Zip-Codes.com is a JSON-compatible alternative — same response shape, single API key, US infrastructure on every tier, and roughly half the per-credit cost on flat-rate plans. Here’s what the swap looks like.
2,500 credits/day · No credit card · No expiration
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Both Geocodio and Zip-Codes.com are REST APIs that return JSON. Both offer a 2,500-call daily free tier with no credit card. Both support batch processing and Census ACS appends. If your job is straightforward address-to-coordinate geocoding, Geocodio is a solid choice — and we’ll send you there in the FAQ where it fits. The differences worth comparing sit in three places: per-credit cost since the February 2026 price change, where data is hosted, and which workflows each product is built around.
On February 1, 2026, Geocodio raised its pay-as-you-go price from $0.50 to $1.00 per 1,000 lookups. Self-Serve Unlimited went from $1,000 to $1,350 per month. The Enterprise tier — their only US-hosted plan — went from $2,500 to $3,250 per month. Existing customers received a $100/mo legacy discount on Unlimited; new customers pay the new rate. For the same workload, our Developer plan is $49/mo for 100,000 credits — roughly $0.49 per 1,000 calls before enrichment multipliers. At 1 million lookups per month, our Business plan ($499/mo) sits well below Geocodio’s $925 PAYG, $1,350 Unlimited, or $3,250 Enterprise-with-US-hosting.
Geocodio’s standard infrastructure is EU-hosted; US-region hosting requires the Enterprise tier ($3,250/mo). For workflows with US data-residency requirements, FedRAMP-adjacent procurement, or any policy that requires US-region processing, that’s the determining factor. Production traffic on Zip-Codes.com is served from US infrastructure on every tier — including the free tier — with no upgrade required.
Finally, the workflow shape. Geocodio’s native primitive is forward geocoding: free-form
address in, rooftop or interpolated lat/lng out. They do that well. Zip-Codes.com is built
around a different primitive — the postal code as input. Five specialized endpoints
(/zip, /radius, /suggest, /distance,
/address) cover lookup, radius search (centroid or true spatial
polygon-intersection with pct_inside overlap), geographic typeahead across
cities and counties and CBSAs and ZIPs and FSAs, point-to-point distance, and address
parsing — all sharing one API key, one credit pool, and one billing relationship. If
your workflow already starts with a ZIP (CRM records, lead forms, e-commerce checkout,
market analysis), the geocode step is a tax you don’t pay here.
The differences that actually matter for the comparison — not an exhaustive feature grid.
| Capability | Geocodio | Zip-Codes.com |
|---|---|---|
| Forward-geocoding precision | Rooftop / interpolated lat/lng | ZIP+4 centroid via /v2/address |
| Radius search | Not offered | First-class /v2/radius, centroid + spatial polygon |
| Geographic typeahead | Not offered | /v2/suggest — cities, counties, CBSAs, FSAs, ZIPs |
| ZIP lookup + enrichment in one call | Geocode an address first | Direct /v2/zip with 11+ enrichment flags |
| Census ACS demographics | Current 5-year vintages | 14 years (2011–2024), 542 fields per ZIP |
| Canadian coverage | Geocoding only | FSA + 6-char postal + Census, native peer to US |
| Mexico coverage | ||
| US data hosting | Enterprise tier ($3,250/mo) | Every tier, including free |
| Paid entry tier | PAYG $1.00 / 1K (as of Feb 2026) | $49/mo — 100K credits (≈ $0.49 / 1K) |
Same workload, two shapes. Geocodio bills 1 lookup per address plus 1 per field. Ours bills 1 base credit plus 1 per enrichment flag.
GET https://api.geocod.io/v1.12/geocode
?q=350+5th+Ave+New+York+NY+10118
&fields=acs-demographics,acs-economics,cd,state-legislature
&api_key=YOUR_KEY
# Billing: 1 address × (1 + 4 fields) = 5 lookupsGET https://api.zip-codes.com/v2/zip
?code=10118
&include=acs_demographic,acs_economic,cd,state_leg
&key=YOUR_KEY
# Billing: 1 base credit × (1 + 4 enrichments) = 5 credits
# On Developer plan: 5 credits ≈ $0.0025
# On Geocodio PAYG (Feb 2026+): 5 lookups = $0.005
If you already have the address (not the ZIP), call /v2/address first to
standardize and get the ZIP+4 (1 credit, no enrichments on this endpoint), then call
/v2/zip for the enrichment data.
Modeled at 1 enrichment per call. Geocodio prices reflect their February 1, 2026 increase.
| Monthly volume | Geocodio | Zip-Codes.com |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 lookups | Within free tier † | Within free tier † |
| 100,000 lookups | $100 PAYG · $1,350 Unlimited | $49 Developer plan |
| 1,000,000 lookups | $1,000 PAYG · $1,350 Unlimited · $3,250+ Enterprise (US-hosted) | $499 Business plan |
† Both vendors offer a 2,500/day free tier — 10K/month spread across 30 days sits well within it on either side. Geocodio’s 2,500/day free credit can reduce PAYG cost at higher volumes if usage is perfectly even across days; numbers shown use straight per-lookup math, which is closer to real-world bursty traffic.
“Lowest cost source of high-quality ZIP Code databases out there, with more data than USPS provides (easier to use too). Using their data has increased our profits from one of our products by an order of magnitude.”
Most migrations are small — same JSON shape, single API key, no auth dance. The work is mapping Geocodio’s single geocode-with-fields call to our specialized endpoints. Email info@zip-codes.com if you want help mapping a specific integration. Free tier covers most evaluation and dev work.
/v2/address endpoint accepts a free-form US street
address, parses it, standardizes it, appends ZIP+4, and returns the address
components broken out with confidence and match-path signals. Fixed 1 credit
per request. The honest difference: we return the ZIP+4 centroid as the
coordinate; Geocodio returns rooftop or interpolated lat/lng. For ZIP-linked
workflows the centroid is sufficient; for rooftop precision Geocodio is the
better fit.
/v2/radius (find postal codes within N miles, with optional
spatial polygon-intersection), /v2/suggest (geographic typeahead
across cities, counties, CBSAs, FSAs, ZIPs), /v2/distance
(point-to-point distance and bearing, free timezone included),
/v2/zip with 11+ optional enrichments (timezone, Census tract,
CD, state-leg, school district, ACS demographics across 14 years, Medicare),
and full Canadian FSA + 6-character postal coverage as a peer to US —
not as a separate international product.
/v2/zip:
acs_demographic, acs_social,
acs_economic, acs_housing, plus historical
variants. Each enrichment adds 1 credit to the call.
/zip, /radius,
/suggest, /distance, /address) instead
of one geocode endpoint with field appends — so calls split into
endpoint per use case, but with one credit pool. Try the
demo with the public demo key before migrating any
code. Email info@zip-codes.com
if you want help mapping your Geocodio integration.