The GDPR-compliant AbuseIPDB alternative
ReportedIP is a community-driven IP reputation and threat intelligence platform hosted entirely in Germany. Same core idea as AbuseIPDB — check and report malicious IPs — but with EU-only infrastructure, open-source clients, a transparent confidence score, a DNS/RBL zone, and a native WordPress plugin.
AbuseIPDB is a well-established, US-based IP reputation service, and for many teams it does the job. But if your organisation needs to keep threat-intelligence data inside the EU, prefers open-source tooling it can audit, or wants more than a single REST API, ReportedIP is built for exactly that. It collects abuse reports from security plugins, honeypots and manual submissions, scores each IP on a transparent 0–100 confidence scale across 30 threat categories, and exposes the result through a free REST API, a daily community blacklist, a DNS/RBL zone, and the ReportedIP Hive WordPress plugin — all operated by a German company under GDPR.
This page lays out the concrete differences so you can decide whether a switch — or running both side by side — makes sense for you.
ReportedIP vs. AbuseIPDB at a glance
A fair, factual comparison of the structural differences. AbuseIPDB’s exact tier limits are set by AbuseIPDB and may change — check their site for current numbers.
| Criterion | ReportedIP | AbuseIPDB |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting & jurisdiction | Germany / EU, GDPR, data-processing agreement available | United States |
| Open-source clients | Yes — WordPress plugins, honeypot server and DNS checker are GPL-2.0 / AGPL-3.0 and auditable | Proprietary |
| Score transparency | Full per-component breakdown via verbose=true (reports, diversity, recency, severity, honeypot bonus) |
Confidence score (single value) |
| Free REST API | Yes — 1,000 checks & 50 reports per day | Yes (limits set by AbuseIPDB) |
| DNS / RBL (DNSBL) access | Yes — token-authenticated zone, RFC 5782, IPv4 & IPv6 | Not offered as a DNSBL |
| Native WordPress plugin | Yes — ReportedIP Hive (full) and Hive Light on wordpress.org | Third-party plugins only |
| Downloadable blacklist feed | Yes — TXT / JSON / CSV, hourly refresh, Git mirror | Available on paid plans |
| Scoring model | Time-decayed (30-day half-life) with configurable honeypot weighting | Confidence-based |
Why teams move to ReportedIP
EU data residency by default
Every byte is processed on German infrastructure under GDPR, and all sub-processors (mail, SMS, billing) are EU-based. A data-processing agreement is available for business customers — no transatlantic data transfer to document.
Open source you can audit
The WordPress plugins, the honeypot server and the DNS checker are released under GPL-2.0 / AGPL-3.0. You can read the code, self-host the honeypot, and verify exactly what runs on your servers.
More than one integration path
Query the REST API, pull the blacklist feed into an ipset, resolve reputation over DNS like any RBL, or drop the Hive plugin onto a WordPress site. One dataset, four ways to consume it.
How to switch (or run both)
Migrating is low-risk because you do not have to rip anything out. Point a free ReportedIP API key at your existing fail2ban action or firewall rule and compare the confidence scores against your current source for a week. For bulk blocking, pull the community blacklist feed into an ipset with a single cron job — the same format most teams already use with other lists. WordPress sites can install ReportedIP Hive and get reputation checks plus brute-force protection without touching code. Working fail2ban, iptables, nginx and Postfix examples are in the documentation.
Frequently asked questions
Is ReportedIP a drop-in replacement for the AbuseIPDB API?
The concepts map closely — you check an IP and get back a confidence score, threat categories and report metadata, and you can submit reports the same way. The endpoints and JSON shape differ, so you adapt the integration once, but the workflow (check on suspicious traffic, report confirmed abuse) is identical. Many teams run both in parallel during evaluation and compare the scores before fully switching. Our API reference documents every field, and the free tier (1,000 checks and 50 reports per day) is enough to validate the migration end to end.
Why does EU hosting matter for IP reputation data?
IP addresses can be personal data under the GDPR, so where they are processed is a compliance question, not just a preference. ReportedIP runs entirely on German infrastructure with EU-only sub-processors and offers a data-processing agreement, which means there is no transatlantic data transfer for your legal team to assess and document. For German and EU organisations — especially in the public sector, healthcare and finance — that is frequently the deciding factor when choosing a threat-intelligence provider hosted outside the EU.
Can I query ReportedIP over DNS like a traditional DNSBL?
Yes. The DNS / RBL Zone add-on gives you a private, token-authenticated zone that any mail server, firewall or spam filter can query exactly like Spamhaus or any other DNSBL. It follows RFC 5782, covers IPv4 and IPv6, and returns the usual 127.0.0.x response codes, so existing Postfix, Exim or rspamd configurations work without custom glue. This is something a pure REST API does not offer, and it lets you add community reputation to mail flow with almost no added latency.
Is ReportedIP free?
Yes. The public IP check needs no account, and a free API account includes 1,000 checks and 50 reports per day, which covers most small and medium sites. The downloadable blacklist feed is free for any use. Paid tiers raise the quotas and add managed mail/SMS relay and multi-site management, and the DNS/RBL zone is a separate add-on. Full, current pricing is on the pricing page.
Try the EU-hosted alternative
Check any IP in seconds, no signup — or grab a free API key and run it next to your current source.