Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ZIP Code API VS pttrns

Compare ZIP Code API VS pttrns and see what are their differences

ZIP Code API logo ZIP Code API

REST API for US ZIP, ZIP+4, and Canadian postal codes. Single unified endpoint covers address validation and standardization, radius search (centroid haversine and true spatial polygon intersection), point-to-point distance, autocomplete/typeah

pttrns logo pttrns

iPhone and iPad user interface patterns
  • ZIP Code API Landing page
    Landing page //
    2026-05-21

API for US ZIP, ZIP+4, and Canadian postal code data. One unified endpoint set covers North America โ€” no separate APIs by country or data type.

What it does

  • Address validation and standardization โ€” production-grade parser with ZIP+4 append, refreshed monthly
  • Radius search โ€” centroid haversine and true spatial polygon intersection. Returns ZIPs/FSAs within range, with per-result pct_inside overlap percentage for spatial queries
  • Unified lookup endpoint โ€” accepts US ZIP, ZIP+4, Canadian FSA, full Canadian postal codes, or latitude/longitude inputs
  • Autocomplete/typeahead โ€” cities, counties, metros, states, FSAs, ZIPs
  • Point-to-point distance โ€” between any two postal points
  • Census ACS demographics โ€” 2011โ€“2024, 542 fields per ZIP across income, education, housing, social, and economic profiles
  • Boundary lookups โ€” Census tracts, congressional districts, state legislative areas, school districts โ€” with computed intersection percentages per ZIP

What makes it different

  • Licensed commercial data โ€” not commodity or scraped sources
  • Canadian postal coverage โ€” most peers in this space are US-only
  • True spatial radius โ€” not just centroid haversine
  • 14 years of historical ACS depth via API โ€” unusual outside of raw Census downloads
  • One endpoint for all of North America โ€” no country-detection or input-routing logic to maintain on the client side

Pricing

  • Free โ€” 2,500 lookups/day, no credit card required, no expiry
  • Developer โ€” $49/mo, 100K credits, 300/min
  • Professional โ€” $149/mo, 350K credits, 300/min
  • Business โ€” $499/mo, 1.5M credits, 600/min
  • Credit packs โ€” one-time, from 25K ($19) up to 2M ($799)

Resources

  • pttrns Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-23

ZIP Code API features and specs

  • Comprehensive ZIP Code Data
    The ZIP Code API from zip-codes.com provides extensive data including ZIP code details, city information, state data, and geographic coordinates, making it a thorough resource for location-based lookups.
  • Multiple Lookup Options
    The API supports various types of lookups including ZIP code to city/state, city/state to ZIP code, distance calculations between ZIP codes, and radius searches, offering flexible querying capabilities.
  • Easy Integration
    The API uses standard REST-based HTTP requests and returns data in commonly used formats like JSON and XML, making it straightforward to integrate into most applications and programming languages.
  • Distance and Radius Calculations
    The API includes built-in functionality for calculating distances between ZIP codes and finding ZIP codes within a specified radius, which is valuable for store locators, shipping estimates, and proximity-based features.
  • Well-Documented Endpoints
    The API provides clear documentation for its various endpoints and parameters, helping developers understand available features and implement them correctly without extensive trial and error.

pttrns features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Pttrns offers a user-friendly interface allowing designers to quickly search and find design patterns for mobile and web apps.
  • High-Quality Examples
    The platform provides high-quality, curated design examples from well-known apps, helping designers implement industry standards.
  • Inspiration
    Pttrns serves as a source of inspiration for designers, showcasing a variety of design styles and approaches.
  • Categorization
    Design patterns are well-categorized, making it easy for users to find specific UI patterns based on their needs.
  • Up-to-date
    The platform regularly updates its library with new and trending design patterns, ensuring users have access to the latest designs.

Possible disadvantages of pttrns

  • Subscription Cost
    While some content is free, full access to Pttrns requires a subscription, which might not be suitable for all budgets.
  • Limited Interactivity
    The examples are typically static images or screenshots, lacking interactive elements that could better demonstrate the user experience.
  • Over-Reliance on Examples
    Designers might become overly reliant on the provided examples and may neglect creating original and innovative designs.
  • Lack of Detailed Explanations
    The platform focuses more on showcasing finished designs and might not provide in-depth explanations behind design choices.
  • Mobile-Centric
    Pttrns primarily focuses on mobile app design patterns, which might be a limitation for designers looking for web or other platform-specific patterns.

Analysis of ZIP Code API

Overall verdict

  • ZIP Code API from zip-codes.com is a solid, reliable choice for developers and businesses needing accurate US and Canadian postal code data, offering a straightforward RESTful interface with regularly updated databases.

Why this product is good

  • Provides accurate and frequently updated ZIP code, city, state, and geographic data
  • Offers a simple RESTful API that is easy to integrate into web and mobile applications
  • Supports features like ZIP code lookup, radius search, and distance calculations
  • Includes both US ZIP codes and Canadian postal codes for broader coverage
  • Backed by an established data provider with a long track record in postal data

Recommended for

  • Developers building address validation or autofill features
  • E-commerce platforms needing shipping and location-based calculations
  • Businesses performing geographic or radius-based store locators
  • Applications requiring reliable US and Canadian postal data
  • Marketing and logistics teams that need regional or demographic targeting

Analysis of pttrns

Overall verdict

  • Yes, pttrns is considered good by many designers and developers.

Why this product is good

  • Pttrns is a popular resource for mobile and web app design inspiration, offering a vast collection of user interface patterns. It is valued for its comprehensive and well-categorized collections, which help designers find specific design patterns efficiently. The site showcases real-world UI examples that help designers understand current design trends and enhance their creative workflow.

Recommended for

  • UI/UX designers seeking design inspiration
  • Developers looking for design pattern references
  • Product managers who want to understand current design trends
  • Design students aiming to learn about UI/UX patterns

ZIP Code API videos

No ZIP Code API videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

pttrns videos

Pttrns: Mobile Design Patterns

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ZIP Code API and pttrns)
Zip Lookup
100 100%
0% 0
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
APIs
100 100%
0% 0
Design Inspiration
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using ZIP Code API and pttrns. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, pttrns seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ZIP Code API mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of ZIP Code API yet. Tracking of ZIP Code API recommendations started around May 2026.

pttrns mentions (3)

  • App or Software to organise a UI Pattern Library
    While I'm aware that there are current resources out there such as Mobbin or Pttrns, I have been taking my own screenshots for a while now and it would be great to be able to set up tags to categorise and organise these. Source: about 5 years ago
  • Does anyone else find Behance and Dribbble absolutely useless?
    Https://pttrns.com/ is a similar site but the quality went down a bit. Source: about 5 years ago
  • UX gallery, similar to component.gallery
    Maybe try mobbin.design or https://pttrns.com/. Source: over 5 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ZIP Code API and pttrns, you can also consider the following products

Smarty - Smarty provides address validation, autocomplete, geocoding and reverse geocoding services covering addresses in over 240+ countries.

Mobbin - Latest mobile design patterns & elements library

Zipcodestack - Free Zip Code API - Free Postal Code Validation | Zipcodestack

Refero Design - The biggest collection of UX Patterns, UI Elements and design references from great web applications

PostalDataPI - The most affordable postal code API. 240+ countries, sub-5 ms responses. Simple, elegant, transparent.

Page Flows - User flow design inspiration for mobile & desktop