Coming Soon

Hosted Nominatim API

All the power of Nominatim. None of the infrastructure.

The full Nominatim search, reverse, and lookup API — hosted and kept up to date, no server to run yourself.

The Self-Hosting Math Doesn't Work

Self-hosting Nominatim means a large RAM/CPU footprint just to run the import, a multi-hour (often day-long) initial import, and ongoing OSM diff updates to keep results accurate. That's a beefy server, a fragile one-time setup, and infrastructure that mostly sits idle. For most projects, that's absurd.

What self-hosting actually costs you
Powerful server for the initial import (64–128 GB RAM for a regional dataset)	hundreds/mo
Multi-hour (or day-long) initial import, then ongoing OSM diff updates	recurring
Monitoring, restarts, security patches	your evenings
Your actual usage (probably a few hundred requests/day)	99% idle

We both know this is silly. Here's the obvious solution.

Same Nominatim, None of the Infrastructure

Simple Routing will run the same open-source Nominatim you'd self-host — we just handle everything around it.

Full Nominatim HTTP API

Search, reverse, lookup, details — the complete standard Nominatim API. Switching from self-hosted will be a one-line URL change plus an Authorization header.

Monthly OSM Updates

Address and place data rebuilt from OpenStreetMap every month. No import pipeline to maintain, no manual rebuilds.

Free Tier, No Card

Generous free tier, no credit card required. Get an API key in 30 seconds and start geocoding.

What You Get

📮 Forward Search

Turn a free-text address or place name into coordinates — "350 5th Ave, New York, NY" → lat, lon.

📍 Reverse Geocoding

Turn coordinates into a human-readable address — useful for labeling GPS points, driver locations, or map clicks.

🗺️ North America & Europe Coverage

Scoped to the same regions our routing APIs already cover, built from OpenStreetMap's address and place data.

What It'll Look Like

Standard Nominatim request format — JSON in, JSON out:

# Not live yet — this is the request shape once it ships
curl "https://api.simplerouting.io/nominatim/search?q=350+5th+Ave,+New+York,+NY&format=json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"