GeoApi API

Free to Use
62 C
Measured Score 0 50 100 Speed 11/30 Consistency 17/20 Security 20/20 Browser access 10/15 Transparency 4/15 TESTED 2026-08-10

Overview

GeoApi is a free French government API that provides official geographical data for France, including communes, departments, regions, and administrative boundaries. It is maintained by the French government and offers reliable, up-to-date data with no authentication required. Ideal for applications targeting French users or requiring French administrative divisions.

Beginner Tip

All data is focused on France and its overseas territories; it is not a global geocoding service. Use the /communes endpoint with a postal code or name to find French municipalities quickly.

Measurement Record

What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.

Request
GET https://geo.api.gouv.fr/communes?nom=Paris&fields=nom,code,codesPostaux,departement&format=json&geometry=centre
Result
HTTP 200 · application/json · 1,283 bytes
Response time
306 ms (median of 3) · fastest 281 ms
Transport
TLSv1.3 · TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 · certificate issued by Let's Encrypt
Browser CORS
Allowed — Access-Control-Allow-Origin: https://apisscore.com
Served by
nginx/1.29.1
Recorded
2026-08-10

Fields Returned

Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.

Field Type Value received
nom string Parisot
code string 81202
codesPostaux array [1 item]
_score number 0.5093509270314782
departement object {2 fields}

Captured Response

Captured from a real request to https://geo.api.gouv.fr/communes?nom=Paris&fields=nom,code,codesPostaux,departement&format=json&geometry=centre on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.

JSON Response · Captured
[
  {
    "nom": "Parisot",
    "code": "81202",
    "codesPostaux": [
      "81310"
    ],
    "_score": 0.5093509270314782,
    "departement": {
      "code": "81",
      "nom": "Tarn"
    }
  }
]

Field Reference

nom Official name of the commune, department, or region in French.
code INSEE code uniquely identifying the administrative unit within France.
codesPostaux List of postal codes (ZIP codes) associated with the commune.
departement Nested object with the code and name of the department this commune belongs to.

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://api.gouv.fr/api/";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

How This API Fails

We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.

HTTP 404 Requesting a path that does not exist text/html

Returned an HTML error page rather than JSON — worth knowing if your client assumes every response can be parsed as JSON.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

Empty array response The search name or code does not match any French administrative unit.
Check for accented characters in French place names. Try partial names using the "nom" parameter.
400 Bad Request with field errors Requesting a field name that does not exist for the endpoint.
Refer to the API documentation for each endpoint's available fields. Common fields are nom, code, codeDepartement, codeRegion.
Large response payload Requesting geometry data for many communes at once returns a lot of data.
Use the "fields" parameter to request only the data you need, and paginate or filter by department to reduce response size.

Measured Score Breakdown

Live HTTP request to the API endpoint

Speed 11/30
Consistency 17/20
Security 20/20
Browser access 10/15
Transparency 4/15
Endpoint Response Time 306ms

Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS UNKNOWN
Category Geocoding
Difficulty Beginner
Endpoint last called: 2026-08-10

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