📅 Updated April 2026 · 6 min read
Google Maps Geocoding API
Pricing 2026
Google charges $5.00 per 1,000 geocoding requests after the $200 free credit. At scale, that becomes thousands per month. Here's the full breakdown — and what Mapsi charges for the same coverage.
Quick Answer
- Free tier: ~40,000 geocoding requests/month (within $200 credit)
- After free tier: $5.00 per 1,000 requests (0–500K volume band)
- Volume discount: drops to $4.00/1k after 100K, $3.00/1k after 500K, $1.50/1k after 1M
- Credit card: required before any API key is issued
- Batch geocoding: not available on Google — only single-request API
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Geocoding Cost at Real Usage Levels
| Monthly requests | Google Maps | Mapsi | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40,000 (free tier) | $0 | $0 (free) | — |
| 300,000/mo (10K/day) | ~$250 | $15 | 94% cheaper |
| 1,050,000/mo (35K/day) | ~$3,625 | $29 | 99% cheaper |
| 4,200,000/mo (140K/day) | ~$8,350 | $99 | 99% cheaper |
Google: tiered pay-as-you-go after $200 credit. Mapsi: flat-rate daily limit, all APIs included. April 2026.
02
What Google's Geocoding API Doesn't Offer
- No batch geocoding — single address per request only. Processing 50,000 records requires 50,000 separate API calls.
- No address normalisation — raw string input, no structured parsing before geocoding.
- No reverse batch — bulk coordinate-to-address conversion not available.
- Proprietary JSON — output format is Google-specific; migrating later requires a response format rewrite.
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Mapsi Geocoding API — What's Different
Batch up to 30,000 records
Async job queue — submit once, poll for results. Included in Hobby plan and above.
Reverse batch (500 points)
Convert up to 500 lat/lng pairs to structured addresses in a single synchronous call.
Address Normalisation
Parse and standardise raw strings before geocoding. Improves accuracy on messy data.
Open GeoJSON output
Pelias-standard response. No vendor lock-in. Easy migration path.
Try Mapsi Geocoding Free
3,000 calls/day free. No credit card. First call in under 2 minutes.