Focsec vs IPQualityScore
Focsec is a European alternative to IPQualityScore: same security & identity use case, headquartered in Estonia and operating under GDPR by default, while IPQualityScore is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Estonian IP intelligence API detecting VPNs, proxies, TOR, and bots — 300+ VPN providers, 500K+ proxies, 100K+ bots tracked, simple HTTP API with multi-language SDKs.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
IPQualityScore by IPQualityScore.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Focsec vs IPQualityScore at a glance
| Focsec | IPQualityScore | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Estonia | US |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | US law applies |
| GDPR by default | Yes | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Open source | No | — |
| Free tier | No | — |
| Best for | Teams that need security & identity with EU data residency | Teams already invested in the IPQualityScore ecosystem |
Choose Focsec if…
- You want your data to stay under EU law without extra legal paperwork
- GDPR compliance or public-sector requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with IPQualityScore if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the IPQualityScore ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Focsec
Focsec is an Estonian IP intelligence API that detects suspicious network activity (VPNs, proxies, TOR exit nodes, and malicious bots) in real time. Built by Nineties Engineering OÜ in Tallinn, the service powers fraud prevention and bot protection for SaaS, e-commerce, and auth providers who need lightweight IP checks without the overhead of a full fraud platform.
Instead of relying on stale blocklists, Focsec continuously monitors VPN and proxy networks from its own collection infrastructure, keeping detection current and accurate.
Key features:
- 300+ VPN providers tracked globally
- 500,000+ proxies covering both free and commercial proxy detection
- TOR detection to identify Onion network traffic
- Bot detection that blocks 100,000+ known malicious bots, crawlers, and spammers
- Simple API using HTTP GET with bearer token auth:
api.focsec.com/v1/ip/{IP} - Multi-language SDKs for Python, Ruby, Node.js, and curl
- Fraud prevention use cases like signup abuse, multi-accounting, login fraud, and scraping
Free 14-day trial with full API access, no credit card required. A clean EU-based alternative to US IP intelligence services like IPQualityScore and MaxMind for teams who care about where their request logs are stored.
Why choose Focsec over IPQualityScore?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. IPQualityScore is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Focsec removes that overhead. As a Estonia-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.