Free Address Validation APIs: What the Free Tiers Give You
Most "free" address validation is a one-time trial. We read 11 address verification vendors' pricing pages on the same day to show which free tiers keep going, how many lookups they give, and what they ask for in return.
Three of the 11 address verification APIs we checked on October 3, 2026 give free lookups every month: Google Address Validation (5,000 a month, billing account required), Melissa's Global Address Verification Starter plan (250 a month) and sthan.io (100 a month). Smarty, PostGrid, Loqate and Byteplant offer one-time trials. Lob, EasyPost and Radar have no free validation outside a purchase, and the USPS APIs are free only for valid USPS shipping and mailing use, with the Addresses API limited to shipping addresses during label generation. Geocoding APIs with bigger free tiers, such as Geoapify, answer a different question; see geocoding is not verification.
Free tiers at a glance
| API | What is free | Resets | Card needed | After the free amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Address Validation | 5,000 events a month (Pro SKU); 1,000 on the Enterprise SKU | Monthly | Google Cloud billing account required | Pro $17.00 per 1,000 at the first tier, lower with volume |
| Melissa | 250 records a month on the Global Address Verification Starter plan. US Address Verification has no free plan | Monthly | Not stated | Global: $40 a month for 1,000 records. US: pay as you go from $40 for 10,000 credits (10 credits per address) |
| sthan.io | 100 verifications a month, 10 a minute | Monthly | No | $12 a month for 10,000 |
| Smarty | 1,000 lookups during a 42-day trial | One time | No | Professional: $552 a year for 12,000 lookups |
| Byteplant | 100 validations | One time | No | Paid credits |
| PostGrid | 100 bulk credits on the free trial (pricing page); each plan card also lists 500 free credits, terms not stated | One time | Not stated | $20 a month for 2,000 lookups ($18 billed yearly) |
| Loqate | 45-day free trial | One time | No | Address Verify priced on application |
| Lob | Nothing: the $0 Developer plan charges per verification | n/a | n/a | $0.05 per US verification; $25 a month includes 1,000 |
| EasyPost | Free with each label bought through its Shipping API | Per label | n/a | $0.02 per US verification without a shipment |
| Radar | No free tier on its current pricing page | n/a | n/a | Premium Maps, which includes address validation, from $2.00 per 1,000 |
| USPS Addresses API | Free for valid USPS shipping and mailing use; Addresses API only for shipping addresses during label generation | n/a | USPS Business Account (Customer Onboarding Portal) | Bulk, batch and mailing-list use not permitted |
Free lookups in a 30-day month
Daily, monthly and one-time allowances are hard to compare as listed. Here they are on one scale: the most free lookups a single account gets in its first 30 days, then in every month after.
| API | First 30 days | Every month after |
|---|---|---|
| Google Address Validation (Pro) | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| Smarty | 1,000 | 0 |
| Melissa (Global) | 250 | 250 |
| sthan.io | 100 | 100 |
| Byteplant | 100 | 0 |
| PostGrid (trial credits) | 100 | 0 |
Loqate's trial runs 45 days but its pricing page does not state a lookup amount, so it is not in this table. PostGrid's plan cards also list 500 free credits without saying whether they come with the trial; the table uses the 100 trial credits its page states.
What free asks for in return
- Billing details. Google requires billing to be enabled on your Cloud project before any call, free or not.
- A time limit. Smarty (42 days), Loqate (45 days) and the trial credits at PostGrid and Byteplant end; production traffic needs a paid plan.
- A purchase. EasyPost verification is free only alongside a label, and the USPS APIs only for valid USPS shipping and mailing use. See what the USPS API terms allow.
- Rate limits. Free tiers cap speed as well as volume: sthan.io's free tier allows 10 verifications a minute.
Geocoding is not verification
Search results for free address validation also list geocoding APIs, which have far bigger free tiers. Geoapify, for example, gives 3,000 credits a day with no card, and its address checks run through its Geocoding API at 1 credit each. A geocoder answers a different question: can this address be found on the map, and how confidently. Geoapify returns confidence scores for the whole address, the city, the street and the building. The verification APIs above standardize the address against postal data and return fields such as ZIP+4. If you need to know an address can be located, a geocoder may be enough; if you need to know mail and parcels can be delivered to it, compare the verification APIs.
Which free tier fits
| You need | Look at |
|---|---|
| The largest free monthly allowance, and a billing account is fine | Google Address Validation (5,000 a month) |
| A full test before buying, no card | Smarty's 42-day trial or Loqate's 45-day trial |
| A small permanent allowance for a form or prototype, no card | sthan.io or Melissa's Global Starter plan |
| Validation only when you print USPS labels | USPS Addresses API or EasyPost with labels |
Paid prices at 10,000, 100,000 and 1,000,000 lookups are compared in how address verification APIs are priced.
Where sthan.io fits. sthan.io's free tier is 100 US verifications a month with no credit card and no expiry, enough to build and test a form. Each response returns the standardized address, ZIP+4 and a deliverability status. Paid plans start at $12 a month for 10,000. sthan.io is not CASS-certified.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
All read October 3, 2026: developers.google.com/maps billing-and-pricing pricing list, pricing overview and get-started; melissa.com/pricing; sthan.io/pricing/united-states; smarty.com/pricing and the US Address Verification FAQ; byteplant.com/address-validator; postgrid.com/pricing-address-verification; loqate.com/en-us/pricing; lob.com/pricing; easypost.com/address-verification-api and the EasyPost Billing & Payments article (updated May 11, 2026); radar.com/pricing; usps.com/business/web-tools-apis migration FAQ; geoapify.com/pricing, /pricing-details and /validate-addresses-with-api (for the geocoding note). Prices change; check the vendor page before you buy.
Start with 100 free verifications a month
No credit card, no expiry. Standardized address, ZIP+4 and deliverability status on every call.