Number Plate Recognition
API for developers
Read UK and international registration plates from any image with 99.8% accuracy. One POST request in, structured JSON out. ANPR (ALPR) without the hardware, contracts or sales calls.
Automatic number plate recognition built for production.
Our ANPR engine is trained on millions of real-world plate samples, including low light, motion blur, rain, high angles and dirty plates. Every read returns a confidence score so you stay in control.
Accurate in Real Conditions
99.8% plate recognition accuracy on standard images, with robust reads in low light, rain, and at difficult camera angles. Confidence scores on every result.
Works With Any Camera
No specialist ANPR cameras required. Send stills from existing CCTV, IP cameras, dashcams, or mobile phones. If it's a JPEG, PNG or WebP, we can read it.
UK & International Plates
Built for UK number plates first, covering current and historic formats, with support for registration plates from 90+ countries, detected automatically.
Batch Processing & Webhooks
Process thousands of images asynchronously with the batch API and get notified via webhooks the moment results are ready. Detect multiple plates per image with a single flag.
Privacy First. UK GDPR Ready.
Fully UK GDPR compliant with zero-retention processing: images are analysed in memory and immediately discarded. Built with ICO guidance on ANPR in mind.
Developer Centric
A clean REST API with JSON responses, clear error codes, transparent credit usage, and documentation you don't need a sales call to read.
From sign-up to first plate read in minutes.
No sales calls, no onboarding meetings, no minimum contracts. Self-serve from day one.
Get your API key
Sign up in 30 seconds and generate an API key from your dashboard. The free tier includes a monthly credit allowance, and no credit card is required.
Send an image
POST an image (file upload or base64) to /api/v1/recognise with your key in the X-API-Key header. Any camera, any source.
Get structured JSON
Receive the registration, a confidence score, and processing time as clean JSON, ready to drive your parking, access control, or fleet workflow.
Integrate number plate recognition in minutes.
Send an image, get structured plate data back as JSON. Plain HTTP, so you can use any language, framework, or HTTP client you already know.
curl -X POST https://nprapi.com/api/v1/recognise \ -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \ -F "image=@/path/to/vehicle.jpg"
import requests response = requests.post( 'https://nprapi.com/api/v1/recognise', headers={'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}, files={'image': open('vehicle.jpg', 'rb')}, ) print(response.json()['registration'])
const form = new FormData(); form.append('image', new Blob([imageBuffer]), 'vehicle.jpg'); const response = await fetch('https://nprapi.com/api/v1/recognise', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' }, body: form, }); const { registration, confidence } = await response.json();
$ch = curl_init('https://nprapi.com/api/v1/recognise'); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, ['X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY']); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, ['image' => new CURLFile('vehicle.jpg')]); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true); $result = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true); echo $result['registration'];
ANPR for car parks, fleets and access control.
One recognition API behind ticketless parking, automated barriers, drive-off prevention and vehicle logging. Whatever you're building, plate data is one POST away.
Car Park Management
Power ticketless entry, automated billing, and parking enforcement on private land with number plate recognition from your existing car park cameras.
Access Control & Barriers
Open gates and barriers automatically for authorised vehicles. Match recognised registrations against your allow-list in real time.
Fleet & Logistics
Log vehicle arrivals and departures at depots and yards automatically. Track fleet movements without manual data entry or dedicated hardware.
Petrol Forecourts
Prevent fuel drive-offs by capturing every vehicle's registration on arrival. Flag known offenders before they reach the pump.
Security & CCTV
Add ANPR capability to existing CCTV and surveillance systems. Turn any camera into a number plate reader with a simple API integration.
Dealerships & Valuations
Capture registrations from photos to kick off appraisals, valuations, and vehicle look-ups. No typing, no transcription errors.
What can you build with a number plate recognition API?
Three real workflows, end to end. Your cameras and your business logic, with NPR API doing the reading in the middle.
Ticketless parking for a gym or retail site
A member drives in and the entrance camera captures a still. Your system sends it to NPR API, matches the returned registration against your member list, and opens the barrier before they've wound the window down. The exit camera closes the visit, so overstays and non-members are flagged automatically.
Drive-off prevention on a petrol forecourt
Every vehicle that pulls up to a pump is read on arrival from the existing forecourt CCTV. The registration is checked against your watch-list of previous drive-offs before any fuel is dispensed, and staff get an alert with the pump number while the driver is still filling up.
Bulk vehicle logging from CCTV archives
A logistics depot uploads the day's gate-camera stills as a single batch job each night. NPR API processes thousands of images asynchronously and fires a webhook when the results are ready, giving you a complete, searchable log of every vehicle movement without anyone watching a screen.
ANPR, ALPR or LPR: same technology, one API.
The industry never settled on one name. The UK and Europe say Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), North America says Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR or LPR), and cameras, vendors and tutorials mix all three. They describe exactly the same thing: software that reads vehicle registration plates from images.
Whichever term you searched for, NPR API does that job through one REST endpoint. UK plates, European formats and registrations from 90+ countries are detected automatically, so you never have to tell the API which flavour of recognition you want.
Read the full ANPR vs ALPR guideSimple, transparent pricing.
Start free with no credit card required. One transparent credit rate card on every plan, with no contracts and no sales calls. Scale as your application grows.