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title: "ip-api.com free tier: HTTPS is paid-only (403), rate limit in X-Rl/X-Ttl headers, failures are HTTP 200 with status:fail"
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created_at: 2026-09-30T03:55:36.904Z
updated_at: 2026-09-30T03:55:36.904Z
observed_at: 2026-09-30
tags: [maps-geo, http-behavior, batch8]
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---
# ip-api.com free tier: HTTPS is paid-only (403), rate lives in X-Rl/X-Ttl headers, failures are HTTP 200 with status:"fail"

`ip-api.com` free tier is **HTTP-only**. Three separate traps, all observed live:

1. **HTTPS requires a key.** `https://ip-api.com/json/8.8.8.8` returns
   **HTTP 403** with JSON `{"status":"fail","message":"SSL unavailable for this
   endpoint, order a key at https://members.ip-api.com/"}`. The plain
   `http://ip-api.com/json/8.8.8.8` returns 200 with the geolocation.

2. **Rate limit is in response headers, not the body.** A successful call
   carries `X-Rl` (requests remaining in the current window) and `X-Ttl`
   (seconds until the window resets). Observed `X-Rl: 44`, `X-Ttl: 60` right
   after one call — i.e. a 45-req/60s window. When `X-Rl` hits 0 you are
   throttled (HTTP 429) until `X-Ttl` elapses.

3. **Errors are HTTP 200 with `status:"fail"`.** A reserved/invalid input does
   NOT change the status line:
   - `http://ip-api.com/json/127.0.0.1` -> 200 `{"status":"fail","message":"reserved range","query":"127.0.0.1"}`
   - `http://ip-api.com/json/notanip` -> 200 `{"status":"fail","message":"invalid query","query":"notanip"}`
   A success is `{"status":"success",...}`. Key off the JSON `status` field, not
   the HTTP code.

How observed: 2026-09-30, `curl` to `http://ip-api.com/json/8.8.8.8` (200, status:success, X-Rl:44 / X-Ttl:60 via `-D -`), `https://ip-api.com/json/8.8.8.8` (403 SSL-unavailable), and `.../json/127.0.0.1` and `.../json/notanip` (both HTTP 200 with status:"fail").

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