IPLogs vs ipapi.is
ipapi.is and IPLogs both return VPN, proxy, Tor and relay flags for IPv4 and IPv6. ipapi.is offers 1,000 free requests a day with a free account, plus downloadable databases; IPLogs needs no signup or key and adds a score, a verdict, every matching signal and a published false-positive rate. Pick ipapi.is for databases you host; IPLogs for keyless checks.
What ipapi.is is
ipapi.is is an IP-data API built on WHOIS records, hosting detection and VPN exit-node enumeration, where it connects to VPN providers and records the addresses their traffic leaves from. A free account gets 1,000 requests a day with the full response, commercial use included; without a key the API returns only ownership and location (30 lookups a day per address) and no detection flags. Paid plans, pay-once credits, downloadable databases in CSV and MMDB and a Business plan that runs the API on your own infrastructure are also offered. Its own FAQ rates hosting and Tor detection as very accurate and VPN and proxy detection as moderately accurate, and says residential proxies and unknown VPN providers are not detected.
Pricing, free-tier limits, and feature sets change. Verify current details on ipapi.is before deciding. This page reflects publicly documented behavior as of 2026-11-02.
Side-by-side
| Capability | IPLogs | ipapi.is |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier for VPN/proxy detection | 1,000 full/day, then fast mode; no key | 1,000/day with a free account; keyless gets 30/day, no detection flags |
| Signup / API key required | No signup, no key | Free account + key for flags and bulk |
| Output detail | Score, verdict, every matched signal | Boolean flags plus vpn, datacenter and abuse detail objects |
| Relay and gateway separation | is_relay: Private Relay, WARP, browser proxies, secure web gateways | egress_service: Private Relay, WARP, secure web gateways, satellite ISPs |
| How VPN servers are found | Provider lists plus live probes of the address | Exit-node enumeration by logging in to providers; no per-lookup probing described |
| Residential and mobile proxies | Residential-proxy exits it observes itself | Docs: mostly not detected |
| Published false-positive rate | 0.4% on a labeled ground-truth corpus | No numeric rate; accuracy described in words |
| Timezone, currency, company, abuse contact | Abuse contact and BGP prefix on full checks; no timezone, currency or company | In the full response |
| Downloadable databases / own-infrastructure API | No geolocation database; VPN provider dataset is CC BY 4.0 | VPN, hosting, geo, ASN databases; Business plan runs the API on your servers |
When to choose IPLogs
- You want detection with no account, key or signup at all.
- You want a score and verdict plus the full list of evidence that matched, with weights.
- You want the address probed for VPN and proxy handshakes at lookup time.
- A measured false-positive rate matters to your decisions.
- You want the VPN provider dataset under CC BY 4.0.
When to choose ipapi.is
- You want a free key tier that returns the full detection response at 1,000 requests a day.
- You need downloadable VPN, hosting, geolocation or ASN databases, or want to run the API on your own infrastructure.
- You need timezone, currency or company fields in the same lookup.
- You value its stated average response of about 1 ms from three regions.
See the numbers
IPLogs publishes its detection accuracy openly: 0.4% false-positive rate on an ASN-validated corpus. For live, head-to-head API responses across six vendors on controlled test IPs, see the empirical VPN-detection API test.
FAQ
Does ipapi.is detect VPNs without an API key?
No. Since 1 September 2026 keyless requests return only ownership and location data, capped at 30 lookups per address per day. The VPN, proxy, Tor and datacenter flags need a free account and key. IPLogs returns its detection verdict with no signup or key.
Is IPLogs a free alternative to ipapi.is?
For keyless VPN, proxy and Tor checks, yes. ipapi.is also has a free tier of 1,000 requests a day with an account, so the real differences are signup, evidence detail and extras. IPLogs returns a score and every matching signal; ipapi.is adds downloadable databases, the option to run the API on your own infrastructure, and timezone, currency and company fields.
How do the two find VPN servers?
ipapi.is says it connects to VPN providers and records their exit addresses, then extends the list by interpolation. IPLogs tracks published server lists from 200+ VPN providers, plus Tor exits, relay ranges, open-proxy feeds and residential-proxy exits it observes, and probes the address for VPN and proxy protocols when you look it up.