Getting Started with the ipinfo.im IP API (Free, No Auth Required)

If you need to look up IP address data — country, city, ISP, ASN, or timezone — you’ve probably noticed that most IP APIs require you to register, generate an API key, and manage rate limits. ipinfo.im is different: it’s completely free, requires no authentication, and is ready to use in seconds.

This guide walks you through everything you need to get started with the ipinfo.im API.

What is ipinfo.im?

ipinfo.im is a free IP intelligence API designed for developers. It accepts any IP address as input and returns structured JSON data including:

• IP address — the queried IP
• Country — ISO country code (e.g., US, DE, JP)
• Region — state or province
• City — city name
• Organization/ISP — the internet service provider or hosting company
• ASN — Autonomous System Number
• Timezone — IANA timezone identifier (e.g., America/New_York)
• Latitude/Longitude — approximate geographic coordinates

No credit card. No signup. No API key. Just HTTP.

Base URL

https://ipinfo.im/api/

Endpoint 1: Look Up Your Own IP

To look up the IP address of the current machine making the request, call the base endpoint with no parameters:

curl https://ipinfo.im/api/

Example response:

{
  "ip": "203.0.113.45",
  "country": "US",
  "country_name": "United States",
  "region": "California",
  "city": "San Francisco",
  "org": "AS7922 Comcast Cable Communications",
  "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "latitude": 37.7749,
  "longitude": -122.4194
}

This is useful for detecting the user’s location in server-side applications, or for quick manual lookups while debugging.

Endpoint 2: Look Up a Specific IP Address

To query a specific IP address, append the ?ip= parameter:

curl "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=8.8.8.8"

Example response:

{
  "ip": "8.8.8.8",
  "country": "US",
  "country_name": "United States",
  "region": "California",
  "city": "Mountain View",
  "org": "AS15169 Google LLC",
  "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "latitude": 37.4056,
  "longitude": -122.0775
}

This endpoint is the one you’ll use most often — pass any IPv4 or IPv6 address.

Understanding the JSON Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
ip	string	The queried IP address
country	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code
country_name	string	Full country name in English
region	string	State, province, or region name
city	string	City name
org	string	Organization/ISP name with ASN prefix
timezone	string	IANA timezone identifier
latitude	number	Approximate latitude
longitude	number	Approximate longitude

curl Examples for Common Use Cases

Look up your own IP:

curl https://ipinfo.im/api/

Look up a specific IP:

curl "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=1.1.1.1"

Pretty-print JSON output with jq:

curl -s "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=8.8.8.8" | jq .

Extract only the country field:

curl -s "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=8.8.8.8" | jq -r '.country'
# Output: US

Extract the ISP/org:

curl -s "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=8.8.8.8" | jq -r '.org'
# Output: AS15169 Google LLC

Use in a shell script:

#!/bin/bash
IP="8.8.8.8"
RESPONSE=$(curl -s "https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=${IP}")
COUNTRY=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.country')
CITY=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.city')
echo "IP ${IP} is located in ${CITY}, ${COUNTRY}"

CORS Support

The ipinfo.im API is CORS-enabled, meaning you can call it directly from browser-side JavaScript without a proxy server:

const response = await fetch('https://ipinfo.im/api/?ip=8.8.8.8');
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.country); // "US"
console.log(data.city);    // "Mountain View"

Rate Limits

ipinfo.im is designed to be generous and accessible. For high-volume production use cases, be respectful of the service — add reasonable delays between batch requests and cache results where possible. Caching IP lookups for 24 hours is a good practice since geolocation data changes infrequently.

What to Build With It

Here are some common use cases for the ipinfo.im API:

• Content localization — Show prices in local currency, or display region-specific content
• Fraud detection — Flag logins from unexpected countries or known VPN/proxy ASNs
• Analytics enrichment — Add country and region data to your event logs
• Access control — Allow or block traffic based on country code
• Developer tools — Build IP lookup widgets, dashboards, or CLI tools

Next Steps

Now that you understand the basics:

• Python users: See our Python IP Geolocation Guide
• Node.js users: See our Node.js IP Lookup Guide
• Power users: Check the curl Cheatsheet for 10 essential commands

Ready to integrate? Head over to ipinfo.im and try the live API demo — no setup required.