Title: Geolocation IP Detection
Author: Benjamin Pick
Published: July 4, 2013
Last modified: October 29, 2025
---
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# Geolocation IP Detection
By [Benjamin Pick](https://profiles.wordpress.org/benjaminpick/)
[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/geoip-detect.5.6.1.zip)
* [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/#description)
* [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/#reviews)
* [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/#installation)
* [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/#developers)
[Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/)
## Description
Provides geographic information detected by an IP adress. This can be used in themes
or other plugins, as a shortcode, or via CSS body classes. The city & country names
are translated in different languages ([supported languages](https://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/geoip2/web-services/#Languages-8)).
#### Features:
* You can use one of these data sources (see [comparison](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#which-data-source-should-i-choose)):
- Free (default source): [HostIP.info](http://www.hostip.info/) (IPv4 only)
- Free with registration: [Maxmind GeoIP2 Lite City](http://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/geoip2/geolite2/),
automatically updated weekly
- Commercial: [Maxmind GeoIP2 City](https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-country-database)
or [Maxmind GeoIP2 Country](https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-city)
- Commercial Web-API: [Maxmind GeoIP2 Precision](https://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip2-precision-services)(
City, Country or Insights)
- Hosting-Provider dependent: [Cloudflare](https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200168236-What-does-CloudFlare-IP-Geolocation-do-)
or [Amazon AWS CloudFront](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/enhanced-cloudfront-customization/)(
Country)
- Free or Commercial Web-API: [Ipstack](https://ipstack.com)
- Commercial Web-API via AWS Marketplace: [Fastah](https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/prodview-k5gjowexrefl2)
* Provides these 5 functions (see [API Documentation](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-PHP)):
- `geoip_detect2_get_info_from_ip($ip, $locales = array('en'), $options = array())`:
Lookup Geo-Information of the specified IP
- `geoip_detect2_get_info_from_current_ip($locales = array('en'), $options =
array())`: Lookup Geo-Information of the current website user
- `geoip_detect2_get_current_source_description(...)`: Return a human-readable
label of the currently chosen source.
- `geoip_detect2_get_external_ip_adress()`: Fetch the internet adress of the
webserver
- `geoip_detect2_get_client_ip()`: Get client IP (even if it is behind a reverse
proxy)
* For the property names, see the results of a specific IP in the wordpress backend(
under _Tools > Geolocation IP Detection_).
* You can include these properties into your posts and pages by using the shortcode`[
geoip_detect2 property="country.name" default="(country could not be detected)"
lang="en"]` (where ‘country.name’ can be one of the other property names as well,
and ‘default’ and ‘lang’ are optional).
* You can show or hide content by using a shortcode `[geoip_detect2_show_if country
="FR, DE" not_city="Berlin"]TEXT[/geoip_detect2_show_if]`. See [Shortcode Documentation](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-Shortcodes#show-or-hide-content-depending-on-the-location).
* When enabled on the options page, it adds CSS classes to the body tag such as`
geoip-province-HE`, `geoip-country-DE` and `geoip-continent-EU`.
* If you are using a page cache, it is recommended to use the AJAX mode (see [AJAX](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-AJAX))
* When enabled on the options page, the client IP respects a reverse proxy of the
server.
* If you are using [Contact Form 7](https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/),
you can use these shortcodes:
- A select input with all countries, the detected country being selected by
default: `[geoip_detect2_countries mycountry]`
- A text input that is pre-filled with the detected city (or other property):`[
geoip_detect2_text_input city property:city lang:fr id:id class:class default:
Paris]`
- Geolocation information for the email text: `[geoip_detect2_user_info]`
* If you are using [WP Forms](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforms-lite/), you
can use this shortcode:
- Geolocation information for the email text: `[geoip_detect2_user_info]`
* Together with [SVG Flags](https://wordpress.org/plugins/svg-flags-lite/) you
can show the flag of the detected country: `[geoip_detect2_current_flag]` (see
[documentation](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-Shortcodes#add-a-flag-of-the-visitors-country))
See [Documentation](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki) for more info.
#### How can I use these functions?
* You could choose the currency of the store based on the country name
* You could pre-fill the shipping country
* You could show the store nearest to your customer
* You show or hide content specific to a geographic target group
* Etc. … You tell me! I’m rather curious what you’ll do with this plugin!
* Be careful to comply to the applicable laws. For example Regulation (EU) 2018/
302 …
* If you need to get the user’s timezone, it is more accurate to use JS solutions.
**System Requirements**: You will need at least PHP 7.2.5 . Also, if you use the
plugin WooCommerce, you’ll need at least WooCommerce 3.9.0 .
_GDPR: See [Is this plugin GDPR-compliant?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#is-this-plugin-gdpr-compliant)_
_This extension is “charity-ware”. If you are happy with it, please [leave a tip](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BSYUZHS8FH3CL)
for the benefit of [this charity](http://www.jmem-hainichen.de/homepage). (See [FAQ](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#what-you-mean-by-this-plugin-is-charity-ware)
for more infos.)_
_[Here are other ways to contribute to the development of this plugin.](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)_
_This product can provide GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from http://
www.maxmind.com._
### Troubleshooting
* Does `geoip_detect2_get_info_from_current_ip()` return the same country, regardless
of where you are visiting the site from?
* Maybe your server has a reverse proxy configured. You can check this: Go to the
options page and look for “reverse proxy”. Are there 2 IPs listed there? If so,
which one corresponds to your [public IP](https://www.whatismyip.com/)?
* Or maybe you are using a site cache plugin. Then enable the option `Disable caching
a page that contains a shortcode or API call to geo-dependent functions.`
[More Troubleshooting Hints](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/Troubleshooting)
## Screenshots
* [[
* Lookup page (under Tools > Geolocation Lookup)
* [[
* Options page (under Preferences > Geolocation IP Detection)
## Installation
* Install the plugin
* Go to the plugin’s option page and choose a data source.
* Test it by clicking on “Lookup” on the lookup page.
## FAQ
[Technically speaking, how could I verify if my visitor comes from Germany?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#technically-speaking-how-could-i-verify-if-my-visitor-comes-from-germany)
[How can I show text only if the visitor is coming from Germany?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#how-can-i-show-text-only-if-the-visitor-is-coming-from-germany)
[How can I add the current country name as text in my page?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#how-can-i-add-the-current-country-name-as-text-in-my-page)
[Which data source should I choose?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#which-data-source-should-i-choose)
[Can I change the time period how long the data is cached?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#can-i-change-the-time-period-how-long-the-data-is-cached)
[The Maxmind Lite databases are restricted by an EULA. Can I host a form where users can look-up the geographic information of an IP?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#the-maxmind-lite-databases-are-restricted-by-an-eula-can-i-host-a-form-where-users-can-look-up-the-geographic-information-of-an-ip)
[Does this plugin work in a MultiSite-Network environment?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#does-this-plugin-work-in-a-multisite-network-environment)
[Is this plugin GDPR-compliant?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#is-this-plugin-gdpr-compliant)
[What does “Privacy Exclusions” mean?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#what-does-privacy-exclusions-mean)
[What do you mean by “This plugin is charity-ware”?](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/FAQ#what-do-you-mean-by-this-plugin-is-charity-ware)
### Further documentation
[PHP Functions](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-PHP)
[JS Functions for AJAX mode](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API%3A-AJAX)
[Shortcodes](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-Shortcodes)
[Shortcodes for Contact Form 7](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-Shortcodes-for-Contact-Form-7)
[Record Properties](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/Record-Properties)
[API usage examples](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API-Usage-Examples)
## Reviews
### [very great geo location plugin](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/very-great-geo-location-plugin/)
[oblaum](https://profiles.wordpress.org/oblaum/) March 10, 2024
just what is was looking for. love this plugin. thank you!
### [Home page doesn’t detect geoip_detect2_get_info_from_current_ip](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/home-page-doesnt-detect-geoip_detect2_get_info_from_current_ip/)
[ivanyosifov](https://profiles.wordpress.org/ivanyosifov/) January 23, 2024 4 replies
The plugin is great but I noticed that on the home page the function geoip_detect2_get_info_from_current_ip
doesn’t work. What could be the reason for that?
### [Really great plugin!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/really-great-plugin-220/)
[Cliff](https://profiles.wordpress.org/drrichbunk/) January 5, 2024
This is the only geolocation plugin I’ve ever needed. Thanks for creating and maintaining
this plugin!
### [Works as Advertised](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-as-advertised-887/)
[leslierad](https://profiles.wordpress.org/leslierad/) December 21, 2023 1 reply
Really well written plugin that does exactly what it promises, includes well written
documentation. To those who wrote negative reviews about detection that is not the
author’s fault, he links you to several providers that issue that data, you literally
could not ask for more.
### [Works Brilliantly – Excellent Plugin!](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/works-brilliantly-excellent-plugin/)
[Paul Coughlin](https://profiles.wordpress.org/paulcoughlin/) November 19, 2023
Looked at a few geolocation plugins to show country specific content.. this plugin
works where others don’t. Worth a Maxmind account though – super accurate, and super
cheap.. almost free. Thanks for creating this Benjamin
### [USA displayed as CANADA](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/usa-displayed-as-canada/)
[vomoyi](https://profiles.wordpress.org/vomoyi/) November 2, 2023 1 reply
I couldn’t find city shortcode. You should have a full list of possible shortcodes.
I used [geoip_detect2 property=”country”] to display country and it displayed CANADA.
I am in South of USA
[ Read all 59 reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/)
## Contributors & Developers
“Geolocation IP Detection” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.
Contributors
* [ Benjamin Pick ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/benjaminpick/)
“Geolocation IP Detection” has been translated into 3 locales. Thank you to [the translators](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/geoip-detect/contributors)
for their contributions.
[Translate “Geolocation IP Detection” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/geoip-detect)
### Interested in development?
[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/geoip-detect/), check
out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/geoip-detect/), or subscribe
to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/geoip-detect/) by
[RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/geoip-detect/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).
## Changelog
#### 5.6.1
* FIX [!]: Remove deprecated shortcode [geoip_detect] (Security – CVE-2025-57993).
If you are still using it, use [geoip_detect2 …] instead, you might have to change
the property name.
* FIX: Compatibility with WordPress 6.7 (Textdomain loading)
* Library updates
(5.6.0 was not released)
#### 5.5.0
* FIX [!]: In the datasource “hostip.info”, the region code (i.e. CA) is now correctly
moved to the property `mostSpecificSubdivision` (previously, it was part of the
property `city`)
* Library updates
#### 5.4.1
* NEW: JS now emit events ‘geoip-detect-shortcodes-done’ and ‘geoip-detect-body-
classes-done’, see https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-AJAX#
events
* FIX: Remove Fatal Error in check_requirements (“Undefined constand GEOIP_DETECT_DEBUG”)
#### 5.4.0
* NEW: Infos can be added to a mail sent by WPForms (with Smart Tag `{geoip_detect2_user_info}`)
* FIX: Remove Fatal Error on uninstall (“Undefined constand GEOIP_DETECT_DEBUG”)
* Library updates
#### 5.3.2
* FIX: Some country codes such as “PT” were missing in the (deprecated) legacy
API mapping.
* FIX: Maxmind compatibility does not show a notice anymore when the plugin folder
is non-standard (e.g. due to symlinks) or the Filename ends with Reader.php
* Library updates
#### 5.3.1
* FIX: Respect JS file variant
* UI: Show selected file variant in backend options
* Library updates
#### 5.3.0
* NEW: You can now specify to use a JS file variant if you are only using a subset
of the features (see https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/wiki/API:-AJAX#
js-variants)
* Note[!]: frontend.js has now been renamed to frontend_full.js
* Library updates
#### 5.2.2
* FIX: The format for new Maxmind licence keys has changed. (Existing licence keys
will continue to work.)
(5.2.1 was a broken release)
#### 5.2.0
* NEW: The list of reverse proxies of AWS CloudFront or CloudFlare can now be added
as “known proxy”
* FIX [!]: AWS Cloudfront header name changed to HTTP_CLOUDFRONT_VIEWER_COUNTRY
* Reduced JS size (AJAX mode)
* Library updates
#### 5.1.1
* NEW: For the reverse proxy configuration, internal adresses (such as 10.0.0.0/
8) are now whitelisted by default. You can override this behaviour by using the
wordpress filter `geoip_detect2_client_ip_whitelist_internal_ips`.
* NEW: Body classes now include the city name in English (e.g. geoip-city-Munich)
* FIX: Some server configurations showed this warning: Use of undefined constant
CURL_HTTP_VERSION_2_0
#### 5.1.0
New Datasource: Fastah Web API (beta), see https://aws.amazon.com/marketplace/pp/
prodview-k5gjowexrefl2
AJAX mode:
* NEW: The JS function `geoip_detect.set_override_with_merge` can modify
the override record in one property, merging it with the currently saved property
Other minor changes:
* FIX: In non-AJAX mode, properties such as “extra.original.
zip” can be accessed again * FIX: Automatic download of Maxmind database now also
works when the temp folder is group/world writeable (as in AWS configurations) *
If you want to enable more Warnings (e.g. while debugging), you can add `define('
GEOIP_DETECT_DEBUG', true)` to your wp-config.php or so. * Library updates
#### 5.0.0
In this release, there a small breaking changes marked by [!].
AJAX mode:
* FIX [!]: Empty attribute values such as `[geoip_detect2_show_if country
=""]Country was not detected[/geoip_detect2_show_if]` are now working (they were
ignored before) * FIX [!]: Shortcodes that have an invalid value for the property`
ajax` (e.g. `[geoip_detect2_text_input ajax="invalid"]`) are now using the AJAX
option instead of always disabling AJAX * FIX: In CF7, the country selector can
now be used in AJAX mode * FIX: In AJAX mode, the shortcode `[geoip_detect2_show_if]`
renders as a `` if it detects that the containing content has HTML block level
elements * NEW (Beta): In AJAX mode, the new property `autosave` saves the user
input as local override for this browser. `[geoip_detect2_countries mycountry autosave]`
and `[geoip_detect2_text_input city property:city autosave]`. (Please give feedback
if this works as expected!) * FIX: In AJAX mode, calling the method `set_override(
record, duration_in_days)` now refreshes the AJAX shortcodes and CSS body classes.-
> Thus, it is now possible to quickly implement different content for different
countries with an autodetected default country, see https://github.com/yellowtree/
geoip-detect/wiki/API-Usage-Examples#country-selector-that-can-be-overridden-by-
the-user
Other changes:
* NEW: Drastically improving performance if the lookup is performed
for the current IP more than once (e.g. because of shortcodes without AJAX mode)*
UI: Showing the time for the subsequent lookup on the Test Lookup page * FIX: Maxmind
Datasource: Check if the database file is really a file, not a directory * NEW:
Header Datasource: Now a custom HTTP header can be used via the wordpress filter`
geoip_detect2_source_header_http_key`
Other minor changes:
* Update the list of available APIs for getting the external
IP (as whatismyip went down) * Minimum WordPress version is 5.4 now. * Update some
internal libraries & dev tools * Checked compatibility with PHP 8.1
The code of the plugin has not changed much, I have named this version 3.0 to indicate
the major change on Maxmind’s side of things. They explain it in this blog post:
https://blog.maxmind.com/2019/12/18/significant-changes-to-accessing-and-using-geolite2-
databases/
[Older changelog](https://github.com/yellowtree/geoip-detect/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)
## Meta
* Version **5.6.1**
* Last updated **6 months ago**
* Active installations **20,000+**
* WordPress version ** 5.0 or higher **
* Tested up to **6.8.5**
* PHP version ** 7.2.5 or higher **
* Languages
* [Dutch](https://nl.wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/), [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/),
[German](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/), and [Russian](https://ru.wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/).
* [Translate into your language](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/geoip-detect)
* Tags
* [GeoIP](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/geoip/)[geolocation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/geolocation/)
[locator](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/locator/)[maxmind](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/maxmind/)
* [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/geoip-detect/advanced/)
## Ratings
4.7 out of 5 stars.
* [ 55 5-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/?filter=5)
* [ 0 4-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/?filter=4)
* [ 0 3-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/?filter=3)
* [ 1 2-star review ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/?filter=2)
* [ 3 1-star reviews ](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/?filter=1)
[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/#new-post)
[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/reviews/)
## Contributors
* [ Benjamin Pick ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/benjaminpick/)
## Support
Got something to say? Need help?
[View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/geoip-detect/)
## Donate
Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?
[ Donate to this plugin ](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=BSYUZHS8FH3CL)