If you claim to be an international business and your website is for, let’s say, a US audience only, you aren’t truly international. A truly global website adjusts website content based on visitor location. This is where geolocation tools like geoPlugin vs GeoTargetly come into the picture.
Does your site convert product prices from USD to Euro for a European visitor? Does it display the content in Chinese for a Chinese visitor? Geolocation makes all such adjustments to the site content possible.
In this article, we are comparing geoPlugin vs GeoTargetly, two tools known for their geolocation-based services. We’ll explore their services, compare their accuracy, and walk you through their pricing. Let’s get straight into it.
Table of Contents
Overview of geoPlugin And GeoTargetly
geoPlugin provides IP geolocation for websites to help them deliver personalized content to visitors.
It helps businesses identify visitor locations down to the city level and determine their local currency and exchange rates. This enhances user experience (UX) by displaying relevant content, banners, and prices in local currencies.
geoPlugin is easy to use and doesn’t require complex installation. It has been a reliable and free geolocation service since 2006.
Next, we have Geo Targetly, which provides tools to target website visitors based on their location. It helps deploy location-based redirects, links, content, popups, and more.
Through these tools, GeoTargetly improves user experience, builds audience trust, and increases website conversions and revenue. GeoTargetly can handle millions of visitors daily.
Their official website provides detailed guides about implementing their tools. GeoTargetly is compatible with major CMS and E-commerce platforms. Their client base also includes big regional and international brands such as Coursera, HTC, and Panasonic, to name a few.
Overall geoPlugin VS GeoTargetly Comparison
Here’s a table that will give you a bird’s eye view of Geo Targetly vs. Geoplugin.
| geoPlugin | Geo Targetly | |
| Free Trial | Free for 120 lookups/minute | Free for 14 days |
Pricing | €21/month€105 per 6 months€180 per year | Monthly: $12/mo – $349/moYearly: $9/mo – $279/mo |
Free Services | IP Address GeolocationIP Geolocation Currency Conversion | Geo browseMy IP geolocationHreflang tag generator |
Paid Services/ Products | Full currency converter APILatitude/longitude to placePlace to latitude/longitudeNearby placesNearest transportlatitude/longitude to postal codePostal code to latitude/longitudeEU Cookie LawGDPREU VAT rate | Geo redirectGeo links Geo contentGeo popupsGeo notification barsGeo-blockingGeolocationGeo JavascriptGeo images |
| IP Geolocation Accuracy Radius | 20 miles | 50 miles |
Let’s explore these in a little more detail.
geoPlugin Services
Now, let’s have a closer look at the services geoPlugin and Geotargetly offer.
geoPlugin services mostly focus on fetching certain details based on a user’s geolocation. The site owner then decides how to use that information.
Here’s the full suite of geoPlugin services and their descriptions.
1. IP Address Geolocation
This basic service determines a user’s geographical location based on their IP address. The geolocation data includes a list of information including:
- City
- Province
- Country
- Currency
- Timezone
- Location coordinates and more
2. Free Currency Conversion
This free currency converter returns the exchange rate, code, and symbol of the visitor’s local currency.
It comes built-in with IP Geolocation Web Service APIs. You can also embed an interactive currency converter on your web pages for any-to-any currency conversion.
3. Premium Currency Converter API
This any-to-any currency converter is for premium users and works automatically. Unlike the free version, it doesn’t need manual control.
For example, you can use it on your website to convert product prices automatically based on visitor geolocation.
4. Latitude/Longitude to Place & Place to Latitude/Longitude
These services convert latitude and longitude to place names, regions, country codes, or reverse. The supported output format includes PHP, JSON, XML, or CSV.
5. Nearby Places
This geoPlugin service provides a list of nearby places based on location coordinates or an IP address. You can also specify the number of nearby places you want and the radius within which you want to look for them.
6. Nearest Transport
This service finds the nearest transport hubs based on an IP address or location coordinates. The transport hubs it can look up include airports, train stations, ports, and all. It allows you to specify the type of transport hub you want.
7. Latitude/Longitude to Postal Code and Postal Code to Latitude/Longitude
These two services let you convert latitude and longitude to postal codes or reverse, respectively. You can use it to enhance user experience by offering automatic address filling with location data on your website.
8. EU Cookie Law, GDPR, and EU VAT Rates
geoPlugin helps comply with EU Cookie Law, GDPR, and EU VAT rates by identifying whether visitors are from the EU. If true, you should request cookie permission and apply GDPR rules.
If false, these regulations don’t apply. geoPlugin also determines the correct VAT rate for European visitors.
Now, let’s talk about the GeoTargetly service.
Geotargetly Services
While GeoTargetly services or products aren’t free, you can sign up for their 14-day free trial. Their services focus on performing geolocation-based actions.
Here’s an overview of GeoTargetly services.
1. Geo Redirect
It helps you redirect visitors based on their geographic location, such as country, state, or city. It supports redirects for domains, subdomains, specific pages, and entire sites. Visitors can opt to stay via a popup.
2. Geo Links
Geo links create short URLs that redirect users to different destinations based on their geographic location. The location can include a country, state, city, or IP address. Geo links support multiple redirect rules.
3. Geo Content
With Geo Content, you can dynamically change website content based on visitor geolocation, such as country, state, or city. It lets you customize content with rich text, images, videos, and custom HTML.
4. Geo Popups
This service can show custom popups based on visitor geolocation. Popups can have Custom HTML content, including text, images, and videos. You can also set display options for desktop or mobile. It supports setting multiple popup rules for different locations.
5. Geo Notification Bars
With this service, your website can display notification bars based on visitor geolocation. For instance, you can show your European visitors an exclusive notification bar with a discount offer. At the same time, visitors from other locations see a different notification bar.
6. Geo Blocking
It lets you block visitors based on their geographic location, such as country, state, or city. You can redirect blocked visitors to a specified URL. You can apply geo-blocking throughout the website, specific subdirectories, or individual pages.
7. Geo Location
The Geolocation service obtains and displays visitor location data. You can use this data in your website’s JavaScript or HTML to create customized features.
8. Geo Javascript
GeoTargetly lets you execute custom JavaScript based on visitor geolocation. You can execute dynamic scripts that change based on country, state, city, and latitude-longitude-radius zones.
9. Geo Images
GeoTargetly also helps you dynamically change images based on visitor geolocation. It allows you to generate unique image URLs that update according to the visitor’s country, state, or city.
IP Geolocation Accuracy of geoPlugin vs GeoTargetly
geoPlugin provides IP geolocation with high accuracy at the country level but less reliable city-level results, especially for mobile IPs. They include a location accuracy radius of about 20 miles for estimating city location precision.
The accuracy radius indicates how close the estimated location is to the actual city.
On the other hand, GeoTargetly claims 99% accuracy at the country level and 80-90% at the state level. City-level accuracy is 70-80%. They recommend a minimum radius of 50 miles for precise targeting.
Both services struggle with city-level accuracy due to IP distribution by mobile operators and other factors.
geoPlugin vs GeoTargetly: Paid Plans
All geoPlugin services are free, but there is a limit of 120 lookups per minute. You use one lookup each time you use a service.
If this limit isn’t sufficient for your needs, you’ll have to subscribe to a premium plan.
geoPlugin offers three paid plans that include:
- €21 per month
- €105 per 6 months (1 month is free based on monthly price)
- €180 per year (3.5 months are free based on monthly price)
GeoTargetly, on the other hand, offers a 14-day trial before asking you to subscribe to a plan. Once the trial ends, you can choose from a list of 6 plans. Each plan has a fixed pageview limit.
You can choose to pay on a monthly or yearly basis. The prices differ between the two modes. You can view more details about each plan and its features on this page.
GeoTargetly vs geoPlugin: The Final Verdict!
This geoPlugin vs GeoTargetly comparison revealed that both tools work with geolocation, but their end approaches are slightly different.
GeoTargetly offers ready-to-use solutions to integrate into your site. In comparison, geoPlugin provides you with raw geolocation data and lets you design your own solutions. Unlike GeoTargetly, geoPlugin also offers currency conversion options.
If your choice is geoPlugin, sign up for our easy-to-use API today and elevate your customer experience.
