ANPR vs ALPR: What's the Difference?

If you've ever researched vehicle identification technology, you've likely come across two acronyms: ANPR and ALPR. While they're often used interchangeably, understanding their origins and subtle differences can help you choose the right terminology and solution for your project.

What is ANPR?

ANPR stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition. The term originates from the United Kingdom and is widely used across Europe, Australia, and other regions that refer to vehicle registration plates as "number plates." ANPR was first developed by UK police in the 1970s for law enforcement applications.

What is ALPR?

ALPR stands for Automatic License Plate Recognition. This term is predominantly used in North America, where vehicle registration plates are commonly referred to as "license plates." The underlying technology is identical — only the naming convention differs based on regional language preferences.

The Core Technology

Whether called ANPR or ALPR, the technology follows the same pipeline:

1. Image capture — A camera captures an image or video frame containing a vehicle.
2. Plate detection — Computer vision algorithms locate the plate region within the image.
3. Character segmentation — Individual characters on the plate are isolated.
4. Optical character recognition (OCR) — Each character is recognised and converted to text.
5. Post-processing — Results are validated against known plate formats and returned with confidence scores.

Common Use Cases

Both ANPR and ALPR systems are deployed across a wide range of industries:

• Law enforcement — Identifying stolen vehicles, tracking suspects, and enforcing traffic laws.
• Parking management — Automating entry/exit barriers and ticketless parking systems.
• Toll collection — Enabling free-flow tolling without physical barriers.
• Access control — Granting or denying vehicle access to restricted areas.
• Traffic monitoring — Analysing traffic flow, journey times, and congestion patterns.

Which Term Should You Use?

The choice comes down to your audience. If you're building for a UK or European market, ANPR is the standard term. For North American audiences, ALPR is more familiar. Many API providers — including NPR API — support both terminologies and recognise plates from 90+ countries regardless of regional naming conventions.

Getting Started with NPR API

NPR API provides a unified REST endpoint that handles both ANPR and ALPR use cases. Send any vehicle image and receive structured JSON data including plate text, confidence score, region detection, and vehicle metadata — all in under 50ms.