Does anyone know if this is for real, or is it maybe just a mistake? I’ve already reached out to their support but haven’t heard back. I wanted to use it with the IP2Location plugin.
Any other ideas or alternatives that work with this plugin?
Hi @technik_dxm
I see a difference: the number of licensed servers. Standard license for $199 (one single server) and unlimited servers license for $3980. Maybe there is an option somewhere for the standard license?
That jump sounds way too extreme to be normal. Could be a pricing change tied to licensing or usage limits, but from $199 to $3980 is wild. I’d wait for their support reply, but in the meantime it might be worth checking other geo IP databases or plugins just in case this is the new standard.
Yeah, I remember this causing a bit of confusion when they reshuffled their licensing/pricing structure.
From what I’ve seen, it’s usually not a “mistake” in the sense of a broken price tag, but more that IP2Location sometimes quietly moves between different license tiers (subscription vs. perpetual + database bundle vs. enterprise-style licensing). The jump you’re seeing often happens when the old “consumer DB3” listing gets replaced by a broader commercial package page, which makes it look like the same thing suddenly became insanely expensive.
What helped in a similar situation I ran into was going directly through the plugin requirements rather than the storefront page. The WordPress plugin itself doesn’t necessarily need the full “everything bundled” license — it depends on which database version and update frequency you actually need. A lot of people end up overbuying just because the pricing page is confusingly structured.
Also worth noting: sometimes the lower-tier DB licenses still exist but aren’t front-and-center on the main buy page anymore. They’re tucked under different product categories or “lite” offerings.
If support is slow, I’d give them a bit more time — they usually clarify whether DB3 has been replaced or renamed rather than actually increased 20x in cost. I’ve seen vendors do that kind of UI/pricing consolidation and it looks dramatic from the outside.
In terms of alternatives, depending on your use case (basic geo-blocking vs analytics enrichment), a few people I’ve worked with switched to lighter-weight IP databases or API-based lookups instead of full downloadable DBs. It really comes down to how often you’re querying it and whether you need offline lookups inside the plugin.
I came across a discussion on Flixfoxwhile troubleshooting something similar around plugin-based IP filtering and licensing confusion — different context, but same issue pattern with pricing changes causing alarm before the actual licensing model is understood.
Might be worth double-checking whether DB3 is still the correct SKU for the plugin version you’re using, because in a lot of cases that’s where the mismatch actually starts.