Foursquare Places: Global points-of-interest data and Places API. Nominatim: Open-source geocoding with OpenStreetMap data.
| Foursquare Places | Nominatim | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Location Intelligence & Foot Traffic | Geocoding, Routing & Location APIs |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Open source |
| Starts at | See website | Free |
| Free tier | Free API tier | — |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Software licence | — | GPL-3.0 (software), ODbL (data) |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | API, Data download | API, Linux |
| Made by | Foursquare | — |
| Commercial use | Check terms | With conditions |
| Export / print images | Check terms | Allowed |
| Offline / caching | Check terms | Allowed |
| Visits from MapTools | 5 | 2 |
| Visit | Visit |
Foursquare Places features
- Places API
- Global POI dataset
- Open source places data
- Geotagging SDK
Nominatim features
- Forward and reverse geocoding
- OpenStreetMap data
- Self-hostable
- Structured and free-form search
The public nominatim.openstreetmap.org instance allows at most 1 request per second and no bulk geocoding. Self-host for heavy or commercial workloads.
Nominatim alternativesSummary based on public information. Check each provider's current pricing and terms.