Cloudflare Radar is free, prominent, and shows beautiful global traffic visualizations. Ip2Geo is a per-IP lookup API with structured data per request. People sometimes conflate the two, especially when scoping a project. The reality: they solve different problems and sit at different levels of the IP-data stack.
This post explains what each one is, where they overlap (briefly), where they diverge (mostly), and how to choose between them for a specific use case — or use both.
What Cloudflare Radar Is
Cloudflare Radar (radar.cloudflare.com) is Cloudflare’s public dashboard showing aggregate internet measurements. It exposes:
- Traffic trends — Global and per-country internet traffic over time.
- Attack data — DDoS attack metrics, attack origin breakdowns.
- DNS query patterns — Aggregated DNS data from Cloudflare’s resolvers.
- BGP and routing — Recent routing changes, ASN-level observations.
- Outage detection — Detected internet outages in various regions.
- Internet quality — Latency and throughput aggregates.
Radar is aggregate data. You can see “Egypt had a 20% drop in internet traffic at 2pm yesterday” or “Top US ASNs by query volume to Cloudflare resolvers.” You cannot look up a specific IP and ask “what country is this in?”
The data is free for browsing at radar.cloudflare.com. Cloudflare also offers a Radar API (with quotas) that returns the same aggregate metrics programmatically.
What Ip2Geo Is
Ip2Geo is a per-IP intelligence API. You send an IP; it returns:
- Country, region, city
- Latitude / longitude
- Timezone
- ASN and organization
- ASN classification (residential, hosting, mobile, VPN)
- Network type
- Currency, calling code
This is per-request, per-IP data. You can look up 8.8.8.8 and learn it’s Google’s DNS in the US on AS15169. You cannot look at aggregate traffic patterns across millions of users.
Ip2Geo is also free at a quota (1,000 lookups/month) and paid above that.
Where They Overlap (Briefly)
Both products touch internet measurement and geographic data. A few overlap points:
- Country distribution — Radar shows “US has X% of total traffic.” Ip2Geo lets you compute the same for your own users by looking up each visiting IP.
- ASN-level data — Radar shows top ASNs globally. Ip2Geo returns the ASN for a specific IP.
- Network type classification — Both touch this, in different ways.
This is where confusion arises: someone reads about Cloudflare Radar, sees “Top ASNs” and thinks they have what they need for their per-user geolocation. They don’t — that’s aggregate-only.
Where They Diverge
The core difference: aggregate vs per-request.
| Question | Radar | Ip2Geo |
|---|---|---|
What country is IP 203.0.113.5 in? | Can’t tell you | IT |
| What’s the global share of mobile traffic this week? | Yes | Can’t tell you |
| What ASN does my visitor belong to? | Can’t tell you | AS3269 |
| What’s the trend in DDoS attacks targeting healthcare? | Yes | Can’t tell you |
| Which of my users are using VPNs? | Can’t tell you | Per-IP signal |
| Which countries are seeing internet outages right now? | Yes | Can’t tell you |
| What time zone should I render dates in for this visitor? | Can’t tell you | Europe/Rome |
These are completely different questions answered by completely different tools.
When to Use Cloudflare Radar
- Research and reporting. You’re writing about internet trends; Radar’s data is great.
- Operational awareness. You want to know about ongoing outages or DDoS waves.
- Strategic planning. Choosing which markets to launch in based on internet adoption.
- Threat-landscape monitoring. Where attacks are coming from globally.
- Free dashboard. You just want to look at pretty internet graphs.
You can also use the Radar API to build dashboards in your own systems, with the caveat that you’re getting aggregates, not per-request data.
When to Use Ip2Geo
- Per-visitor personalization. Show the user’s local currency, language, time zone.
- Geofencing. Block, allow, or modify behavior based on user’s country.
- Fraud detection. Score each visitor by ASN, country, network type.
- Analytics enrichment. Attach country/ASN to each log entry.
- Compliance. Determine which regulations apply per visitor.
- A/B testing by geo. Pick experiments per user based on geography.
All of these need per-IP answers. Radar can’t help.
Using Both Together
A realistic pattern combining them:
- For real-time per-request decisions: Use Ip2Geo. Look up each visitor’s IP. Personalize, geofence, classify.
- For aggregate operational awareness: Use Radar. Watch overall internet conditions, attack patterns, outage maps.
Example: you’re a SaaS company. Ip2Geo tells you your individual visitors’ countries; Radar tells you when Germany has a regional outage that might explain your spike in failed connections from German IPs.
A Common Mistake: Trying to Build Per-IP from Radar
People sometimes try to use Radar as a substitute for per-IP geolocation. The thinking goes: “Radar has lots of data; surely I can derive my visitor’s country from it?”
You can’t. Radar shows aggregates over millions of requests; the individual IP-to-country mapping isn’t exposed. The API gives summaries, not records.
For per-IP, you need a per-IP service. Ip2Geo, MaxMind, IPinfo — any of these. Radar isn’t designed for that use case and doesn’t offer it.
Pricing Comparison
Cloudflare Radar
- Dashboard: Free, public, no account needed.
- API: Free with quotas; higher quotas with paid Cloudflare plans.
Ip2Geo
- Free tier: 1,000 lookups/month, no credit card.
- Paid tiers: Start at modest monthly prices for scaling lookups.
- Per-call data: Country + city + ASN + classification + more, all in one response.
Different cost models because they’re different products. Radar is “show us aggregate data, free for users”; Ip2Geo is “answer one question per HTTP call, paid above a quota.”
Data Sources
Radar’s data comes from:
- Cloudflare’s CDN traffic (billions of requests/day).
- Cloudflare’s DNS resolvers (1.1.1.1 — also massive volume).
- Cloudflare’s network monitoring and threat detection.
Ip2Geo’s data comes from:
- RIR allocations and BGP announcements.
- Cross-validation with multiple geolocation databases.
- ASN classification curated from network operator data.
- Continuous re-validation as IPs change hands.
Different sources, different shapes, different products.
What Each Gets Right
Radar
- Beautiful visualizations. Easy to digest at-a-glance.
- Cloudflare’s network scale gives massive volume = robust aggregates.
- Outage detection is notably good.
- Free at user-facing tier.
Ip2Geo
- Per-IP accuracy with country, city, ASN, classification all in one call.
- Predictable response shape suitable for production code.
- No CDN lock-in — you can use it from any infrastructure.
- Free tier is generous for prototyping and small-scale production.
Each is best at what it’s designed for.
TL;DR
- Cloudflare Radar = aggregate internet trends, attack data, outage detection, free dashboard.
- Ip2Geo = per-IP lookups returning country, city, ASN, classification.
- They don’t substitute for each other. Different question, different product.
- Use Radar for strategic / operational awareness, research, reporting.
- Use Ip2Geo for per-request decisions: personalization, geofencing, fraud, analytics enrichment.
- Use both when you have both kinds of questions.
If you’re building an application that needs to know about individual users, Ip2Geo is the layer. If you’re an analyst, a CISO, or a journalist watching the internet, Radar is excellent. The mistake is assuming Radar can answer per-user questions — it can’t, by design.
For more comparisons across the per-IP space (MaxMind, IPinfo, etc.), see IPinfo vs MaxMind vs Ip2Geo and the pricing comparison. To try Ip2Geo’s free tier, the pricing page has the details.