geoip-country vs geoip-lite vs maxmind
Geolocation and IP Address Lookup
Search packages..
geoip-countrygeoip-litemaxmind

Geolocation and IP Address Lookup

Geolocation and IP Address Lookup libraries in Node.js provide tools to determine the geographical location of a user based on their IP address. These libraries are useful for applications that need to customize content, enforce geo-restrictions, or analyze user demographics. They work by mapping IP addresses to locations using databases or APIs. geoip-country is a simple and lightweight library that provides country-level geolocation data based on IP addresses. geoip-lite offers a more comprehensive solution with a fast, in-memory database for quick lookups, supporting country, region, and city-level data. maxmind is a feature-rich library that provides access to MaxMind's GeoIP databases, offering detailed geolocation data, including city, region, and ISP information, with support for both local and remote lookups.

Npm Package Weekly Downloads Trend

3 Years

Github Stars Ranking

Stat Detail

Package
Downloads
Stars
Size
Issues
Publish
License
geoip-country0958.37 MB13 days agoMaxMind GeoLite2 License
geoip-lite02,412161 MB212 years agoApache-2.0
maxmind064424.6 kB1a month agoMIT

Feature Comparison: geoip-country vs geoip-lite vs maxmind

Data Granularity

  • geoip-country:

    geoip-country provides country-level geolocation data based on IP addresses. It returns the country code and name, making it suitable for applications that only need basic country information.

  • geoip-lite:

    geoip-lite offers multi-level geolocation data, including country, region, and city information. It provides more detailed location data compared to geoip-country, making it suitable for applications that require finer granularity for personalization or analytics.

  • maxmind:

    maxmind provides highly detailed geolocation data, including city, region, country, and ISP information. It offers the most comprehensive data among the three, making it suitable for applications that need extensive location information for analytics, advertising, or security.

Database Size and Performance

  • geoip-country:

    geoip-country uses a small, static database that contains only country-level data. Its lightweight nature ensures fast lookups, but it is limited to country-level information only.

  • geoip-lite:

    geoip-lite uses a compact binary database that is loaded into memory for fast lookups. It strikes a good balance between database size and performance, allowing quick access to multi-level geolocation data without significant memory overhead.

  • maxmind:

    maxmind provides access to various GeoIP databases, including free and paid options. The database size varies depending on the level of detail, but it is designed for efficient lookups. However, more detailed data may require larger databases, which can impact memory usage.

Ease of Use

  • geoip-country:

    geoip-country is very easy to use, with a simple API for retrieving country data based on IP addresses. It requires minimal setup and is ideal for quick implementations where only country data is needed.

  • geoip-lite:

    geoip-lite offers a user-friendly API for accessing multi-level geolocation data. It is well-documented and easy to integrate into applications, making it a popular choice for developers who need more detailed location data without complexity.

  • maxmind:

    maxmind provides a comprehensive API for accessing detailed geolocation data. While it may require more setup, especially for using paid databases, it offers extensive documentation and examples to help developers integrate it effectively.

Code Example

  • geoip-country:

    Country Lookup Example

    const geoip = require('geoip-country');
const ip = '8.8.8.8'; // Example IP address
const geo = geoip.lookup(ip);
console.log(geo);
// Output: { country: 'US', countryCode: 'US' }
  • geoip-lite:

    Multi-Level Lookup Example

    const geoip = require('geoip-lite');
const ip = '8.8.8.8'; // Example IP address
const geo = geoip.lookup(ip);
console.log(geo);
// Output: { ip: '8.8.8.8', country: 'US', region: 'CA', city: 'Mountain View', ... }
  • maxmind:

    MaxMind Lookup Example

    const maxmind = require('maxmind');
const fs = require('fs');
const ip = '8.8.8.8'; // Example IP address

// Load the GeoIP2 database
const db = maxmind.openSync('GeoLite2-City.mmdb');
const geo = db.get(ip);
console.log(geo);
// Output: { city: { name: 'Mountain View' }, ... }

How to Choose: geoip-country vs geoip-lite vs maxmind

  • geoip-country:

    Choose geoip-country if you need a lightweight and straightforward solution for obtaining country-level geolocation data from IP addresses. It is easy to use and suitable for applications that only require basic country information.

  • geoip-lite:

    Choose geoip-lite if you need fast and accurate geolocation data with support for multiple levels (country, region, city). It is ideal for applications that require more detailed location information without the overhead of a large database.

  • maxmind:

    Choose maxmind if you require comprehensive geolocation data with support for city, region, and ISP information. It is suitable for applications that need detailed location data for analytics, personalization, or geo-restriction purposes.

Similar Npm Packages to geoip-lite

geoip-lite is a lightweight Node.js library that provides a simple way to perform IP geolocation. It allows developers to determine the geographical location of an IP address without the need for an external API, making it a convenient choice for applications that require quick and efficient geolocation services. The library comes with a built-in database that is regularly updated, ensuring accurate results for IP lookups.

While geoip-lite is a solid choice for IP geolocation, there are other libraries in the ecosystem that offer similar functionality. Here are a couple of alternatives:

  • geoip-country is another Node.js library that focuses specifically on determining the country associated with a given IP address. It is a simpler solution compared to geoip-lite, as it only provides country-level information. If your application only requires basic country identification without the need for more detailed geolocation data, geoip-country can be a lightweight and efficient option.
  • maxmind is a more comprehensive geolocation solution that provides a range of services, including IP geolocation, fraud detection, and more. MaxMind offers both a free GeoLite2 database and a paid GeoIP2 database with more detailed information. If your application requires advanced geolocation features or if you need to access additional data points beyond just the country, maxmind is a robust choice that can cater to those needs.

To see how geoip-lite compares with geoip-country and maxmind, check out the comparison: Comparing geoip-country vs geoip-lite vs maxmind.

Similar Npm Packages to maxmind

maxmind is a popular npm package used for geolocation services. It provides developers with the ability to determine the geographical location of an IP address, which can be useful for various applications, such as content localization, fraud detection, and analytics. The package supports both the GeoIP2 and GeoLite2 databases, allowing for accurate and efficient IP geolocation lookups. While maxmind is a robust solution for IP geolocation, there are alternatives available that may suit different needs. Here are a couple of notable alternatives:

  • geoip-country is a lightweight library that provides a simple way to determine the country associated with a given IP address. It uses a static database for country lookups, making it easy to implement and lightweight. If your application only requires basic country-level geolocation without the need for detailed information, geoip-country can be a straightforward and efficient choice.

  • geoip-lite is another alternative that offers a fast and lightweight solution for IP geolocation. It provides a simple API for looking up the country, region, city, and more based on an IP address. geoip-lite is designed to be easy to use and does not require any external dependencies, making it a convenient option for developers who need quick and reliable geolocation without the overhead of larger libraries.

For a detailed comparison of these packages, check out the following link: Comparing geoip-country vs geoip-lite vs maxmind.

README for geoip-country

[!CAUTION] This repository would not maintaine any more. We recommend to use new library ip-location-api which has faster and customizable system, we created from scratch.

geoip-country NPM version

A native nodejs API to get country information from ip address.

This library is fork of the geoip-lite which provides a very fast ip to geolocation API by loading the ip to geolocation database into memory. However, because the database contains city and coordinate information, etc., its size exceeds 120 MB, which means that it uses a lot of memory and takes a long time before the first execution.

geoip-country reduces memory usage and faster startup and faster lookup by restricting database to country from geolocation. Futhermore, we add the other information capital, continent_name, languages, etc., from v5. You can check the test/benchmark.js after updating geoip-lite database. The following tests were performed on Node.js v20 on a PC using SSD.

benchmarkdatabase sizestartup timelookup time
geoip-country7 MB17 ms0.95 μs/ip
geoip-lite124MB52 ms2.37 μs/ip

This product includes GeoLite2 ipv4 and ipv6 country data created by MaxMind. The database of this product updates twice a weekly.

You should read this README and the LICENSE and EULA files carefully before deciding to use this product.
After v4, LICENSE for the GeoLite2 database was changed. If you need to use this product with previous LICENSE, please use v3.

Synopsis

var geoip = require('geoip-country');

var ip = "207.97.227.239";
var geo = geoip.lookup(ip);

console.log(geo);
{
  country: 'US', // "2 letter" country code defined at ISO-3166-1 alpha-2
  name: 'United States',
  native: 'United States',
  continent: 'NA',
  continent_name: 'North America',
  phone: [ 1 ],
  capital: 'Washington D.C.',
  currency: [ 'USD', 'USN', 'USS' ],
  languages: [ 'en' ],
}

Installation

$ npm i geoip-country

API

geoip-country is completely synchronous. There are no callbacks involved. All blocking file IO is done at startup time, so all runtime calls are executed in-memory and are fast. Startup may take up to 20ms while it reads into memory and indexes data files.

Looking up an IP address

If you have an IP address in dotted quad notation, IPv6 colon notation, or a 32 bit unsigned integer (treated as an IPv4 address), pass it to the lookup method.

var geo = geoip.lookup(ip);

If the IP address was found, the lookup method returns an object with the following structure:

{
  country: 'CN', // "2 letter" country code defined at ISO-3166-1 alpha-2
  name: 'China',
  native: '中国',
  continent: 'AS',
  continent_name: 'Asia',
  phone: [ 86 ],
  capital: 'Beijing',
  currency: [ 'CNY' ],
  languages: [ 'zh' ],
}

If the IP address was not found, the lookup returns null.

We use two databases for getting ip address to geo data. First is GeoLite2 country database for linking ip address to country which is "2 letter" country code which is defined at ISO-3166-1 alpha-2 wiki. Second database is Countries database which is published under MIT License for linking country to languages, capital, continent, etc.

Built-in Updater

This package contains an update script that can pull the files from MaxMind and handle the conversion from CSV. A npm script alias has been setup to make this process easy. Please keep in mind this requires internet and MaxMind rate limits that amount of downloads on their servers.

npm run updatedb --license_key=YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY
	or
GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY=YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY node scripts/updatedb.js

YOUR_GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY should be replaced by a valid GeoLite2 license key. Please follow instructions provided by MaxMind to obtain a license key.

Update database API [Added at v4.1.0]

You can update country database with updateDatabase method.

  geoip.updateDatabase(license_key, callback);

license_key is a license key which provided by MaxMind. You can get GeoLite2 license key as instructions.

By setting the environmental variable GEOLITE2_LICENSE_KEY, you can update with

  geoip.updateDatabase(callback);

Fast lookup setting

By setting CLI parameter --geoip_fast_lookup=XX or envirnment GEOIP_FAST_LOOKUP=XX, you can make faster lookup time, in exchange for slower startup time and increase memory usage. Default of geoip_fast_lookup is 12, 4 is minimum and 18 is maximum.

geoip_fast_lookupincreased memory usagestartup timelookup time
4 [min]192 B13 ms1.15 μs/ip
6768 B13 ms1.11 μs/ip
83 KB13 ms1.07 μs/ip
1012 KB15 ms1.00 μs/ip
12 [default]48 KB17 ms0.95 μs/ip
14192 KB19 ms0.91 μs/ip
16768 KB22 ms0.87 μs/ip
18 [max]3 MB31 ms0.84 μs/ip
20 [cannot use]12 MB59 ms0.87 μs/ip

Use ip-location-db database

You can use ip-location-db database with the environment variable IP_LOCATION_DB or CLI parameter --ip_location_db=XXXXX. For example, if you want to use geolite2-geo-whois-asn-country which supports wider ip than geolite2-country, you can update the database by executing npm run updatedb --ip_location_db=geolite2-geo-whois-asn.

If you cannot use GeoLite2 licence for your use-case, the licence issue can be circumvented by replacing the database in ip-location-db, as there are also some Public licenced (CC0 PDDL) databases in ip-location-db.

Custom Directory for database files

You can store the database files in custom directory with the environment variable GEOIP_DATADIR or CLI parameter --geoip_datadir=XXXXX. For creating or updating the database files in custom directory, you need to run built-in updater as documented above with setting the environment variable GEOIP_DATADIR or CLI parameter --geoip_datadir=XXXXX. If you have no write-access to the geoip-country directory, it would be better to set the environment GEOIP_TMPDATADIR or CLI parameter --geoip_tmpdatadir=YYYYY for temporary directory when updating the database files.

License and EULA

Please carefully read the LICENSE and EULA files. This package comes with certain restrictions and obligations, most notably:

  • You cannot prevent the library from updating the databases.
  • You cannot use the GeoLite2 data:
    • for FCRA purposes,
    • to identify specific households or individuals.

You can read the latest version of GeoLite2 EULA. GeoLite2 database is provided under CC BY-SA 4.0 by MaxMind, so, you must create attribusion to MaxMind for using GeoLite2 database.

The license for the software itself is an Apache License 2.0 by geoip-country. This software is created from the repository geoip-lite/node-geoip. The software license of geoip-lite/node-geoip is Apache License 2.0.

References

npm-compare.com is an independent website designed to help developers choose the most suitable npm packages. We are not affiliated with npm, Inc, the official website for the npm registry. Note that npm is a registered trademark of npm, Inc. Please share your feedback via our GitHub repository. For more details, please refer to our Terms & Privacy.