Google Places API Pricing in 2026: What Each SKU Costs per 1,000 Calls (and the $0.20/1K Alternative)

1. 2026 Google Places API & Geocoding SKU Cost per 1,000 Calls

Google Maps Platform categorizes every Places API, Geocoding API, and Geolocation API endpoint into Essentials, Pro, or Enterprise tiers. Once you exceed a SKU's monthly free call allowance, volume rates per 1,000 calls apply.

2. How Mixed FieldMask Headers Multiply Your Effective Cost per 1,000 Places

Every request to Google's Places API (New) requires an X-Goog-FieldMask header, and Google bills the entire call at the price of the most expensive field in that mask.

Suppose your backend calls Text Search to find local businesses along with their phone numbers, website URLs, opening hours, and customer ratings. Even if you only need one Enterprise attribute—such as places.nationalPhoneNumber or places.websiteUri—your request leaves the $32.00/1K Pro tier (5,000 free calls/month) and enters the $35.00/1K Enterprise tier (only 1,000 free calls/month). If you also include places.reviews in the FieldMask, the call moves to Enterprise + Atmosphere ($40.00/1K) while still returning at most 5 reviews per business.

Worse, Google bills per API request rather than per returned business record. If your city-grid scanner queries 20,000 coordinate bounding boxes and 8,000 of those boxes cover residential blocks or parks with 0 businesses, Google still bills you $280.00–$320.00 for those 8,000 empty responses. On PlacesData API, empty queries deduct 0 Credits ($0.00), and every returned business includes phone, website, domain, opening hours, rating, review count, and coordinates for 5 Credits ($0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places).

curl -sS "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/search?q=dental+clinics+in+Austin+TX&limit=20" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"

import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/search",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    params={"q": "dental clinics in Austin TX", "limit": 20},
    timeout=15,
).json()

for place in res["data"]:
    print(place["name"], place["phone"], place["website"], place["rating"], place["place_id"])

const res = await fetch(
  "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/search?q=dental+clinics+in+Austin+TX&limit=20",
  { headers: { "x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key" } }
);
const { data, meta } = await res.json();
console.log(`Fetched ${data.length} places (${meta.credits_charged} credits) in ${meta.took_ms}ms`);

{
  "code": 0,
  "provider": "https://placesdataapi.com",
  "status": "ok",
  "data": [
    {
      "place_id": "ChIJLwPMoJm1RIYRetVp1EtGm10",
      "cid": "6745129038471629104",
      "name": "Austin Dental Spa",
      "category": "Dental clinic",
      "phone": "+15124529296",
      "website": "https://www.austindentalspa.com/",
      "domain": "austindentalspa.com",
      "rating": 4.9,
      "reviews_count": 642,
      "address": "3305 Northland Dr #500, Austin, TX 78731",
      "latitude": 30.338412,
      "longitude": -97.756198
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "endpoint": "/v1/places/search",
    "count": 1,
    "credits_charged": 5,
    "took_ms": 39
  }
}

3. Real Monthly Bill at 10K, 100K, and 1M Places (Telemetry Verified)

Using live 30-day gateway telemetry (/telemetry.json: p50=39ms, p95=2999ms, 100% HTTP 200), here is what engineering teams pay at 10,000, 100,000, and 1,000,000 places when phone numbers and websites are required.