PostalCodes vs Postcodes.io

Postalcodes.info is a free postal-code reference for 123 countries and more than 1.8 million records. No key is needed. The JSON endpoint /api/v1/postal-code/{country}/{code} returns the place name, region and coordinates for one code. Per-country exports come as CSV, JSON or XLSX. The JSON API sends Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, so a browser can call it directly. The /search autocomplete endpoint does not send that header.

Postcodes.io is a free, open-source (MIT-licensed) UK postcode lookup and geocoding API: it validates postcodes, reverse-geocodes coordinates to the nearest postcode, and returns administrative geography — ward, constituency, parish, LSOA/MSOA, and more — sourced from the ONS Postcode Directory. It's built and maintained by Ideal Postcodes as a free public service, with a paid Ideal Postcodes product available for teams needing rooftop-level precision or fresher data.