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Geocoding — entry 061 of 80

OpenStreetMap

Verified Jul 2026

The core OpenStreetMap API serves and edits the raw map database underlying OSM — nodes, ways, and relations — over HTTPS at api.openstreetmap.org. Reading map data requires no authentication at all, while creating or modifying data requires an OAuth 2.0 token tied to an OSM account (the older Basic Auth/OAuth 1.0a login methods were retired in June 2024). It's a general-purpose data API rather than a geocoding service specifically — OSM points address-lookup users to the separate Nominatim service, and bulk-read users to Overpass.

geocodingmapsopen-dataopen-sourceno-key
Visit wiki.openstreetmap.org ↗Read the docs ↗More Geocoding
AuthenticationNone requiredCall it straight away — no key, no signup.
HTTPSSupportedTraffic is encrypted in transit.
CORSEnabledCallable directly from browser JavaScript.
PricingFreeNo paid tier — free for the documented use case.
FormatsXML, JSONResponses can be requested as XML or JSON.

GreatAPIs Score

Score94out of 100
Authentication25/25No authentication required
Pricing20/20Free to use
Docs14/20Documentation URL provided
Formats15/15Supports 2 response formats
Freshness20/20Verified within 6 months

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Scored 94 on greatapis.com
<a href="https://greatapis.com/api/openstreetmap/"><img src="https://greatapis.com/badge/openstreetmap.svg" alt="Scored 94 on greatapis.com"></a>

Auth quickstart

  1. No key needed — call it now.
Stored keyNo key stored

Your key is stored only in this browser (localStorage) and sent directly to the API — never to greatapis.

Try it

Developer reference
Base URLhttps://api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6
Rate limit
No fixed published quota for reads; edit/changeset uploads are separately rate-limited server-side
Key endpoints
  • GET/map
  • GET/capabilities
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