VA Facilities vs What3Words
Same instrument, two spec sheets — measured, not claimed.
VA Facilities vs What3Words: common questions
Which is more reliable, VA Facilities or What3Words?
On our scheduled checks, What3Words leads on measured uptime — VA Facilities at 99.44% versus What3Words at 100% over 90 days. These are our own probe results, not provider claims; the uptime bars above show the day-by-day record for both.
Which is faster, VA Facilities or What3Words?
What3Words has the lower median latency in our checks — VA Facilities responds in 876 ms versus What3Words at 130 ms (P50). Tail latency (P95) is in the table above; for most workloads the median is the number that shapes how the API feels.
Do VA Facilities and What3Words need an API key?
Both ask you to authenticate — VA Facilities uses an API key and What3Words uses an API key. Each key is free to obtain; the Auth and Card-required rows above spell out the signup terms.
Can I call VA Facilities and What3Words from the browser?
Neither sends browser-friendly CORS headers reliably, so call VA Facilities and What3Words from a server or proxy rather than client-side. The CORS and HTTPS rows above show exactly what we detected for each.
Are VA Facilities and What3Words free for commercial use?
VA Facilities has unclear commercial terms, and What3Words has unclear commercial terms. We track service terms and the data license as separate fields — see the Commercial use and Data license rows above, and confirm both before shipping either in a paid product.