Foursquare Places API

Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt); Teams needing broad API coverage out of the box

Avoid if: You have strict compliance requirements

• ██████▒░░░
  65 / 100
  Agent friendliness
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Pricing transparency
• ████████░░
  80 / 100
  Setup speed
• █████▒░░░░
  55 / 100
  Docs quality
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Procurement ease
• ███▒░░░░░░
  35 / 100
  Trust readiness

Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fields (pricing, compliance, capabilities, docs and developer-surface signals) - not from reviews or paid placement. Each axis is 0-100; an unknown signal scores 0 for that axis. Procurement ease is the inverse of buying friction (higher = easier to adopt).

Pricing model

Usage-based [2]foursquare.com/pricing/“Pro Endpoints: 0–500 calls: $0.00 CPM; 501–100,000 calls: $15.00 CPM; 100,001–500,000 calls: $12.00 CPM; 500,001+ calls: $9.00 CPM. Premium Endpoints: 0–100,000 calls: $18.75 CPM; 100,001–500,000 calls: $15.00 CPM; 500,001+ calls: $11.25 CPM.”

Published pricing

✓ Yes [3]foursquare.com/pricing/“Pro Endpoints: 0–500 calls: $0.00 CPM; 501–100,000 calls: $15.00 CPM; 100,001–500,000 calls: $12.00 CPM; 500,001+ calls: $9.00 CPM.”

Free tier

✓ Yes [4]docs.foursquare.com/developer/reference/upcoming-changes“Beginning June 1, 2026, new Places API & V2 Pro endpoint rates go into effect for all users, with users receiving 500 free Pro calls.”foursquare.com/pricing/“up to 10,000 free calls on Pro endpoints”

Free tier details

500 free Pro endpoint calls per month (as of June 1 2026 pricing update; previously 10,000 complimentary Pro calls for new accounts). Premium endpoints have no free tier. [5]foursquare.com/pricing/“up to 10,000 free calls on Pro endpoints”docs.foursquare.com/developer/reference/upcoming-changes“New tiered cost-per-mille rates apply to Places API and V2 Pro endpoints: 0-500 calls: Free”

Self-serve signup

✓ Yes [6]foursquare.com/resources/blog/news/heads-up-developers-with-fsq-places-api-you-can-now-pay-as-you-go/“The latest Places API version is available to all developers through a self-serve developer account.”

Requires sales call

✗ No [7]foursquare.com/developer/“Self-serve: Free tier with immediate console access. Sales-required: Enterprise offerings (referenced as 'Speak to Sales' option).”

Enterprise plan

✓ Yes [8]foursquare.com/resources/blog/news/heads-up-developers-with-fsq-places-api-you-can-now-pay-as-you-go/“Foursquare has simplified API pricing tiers to: Sandbox, Pay As You Go and Enterprise.”

• POI search
• Nearby / radius
• Autocomplete
• Place details
• Reviews / ratings
• Photos

Supported actions

place_search, place_details, autocomplete, place_photos, place_tips, place_match, geotagging_candidates, address_search [9]foursquare.com/legal/terms/places-api/sla/“The SLA guarantees 99.90% availability for covered Places API (V3) endpoints: /v3/places/search, /v3/places/{fsq_id}, /v3/places/{fsq_id}/photos, /v3/places/{fsq_id}/tips, /v3/autocomplete, /v3/address/{fsq_addr_id}”

Regions

global, 200+ countries, 100M+ POIs [10]foursquare.com/products/places-api/“100M+ POI across 200+ countries”

Languages

locale specified via Accept-Language HTTP header or locale= parameter; falls back to most popular language in country if unspecified

Input types

text query / keyword, lat/lon coordinates, category, place ID (fsq_id), address, telephone number, chain name, taste label, session token (autocomplete) [11]foursquare.com/products/places-api/“Search for places by location, name, category, telephone number, taste label, or chain name.”

Output types

JSON

Webhooks

✗ No [12]foursquare.com/products/places-api/“Webhooks are exclusively a Movement SDK feature; Places API does not support webhooks.”

Sandbox / test mode

✗ No [13]foursquare.com/pricing/“Test out Places API for free in our sandbox before transitioning to pay-as-you-go billing.”foursquare.com/resources/blog/news/heads-up-developers-with-fsq-places-api-you-can-now-pay-as-you-go/“Foursquare has simplified our API pricing tiers to: Sandbox, Pay As You Go and Enterprise.”

SDK languages

JavaScript, Python [14]github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-api-samples“Repository contains examples in HTML/JavaScript ('Address Autofill and Web Place Search'), Python ('Bulk Harmonization Script'), JavaScript/Leaflet, and iOS/Swift ('Place Search in SwiftUI with Mapbox SDK').”

MCP server

✓ Yes [15]github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp“This is an officially published repository by Foursquare that provides a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enabling AI agents to access Foursquare's location APIs.”

SOC 2

– Unknown [16]app.foursquare.com/about/security“Security page focuses on vulnerability reporting and a researcher Hall of Fame; no compliance certifications listed.”foursquare.com/legal/“No SOC 2 certification mentioned across Foursquare legal, security, or privacy pages.”

HIPAA

– Unknown

GDPR

✓ Yes [17]foursquare.com/legal/global-data-processing-addendum/“'European Data Protection Laws' includes 'the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR)' and UK GDPR. 'The Parties agree to comply with the Standard Contractual Clauses' for Personal Data transfers subject to European Data Protection Laws.”

ISO 27001

– Unknown

PCI DSS

– Unknown

Published SLA

✓ Yes [18]foursquare.com/legal/terms/places-api/sla/“The SLA does not apply to evaluation phases, pilots, alpha, beta, or early access programs, or pay-as-you-go or sandbox-tier customers.”foursquare.com/legal/terms/places-api/sla/“The SLA guarantees 99.90% availability for covered Places API (V3) endpoints in the United States. The maximum credit available is Ten Percent (10%) of the monthly pro-rata portion of any invoiced flat fees.”

Rate limits

Enterprise Customers: 100 QPS (queries per second, calculated across all endpoints in total); Pay as You Go & Sandbox Customers: 50 QPS. [19]docs.foursquare.com/developer/reference/rate-limits“The applicable queries per second (QPS) rate limit, calculated across all endpoints in total, is: Enterprise Customers: 100 QPS; or Pay as You Go & Sandbox Customers: 50 QPS.”

Known restrictions

Attribution required: must display 'Powered by Foursquare' on any page or screen where Places Data appears, Cannot make Places Data available to third parties in bulk, Cannot allow third parties to systematically query Places Data to obtain all or substantially all Places Data, Cannot use Places Data to contact businesses in the database as prospective customers, Cannot transfer user data to ad networks, ad exchanges, data brokers, or advertising/monetization toolsets, Must make commercially reasonable efforts to prevent pages displaying Places Data from being crawled, Certain 'Calculated Scores' attributes are for internal use only and cannot be externally displayed, License is limited, non-exclusive, revocable, non-sublicensable, non-transferable with no rights to create derivative works, SLA (99.9% uptime) applies only to invoiced flat-fee enterprise customers; pay-as-you-go and sandbox customers are excluded, Must comply with Places API caching and query rate limitations per account type [20]foursquare.com/legal/terms/apilicenseagreement/“You must provide Foursquare with branded attribution (i.e., 'Powered by Foursquare') on any page or screen within Your Service where Places Data may appear.”foursquare.com/legal/terms/places-api/sla/“The SLA excludes evaluation phases, pilots, beta programs, and pay-as-you-go customers.”foursquare.com/legal/terms/apilicenseagreement/“Cannot make 'Places Data available to third parties in bulk' and must prevent 'material portions' from being exposed externally. Prohibited from using 'Places Data to contact businesses included in Places Data as prospective customers'.”

• Docs
• API reference
• llms.txt
• Changelog
• Status page

Docs rendering: static · llms.txt present

API style

rest

Base URL

https://places-api.foursquare.com

Version

2025-06-17

Versioning

header

Stability

ga

Auth methods

api_key

Error format

vendor-specific

Rate limit

50 / second

SDKs

• JavaScript @foursquare/foursquare-places · repo
• Python foursquare-places-mcp · repo

• Auth docs
• Quickstart
• MCP server
• Deprecation policy

Launched

2021-03-23

GA

2021-03-23

Notable customers

X (Twitter), Samsung, Telegram, Atmosfy, Untappd, Chime Bank, Reality Games, Uber, Apple, Microsoft, Tinder

• Azure Maps Search (POI)

  "Azure Maps is a collection of geospatial services and SDKs that use fresh mapping data to provide geographic context to web and mobile applications."

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Google Places API

  "The Places API is a service that accepts HTTP requests for location data through a variety of methods. It returns formatted location data and imagery about establishments, geographic locations, or prominent points of interest."

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• TomTom Search / Places API

  "Search is a RESTful API designed for developers allowing single-line fuzzy search for addresses and POIs. Search assigns a latitude/longitude to a specific address, cross street, geographic feature, or point of interest (POI)."

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Radar Geocoding API

  "Use Radar's geocoding APIs to convert addresses to latitude and longitude coordinates, or vice versa."

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Mapbox Search Box API

  "All-in-one location search for addresses, places, and points of interest"

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• HERE Geocoding & Search API (Discover & Browse)

  "Enable precise conversion and discovery of geocoordinates, POIs and addresses to improve location accuracy and context."

  Hybrid · free tier · self-serve

Foursquare Places API alternatives · Foursquare Places API vs Azure Maps Search (POI) · All Places & POI APIs APIs

Each field above carries a numbered source - hover for a preview, click to jump here.

1. ↑Description: foursquare.com
2. ↑Pricing model: foursquare.com
3. ↑Published pricing: foursquare.com
4. ↑Free tier: docs.foursquare.com · foursquare.com
5. ↑Free tier details: foursquare.com · docs.foursquare.com
6. ↑Self-serve signup: foursquare.com
7. ↑Requires sales call: foursquare.com
8. ↑Enterprise plan: foursquare.com
9. ↑Supported actions: foursquare.com
10. ↑Regions: foursquare.com
11. ↑Input types: foursquare.com
12. ↑Webhooks: foursquare.com
13. ↑Sandbox: foursquare.com · foursquare.com
14. ↑SDK languages: github.com
15. ↑MCP server: github.com
16. ↑SOC 2: app.foursquare.com · foursquare.com
17. ↑GDPR: foursquare.com
18. ↑Published SLA: foursquare.com · foursquare.com
19. ↑Rate limits: docs.foursquare.com
20. ↑Known restrictions: foursquare.com · foursquare.com · foursquare.com

Every field change, who made it, and when - from our audited data pipeline and editors.

1. 2026-06-15 Score Docs Quality: 15 → 55
2. 2026-06-15 Score Agent Friendliness: 30 → 65
3. 2026-06-14 Robots Allows Agents: (none) → Yes
4. 2026-06-14 Has Structured Data: (none) → Yes
5. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt URL: (none) → https://docs.foursquare.com/llms.txt
6. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt Present: No → Yes
7. 2026-06-14 API Reference URL: (none) → https://docs.foursquare.com/fsq-developers-places/reference/geotagging-endpoints
8. 2026-06-14 Changelog URL: (none) → https://docs.foursquare.com/changelog
9. 2026-06-14 Capabilities: {} → {"nearby":true,"photos":true,"reviews":true,"poi_search":true,"autocomplete":tr…
10. 2026-06-14 Summary Md: (none) → Foursquare Places API provides access to a global database of 100 million-plus …
11. 2026-06-14 Score Docs Quality: 0 → 15
12. 2026-06-14 Docs URL: (none) → https://docs.foursquare.com
13. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt Present: (none) → No
14. 2026-06-14 Rendering: (none) → static
15. 2026-06-14 Status Page URL: (none) → https://status.foursquare.com
16. 2026-06-14 Score Agent Friendliness: (none) → 30
17. 2026-06-14 Scoring Methodology: (none) → Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
18. 2026-06-14 Avoid If: (none) → You have strict compliance requirements
19. 2026-06-14 Best For: (none) → Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call, AI agents and auto…
20. 2026-06-14 Score Trust Readiness: (none) → 35
21. 2026-06-14 Score Procurement Friction: (none) → 100
22. 2026-06-14 Score Docs Quality: (none) → 0
23. 2026-06-14 Score Setup Speed: (none) → 80
24. 2026-06-14 Score Pricing Transparency: (none) → 100
25. 2026-06-14 SLA Published: set to Yes
26. 2026-06-14 SLA URL: set to https://foursquare.com/legal/terms/places-api/sla/
27. 2026-06-14 Data Retention Policy URL: set to https://foursquare.com/legal/terms/apilicenseagreement/
28. 2026-06-14 Documented Rate Limits: set to Enterprise Customers: 100 QPS (queries per second, calculated across all endpoi…
29. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Requests: set to 50
30. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Window: set to second
31. 2026-06-14 Known Restrictions: set to Attribution required: must display 'Powered by Foursquare' on any page or scree…
32. 2026-06-14 Auth Methods: set to api_key
33. 2026-06-14 Auth Docs URL: set to https://docs.foursquare.com/developer/reference/data-api-authentication
34. 2026-06-14 API Style: set to rest
35. 2026-06-14 Base URL: set to https://places-api.foursquare.com
36. 2026-06-14 API Version: set to 2025-06-17
37. 2026-06-14 Versioning Scheme: set to header
38. 2026-06-14 Stability: set to ga
39. 2026-06-14 Deprecation Policy URL: set to https://docs.foursquare.com/developer/reference/versioning
40. 2026-06-14 MCP URL: set to https://github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp
41. 2026-06-14 Quickstart URL: set to https://docs.foursquare.com/developer/docs/developer-console-get-started
42. 2026-06-14 Error Format: set to vendor-specific
43. 2026-06-14 Requires Verification: set to No
44. 2026-06-14 Starting Price Usd: set to 15
45. 2026-06-14 Price Basis: set to 1,000 requests
46. 2026-06-14 Free Tier Limit: set to 500 Pro calls/month
47. 2026-06-14 Launched At: set to 2021-03-23
48. 2026-06-14 GA Date: set to 2021-03-23
49. 2026-06-14 Input Types: set to text query / keyword, lat/lon coordinates, category, place ID (fsq_id), address…
50. 2026-06-14 Fields Not Found: set to soc2, hipaa, iso_27001, pci_dss, minimum_commitment, specific supported languag…

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