I built a free AI-powered relocation tool comparing 95 countries and 668 cities — here's how I did it

A developer built Placemappr (placemappr.com), a free AI-powered relocation tool that compares 95 countries and 668 cities. The platform uses Next.js, Supabase, and Groq API to provide personalized recommendations based on user priorities, with data from World Bank, WHO, and OECD sources. The developer overcame challenges like token limits by pre-filtering countries and replacing defunct APIs with hardcoded data.

The Problem I was researching international relocation and found the existing tools deeply frustrating: - Numbeo is the gold standard but costs $260/month for API access - Most comparison sites cover 20–30 countries at best - Nothing gives you a personalised recommendation based on YOUR priorities What I Built Placemappr placemappr.com is a free relocation research platform: - 95 countries with composite relocation scores - 668 cities with weather, air quality and quality of life data - AI-powered 6-question quiz matching you to your top countries - Currency and live exchange rates - Political stability ratings with context World Bank WGI data - Government type, languages spoken, major religions per country - Blog with data-driven expat guides Everything is free. No paywalls. Tech Stack - Next.js 15 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS v4 - Supabase PostgreSQL + Auth - Groq API for AI matching free tier — llama-3.3-70b-versatile - Vercel for hosting - Open-Meteo for air quality free, no API key needed - OpenWeatherMap for city weather Total infrastructure cost: $0/month Data Sources - Country scores: WhereNext CC BY 4.0 — World Bank, WHO, OECD data - Cities: SimpleMaps free database 668 cities, population 1M - Political stability: World Bank WGI with disclaimer explaining the index measures physical security perception not democratic strength - Exchange rates: ExchangeRate-API free tier Interesting Technical Challenges Token limits with Groq: Sending all 95 countries to the LLM exceeded the 12,000 token/minute free tier limit. Solution: pre-filter to 25 most relevant countries based on budget and region before sending to Groq. Dropped from ~12,500 to ~3,000 tokens per request. City data without Teleport: The popular Teleport API is now defunct. Derived city quality scores from country-level data with population-tier adjustments instead. REST Countries API redirects: Returns 301 redirects that Node.js doesn't follow by default. Replaced with a hardcoded currency map for all 95 countries — more reliable anyway. Revenue Plan Currently $0. Planning: - Google AdSense high CPC finance/relocation category - Affiliate links Wise, SafetyWing, NordVPN - Premium tier detailed reports, cost alerts Current Status - Live at placemappr.com - 23/766 pages indexed by Google so far new domain - Working on backlinks and content to speed up indexing What I'd Love Feedback On - What data would make you actually use this for a relocation decision? - Is the AI quiz useful or gimmicky? - What countries or cities are missing that matter to you? Happy to answer any questions about the tech stack or data