, which returns the local currency name, ISO code, symbol, plural form, and the current exchange rate against the US dollar. This is useful for e-commerce sites that want to display prices in a visitor's local currency automatically.
However, Basic does not include security data. If your application needs to flag proxies, VPNs, Tor exit nodes, or hosting-provider IPs, you will need to step up to Business.
Business Plan: Security Data and Bulk Lookups
IPWHOIS.io Pricing: Plans, Limits & What You Get - Business Plan: Security Data and Bulk Lookups.
The Business plan at $39.99 per month is marked as the most popular tier. It increases the monthly allowance to 3,000,000 requests and adds two features that matter for fraud prevention and high-volume workflows:
Security Data
The security object in a Pro response includes boolean flags for:
anonymousproxyvpntorhostingrelaymobile
These flags let you compare a user's claimed location against their actual IP characteristics. For example, a login attempt from an IP flagged as hosting: true and vpn: true while the billing address says a residential US location is a strong fraud signal.
Bulk Endpoint
The bulk endpoint lets you look up many IPs in a single request, up to 100 IPs per call. This is significantly more efficient than looping through individual lookups when you need to process server logs, analyze traffic patterns, or enrich a database of visitor records.
Business also retains the 99.9% uptime SLA and includes enhanced data accuracy compared to the Free tier.
Unlimited Plan: For High-Volume and Latency-Sensitive Workloads
The Unlimited plan at $99.99 per month removes request caps entirely and upgrades the SLA to 99.99%. It adds priority routing, which routes requests through the lowest-latency path on IPWHOIS.io's Anycast network of 21 globally distributed points of presence.
This tier makes sense when:
- You process millions of requests per month and want predictable flat pricing
- Your application is latency-sensitive and benefits from priority routing
- You need the strongest uptime commitment available
- You want priority support response times
For teams with even larger requirements, IPWHOIS.io offers enterprise solutions with guaranteed throughput, custom SLAs, dedicated infrastructure, and the option to download the full IP database in MMDB, CSV, or JSON for self-hosted, zero-latency lookups.
Free vs. Pro Response: A Practical Comparison
The pricing page shows side-by-side response examples that make the tier differences concrete. The Free endpoint returns standard geolocation fields. The Pro endpoint adds:
- Native-language data for continent, country, region, city, capital, and currency
- Current time in the timezone object
- Currency details including exchange rate
- Security flags for proxy, VPN, Tor, hosting, relay, and mobile detection
Here is a simplified example of what the Pro security object looks like:
"security": {
"anonymous": false,
"proxy": false,
"vpn": false,
"tor": false,
"hosting": true,
"relay": false,
"mobile": false
}
If your use case only requires country and city, the Free tier may be sufficient. If you need to detect anonymizers or localize content in the visitor's native language, the Pro tiers become necessary.
How IPWHOIS.io Pricing Compares to Alternatives
Third-party comparisons provide useful context. According to an IP geolocation alternatives guide from Abstract API, IPWHOIS.io has historically been positioned as one of the more affordable options in the category, with pricing that undercuts several competitors at comparable request volumes.
When evaluating any IP geolocation API, consider these factors alongside price:
- Data accuracy at the city and postal-code level
- Update frequency for IP-to-location mappings
- Response time from your users' geographic regions
- Security intelligence quality for fraud detection
- Bulk lookup support if you process logs or datasets
- SLA terms and what compensation is offered for downtime
IPWHOIS.io reports response times up to 50 milliseconds in most parts of the world, backed by its Anycast network. That speed claim is worth validating from your own infrastructure before committing to a paid plan.
Testing IP Geolocation Data Before You Commit
Before choosing a paid tier, it is wise to validate the data quality yourself. Send test requests from known IPs, compare the returned location against reality, and check whether security flags correctly identify VPN or proxy traffic from your own test environment.
If you are evaluating IPWHOIS.io for privacy or security workflows, you may also want to cross-check results with independent tools. BrowserScan offers a free IP address lookup with geolocation, ISP, and proxy detection that can serve as a second opinion. Its DNS and WebRTC leak tests are also useful for verifying whether your own connection is exposing your real IP through a VPN, which is directly relevant when you are testing whether an IP geolocation service correctly identifies anonymized traffic.
For developers integrating IPWHOIS.io into an application, understanding how APIs work and how to test API-driven connections can help you design a robust integration with proper error handling, retries, and fallback logic.
Payment, Cancellation, and Refund Policies
IPWHOIS.io accepts credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Subscriptions can be canceled anytime from the dashboard, and you can upgrade or downgrade your plan as needed. Refund requests are accepted within 7 days of the payment date.
The 7-day refund window is relatively short compared to some SaaS products, so it is worth testing thoroughly on the Free tier before upgrading.
Which IPWHOIS.io Plan Should You Choose?
Choose Free if:
- You are prototyping or learning the API
- Your project needs fewer than 1,000 lookups per day
- You only need basic geolocation fields
- Uptime guarantees are not critical
Choose Basic if:
- You are launching a production application
- You need currency data for localized pricing
- You want a usage dashboard and API key management
- 600,000 requests per month covers your traffic
Choose Business if:
- You need proxy, VPN, and Tor detection for fraud prevention
- You process logs or datasets and need bulk lookups
- Your volume exceeds 600,000 requests per month
Choose Unlimited if:
- You have high, variable, or unpredictable traffic
- Latency is critical and priority routing adds value
- You require the 99.99% uptime SLA
Contact sales if:
- You need custom SLAs or dedicated infrastructure
- You want to self-host the IP database for zero-latency lookups
- Your requirements exceed what the standard plans cover
Related reading
- Pixelscan.dev Setup: Browser Fingerprint & Bot Detection - Learn how to set up and use Pixelscan.dev for browser fingerprint analysis, bot detection, proxy checks, and DNS leak testing. Step-by-step guidance with practical examples.
- BigDataCloud Setup: APIs, React Hooks & Network Guide - Learn how to set up BigDataCloud APIs, React location hooks, and network geolocation data. Step-by-step guides, code examples, and testing tips.
Sources and further reading
- IP Geolocation API - Pricing - IP Geolocation API for production and business-critical applications — built for commercial use at scale, with guaranteed throughput, priority routing and a 99.99% uptime SLA.
- IP Geolocation API - IPWHOIS.io - Free IP Geolocation and IP Location Lookup API
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the IPWHOIS.io Free plan really free?
Yes. The Free plan costs $0, requires no signup or API key, and allows up to 1,000 requests per day. Commercial use is permitted on the Free plan, though there is no uptime guarantee.
Does IPWHOIS.io offer a free trial for paid plans?
There is no separate trial period for paid plans. The Free tier serves as the testing ground, and you can upgrade when you need higher limits or advanced features. Refunds are available within 7 days of payment if you upgrade and change your mind.
What payment methods does IPWHOIS.io accept?
IPWHOIS.io accepts credit and debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Can I cancel my IPWHOIS.io subscription anytime?
Yes. You can cancel anytime from your dashboard, and you can also upgrade or downgrade your plan as your needs change.
What is the difference between the 99.9% and 99.99% uptime SLA?
The Basic and Business plans guarantee 99.9% availability, which allows for roughly 43 minutes of downtime per month. The Unlimited plan guarantees 99.99%, which allows for about 4.3 minutes of downtime per month. The Free plan has no uptime guarantee.
Does the Free plan include security data for VPN and proxy detection?
No. Security data, including proxy, VPN, Tor, hosting, relay, and mobile flags, is only available on the Business plan and above.
How many IPs can I look up in a single bulk request?
The bulk endpoint supports up to 100 IPs per call and is available on the Business plan and above.
Conclusion
IPWHOIS.io pricing is refreshingly straightforward: a genuinely free tier for testing, two mid-range plans that cover most production needs, and an unlimited option for high-volume workloads. The main decision points are request volume, whether you need security intelligence, and how much uptime risk you can tolerate.
Start with the Free tier to validate data quality and response times from your infrastructure. If the data meets your standards, upgrade to the plan that matches your volume and feature requirements. And if your use case involves privacy verification or fraud detection, cross-checking IPWHOIS.io's security flags with independent tools like BrowserScan's browser fingerprint analysis and leak tests can give you a more complete picture of the traffic you are evaluating.