AddressBrain vs Postcoder
Postcoder alternative with monthly plans for UK address lookup
Postcoder, from Allies Computing, is a long-established address API covering the UK, Ireland and international addresses, sold as credit packs or monthly plans. AddressBrain focuses on the UK: Royal Mail-licensed postcode lookup, autocomplete and validation, on monthly plans built for production checkouts and onboarding flows.
Free trial: 30 lookups a day for 30 days. No card required.
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Sub-50ms response times
Free trial, no card required
The honest comparison
UK-first or worldwide, pick the right fit
Both services are licensed Royal Mail PAF solution providers. Postcoder also covers Ireland and international addresses, and adds bank, email and phone validation, which matters if you sell outside the UK.
On pricing, Postcoder sells credit packs valid for 12 months, from 500 credits for £27 to 200,000 for £3,319, with a UK address lookup using 2 credits (October 2026). AddressBrain sells monthly allowances where one lookup is one lookup.
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When Postcoder makes sense
If you capture addresses in Ireland or other countries as well as the UK, or want one supplier for address, bank and email checks, Postcoder's wider coverage is worth having. We would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
When AddressBrain makes sense
If your customers are in the UK and address lookup runs in a live checkout or onboarding flow every day, you want a fixed allowance, a known monthly bill and a plan you can move up or down. That is what AddressBrain's plans are for.
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Included on every AddressBrain plan
Postcode lookup, autocomplete, validation, new-build coverage and 1.4m UK business names, in the free trial and on every paid plan. Nothing is a bolt-on.
Pricing side by side
Nine plans, one page, no credit maths.
AddressBrain plans run from £49 a month for 1,000 lookups (4.9p) to £999 for 33,000 (3.0p), with volume pricing above that. On Postcoder's credit packs a UK address lookup costs 2 credits, from about 10.8p on the smallest pack to about 3.3p on the largest. At steady volume the rates are close; the difference is credits versus a monthly plan.
Monthly plans, change or cancel any month.
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Overage charged per lookup, or we recommend a better plan.
Free trial: 30 lookups a day for 30 days, no card required.
Volume pricing and annual terms when you need an SLA.
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Data and response
Royal Mail PAF, structured, in under 50ms.
Every AddressBrain result is a full PAF-formatted address returned as separate fields, with sub-building and building name handled properly, and typical UK response times under 50ms.
Search on a postcode, a partial address or a business name.
Sub-building, building name, thoroughfare, post town and postcode as separate fields.
New-build addresses and 1.4m UK business names included.
Batch and single-lookup validation on the same key.
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Getting started
Create an account, copy the key, make the first call.
Both services offer a free trial. AddressBrain's is 30 lookups a day for 30 days, no card required, with a test environment, full docs and support, and your developer can have it live in an afternoon.
Authenticate with a single API bearer token, no OAuth handshake.
Free trial includes 30 lookups a day for 30 days. No card required.
Live usage dashboard, so you can watch spend as it happens.
Distributed, auto-scaling architecture, so peak trading traffic does not queue behind one database.
On every plan, including free
What you get out of the box
Sub-50ms UK response times.
Full PAF-formatted address data, including new-build coverage.
Batch and single-lookup validation on the same key.
Start building in minutes
Create a free account and start returning validated UK addresses in minutes.Start with 30 free lookups a day for 30 days. Test environment, full API docs, and support included.
No credit card required. Officially licensed by Royal Mail.
No credit card required. Officially licensed by Royal Mail.