We make FindIP Shield, so read this with that in mind. Everything said about IPQualityScore here comes from its own public pages, linked in the sources.
IPQualityScore details were read on its website and documentation on October 21, 2026. Plans change; check the vendor's page before deciding. If something here is out of date, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
The short version
- IPQualityScore is a broad fraud-lookup toolbox: IP reputation with proxy and VPN detection, email validation, phone validation, device fingerprinting, URL and file scanning, and transaction scoring. You send it a value, it returns a fraud score and flags, and your code decides what to do.
- FindIP Shield watches your website itself. It scores every visit, signup, login, checkout and lead form with the network reasons behind each score, finds your forms on its own, and lets you choose a response per form or write rules in a dashboard. No code is needed, and there is no per-lookup bill.
Side by side
| FindIP Shield | IPQualityScore | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A risk score, a recommendation and the reasons, on every event and session on your site | A fraud score and flags per lookup, across IP, email, phone, device, URL and transaction APIs |
| IP signals | VPN, proxy, Tor, privacy relay, hosting network, malicious IP; IP, network and country changes within a session | Proxy, VPN, Tor, active VPN and Tor, recent abuse, bot status, connection type, abuse velocity, and more |
| How it is installed | Script tag, npm package, Google Tag Manager, WordPress plugin, Shopify app, or a no-code Cloudflare integration | HTTP API with your key; a JavaScript device tracker; plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento and other platforms; dashboard lookups and CSV upload |
| Acting on the result | In the dashboard: a response per form (monitor, slow down, Turnstile check, stop, redirect) and rules by user, visitor, IP, country, network or submit velocity. A server verify endpoint when you want the decision in your backend | Your code decides from the score and flags; custom rules and settings, and an allowlist and blocklist API |
| Context around the event | The session: pages before the submit, the form involved, how many addresses, networks and countries the session was seen from | The value you looked up |
| Form data | Never receives form values, passwords, raw emails, phone numbers or payment fields | Email and phone validation work on the address or number you send |
| Free | Free Preview: no per-call charge, up to 10,000 recorded events per site per day | 1,000 free lookups per month |
| Paid | No paid plan during the Free Preview | Paid plans priced on the vendor's plans page |
When Shield is the better fit
You want to protect the website, not build a pipeline
A lookup API answers one question per call. Turning that into protection means choosing where to call it, storing the result, deciding thresholds and building the response. Shield does that part: it finds the signup, login, checkout and lead forms on your site, scores each submit, and lets you pick a response per form from the dashboard. Nothing is blocked until you choose.
You want to score everything, not ration lookups
With a metered API the monthly volume is the first number you work out, and page views are usually the first thing cut. Shield records up to 10,000 events per site per day with no per-call charge, so page views, sessions and every form submit can be scored.
You want the reason, and the session around it
Each Shield event says why it scored the way it did, in codes such as hosting_network or proxy_detected with a plain sentence, next to the session: the pages before the submit and whether the address or network changed on the way. That is usually what decides whether a VPN user is a customer or a script.
You would rather not send personal data
Shield works from the network and the event. It never receives what visitors type. When you want to tie sessions to accounts, the SDK hashes the user ID in the page.
When IPQualityScore is the better fit
- You need email or phone validation, such as disposable-address or phone-line checks, from the same vendor as IP reputation.
- You score transactions, URLs or files, or want threat feeds alongside IP data.
- You run a server-side fraud pipeline and want an IP risk lookup inside it, or batch scoring through CSV upload.
For a plain server-side IP lookup, the FindIP lookup API is another option, with VPN, proxy, Tor and hosting fields and no request cap.
Using both
They do not exclude each other. A common split is Shield on the website, deciding which signups and checkouts deserve a closer look, with an email or phone validation call made only for those. That keeps the metered lookups for the sessions that need them.
Questions
Is Shield a drop-in replacement for the IPQualityScore proxy API?
No. Shield is not a lookup endpoint you pass an IP to. It runs on your website and scores the visitors it sees. For a lookup endpoint, use the FindIP lookup API.
Does Shield validate emails or phone numbers?
No. Shield never receives form values. FindIP offers email verification as a separate product.
What happens if Shield is unavailable?
Forms submit as normal: Shield fails open in the page. On your server, treat an unknown result as monitor, never as safe.
Sources
- IPQualityScore proxy, VPN and Tor detection, including the free monthly lookups: ipqualityscore.com
- IPQualityScore proxy detection API fields: documentation
- IPQualityScore products: features; plugins: plugins and integrations; allowlist and blocklist: API documentation
- IPQualityScore plans: ipqualityscore.com/plans
- FindIP Shield: documentation, enforcement and rules, data collection, Free Preview terms
IPQualityScore is a trademark of its owner. FindIP is not affiliated with IPQualityScore.
See what Shield reports about your own traffic
Shield installs in a few minutes and starts in monitor mode. Compare it with your current lookups on real visitors before deciding.