Openpath

Comparisons · Local business data APIs · read on October 15, 2026

Openpath vs Foursquare Places API for AI agents

Foursquare Places API is Foursquare's pay-as-you-go API for searching and reading point-of-interest data from its global places database. Openpath is an open directory of real-world listings built for AI agents: each result is one listing, with the employer’s Apply link for a job or an Openpath inbox address for a business’s owner. It needs no key.

The short answer

  • Foursquare Places API: A low-cost global POI API with phone, website and email at the cheaper Pro tier. Good for place lookup and matching where Google-style display rules are too tight.
  • Openpath: Giving an agent a job to apply for or a local business to message, with no key.

Openpath covers far less today: jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote, and businesses in and around Austin. Where it has what the agent is looking for, it is free and needs no sign-up.

Foursquare Places API and Openpath, side by side

Foursquare Places APIOpenpath
SearchesPOIs worldwide: Place Search, Place Details, Autocomplete, Place Match, Tips and Photos.Live jobs from employers’ own job boards (Austin, Texas, and remote) and local businesses in Austin
ReturnsJSON place records. Pro fields include fsq_place_id, name, coordinates, address, categories, chains, tel, website, email and social handles. Premium fields add hours, rating, price, photos, tips and popularity.Plain Markdown, one listing per result: its facts, its source and the day it was checked. Typed JSON on request.
Before the first callA Foursquare developer account and a Service API key. Usage beyond the free calls is paid through credits or a card on file.One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.
Free500 free Pro calls a month since June 1, 2026, by its docs; the pricing page also says “up to 10,000 free calls on Pro endpoints”Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent
PaidPro endpoints: $15.00 per 1,000 calls (501 to 100,000), falling to $9.00 at volume. Premium endpoints: $18.75 per 1,000 (up to 100,000). Ask endpoints: $30 (Pro) or $36 (Premium) per 1,000.Free for agents
Acting on a resultPhone (tel), website and email are Pro fields. There is no way to message a business through the API.A job has the employer’s Apply link; a business, and every listing its owner added, has an Openpath inbox address. An agent writes to it and the owner answers there. Openpath doesn’t notify owners who haven’t joined yet, so a message to them waits 30 days.
Limits on keeping or showing resultsThe Developer Master Terms forbid creating derivative works of the service or its underlying data. They also treat place data as Foursquare Confidential Information, even where the facts are public. No specific cache period was found.Agents read listings and act on them; the terms say reading a listing doesn’t give the right to reuse it freely.
AI in its termsThe terms forbid accessing the service "to develop or improve any point-of-interest or venue dataset, algorithm, or machine learning operation(s)." The product page markets the API for AI agents through MCP.Built for AI agents. An agent may act only with its owner’s permission, and the terms don’t let Openpath train AI models on what owners post.
CoverageFoursquare says 100M+ POI across 200+ countries.Jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote; businesses in Austin, for now
MCP serverfoursquare/foursquare-places-mcp on GitHub (https://github.com/foursquare/foursquare-places-mcp). The README says MCP is currently supported for local use only.https://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, with no sign-in

Try Openpath

Connect, then search:

curl https://api.openpath.sh/v1/connect \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '{}'
curl -G https://api.openpath.sh/v1/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENPATH_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "q=plumber near Austin, TX"

Or let the JavaScript client connect for you. The Python client, openpath-sh, works the same way.

npm install @openpath/sdk

import { search } from "@openpath/sdk";
console.log(await search("plumber near Austin, TX"));

Agent apps that take MCP servers can add https://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, which needs no sign-in. The local businesses docs have the full code, every parameter and each line of the answer.

One result, as it read on October 15, 2026:

## Wilson Plumbing, plumber in Austin

At 906 E 47th St, Austin, TX 78751.

Contact: https://openpath.sh/to/r16wy7rs084r
The owner hasn't joined Openpath, and Openpath doesn't notify owners yet, so a reply is unlikely for now. A message waits 30 days in case they join.
Source: Overture Maps, checked yesterday.
Data: Meta via Overture Maps, CDLA-Permissive-2.0.
Link: https://api.openpath.sh/v1/listings/c705c92b-8d0d-4b03-8bbb-aa9442843ec5

What Openpath doesn’t do yet

  • Jobs come from the job boards of a growing list of companies, in Austin and remote.
  • Businesses are in Austin, Texas, for now.
  • It shows no phone numbers or websites: owners are reached through their Openpath inbox.

Questions people ask

What do I need before I can use Openpath?

One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.

Is Openpath free?

Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent.

What do I need before I can use Foursquare Places API?

A Foursquare developer account and a Service API key. Usage beyond the free calls is paid through credits or a card on file.

Is Foursquare Places API free?

500 free Pro calls a month since June 1, 2026, by its docs; the pricing page also says “up to 10,000 free calls on Pro endpoints”.

Sources

Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.

Foursquare Places API, read on October 15, 2026: