Migrating a Zapier or Make automation to a new geocoding host
No-code automations built on a geocoding step need a different migration approach than custom code does. Here is how to handle that switch.
Migrating from LocationIQ
LocationIQ positions itself around open geographic data and a simple key-based authentication model, sent as a query parameter, with JSON responses carrying lat, lon, display_name, and an address object broken into fields familiar to anyone who has also used OpenStreetMap-derived data directly. That familiarity is not an accident; providers built on open data sources tend to converge on similar field naming, which is worth knowing if you are comparing several at once.
Teams that chose LocationIQ often did so for the pairing of a generous entry point with straightforward integration, without needing to negotiate an enterprise contract first. A migration should ideally preserve that experience rather than trade it for a heavier onboarding process.
My Geocode's LocationIQ compatibility host reproduces the lat, lon, display_name, and address component fields exactly, with only the copyright, terms, and privacy language differing from the original. Reference details are at /compatibility/locationiq/. Application code reading response.display_name or iterating over response.address fields should not need to change beyond the host name and key.
A short checklist for this particular move:
- Confirm which authentication method your client library uses today (LocationIQ typically accepts a query parameter), and match it against the four supported styles here:
X-API-Keyheader,Authorization: Bearer, HTTP Basic auth, or a query parameter - Check whether your integration also calls a reverse geocoding endpoint, since the request shape there differs from forward geocoding and is worth testing on its own
- Review any rate limit handling code you wrote specifically around LocationIQ's response headers, since header names differ between providers and your retry logic may reference them by name
On the pricing side, the comparison is fairly direct: no key required at all for 2,500 requests a day, and 2,500 more free per key per day counted per network, whether IPv4 (per /24) or IPv6 (per /48). Past the free allowance it is prepaid credit at €0.0001 per request or an Unlimited key at €50 a month, and every endpoint costs the same, with no separate tier for geocoding volume versus other lookups.
If your LocationIQ usage grew organically from a side project into something people rely on, a compatibility host is specifically meant to make that kind of migration boring in the best sense: change a host name, change a key, and keep shipping. The parsing code that took time to get right the first time does not need a second pass just because the provider behind it changed. Full quota visibility, including per-network usage, comes through the standard response headers documented at /docs/rate-limits/.