Integrations and maintenance were major issues when it came to users using the IP database. Usage of our IP database in software and platforms where data download facilities, maintainability (updating the database at regular intervals), and using an MMDB reader library were issues that were stopping us from universal adoption. For example, search/SIEM/threat intel platforms, distributed systems, firewall applications etc.
So, we just decided to launch an API to complement our data downloads. It is easier to use, and the unlimited requests make it a strong candidate.
We are rebuilding our backend in Rust and also developing a bulk enrichment API endpoint. The intention of the API system is to replicate the performance and features you get from a local database, with ease of use and minimal friction. Of course, the API is competing against the local database and will never be perfect, but I have to admit that using the IP database, particularly the binary database, and maintaining it is not as easy as using an API service.
Many providers are orders of magnitude cheaper. I run one of them - https://iplocate.io - but there are plenty of other high quality and affordable services.
(However, the vast majority of IPs can't be geolocated in this way, and there are caveats to those that can be.)
In any case, the difficulty with all providers in this space is how you prove accuracy at scale. If we assume some provider has some proprietary technique that nets 100% accuracy, that's great, but what do you compare it to? There is no ground truth data source - we are supposed to be that.
Marketing plays a big role, and admittedly, these guys have much better marketing on this point :)
