Ditch Google Maps
Switch to Mapsi
Same enterprise-grade geocoding, places search, and mapping APIs you rely on — at 84–125× lower cost. No billing surprises. No mandatory SDK. Open standards throughout.
Why Developers Switch
Google's pricing punishes growth
Google Maps API was designed for maps, not for developers building geocoding pipelines, logistics apps, or address-heavy SaaS products. The billing is unpredictable and scales against you.
Unpredictable billing. Pay-per-call pricing means a spike in usage — a viral feature, a data import job — can generate a $3,000+ invoice overnight. No flat cap unless you manually set a quota and break your app.
Flat monthly pricing. $29/month for 35,000 calls/day. $99/month for 140,000. You always know your bill. No billing alerts. No usage-triggered invoices. Just a single line item in your budget.
Vendor lock-in by design. Google's SDK, their format, their terms. Platform-specific restrictions limit what you can do with their data. Can't cache, can't store, can't extract without violating ToS.
Open standards. Standard REST API. GeoJSON output. No mandatory SDK. Works with Python, JS, Go, PHP, cURL — any HTTP client. Pelias GeoJSON is an open format you can freely use and store.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Mapsi vs Google Maps API
Covering the APIs that matter most to developers building geocoding-heavy applications.
Migration
Switching takes less than an hour
The endpoint URL and response format are the main changes. Here's the geocoding call side-by-side.
// Google Geocoding API
const url = `https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=${address}&key=${GOOGLE_KEY}`;
const res = await fetch(url);
const data = await res.json();
const lat = data.results[0].geometry.location.lat;
const lng = data.results[0].geometry.location.lng;
const label = data.results[0].formatted_address;// Mapsi Geocoding API
const res = await fetch(
`https://mapsi.dev/v1/geocode?text=${address}`,
{ headers: { 'X-API-Key': MAPSI_KEY } }
);
const data = await res.json();
const [lng, lat] = data.data.features[0].geometry.coordinates;
const label = data.data.features[0].properties.label;Note: GeoJSON coordinates are [lon, lat] order — standard per the GeoJSON spec.
Pricing
Predictable pricing. Always.
All plans include every API. No à la carte billing. No separate charges for geocoding vs. places vs. static maps.
Free
$0 / mo
3,000 calls/day · forever
- All 11 APIs
- 3 requests/second
- No credit card required
Most Popular
Growth
$29 / mo
35,000 calls/day · Google costs ~$3,625
- All 11 APIs
- 15 requests/second
- Batch geocoding (5K records)
- Multiple API keys
Business
$99 / mo
140,000 calls/day · Google costs ~$8,350
- All 11 APIs
- 25 requests/second
- Batch geocoding (30K records)
- Priority processing
Who Switches to Mapsi
Built for developers, startups & scaleups
Whether you're building a logistics app, an address input form, or a data pipeline — Mapsi's flat pricing means costs stay predictable as you grow.
You need a reliable cheap maps API that won't surprise you with a $2K invoice when your app goes viral. Mapsi's $15 Hobby plan gives you 10,000 calls/day — enough to launch and validate without financial risk.
Geocoding thousands of addresses daily? The maps API for logistics that scales with you. Batch geocode up to 30,000 records at once, plus routing and matrix APIs — all in one flat plan.
Adding address autocomplete or location features to your SaaS? Use Mapsi as your maps API for SaaS. Predictable cost per month means you can model it into your own pricing without guesswork.
Geocoding a database of addresses or enriching datasets? Google charges per call. Mapsi charges a flat rate. For a 1M-address enrichment job, the difference is thousands of dollars.
FAQ
Common questions about switching
Is Mapsi really 99% cheaper than Google Maps API?
Yes, for high-volume use. At 35,000 geocoding calls/day, Google Maps API costs approximately $3,625/month (at $5 per 1,000 calls). Mapsi's Growth plan costs $29/month flat — that's 125× cheaper. At 140,000 calls/day, Google costs ~$8,350/month vs Mapsi's $99/month flat (84× cheaper). The gap is even larger when you factor in Places Search and other APIs that Google charges separately.
How long does it take to migrate from Google Maps API to Mapsi?
Most developers migrate in under an hour. The main change is the endpoint URL and the response format (Mapsi returns standard GeoJSON). Coordinates come back as [longitude, latitude] per the GeoJSON spec. See the side-by-side migration example above for a direct before/after code comparison.
What APIs does Mapsi include in the flat monthly price?
All 11 APIs are included at no extra cost: Geocoding, Reverse Geocoding, Batch Geocoding, Address Autocomplete, Places Search, Static Maps, Point-in-Polygon, Address Normalization, Timezone Resolution, Postcode Lookup, and Routing (via Valhalla). Google Maps charges separately for most of these — the total bill for equivalent coverage can be 10–100× higher.
Is there a free Google Maps API alternative?
Mapsi offers an always free tier. You get 3,000 calls per day, completely free — no restrictions, and every API is available on the free tier, unlike free tiers from other platforms. If you need a permanently free option for very low volumes, open-source self-hosted stacks like Nominatim (OSM) also exist, but they require server maintenance and have no SLA. Mapsi is the best low-cost option if you need reliability and global coverage without the overhead of self-hosting.
Does Mapsi work with JavaScript, Python, and other languages?
Yes. Mapsi is a pure REST API — any language or framework that can make an HTTP request works: JavaScript/Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, Ruby, Java, cURL, and more. There is no mandatory SDK. The documentation includes code examples for common languages, and the Playground lets you test live without writing any code.
What is the global coverage and accuracy of Mapsi geocoding?
Mapsi covers 200+ countries using OpenStreetMap data enriched with official address databases (OpenAddresses, Who's on First). Urban coverage in North America, Europe, and Australasia is comparable to Google Maps. Rural and developing-region coverage is strong but may be less granular in some areas. For most geocoding workloads — logistics, address validation, location search — Mapsi accuracy is production-grade.
Ready to stop overpaying?
Start free with 3,000 calls/day. No credit card required. Migration takes under an hour.
Get Started Free →Questions? Read the docs or try the Playground