Radar vs RevAddress: Address Validation and USPS Deliverability Compared (2026)

Radar is a location platform. Geocoding, autocomplete, maps, routing, geofencing and fraud signals ship under one SDK, sold to companies on annual contracts. Address validation is one endpoint in that catalogue.

RevAddress sells the postal side as the product. It returns the USPS Delivery Point Validation code, the ZIP+4, the vacancy, mail-drop and business flags, and the next action to take, on a key anyone can create. The two overlap on the words “address validation” and differ on who can buy it and what the response carries. Radar’s figures below come from its pricing page and API reference, read on 30 October 2026.

What Radar charges

Radar publishes no free tier and no self-serve plan. Its pricing page says all plans are annual commitments, with usage billed at per-unit rates and discounts that grow with volume, and that teams can start with a technical validation period. Every plan on the page leads to sales.

Address validation is a Premium Maps call, from $2.00 per 1,000, inside an annual contract. Radar’s API reference adds that the validate endpoint is currently available for US and Canada addresses, for enterprise customers.

What RevAddress charges

RevAddress splits the bill in two, because the data underneath has two owners.

The free key covers Census-based standardization, geocoding to coordinates, and address extract from unstructured text, against US Census Bureau data, with no postal agreement and no card. It answers “is this a well-formed address” and “where is it.” USPS verification is a separate step.

USPS Delivery Point Validation (the DPV code, the ZIP+4, and the vacancy, CMRA and business flags) runs on a paid plan plus purchased verification credits at $0.01 per address, on top of the software subscription. Supported paid accounts can connect their own USPS Developer Portal app instead (BYOK). Either way the postal answer comes from the USPS Addresses API, and RevAddress runs the OAuth lifecycle, the credential vault, the retries and the rate-limit budget on top of it. The USPS API pricing guide walks that fee curve.

Per call, Radar’s starting rate is lower: $0.002 a validation against RevAddress’s $0.01 per verified address plus the plan. The difference is in how each one is bought. Radar’s rate comes inside an annual commitment reached through sales, and its validate endpoint is for enterprise customers. RevAddress starts on a free key the same day and moves to a monthly plan when USPS verification is needed.

What each response carries

Radar’s API reference documents three things on a validation result:

• verificationStatus: verified, partially verified, ambiguous or unverified
• recordType: the USPS record type (S street, P post office box, R rural route, H high-rise, F firm, G general delivery)
• analysis, on US addresses: unit:missing or unit:invalid

That covers the apartment-number case: a missing unit comes back as unit:missing. The reference does not document the USPS DPV code itself, the vacancy flag, or the CMRA flag that marks a commercial mail-receiving agency.

RevAddress returns the Postal Service’s own DPV code with those flags, and a resolution block that names the next step:

{
"address": {
  "streetAddress": "100 MAIN ST",
  "city": "SPRINGFIELD",
  "state": "IL",
  "ZIPCode": "62701",
  "ZIPPlus4": "1234"
},
"additionalInfo": {
  "DPVConfirmation": "D",
  "DPVCMRA": "N",
  "vacant": "N",
  "business": "N"
},
"resolution": {
  "classification": "missing_secondary",
  "nextAction": "collect_secondary",
  "userMessage": "USPS found the building but needs an apartment, suite, or unit number."
}
}

The DPV code keeps four USPS outcomes apart: Y confirmed to the delivery point, D confirmed to the building with the unit missing, S confirmed after USPS set aside a unit it could not match, N not confirmed. The vacancy flag marks an address USPS reports as vacant, and the CMRA flag marks a private mailbox at a commercial mail-receiving agency. Those signals drive checkout correction, mailing waste and fraud screening, and they come from the Postal Service’s own records.

Side by side

The call in code

Both are a single HTTPS call. The difference is what you branch on.

curl "https://api.radar.io/v1/addresses/validate" \
-H "Authorization: prj_live_your_key" \
-G \
--data-urlencode "countryCode=US" \
--data-urlencode "stateCode=IL" \
--data-urlencode "city=Springfield" \
--data-urlencode "postalCode=62701" \
--data-urlencode "addressLabel=100 Main St"

# Branch on verificationStatus and analysis:
#   verified                         -> accept
#   analysis has unit:missing        -> ask for the unit number
#   partially verified / ambiguous   -> review
#   unverified                       -> reject

curl -X POST "https://api.revaddress.com/api/address/validate" \
-H "X-API-Key: rv_live_your_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "streetAddress": "100 Main St",
  "city": "Springfield",
  "state": "IL",
  "ZIPCode": "62701"
}'

# Branch on resolution.nextAction:
#   done               -> accept (DPV Y)
#   collect_secondary  -> ask for the unit number (DPV D or S)
#   correct_input      -> ask for a corrected address (DPV N)

Both branches catch the missing unit. The RevAddress branch also carries the USPS code and the vacancy and mail-drop flags, so a mailing pipeline can drop vacant addresses and a fraud check can see a private mailbox.

Using both

Teams already on Radar’s platform can keep it for maps, geocoding and autocomplete and send only the deliverability check to RevAddress. The two run side by side.

1. Get a key. A free RevAddress key covers Census-based requests (1,000 requests/mo) with no card and no USPS agreement, enough to wire and test standardization and geocoding.
2. Decide what needs USPS. Keep Radar’s status where accept or reject is enough. Send the addresses that feed mailing, checkout correction or fraud screening to RevAddress for the DPV code and flags.
3. Add a paid plan and credits for the USPS side: a software plan plus purchased verification credits at $0.01 per address, or your own USPS keys through BYOK. See the pricing page.
4. Replace the branch. Switch on resolution.nextAction instead of the verification status, and read vacant and DPVCMRA where mailing or fraud rules need them.
5. Test a batch. Batch validation takes up to 50 addresses per call on Growth and above, each settled independently, with a 24-hour cache so re-running the same list does not draw the allowance twice.

Where each one wins

Radar is the right call when you already buy its platform on an annual contract, when you want maps, geocoding, routing, geofencing and fraud signals from one vendor, and when a verification status with a unit flag is all the address check needs.

RevAddress is the right call when you want to start on a free key without a sales cycle, when the response has to carry the Postal Service’s own DPV code with the vacancy and mail-drop flags, or when you want USPS verification and USPS rates, service standards and tracking under one key. For the geocoding-first comparison next door, see Geocodio vs RevAddress; for the standalone-validation incumbent, Smarty vs RevAddress.

Sources

Radar’s rates, plan terms and product groups are from radar.com/pricing, and its validation fields and availability from the Radar API reference (radar.com/documentation/api, “Validate an address”), both read on 30 October 2026. RevAddress prices come from the pricing page; the DPV codes, flags and resolution block are the API’s own fields.

Start here

• Free API key: 1,000 requests/mo, no card, no USPS agreement
• Full pricing and the API reference with live try-it
• USPS batch address validation: up to 50 per call, each settled independently
• Not building an integration? Clean one file from $19