Why We Built a Real-Time Alternative to MaxMind

The Trigger

Two years ago, we were building a high-volume fintech application. We had everything optimized: database queries under 5ms, edge caching, and a sleek UI. But then, the fraud started.

It wasn't sophisticated at first—just users bypassing our region locks to access features not available in their country. Then it escalated to bonus abuse, with the same individuals creating dozens of accounts using residential proxies.

MaxMind Was Too Slow

Like everyone else, we reached for the industry standard: MaxMind. We integrated their MMDB files and thought we were safe.

The problem? Velocity.

VPN providers and proxy networks rotate their IP addresses aggressively. An IP that is clean on Monday might be a Tor exit node by Tuesday morning. MaxMind's weekly (or even daily) updates left a massive window of vulnerability. We were blocking IPs that were no longer threats, and letting through fresh proxies that weren't in the database yet.

Building Our Own Scraper Was a Nightmare

"We'll just build it ourselves," we said. Famous last words.

We spun up a service to scrape public proxy lists and analyze traffic patterns. It worked... for about a week. Then:

• We spent half our engineering time maintaining scrapers that constantly broke.
• We had to manage our own rotating proxy infrastructure to key-verify the data.
• False positives started locking out legitimate users.

We realized we were building an IP intelligence company inside our fintech company. It was a distraction, a money pit, and a headache.

So We Built IPASIS

We looked for a middle ground: an API that was real-time (no stale databases) but also affordable and simple (no enterprise sales calls). We couldn't find one.

That's why we built IPASIS.

We built the engine we wished we had:

• Live Telemetry: We analyze network behavior in real-time. If an IP starts behaving like a proxy, we know in seconds, not days.
• Developer First: A simple JSON API. No complex integration logic.
• Latency Obsessed: Our API responds in under 20ms because we know it sits in your critical path (login/signup).

The result is a tool that lets you focus on your product, not on chasing proxies.