OpenCage Geocoding API
Forward and reverse geocoding API built on OpenStreetMap and other open data sources, returning structured location data in JSON, XML, or GeoJSON across 40+ languages worldwide.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
HTTPS enforced. API key as query parameter is a weaker pattern than Authorization header but industry-standard for geocoding APIs. No scope granularity. GDPR-compliant; EU data residency option available. Rate limit headers support compliant agent throttling.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
An agent needs reliable worldwide geocoding without Google Maps pricing, especially for moderate-volume use cases where OpenStreetMap data quality is sufficient.
Avoid When
You need sub-meter precision in rural areas, real-time routing, or are processing millions of addresses per day at low cost.
Use Cases
- • Converting an address string into latitude/longitude coordinates for downstream mapping
- • Reverse geocoding GPS coordinates to human-readable addresses or place names
- • Resolving ambiguous location strings with confidence scores and bounding boxes
- • Enriching user-submitted location data with structured components (city, country, postal code)
- • Providing location context to agents handling logistics, delivery, or field service workflows
Not For
- • Real-time traffic routing or turn-by-turn navigation
- • High-volume production workloads on the free tier (2,500 req/day limit)
- • Place search or points-of-interest discovery (use a dedicated POI API)
- • Geocoding at Google Maps accuracy in data-sparse regions where OSM coverage is thin
Interface
Authentication
API key passed as query parameter (key=...). Keys are tied to usage tier. Self-service signup with free tier. No scopes — single key grants full access to the API.
Pricing
Free tier is generous for development and low-volume agents. Paid tiers scale reasonably. No per-request billing — monthly subscription with daily quota. Credit card not required for free tier.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Free tier rate limit is 1 request/second — agents must throttle or face 429 errors
- ⚠ API key in query parameter can appear in server-side access logs; prefer server-side proxy in multi-tenant deployments
- ⚠ Results array may contain multiple candidates; agents should inspect confidence score (0-10) to select best match
- ⚠ The 'no_annotations' and 'no_dedupe' parameters can reduce response size and latency for high-throughput agents
- ⚠ Daily quota resets at midnight UTC — agents near quota limit should handle 402 gracefully and defer non-urgent geocoding
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.