How long is an IP query valid for?

My client is currently using IP Info while working adjacent to the healthcare sector. To be sure we’re providing maximal protection against fraud we’d like to know:

  1. How long can a clean IP report be considered valid: Only at real-time look-up? 24 hours? 1 week? 1 month?

  2. Are there any drawbacks to using a report beyond immediate look-up?

  3. If an IP address does not return a clean report, do you have any guidance for a wait period between subsequent look-ups?

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Hey @Shannon_Alfaro thank you for the fantastic questions.

How long can a clean IP report be considered valid: Only at real-time look-up? 24 hours? 1 week? 1 month?

24 hours should be good. If you are using the API, you are getting fresh data daily.

On a high level, IP addresses change all the time. This is the info we had about 2 years ago for all IP addresses:

  • Daily: 1-2% change
  • Weekly: 7-10% change
  • Monthly: ~20% change

Read the full article: How many IP addresses change geolocation over a year

Are there any drawbacks to using a report beyond immediate look-up?

It really depends on your use; however, generally, I believe daily lookups should be good.

If an IP address does not return a clean report, do you have any guidance for a wait period between subsequent look-ups?

I am not sure what you meant by clean report exactly. But to give you some context the API data is updated daily. If you are making a lot of repeated requests throughout the day you can cache the API response data up to a day. Going beyond a single day, there is a good probability that the geolocation data of that IP address will change and your report might be outdated.


Please let me know if you have any questions. I would love to know how you are using our data, what your process looks like and what your IP data report looks like.