1. Side-by-Side Cost Audit: 1,000,000 Places per Month
Here is what 1,000,000 business records cost when including phone numbers, websites, opening hours, and ratings:
| Provider | Base Search Cost | Contact + Atmosphere Surcharge | Total Monthly Bill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Google Places API | $24,000 | +$8,000 ($3/1K Contact + $5/1K Atmosphere) | $32,000 / mo |
| SerpApi (50,000 calls @ 20/page) | $375 – $500 | Included | $375 – $500 / mo |
| Outscraper | $1,000 – $1,900 | Included | $1,000 – $1,900 / mo |
| GoogleMapsAPI.io (Business Plan) | $200 (5M Credits) | $0.00 (Included) | $200 / mo (99% savings) |
2. One-Line Base URL Swap vs. Native /v1/places/* Upgrade
You can either point your existing Google Places client to https://api.googlemapsapi.io/maps/api/place/... or upgrade to our cleaner /v1/places/* endpoints:
Drop-In Compatibility Route & Native /v1/places/search
Both routes authenticate with your gm_live_ API key:
# Option A: Drop-in Google Places compatibility path
curl "https://api.googlemapsapi.io/maps/api/place/textsearch/json?query=plumbers+in+Austin+TX&key=gm_live_your_api_key"
# Option B: Native GoogleMapsAPI.io /v1/places/search
curl "https://api.googlemapsapi.io/v1/places/search?q=plumbers+in+Austin+TX&limit=50" \
-H "x-api-key: gm_live_your_api_key"Interactive Engineering Workbench · GET /v1/places/search
Verify real-time latency, credit math & JSON schema
5,000 places/day
5,000 reviews/day
500 domains/day
HTTP Calls / Day
600
Up to 100 items/call
Credit Unit
$1 = 10,000
Unified across 8 routes
Empty Result Fee
0 Credits
$0.00 for 0 matches
Estimated Monthly Pipeline Cost (30 Days)
$54.00/ mo on Business ($76.95 on Pro)
Monthly consumption: 1,350,000 Credits (45,000 Credits/day)
GoogleMapsAPI.io (Business $0.20/1K):$54.00 / mo
Official Google Places API ($32/1K):$5175.00 / mo
Empty search / unfound email fee:$0.00 (0 Credits)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I pass my API key via the ?key= query parameter on /maps/api/place/*/json routes?
- Yes. For drop-in compatibility with existing Google Maps SDKs and HTTP clients, our gateway accepts both the x-api-key header and the ?key=gm_live_... query parameter on /maps/api/place/*/json routes.