VPN detection API

Send an IP, get back whether it comes from a VPN, proxy, Tor exit, hosting or bot network, plus the network and country. One GET request, plain JSON, under a millisecond on our side.

See plans IP checker API docs

Why detect VPNs

Most people on a VPN are harmless. But most fraud, fake sign-ups, promo abuse and scraping comes through VPNs and rented servers, because they are cheap, disposable and hide where the person really is. Knowing which visitors sit behind one lets you treat them differently at the moments that matter: sign-up, login and checkout.

  • Stop multi-accounting. One person with a VPN can claim a free trial fifty times. Ask for verification when a new account arrives through one.
  • Protect checkout. Card testers rotate through VPN and proxy exits. Add a check before you authorise the card.
  • Enforce regions. Licensing, pricing and compliance rules mean little if anyone can appear to be anywhere.
  • Clean your analytics. Tag traffic from VPN and hosting networks so your numbers show real customers.

How Fraudex detects VPNs

Every IP belongs to a network (an ASN). Commercial VPN providers, proxy services, hosting companies and bot operators run their exits from a fairly small set of networks. Fraudex keeps a list of more than 740 of those networks and matches each IP against it, and also checks the Tor Project's live list of exit relays, refreshed every six hours.

Because the check is a lookup in memory rather than a call to a third party, it takes well under a millisecond on our side, so you can run it inline on every request.

Be wary of anyone promising to catch every VPN. Residential proxies that route through real home connections look like ordinary customers to any IP-based check. Fraudex is upfront about that: it catches the networks VPNs and proxies actually run on, and you can combine it with other signals for the rest. See why residential proxies beat blocklists.

What you get back

Each call to /api/check returns:

  • is_bot: true for VPN, proxy, Tor, hosting and bot networks, otherwise false
  • status: "bot" or "clean", if you prefer a string
  • asn and as_name: the network the IP belongs to
  • country_code: the country of that network

Look up any network in the ASN directory to see its ranges and whether it is flagged.

Block, challenge or just log

You decide what a flag means. Most teams start by logging the verdict for a week, then compare it with which accounts turned out to be fraud. After that the rules write themselves: block VPN traffic at checkout, ask for an email code at sign-up, and leave browsing alone. Fraudex only answers the question; it never blocks anyone for you.

Questions

How accurate is the VPN detection?

It flags every IP on the networks commercial VPNs, proxies, hosting providers and Tor actually use. It does not flag residential proxies that route through real home connections, because no IP check can do that reliably. For most fraud and abuse that covers the bulk of the traffic.

How fast is it?

The lookup runs in memory and takes well under a millisecond on our side. Your total time is that plus the network round trip to our API.

How much does it cost?

The IP plan is $40 for 30 days of unlimited lookups at up to 120 requests a minute. Higher plans add BIN lookups and higher rate limits. See pricing. You can try 3 lookups a day free with the IP checker.

Does it work for IPv6?

Yes. IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are both supported, including IPv4-mapped IPv6.

See plans