By ThreatListPro Security Team · Published February 27, 2026 · Last verified: February 28, 2026
AbuseIPDB and ThreatListPro both deal with malicious IP addresses, but they serve fundamentally different purposes. AbuseIPDB is an IP reputation lookup and community reporting platform. Users check individual IPs, report abuse, and query the API for confidence scores. ThreatListPro is a curated blocklist feed that you plug directly into your firewall to block VPN brute force attackers automatically. The distinction matters because it determines how much work you need to do to actually protect your network.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | ThreatListPro | AbuseIPDB |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Use | Firewall blocklist feed | IP reputation lookup |
| VPN Focus | Yes, VPN attacks only | All abuse types |
| Firewall Integration | Direct EDL/feed URL | Manual or API scripting |
| Data Source | Real VPN attack captures (honeypots) | Community reports |
| Price | $9.99/mo | Free (limited) / $19-199/mo API |
| Setup Effort | Paste URL, done | Custom scripting required |
| Best For | Automated VPN brute force blocking | IP investigation and reporting |
When to Choose ThreatListPro
ThreatListPro is the right choice when you need a production-ready blocklist that works on your firewall with zero custom development.
- You need a firewall-ready blocklist. ThreatListPro provides a single URL that your firewall fetches as an External Dynamic List. Palo Alto, FortiGate, pfSense, OPNsense, and every major firewall platform supports this natively. No scripting, no intermediate server, no cron jobs.
- You want VPN-specific data. Every IP on the ThreatListPro list was captured by honeypots running real VPN portal software. The data is not community-reported guesses; it is verified VPN brute force activity.
- You do not have developer resources. Using AbuseIPDB as a blocklist requires writing and maintaining a script that queries the API, filters results, formats output, and hosts the list. ThreatListPro eliminates all of that.
- You want low false positives. Community-reported data inherently includes false positives from overzealous reporters, misconfigured servers, and stale entries. ThreatListPro's honeypot-captured data targets only verified attackers.
When AbuseIPDB Might Be Better
AbuseIPDB is a valuable tool in the security ecosystem and excels in several scenarios.
- You need IP investigation capabilities. AbuseIPDB's web interface and API let you look up any IP and see its abuse history, confidence score, country, ISP, and recent reports. This is invaluable for incident response and log analysis.
- You want to report abuse. AbuseIPDB's community reporting system lets you contribute data back. If you want to document attacks for the community, AbuseIPDB provides that platform.
- You need broad abuse coverage. AbuseIPDB covers all abuse types: spam, port scanning, web attacks, SSH brute force, and more. If your concern is not specifically VPN brute force, AbuseIPDB's breadth may be more useful.
- You have developers who can build integrations. If you have the engineering resources to build and maintain a custom pipeline from AbuseIPDB's API to your firewall, you can create a tailored blocklist solution. Budget the development and maintenance time accordingly.
The DIY Blocklist Problem
Many organizations try to build a firewall blocklist from AbuseIPDB data. Here is what that actually involves:
$ curl -s "https://api.abuseipdb.com/api/v2/blacklist?confidenceMinimum=90" \
-H "Key: YOUR_API_KEY" -H "Accept: application/json" | jq -r '.data[].ipAddress'
# Step 2: Filter for VPN-relevant IPs (AbuseIPDB doesn't distinguish)
# Step 3: Format as plain-text IP list
# Step 4: Host on a web server your firewall can fetch
# Step 5: Schedule daily updates via cron
# Step 6: Monitor for API changes, rate limits, failures
# ThreatListPro: one URL, paste into your firewall, done
EDL URL: https://api.threatlistpro.com/v1/blocklist?key=YOUR_KEY
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use AbuseIPDB as a firewall blocklist?
Not directly. AbuseIPDB is primarily a lookup and reporting API. To use it as a firewall blocklist, you need custom scripting to query the API, extract IPs, format them, host the list, and schedule updates. ThreatListPro provides a ready-to-use EDL URL that you paste directly into your firewall configuration.
Is AbuseIPDB free?
AbuseIPDB offers a free tier with 1,000 checks per day. For production use at scale, paid plans range from $19/month (5,000 checks/day) to $199/month (50,000 checks/day). The free tier is useful for manual lookups but insufficient for building an automated firewall blocklist.
Which is better for VPN brute force protection?
ThreatListPro. Its data comes from honeypots mimicking real VPN portals, so every IP was observed actively attacking VPN infrastructure. AbuseIPDB is a general-purpose reputation database covering all abuse types, with community-reported data not curated for VPN-specific threats.
Can I use ThreatListPro and AbuseIPDB together?
Yes. Use ThreatListPro as your primary firewall blocklist for automated VPN brute force protection, and AbuseIPDB as a lookup tool for investigating specific IPs during incident response. This gives you both proactive blocking and reactive investigation.