Google Maps API Pricing (2026): Places Costs vs Scraping Google Maps

Google Maps API pricing in 2026 is pay as you go per SKU: each type of call costs a set price per 1,000 billable events, and every SKU includes a free monthly cap of 10,000 (Essentials), 5,000 (Pro) or 1,000 (Enterprise) events. Those caps replaced the old $200 monthly credit on March 1, 2025.

For place data, that means a Place Details call with phone, website and rating costs $20 per 1,000 after the first 1,000 free each month, and one that includes reviews costs $25. This guide explains the SKUs, works through three real scenarios, and shows where scraping Google Maps on Scrape.ly gets you more data for less.

Prices checked on 23 October 2026 on Google's pricing list and Maps Platform pricing page.

How Google Maps API pricing works in 2026

Google Maps Platform bills each product through one or more SKUs. A SKU's price is listed per 1,000 billable events, and the rules are the same across Maps, Routes and Places:

• Three categories, three free caps. Essentials SKUs include 10,000 free events a month, Pro 5,000 and Enterprise 1,000. The caps are per SKU, so 1,000 free Place Details Enterprise calls don't help your Text Search bill.
• Caps reset monthly. Free usage resets on the first day of each month at midnight Pacific time.
• Volume discounts are automatic. Google adds up usage across every project on your billing account, then prices each tier separately. Its own example: 200,000 Autocomplete requests in a month cost $0 for the first 10,000, $254.70 for the next 90,000 and $227.00 for the rest, $481.70 in total.
• Billing must be on. Google's Places docs say you must enable billing on each project and send an API key or OAuth token with every request. New customers get a $300 trial credit.
• The most expensive field sets the price. Place Details, Text Search and Nearby Search take a field mask, and "you are then billed at the highest SKU applicable to your request." Ask for one Enterprise field and the whole call is billed as Enterprise.

Google also sells fixed-price subscriptions as an alternative to pay as you go; this guide covers the pay-as-you-go list.

Places API prices per 1,000 calls

These are the Places API (New) SKUs that matter for place and review data, from the global price list:

Nearby Search uses the same prices as Text Search. Higher tiers exist above 1,000,000 events.

Which fields put a request in which SKU

Google's place data fields table assigns every field to a SKU. The common ones for lead lists and review work:

So a typical business record (name, address, phone, website, rating) is an Enterprise call, and adding reviews moves it to Enterprise + Atmosphere.

The limits that shape the bill

Text Search returns 20 places per page and 60 per query. The Text Search docs say pageSize is "between 1 and 20" and the API "returns a maximum of 60 results across all pages." Each page is a separate billable request.

Reviews stop at five. The Places API reference describes reviews as "sorted by relevance. A maximum of 5 reviews can be returned." Each review carries text, rating, author, publish time and a visit date. There is no field for the owner's reply.

Most content can't be kept. Google's Places policies sum it up as "You must not pre-fetch, cache, or store Places API content beyond the allowed exceptions." The place ID is the exception: "You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely." A list you refresh and reuse means calling the API again.

Attribution comes with it. Places content shown without a Google map needs Google Maps attribution (the logo, or the text where space is tight), and reviews and photos must credit their authors.

Worked examples: what the Places API costs

These use Google's published rates for one month, starting from zero usage. Your billing account's other Places traffic shares the same free caps and tiers.

Example 1: 10,000 places with phone, website and rating

The pattern most tutorials use: find place IDs with Text Search (IDs Only, free), then call Place Details for each place with the fields you need.

Need only name and address? Place Details Pro costs 5,000 free, then 5,000 ÷ 1,000 × $17.00 = $85.00.

The same 10,000 places from the Google Maps Scraper on Scrape.ly cost 10,000 × $0.0036 = $36.00 in place fees, with phone, website, rating, opening hours, categories and coordinates whenever Maps shows them. Our 10-place run on 22 October 2026 took 5.7 seconds and was charged $0.036888 in total, platform usage included, which scales to about $36.89 per 10,000.

Example 2: the same 10,000 places with five reviews each

Add reviews to the Place Details field mask and every call moves to Enterprise + Atmosphere.

You get at most five reviews per place, sorted by relevance, with no owner replies. On Scrape.ly, the Google Maps Scraper returns the places (10,000 × $0.0036 = $36.00) and the Google Maps Reviews Scraper with maxReviews: 5 returns five reviews per place (50,000 × $0.0004 = $20.00): $56.00 in event fees. You also choose the order (newest, most relevant, highest or lowest rating) and get the owner's reply wherever there is one.

Example 3: every review of 10 restaurants

Our Google Maps run for "restaurant" in Konstanz returned 10 places with 15,206 reviews between them on Google Maps. Here is what each route gets you:

The Places API can't return the other 15,156 reviews at any price. The Google Maps Reviews Scraper reads Google's review feed page by page, about 50 reviews per request, and can sort by newest, most relevant, highest or lowest rating, stop at a start date or keep only reviews that contain a keyword. Our 5-review run on 22 October 2026 was charged $0.002177 in total. To pull every review of one place in Python:

import os
from scrapely_client import ScrapelyClient

client = ScrapelyClient(os.environ["SCRAPELY_TOKEN"], api_url="https://api.scrape.ly")

run = client.actor("cornerledger/google-maps-reviews-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "placeIds": ["ChIJiyrktwL3mkcRtm3X0WIevmk"],
        "maxReviews": 0,
        "reviewsSort": "newest",
        "personalData": False,
    }
)
print(run.status)  # SUCCEEDED, FAILED, ABORTED or TIMED-OUT
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item["publishedAtDate"], item["stars"], item.get("responseFromOwnerText"))

maxReviews: 0 means every review. That place (The Dom, from our Konstanz run) had 1,136 reviews, so the review fees come to about 1,136 × $0.0004 = $0.45. personalData: False leaves reviewer names and profiles out.

Extra costs to plan for

• One field can change the SKU. Adding rating to a Place Details request for name and address moves it from Pro ($17) to Enterprise ($20); adding reviews moves it to $25.
• Free caps don't pool. Each SKU has its own cap, so a pipeline that uses Text Search Pro, Place Details Enterprise and Photos gets three separate allowances, not one budget.
• Photos are extra. Place Details Photos costs $7 per 1,000 after 1,000 free.
• Partial and duplicate pages. Text Search bills every successful page, whatever it returns.
• Support. Standard support is included; Enhanced support with 24x7 response is $500 a month plus 3% of monthly charges.
• Refreshing data. Because most content falls under the caching restrictions, keeping a list current means paying for the calls again.

Places API vs Scrape.ly for bulk place and review data

Google's API is the licensed way to show Maps content inside your app, next to a Google map, with Google's attribution. When the job is bulk data (a lead list, a market scan, review analysis), Scrape.ly gets you more of it for less:

Every Scrape.ly run can also carry a maximum charge, so a large job stops at the dollar amount you set. For an endpoint-style view of the same data, the Google Maps API page shows the request and the response. For the full no-code and API walkthrough, read How to scrape Google Maps, and for reviews, How to scrape Google Maps reviews.

Is scraping Google Maps allowed?

The Places API comes with a license and with Google's terms. Scraping public Maps pages is a different question, and the answer depends on where you are, what you collect and what you do with it. Reviews carry personal data such as reviewer names, so collect only what you need (the reviews Actor has a switch to leave names out) and follow the privacy law that applies to you. Scrape.ly Store Actors collect only publicly available data shown to any visitor. Our guide Is web scraping legal? covers the cases and rules; it is not legal advice.

FAQ

Is the Google Maps API free?

Partly. Every SKU includes free calls each month: 10,000 for Essentials, 5,000 for Pro and 1,000 for Enterprise SKUs, and new customers get a $300 trial credit. Beyond the caps you pay per 1,000 calls, and you need billing enabled from the start.

What happened to the $200 monthly credit?

Google replaced it on March 1, 2025. Instead of one $200 credit across all products, each SKU now has its own free monthly calls in the Essentials, Pro and Enterprise categories.

How much does the Places API cost per 1,000 requests?

At the first paid tier: Text Search Pro $32, Enterprise $35 and Enterprise + Atmosphere $40; Place Details Essentials $5, Pro $17, Enterprise $20 and Enterprise + Atmosphere $25. Prices fall above 100,000 events a month.

How do I get more than 5 reviews from the Places API?

You can't. Google's API reference says a maximum of 5 reviews can be returned per place, sorted by relevance. To get every review, with owner replies and newest-first sorting, use the Google Maps Reviews Scraper at $0.40 per 1,000 reviews.

Can I store data from the Places API?

Mostly not. Google's Places policies say you must not pre-fetch, cache or store Places API content beyond the allowed exceptions; place IDs are the exception and can be stored indefinitely. A Scrape.ly run saves its results to a dataset you export as JSON, CSV or Excel.

What is the best Google Maps API alternative for bulk data?

Scrape.ly. Its Google Maps Scraper returns places with phone, website, rating and hours for $3.60 per 1,000, and its reviews scraper returns every public review for $0.40 per 1,000, with $5 of free usage every month. Use Google's API when you display results on a Google map in your own app.