Best Geocoding Providers for the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom 🇬🇧 offers two distinct geocoding stacks: UK-specific address sources (PAF/AddressBase/UPRN) via Ordnance Survey or PAF resellers for postal-grade address validation, and global geocoders for broader POI search and international coverage. In this article, we compare the top geocoding providers for the UK, focusing on address accuracy, UPRN support, POI coverage, pricing, and licensing.
Table of contents
Provider comparison summary
Here is a summary table of the top geocoding providers for United Kingdom:
| Provider | Accuracy | Coverage | POI Coverage | Free Tier | Pricing for 1,000 requests | Storage Allowed | Key Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OS Places API |
⭐ Excellent (rooftop + UPRN) |
⭐ Excellent (all GB) |
None (addresses only) |
⚠️ PSGA | License |
✅ Yes (per license) |
Gold-standard GB addresses with UPRN, daily updates |
| Ideal Postcodes |
⭐ Excellent (rooftop + UPRN) |
⭐ Excellent (all UK) |
None (addresses only) |
None | Pay-as-you-go |
✅ Yes (per ToS) |
PAF + UPRN + rooftop, 30 req/s, transparent pricing |
| getAddress.io |
⭐ Excellent (PAF-backed) |
⭐ Excellent (all UK) |
None (addresses only) |
Plan-based | Subscription |
✅ Yes (per ToS) |
Simple UK-only API, autocomplete, validation |
| Loqate |
⭐ Excellent (PAF-backed) |
⭐ Excellent (all UK) |
None (addresses only) |
None | Enterprise |
✅ Yes (per contract) |
Enterprise address capture/verify with UK strength |
| Google Maps |
⭐ Excellent (rooftop) |
⭐ Excellent (urban & rural) |
🏆 Best (massive Places DB) |
40k/month |
$5.00 |
❌ No (30 days cache max) |
Most comprehensive POI data, handles messy queries |
| HERE |
⭐ Excellent (rooftop) |
⭐ Excellent (urban & rural) |
Very Good | 30k/month | $1.00 |
⚠️ Possible (enterprise only) |
High free tier, flexible map display |
| TomTom |
⭐ Excellent (rooftop) |
⭐ Excellent (urban & rural) |
Very Good | ~75k/month | $0.75 | ❌ No | Strong European data, competitive pricing |
| Mapbox | Very Good | Very Good |
Good (OSM-based) |
100k/month | $0.75-$5.00 |
⚠️ Possible (permanent plan only) |
Generous free tier, flexible usage |
| OpenCage |
Very Good (BAN + OSM-based) |
⭐ Excellent |
Good (OSM-based) |
75k/month | ~$0.17 | ✅ Yes | Best of open data, managed service, cheap |
| Nominatim (OSM) | Good | Very Good | Good |
FREE (1 req/sec) |
FREE (self-host) |
✅ Yes (fully open) |
Open data, community-driven, self-hostable |
British providers
The UK benefits from world-class address infrastructure built on Postcode Address File (PAF) and AddressBase with UPRN (Unique Property Reference Numbers):
Available Options:
- Ordnance Survey (OS Places API): Gold-standard GB addresses with UPRN and daily updates via the OS Data Hub
- PAF-licensed Resellers: Services like Ideal Postcodes, getAddress.io, Postcoder, and Loqate provide PAF data through simple APIs
- AddressBase: Combines PAF with local authority address data, maintained by OS
- UPRN Integration: Enables persistent linking across government and commercial datasets
These UK-specific providers are essential for form-fill validation, compliance, deduplication, and applications requiring rooftop-level precision with official UK property identifiers.
OS Places API (Ordnance Survey)
ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/os-places-api
OS Places is the gold-standard for GB addresses, providing access to AddressBase with UPRN (Unique Property Reference Numbers) and daily updates. Maintained by Ordnance Survey, it offers exceptional accuracy for flats, new builds, and rural properties with rooftop-level coordinates. The UPRN is invaluable for persistent joins across datasets and is widely used by UK government and public sector organizations.
Pricing: Available through OS Data Hub Premium subscription. Public sector PSGA members can often access via their membership. Premium plan includes £1,000/month free premium transactions, though OS Places is priced separately. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 600 transactions per minute (i.e. 10 requests per second).
Licensing: Usage governed by OS Data Hub API terms. Storage and caching permitted per license terms. Premium data access requires appropriate subscription or PSGA membership.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: The definitive choice for UK government and public sector organizations. Provides official AddressBase data with UPRN for data linkage, essential for compliance with UK addressing standards and integrating with other government datasets. Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) members often get access via their membership.
Ideal Postcodes
ideal-postcodes.co.uk
Ideal Postcodes provides UK-specific address lookup backed by PAF (Postcode Address File) with UPRN and rooftop geocodes included. The service is simple to integrate and UK-centric, making it an excellent choice for businesses needing reliable UK address validation without enterprise complexity.
Pricing: Pay-as-you-go credit bundles. Entry tier starts at £9 for 200 lookups (~£45 per 1,000 requests). Volume discounts available with larger bundles. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 30 requests per second per IP address (documented).
Licensing: PAF licensing terms apply through vendor. Storage allowed per provider terms with redistribution restricted.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Best for UK businesses wanting PAF accuracy with UPRN and rooftop coordinates at transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing. A trusted choice for businesses needing reliable UK address validation without enterprise complexity.
getAddress.io
getaddress.io
getAddress.io offers a simple UK-only API for postcode lookup, autocomplete, and address validation backed by PAF. The service is designed for quick integration and follows PAF licensing terms, allowing storage per provider terms with redistribution restricted.
Pricing: Subscription starts at £3 for ~1500 lookups per month. Pricing varies by plan and usage volume. Autocomplete queries often not billed until selection is made. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: Subscriptions have daily rates limits, depends on the plan.
Licensing: Follows PAF licensing via the service. Storage allowed per provider ToS, redistribution restricted.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Ideal for quick integration in UK address capture forms and autocomplete use-cases. Cost-effective pricing model where autocomplete queries aren't billed until selection is made, making it particularly economical for high-traffic forms with dropout rates.
Loqate (GBG)
loqate.com/geocode/
Loqate (by GBG) is a widely used enterprise-grade address capture and verification solution with particular strength in UK addresses. It offers pay-as-you-go and enterprise pricing with credit bundles and volume discounts. The service includes sophisticated address capture UIs, international coverage, and enterprise SLAs. Loqate is a popular choice for large organizations requiring address validation across multiple countries with strong UK performance.
Pricing: Starts at £0.0069 per address lookup, pay-as-you-go. 'The more credits you purchase, the lower the cost per lookup.' (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 100 QPS (queries per second).
Licensing: Commercial license with storage governed by contract. PAF licensing terms apply.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: The enterprise standard for large UK organizations requiring address validation across multiple countries. Offers sophisticated address capture UIs, international coverage, and dedicated SLAs—widely trusted by major enterprises for high-volume, mission-critical address verification.
Common providers
Google Geocoding API (Places API)
developers.google.com/maps
Google's geocoding is widely considered the industry standard with exceptional global coverage and accuracy. It excels at parsing addresses even when they contain typos or are incomplete, thanks to advanced natural language processing. Coverage is excellent across both urban and rural areas, and it offers unmatched POI coverage for restaurants, landmarks, shops, and more. However this has a cost: pricing is relatively expensive for high volumes and license is restrictive.
Pricing: $5 per 1,000 requests after free tier. Free tier: 40,000 requests/month. Prices decrease as volume increases. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 3,000 requests per minute in documentation, i.e. 50 requests per second. (October 2025)
Licensing: Google's terms are restrictive. Results cannot be stored permanently outside of Google's platform; you may cache them for up to 30 days for performance, but long-term storage or use in a database is disallowed. Results must also be displayed on a Google map.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Unbeatable for UK businesses, landmarks, and POIs with exceptional search quality that handles messy or incomplete addresses. Best suited for consumer-facing applications where comprehensive POI coverage matters more than permanent storage, despite higher costs and restrictive licensing.
Coverage, pricing, and more details about Google Maps Geocoding API
HERE Geocoding API (HERE WeGo)
developer.here.com
HERE's geocoding delivers excellent accuracy with rooftop-level precision across both urban and rural areas. It has a comprehensive POI database covering landmarks and businesses, though slightly less extensive than Google's. Many automotive navigation systems worldwide rely on HERE data, which speaks to its quality and reliability for location-based services.
Pricing: $1 per 1,000 requests after free tier. Free tier: 30,000 requests/month. Prices decrease as volume increases. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: Not publicly disclosed.
Licensing: Standard plans don't allow permanent storage of results. An enterprise license is required to store geocoding results permanently. However, unlike Google, you can display results on any map platform.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Strong European heritage with particularly detailed UK road networks and addresses. Flexible map display options (unlike Google's restrictions) and reasonable pricing make it ideal for UK logistics, delivery routing, and navigation applications requiring reliable address geocoding.
TomTom Geocoding
developer.tomtom.com
TomTom delivers excellent geocoding accuracy with rooftop-level precision across global markets. Coverage extends to urban centers and rural areas, including small roads and villages. TomTom's POI database is particularly robust for navigation use-cases (fuel stations, restaurants, attractions), though less comprehensive than Google's user-generated content.
Pricing: $0.75 per 1,000 requests after free tier. Free tier: 2,500 requests/day (~75k/month). (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 5 queries per second per API key.
Licensing: Long-term storage is prohibited without special arrangements. However, you can display results on any map platform, not just TomTom or Bing maps.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Excellent UK coverage with competitive pricing and robust POI data for navigation contexts. Reliable choice for UK automotive, fleet management, and delivery applications that need consistent rooftop-level accuracy across urban and rural areas at lower costs.
Mapbox Geocoding API
www.mapbox.com
Mapbox leverages OpenStreetMap data combined with its own proprietary datasets to deliver very good geocoding accuracy globally. In cities and large towns, it often resolves addresses to exact locations. POI coverage includes major landmarks and many businesses mapped in OSM, though not every establishment is covered. Mapbox differentiates itself from other commercial providers by offering both temporary and permanent storage plans.
Pricing: Temporary geocoding: $0.75 per 1,000 requests after a free tier of 100,000 requests/month. Permanent geocoding: $5 per 1,000 requests, no free tier. Pricing is decreasing as volume increases for both plans. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: 1,000 requests/minute in documentation, i.e. 16 requests/second.
Licensing: the permanent geocoding API allows indefinite storage for your own use, but not the temporary geocoding API. You can display results on any map platform.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Particularly strong in the UK thanks to the country's rich OpenStreetMap community. Offers flexible storage options (temporary vs permanent geocoding plans) and high rate limits (1,000 req/min), making it developer-friendly for UK projects needing control over data retention.
OpenCage Geocoder
opencagedata.com
OpenCage combines multiple open data sources (OpenStreetMap, OpenAddresses, Geonames) into one unified API. It aggregates the best available open data for each region, typically achieving rooftop-level address accuracy where quality local datasets exist. POI coverage matches OSM's breadth (landmarks, major venues), supplemented by Geonames for natural features, though not as comprehensive as Google's.
Pricing: Starting at $0.15 per 1,000 requests on paid plans (which are subscription-based). Free tier is 2,500 requests/day (~75k/month). Pricing is decreasing as volume increases for the paid plans. (Source - October 2025)
Rate limits: No hard per-second limits on paid plans. ~15 requests/second on higher tiers.
Licensing: Permissive terms allow indefinite storage and caching of results with proper attribution. No requirement to display on a particular map. You get all benefits of open data without setting up your own servers. Explicitly allows building databases of geocoded addresses for commercial use.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: Best value for UK projects requiring permanent storage with minimal licensing friction. Combines OpenStreetMap's excellent UK coverage with simple, permissive terms and low costs—ideal when you need to build a database of geocoded UK addresses for long-term use.
Nominatim (OpenStreetMap)
nominatim.openstreetmap.org
Nominatim (the OpenStreetMap geocoding service) delivers good geocoding accuracy, though performance varies by region. In well-mapped urban areas, it often returns rooftop-level precision. Rural coverage depends on local mapping completeness. POI coverage includes landmarks and businesses contributed by volunteers, though less comprehensive than commercial providers.
Pricing: free to use, although costs can apply if you need to host the service yourself.
Rate limits: ~1 request/second, max ~1,000/day for the public API.
Licensing: Highly permissive under ODbL license. You can store and use results freely with attribution ("© OpenStreetMap contributors"). Using coordinates internally is fine. Display on any map platform is allowed.
Why relevant for United Kingdom: The UK's active OSM community ensures excellent urban coverage with good address precision in cities and towns. Zero-cost option for UK developers who can self-host or work within the tight public API rate limits—avoid self-hosting complexity unless truly necessary.
Coordable advice: Although really appealing, self-hosting Nominatim is not an easy option. The infrastructure and the expertise to do it are highly underestimated. We recommend using other providers like Mapbox or OpenCage that provide similar or better results for a fair price.
How to choose your geocoding provider for United Kingdom
Pricing is indeed a major factor to consider when choosing a geocoding provider, but it's not the only factor. Your geocoding success rates will also depend on the provider you choose.Things to consider
Here are few things to consider:- Cleanliness: are your addresses error-prone? If yes, you should consider using a provider that can handle messy addresses. Commercial providers are usually better at this than open-source providers.
- Coverage: are your addresses mostly in cities? If not, providers that are used in navigation systems (Google, HERE, TomTom) are good candidates.
- POI Coverage: do you need to geocode restaurants, shops, landmarks, etc.? If yes, a provider like Google Maps is the best candidates.
- Volume: do you have a lot of addresses to geocode? If yes, you should consider using a provider that can handle large volumes (rate limits) with a low price, or open-source providers.
- Licensing: do you need to store the results permanently? If yes, you need to choose a provider that allows you to do so.
Coordable advice for United Kingdom: For UK addresses, your choice depends on your requirements: If you need postal-grade accuracy with UPRN for validation or compliance, start with OS Places (if eligible) or PAF-licensed providers like Ideal Postcodes or getAddress.io. For comprehensive POI search with businesses and landmarks, Google Maps excels despite storage restrictions. If you need to store results long-term, consider OpenCage (with attribution), Mapbox Permanent, or self-hosted Nominatim. For cost-effective global coverage with strong UK performance, HERE and TomTom offer excellent value at reasonable prices.
If you have a lot of addresses to geocode (> 1000) you should do a real comparison between the providers to find the one that performs the best on your data. You can use the Coordable platform to do this easily! ✅
Pricing comparison
Now that you have a clear understanding of each provider's strengths and weaknesses, let's compare their pricing side by side. You can modify the number of addresses to see the pricing estimation:Conclusion
Each provider has its own strengths and weaknesses. We've highlighted their accuracy, coverage (rural vs urban, addresses vs POI), pricing, and whether you can keep the results.
Ultimately, "best" depends on your needs: for a free and legal-to-store solution, go with BAN or an OSM-derived service; for comprehensive one-stop search including every POI, Google Maps API might be worth it despite the price.
The UK offers exceptional geocoding options ranging from world-class postal address infrastructure (PAF/AddressBase/UPRN) through OS and resellers, to comprehensive global providers with excellent UK coverage. Storage rights and licensing vary significantly, so choose based on your specific requirements for accuracy, POI coverage, and data retention needs.
You can now choose the geocoding service that best fits your project's requirements and constraints. 🙂
If you need help to increase your geocoding success rates, the Coordable platform can help you with that! Contact us.