Geocodio's Free Tier: Balancing Abuse Prevention and Legitimate Users

Geocodio maintains a free tier despite the risk of abuse. Initially, simple IP-based blocking led to poor user experience and wasted support time. They transitioned to a granular risk scoring system, using dozens of factors (browser, IP, email, etc.) to automatically identify and handle high-risk signups. Medium-risk signups might face CAPTCHAs or email verification. This system minimizes manual intervention, balancing security and user experience, ensuring the free tier's sustainability.