Nominatim (OpenStreetMap Geocoding)
Free, open-source geocoder built on OpenStreetMap data for converting addresses to coordinates and coordinates to addresses, available as a hosted public API or self-hosted service.
Best When
You're building an open-source or non-commercial application that needs free geocoding, or you can self-host Nominatim for unlimited internal use.
Avoid When
You need production-grade SLAs, commercial use at scale, or high-accuracy geocoding in regions with sparse OSM coverage.
Use Cases
- • Free geocoding for development, prototyping, and small-scale production use
- • Self-hosted geocoding for organizations requiring data sovereignty
- • Address lookup in open-source and non-commercial applications
- • Reverse geocoding in offline or air-gapped environments (self-hosted deployment)
- • Bulk geocoding when self-hosting to avoid per-request costs
Not For
- • High-throughput commercial applications (public instance limited to 1 req/second, no SLA)
- • Applications requiring consistent high accuracy in less-mapped regions
- • Production use on the public OSM Nominatim instance (violates usage policy for commercial use)
- • Address validation for shipping — OSM coverage varies too much for business-critical use
Alternatives
Full Evaluation Report
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Package Brief
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Score Monitoring
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-01.