Transparent Geolocation Pricing Model Suitable For Business

Google Maps has gone through several revamps throughout the years. The most important update, however, rolled out in 2018. This update brought in a new pricing structure to base the Google Maps APIs that help deliver customized routes, maps, and experiences for each user. The Google Maps API has a basic model of pay-as-you-go that also allows street views or 360-degree views. Each service offered under the Google umbrella has a different pricing structure that it abides by. You need to know in detail about the services they provide and select a geolocation pricing model that best suits your needs. 

API calls for Google Maps

Google Maps offers a freemium deal. They allow each user to make $200 worth of calls every month for free. This generally breaks down to around 28,000 loads of dynamic maps, 100,000 loads of static maps, 40,000 calls for directions, and 40,000 calls for geolocation. It also allows unlimited usage of the simple dynamic maps in apps that are native to mobile. In simple words, you can now pin a location and let users access it for free. You will only be asked to pay for the setup if you use embedded APIs in directions or search mode.

This could, however, also lead to more expenses as when a user uses autocomplete, it sends out separate API calls for each letter they search, a location they choose, and add direction to the nearest location. 

Billing details

In line with the geolocation pricing model that Google rolled out in 2018, a user has to register and provide billing details to send out any API calls regardless of whether they are free or paid. If you do not abide by the same, the API key will not generate, and the call will return you to an error. So, it is advised to register and provide billing details even if your usage is way less and generally falls in the freemium deal. However, Google allows you to set a cap on your spending to help users maintain their expenses. If you do not want to have your account exceed the free $200 worth of usage, you can set a cap at the same. 

Pricing models

Since the ban on keyless use of APIs, several businesses have suffered the cost. For those who were not active users, it remains the same. But numerous users have incurred additional expenses in the last few years. Now, let’s discuss the geolocation pricing models and help you find the best one for your company. 

• Static maps that display maps as images are free for mobile and charge $2 for 1000 requests.
• Dynamic maps that display customizable and interactive maps are free for mobiles and charge $7 for every 1000 requests.
• Local context maps that provide information on nearby places directly on the maps are free during BETA and require dynamic maps to function. This makes the charge $7 for every 1000 requests.
• Static street view maps that display interactive street views charge $7 per 1000 requests.
• Dynamic street view maps display interactive street views, and 360 panoramic images charge $14 for every 1000 requests.

These charges are applicable as per two plans offered by Google Maps for Business. 

• Standard Plan: This plan allows $200 worth of free usage divided and capped daily but billed monthly. This means that a user can send out around $7 worth of API calls every day for a month for free.

• Premium Plan: This plan has remained the same ever since Google Maps for Business came into existence. This plan is yearly and requires a pre-paid payment that is issued based on credits licensed. This plan does not have a cap on daily or monthly usage and comes packed with Google Support.

Now that you are aware of the set up of the geolocation pricing model by Google, you can easily make an informed choice based on your company’s usage requirements. However, if you are looking for a better alternative, the choice you need to go for is DB-IP. They provide three ultimate packages to suit your needs in the best possible manner. Their base plan starts with just 8.29 Euros a month and consists of 2000-50000 requests per day. The APIs are all over HTTPS and in over 50 languages. They offer 256 IPs batch queries, single CORS domain, and email support. Their Premium plan costing 99.90 Euros a month allows you to make 200,000 to 1,000,000 calls per day. They also offer everything that is part of the standard plan and more. You get up to 5 CORS domains, 99.95%uptime guarantee, and priority support. Their enterprise plan costs 499.90 Euros a month and comes packed with unlimited batch queries, unlimited CORS domains, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, dedicated infrastructure, and priority support.