In December 2024 Google made an announcement about a major overhaul of the monthly credit system (also known as the free quota) for the Google Maps API. This API is used if you choose Google Maps as the mapping service that is used in your store locator (you can instead choose Mapbox or ExpressMaps if you don’t wish to use Google Maps). In typical Google fashion the email advising of these changes is rather confusing so we’ve broken down how these changes will apply to our store locator service.
Firstly, you will need to understand that there are four different Google Maps APIs that our store locator software requires to operate:
- Maps Javascript API - this is used to show the map in the locator and is charged once when the store locator page loads
- Places API - this is used by the address autocompletion in the search bar. This is charged once per session when someone types into the address search field (i.e. it is only charged the first time the address search is used, not for subsequent usage)
- Directions API - this is called if Directions are shown in the store locator. It is charged each time Directions are shown
- Geocoding API - this is called each time the 'My Location' button is pressed or if Automatic Geolocation is used at page load. It is charged each time the button is pressed
Current credit pricing structure (prior to March 1st, 2025)
Google gives each user a $200 monthly credit. Each time one of the above APIs is used, the cost of this API call is subtracted from this credit until if it goes to zero, you will receive an invoice for the amount used in that month. The costs of each API call are as follows:
- Maps Javascript API - $7 per 1,000 page loads
- Places API - $17 per 1,000 sessions
- Directions API - $5 per 1,000 directions requests
- Geocoding API - $5 per 1,000 geocoding requests
Your actual cost per month will depend on the specific usage mix of your store locator - that is, how often users of your store locator use each API. Generally speaking, you can expect around 25,000 locator loads per month before all of your $200 credit has been consumed.
We have a mapping cost calculator available here for the current pricing infrastructure and we will update this before the new pricing applies: https://www.storelocatorwidgets.com/mapcostcalculator
New credit pricing structure (after March 1st, 2025)
The new credit system grants a fixed number of free calls each month for each API (Google calls these monthly billable events). There are now three different categories of API call with different limits called Essentials, Pro, and Enterprise. However, all of the API calls that our locator uses as listed above are classed under the ‘Essentials’ category. The Essentials category gives you 10,000 free API calls per month per API.
The most used API in your store locator is almost always the Maps Javascript API which is called each time the page which holds your store locator is loaded. It’s technically possible that the Directions or Geocoding API calls could exceed this figure but this is unlikely. So, under the new credit system you would exceed the free credit if you exceed 10,000 locator loads per month.
This is a significant reduction in the free credit from the current system which allows up to 25,000 locator loads per month.
Estimating your new bill
If you already had a Google Maps API credential (key) set up for use in your store locator then you should have received an email from Google in December which provided an estimate of what your bill would look like, based on your September 2024 usage, under the new credit system.
If you didn’t receive this email, Google have released a pricing calculator here: https://mapsplatform.google.com/pricing-calculator/. To use this, adjust the ‘Dynamic Maps’ slider to your expected number of store locator loads per month. Generally you can leave the other sliders as is but you might also need to adjust the ‘Geocoding’ and ‘Directions’ sliders if your locator consumes more than 10,000 of these API calls per month.