Last December we announced how we will be making it easier for you to explore more for free1, easily find the products you need, and have access to automatic volume discounts online. Now that these updates are in place, we interviewed Tina Weyand, Senior Director of Product Management for Google Maps Platform, to address the most commonly asked customer questions.
Q: How can I best select products from Essentials, Pro, and Enterprise?
A: The Essentials, Pro and Enterprise options provide a framework for you to quickly find what you need. These categories are based on the level of customization and number of features offered by a product. These are not packages; you can mix and match across these categories to create your ideal solution. The best part is each category comes with free API calls per SKU which allows you to tailor an ideal solution to fit your needs.
Q How is the free tier changing?
A: We have not changed the list prices of our products. In fact, we now offer free usage per product per month to enable developers to try many more of our products at no cost. You have access to 10K free calls per SKU per month for Essentials, 5K free calls per SKU per month for Pro and 1K free calls per SKU per month for Enterprise.2 The new free tier is intended to make it easier and more cost effective for you to test and build with our products. And, you can access up to $3,250 worth of free usage every month, distributed across all our products, instead of the previous fixed monthly $200 credit.
Q: What is an example of how developers can benefit from changes to the free tier?
A: Now you can try more of our products for free before deciding which APIs or SDKs best suit your needs, and if your usage stays under the monthly free usage limit, provide this solution at no cost. For example, if you're a real estate company that wants to help renters find the perfect neighborhood. You can start with Dynamic Maps to visualize a neighborhood. Use Data-driven styling to highlight school districts virtually or color-code counties by average home rental price. Help renters explore an area with Dynamic Street View and find relevant places like parks and restaurants with Nearby Search and Place Details.
The value that you derive from your usage depends on the Google Maps Platform products you use and the number of monthly calls you make. This example shows how a developer can get $320 worth of free usage using these five Google Maps Platform products.You can get up to $3,250 worth of free usage every month, distributed across all Google Maps Platform products. Value of free usage is calculated based on what a developer would pay if monthly free usage did not apply.
Q: How do these changes help online developers as their business grows?
A: Volume discounts are now available online, and they’re applied to your bill automatically. Our online volume discounts will continue to start at 20% for most products. For some products you can see discounts up to 4x higher (or 80%) when your usage exceeds 5 million monthly calls. This allows you to scale more easily and focus on building new experiences.
Q: Does Google Maps Platform have any programs to support non-profits and educational institutions?
A: Yes, we have a dedicated Google Maps Platform credits program to support nonprofit and educational organizations. Please refer to our public programs website to learn more about eligibility and how to apply.
Q: What does it mean if a service is designated as ‘legacy’?
A: On March 1, 2025, we designated three services, Places API, Directions API, and Distance Matrix APIs as legacy. Legacy services will not have new feature development and will only have automatic volume discounts scaling to 100,000+ monthly billable events.3 Developers who are already using these services today can continue to use them, and we'll provide ample notice prior to the start of the deprecation period, which in itself, usually lasts around 12 months. That being said, we now have newer versions of these services, with enhanced features, improved quality, and expanded volume discounts —we encourage our developers to migrate to our newer services to benefit from the latest updates. For further guidance on the newer services and migration, refer to our Legacy products and features page.
Q: How will these updates impact enterprise customers with higher volume direct contracts?
A: If you are an enterprise customer and have offline volume discounts, your existing contract remains the same. Please contact sales to discuss any specific questions.
Excited to see how it all works? Try our pricing calculator and to learn more, read our FAQs. Learn more about specific updates for Google Maps Platform customers in India here.
1 Free usage refers to monthly calls available at no cost.
2 Essentials Map Tiles APIs provide up to 100,000 calls at no cost per SKU per month.
3 If you're a developer with a negotiated agreement with Google Maps Platform, this will remain in effect until the end of the agreement's term. The only immediate change is the monthly free usage threshold.
