Good Enough Maps Is the Google Places API free in 2026?
Short answer: the Google Places API is not simply “free.” It has free monthly usage thresholds by SKU. Once a Places API workload crosses the free threshold for the SKU it uses, it bills per 1,000 billable events.
That distinction matters because a real place-search feature usually does not use one generic “Places API” price. It uses Text Search, Nearby Search, Autocomplete, Place Details, or a combination of them, and each call is billed under the SKU that matches the endpoint and the fields requested.
The old $200 credit is gone
On March 1, 2025, Google replaced the old Google Maps Platform monthly credit with per-SKU free usage thresholds. Google describes the new model in its March 2025 pricing changes and pricing categories docs.
For non-India pricing, the broad pattern is:
| Category | Free monthly usage |
|---|---|
| Essentials | 10,000 billable events per SKU |
| Pro | 5,000 billable events per SKU |
| Enterprise | 1,000 billable events per SKU |
Those thresholds reset monthly. They are not pooled into one shared credit. If you use multiple SKUs, each SKU has its own threshold.
A useful place search usually lands in Pro
For Places API (New), Google says Text Search, Nearby Search, and Place Details use field masks, and you are billed at the highest SKU that applies to the fields you request (usage and billing docs).
That means the “free” question depends on what you ask for.
If you only need identifiers, an IDs-only SKU may be enough for part of a workflow. If you need a usable Text Search row with display name, formatted address, location, and place types, Google currently maps those fields to the Text Search Pro SKU. The Google Maps Platform price list is the source to check before you ship, but the practical lesson is stable: useful fields select the SKU, and that SKU has its own free threshold.
Worked example: 100,000 monthly text searches
Assume a Text Search Pro workload where one text search is one billable event and the response returns names, addresses, and locations, with no ratings, reviews, or atmosphere fields.
| Monthly searches | Free Pro threshold | Billable searches |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
| 100,000 | 5,000 | 95,000 |
| 1,000,000 | 5,000 | 995,000 |
At the first published Text Search Pro volume tier, 100,000 monthly searches is not a free-tier workload. It is a real bill. Volume discounts help at larger scale, but they do not turn a production search feature into a free feature.
Where Good Enough Maps fits
Good Enough Maps is narrower than Google Places. It does not do autocomplete, geocoding, routing, map tiles, photos, reviews, or the full Google Maps Platform. It does one job: server-side proximity search near a coordinate.
That narrower scope is why the pricing can be simpler:
| Plan | Monthly searches | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 10,000 | $0 |
| Starter | 100,000 | $19 |
| Pro | 1,000,000 | $99 |
Every plan has a hard cap. If you hit the cap, the API returns a 402 and stops. It does not roll into overage billing.
Use Google when you need the broader platform. Use Good Enough Maps when the thing you actually need is nearby place search from your backend.
FAQ
Is the Google Places API free?
Only up to each SKU’s monthly free usage threshold. Google now uses per-SKU free monthly thresholds instead of the old shared monthly credit. After the threshold, usage bills according to the SKU and volume tier.
What happened to the old Google Maps monthly credit?
Google replaced the $200 monthly credit with SKU-specific free usage thresholds on March 1, 2025. The official explanation is in Google’s March 2025 changes.
Does a free Google Places call return full place details?
Not usually. Useful place-search fields like names, formatted addresses, and locations generally select a higher-priced SKU with its own free monthly threshold. Check the current Places API usage and billing docs before deciding.
Last validated 2026-06-23.