Google Maps API Pricing and Integration (2026)

Description

Integration Google Maps Platform integration and API pricing

Google Maps Platform is billed per 1,000 calls to each API product, with a free monthly allowance per product: 10,000 calls for Essentials products at global rates, or 70,000 for accounts that qualify for India pricing, as of October 2026. WavX builds maps, address search, routing and live tracking into apps and designs the usage to stay cheap. Prices here are from Google's pricing pages as read on 2 October 2026.

Discuss an integration Last updated 2 October 2026

How Google prices the Maps APIs

Google Maps Platform is pay-as-you-go. Every API product is a SKU with a price per 1,000 billable events, and usage is added up across all projects linked to one billing account each month. As of October 2026:

SKUs sit in three categories: Essentials, Pro and Enterprise.

Each SKU has free monthly usage. At global rates that is 10,000 events for Essentials, 5,000 for Pro and 1,000 for Enterprise. Google's FAQ says this replaced the old USD 200 monthly credit on 1 March 2025. The allowance resets on the first of each month, Pacific time.

India has its own price list, in effect since 1 August 2024, for accounts with billing in India and a large majority of usage in India. Its free usage is 70,000, 35,000 and 7,000 events, and it has one price up to 5 million events.

Volume discounts apply automatically at global rates, with lower prices above 100,000 events a month.

Subscriptions exist (Starter at $100 for 50,000 calls a month, Essentials at $275 for 100,000, Pro at $1,200 for 250,000), but Google's page excludes customers eligible for India pricing.

SKU

Category

Global: free per month

Global: per 1,000, first paid tier

India: free per month

India: per 1,000, up to 5M

Dynamic Maps (web map load)

Essentials

10,000

$7.00

70,000

$2.10

Maps SDK (Android, iOS)

Unlimited

none

Maps Embed

Autocomplete Requests

$2.83

$0.85

Geocoding

$5.00

$1.50

Routes: Compute Routes Essentials

Routes: Compute Route Matrix Essentials

Routes: Compute Routes Pro

Pro

5,000

$10.00

35,000

$3.00

Places API Place Details Pro

$17.00

$5.10

Navigation SDK request

Enterprise

1,000

$25.00

7,000

$8.00

Prices are in US dollars on both lists; Google bills new India-based customers in rupees.

A worked monthly cost

Take a delivery business with a dispatcher dashboard and a customer tracking page. In one month it uses 150,000 web map loads, 120,000 autocomplete requests (billed per request, no sessions), 90,000 geocoding requests and 200,000 basic route calculations.

Usage

India pricing

Global pricing

Dynamic Maps

150,000

(150,000 − 70,000) × $2.10 ÷ 1,000 = $168.00

90,000 × $7.00 + 50,000 × $5.60, per 1,000 = $910.00

120,000

(120,000 − 70,000) × $0.85 ÷ 1,000 = $42.50

90,000 × $2.83 + 20,000 × $2.27, per 1,000 = $300.10

90,000

(90,000 − 70,000) × $1.50 ÷ 1,000 = $30.00

80,000 × $5.00, per 1,000 = $400.00

Compute Routes Essentials

200,000

(200,000 − 70,000) × $1.50 ÷ 1,000 = $195.00

90,000 × $5.00 + 100,000 × $4.00, per 1,000 = $850.00

Total for the month

$435.50

$2,460.10

The global column drops the first 10,000 events of each SKU, charges the next 90,000 at the first tier and the rest at the 100,001 to 500,000 tier, which is how Google's own example on the pricing page is worked. At half this volume on India pricing, autocomplete and geocoding would both fall inside the free allowance and cost nothing.

Data that flows each way

Event or object

Direction

What your system does with it

Text typed in an address box

Your app to Places Autocomplete

Shows suggestions; sends a session token so the search is billed as one session

Chosen place or address

Your app or server to Place Details or Geocoding

Stores the coordinates and the place ID with the order

Origin, destination, stops

Your server to the Routes API

Receives distance, duration and a route line for ETAs and fares

Driver GPS positions

Driver app to your server to the customer's map

Your own data; drawn as a moving marker on a map already loaded

Map tiles

Google to browser or app

Rendered by the SDK; billed per load on the web

Usage and cost

Google Cloud to you

Feeds quotas and budget alerts

The main flow, step by step

Create a Google Cloud project and a billing account, with India as the billing country if you qualify.

Enable only the APIs the product needs.

Create a separate key for each app, with an application restriction and an API restriction on each.

Render maps in the client with the Maps JavaScript API or the mobile SDK. Call Routes and Geocoding from your server with a server-side key.

Use session tokens with autocomplete, and end each session with one details request.

Set quotas and budget alerts before launch.

Rules and gotchas Google documents

A map load is billed when the map is created. Google's usage page says a map load triggers the Dynamic Maps SKU; panning and zooming afterwards do not add loads.

Autocomplete sessions change the bill. A session that ends in Place Details Pro, Enterprise or Address Validation makes its autocomplete requests free. One that ends in Place Details Essentials bills the first 12 requests.

Geocoding results shown on a map must be shown on a Google map. The policy page also restricts caching, with one exception: place IDs can be stored indefinitely.

Unrestricted keys are your liability. Google holds the account owner financially responsible for charges from key abuse.

Features decide the SKU. Google's Routes billing page bills basic requests with up to 10 intermediate waypoints as Essentials, traffic-aware routing as Pro, and two-wheel routing as Enterprise. A delivery app that routes for motorbikes is on the dearest of the three.

Common failures follow from these: a web key copied from the page source and used by someone else, a map re-created on every screen change, geocoding the same address on every page view instead of once at order time, and autocomplete firing on every keystroke with no session token.

Lower-cost alternatives

Checked on each provider's own site on 2 October 2026:

Provider

What its site publishes

Suits

Mapbox

Web map loads free up to 50,000 a month, then $5.00 per 1,000; mobile SDKs free up to 25,000 monthly active users; temporary geocoding and directions free up to 100,000 requests a month

Custom-styled maps, global coverage

Ola Maps

100,000 API calls a month free; from 1 September 2026, the 100,000 to 5 million tier lists ₹0.099 per geocoding request, ₹0.199 per directions request and ₹0.141 per dynamic map load, on prepaid credits

India-only products priced in rupees

Mappls (MapmyIndia)

Maps, search, routing and tracking APIs with a "Start for free" sign-up; no price list on its API page, so pricing is by sign-up or enquiry

India address data and tracking

OpenStreetMap data with MapLibre

MapLibre's rendering libraries are open source. OpenStreetMap's own tile servers are donation-funded, have no SLA and may block heavy use, so you need a paid tile host or your own

Plotting your own points at high volume

What WavX builds around it

Maps, GPS and live tracking are part of mobile app development at WavX, and of products such as fleet management software for logistics businesses . For a client who needs maps, WavX builds:

Address capture with autocomplete, session tokens and a stored place ID.

Server-side routing, distance and ETA, with results saved so the same route is not bought twice.

Live tracking that sends driver positions through your own server and moves a marker without reloading the map.

Restricted keys, quotas and budget alerts, plus a usage report by SKU.

A provider layer, so a map or routing provider can be swapped without rewriting the app.

WavX does not publish a price for a single integration; it is quoted after scoping. For planning, the software cost estimator carries third-party integrations as a ₹60,000 feature line on top of a base build. Its output is a planning range, not a quote. The wider offer is under API and system integration services, and ride-hailing costs are worked through in the cost to build an app like Uber .

When you do not need a developer

A map on a contact page. Maps Embed is listed with unlimited free usage. Paste the embed code.

Directions to your shop. A link to Google Maps costs nothing.

A store locator with a few branches. Many site builders include one.

Custom integration earns its cost when location is part of the product: dispatch, delivery tracking, service-area checks, or fares that depend on distance.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Google Maps API free?

Partly. As of October 2026 each product has a free monthly allowance: 10,000 billable events for Essentials products, 5,000 for Pro and 1,000 for Enterprise at global rates, and 70,000, 35,000 and 7,000 for accounts on India pricing. Maps Embed and the mobile Maps SDK are listed as unlimited. Beyond the allowance you pay per 1,000 events.

Is there still a $200 monthly credit?

No. Google's billing FAQ says the USD 200 monthly credit was replaced on 1 March 2025 by a free monthly usage threshold for each Core Services product.

Who gets India pricing?

Google's India pricing FAQ says it is for customers whose accounts have billing in India and a large majority of usage in India, and that Google monitors eligibility and may disqualify accounts that do not meet it. New India-based customers are billed in rupees.

How do I stop a surprise bill?

Restrict every API key to the apps and APIs that need it, enable only the APIs you use, and set quotas and budget alerts in the Google Cloud console. Google's security guidance states that you are financially responsible for charges caused by abuse of unrestricted API keys.

Should I use Google Maps or a cheaper provider?

If you need Google's place data and address search quality, use Google and design for low call volume. If you mostly need to draw a map and plot your own points, Mapbox, Ola Maps or an OpenStreetMap-based stack can cost less. Check each provider's terms and coverage for your cities before choosing.

Sources

Google Maps Platform: core services pricing list (global) · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: core services pricing list, India · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: India pricing and billing FAQ · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: pricing overview · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: billing FAQ · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: subscriptions · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: Maps JavaScript API usage and billing · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: Routes API usage and billing · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: Autocomplete (New) session pricing · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: Geocoding API policies · read 2 October 2026

Google Maps Platform: security guidance for API keys · read 2 October 2026

Mapbox pricing · read 2 October 2026

Ola Maps pricing · read 2 October 2026

Mappls (MapmyIndia) APIs · read 2 October 2026

OpenStreetMap Foundation: tile usage policy · read 2 October 2026

MapLibre · read 2 October 2026

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