# PlacesData API — Complete LLM & AI Agent Technical Reference (llms-full.txt)

> Real-time REST & Remote MCP API for Google Maps local business search, nearby bounding-box discovery, full place details, verified customer reviews, photos, autocomplete, reverse geocoding, and website B2B email & social profile enrichment.
> Base URL: `https://api.placesdataapi.com` | Main Website: `https://placesdataapi.com`
> Remote MCP Server (Streamable HTTP): `https://api.placesdataapi.com/mcp` | 1-Click OAuth 2.1 Connector: `https://mcp.placesdataapi.com/v1/mcp`
> AI Skill Manifest: `https://placesdataapi.com/SKILL.md` | MCP Registry Manifest: `https://placesdataapi.com/server.json`
> OpenAPI 3.1 Spec: `https://placesdataapi.com/openapi.json` | Compact Summary: `https://placesdataapi.com/llms.txt`
> Free Browser Tools: `https://placesdataapi.com/tools/local-business-email-finder` | Live Status & 7d p95 SLA: `https://placesdataapi.com/status` | Apify Migration Bridge: `https://placesdataapi.com/from-apify` | Forward & Reverse Geocoding Guide (geocode.io / geocod.io swap): `https://placesdataapi.com/docs/geocoding` | Geocodio Benchmark: `https://placesdataapi.com/compare/geocodio-alternative`

## 1. Authentication, Remote MCP & Core Architecture

- **Base URL**: `https://api.placesdataapi.com`
- **Authentication Header**: Pass either `x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key` OR `Authorization: Bearer pd_live_your_api_key` on every request.
- **1-Click Remote MCP & OAuth 2.1 (Claude Web, ChatGPT Connectors, Cursor)**:
  - 1-Click OAuth 2.1 DCR + PKCE `S256` Connector URL (read-only `mcp:tools:read` scope): `https://mcp.placesdataapi.com/v1/mcp` (`https://mcp.placesdataapi.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource`)
  - API-Key Streamable HTTP Endpoint (public `initialize` & `tools/list`): `https://api.placesdataapi.com/mcp` (alias: `https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/mcp`)
- **Free Trial & Sandbox Streak ($3.20 / 32,000 Total Free Credits)**: Every new account receives **$1.20 (12,000 Free Credits)** immediately upon sign-up at `https://placesdataapi.com/signup` with zero credit card, plus **+$1.00 (+10,000 Credits)** on Day-2 return and **+$1.00 (+10,000 Credits)** on 3-day integration via the Developer Sandbox Streak.
- **Zero Charge on Empty Searches & Errors**: Any search returning 0 results, enrichment finding 0 emails/socials, or 4xx/5xx response costs **0 Credits**.
- **Latency SLA**: Warm PostgreSQL 16 + GiST Spatial Index: `15–50 ms`; Live Upstream SERP & Domain Crawl: `0.8–2.5 s`.

## 2. Pricing & Record-Based Credit System ($1 = 10,000 Credits)

| Data Type / Endpoint | Credits | Base PAYG | Pro ($199/mo) | Business ($499/mo) | Batch Size |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Place Text & Nearby Search (`/v1/places/search`, `/v1/places/nearby`) | 5 Credits / place | $0.50 / 1K places | $0.28 / 1K places | $0.20 / 1K places | Up to 100 places/call |
| Customer Reviews & Photos (`/v1/places/reviews`, `/v1/places/photos`) | 2 Credits / item | $0.20 / 1K items | $0.11 / 1K items | $0.08 / 1K items | Up to 100 items/call |
| Full Place Details & B2B Lead Enrich (`/v1/places/details`, `/v1/leads/enrich`) | 20 Credits / call | $2.00 / 1K calls | $1.14 / 1K calls | $0.80 / 1K calls | 1 full profile / domain |
| Autocomplete & Reverse Geocode (`/v1/places/autocomplete`, `/v1/geocode/reverse`) | 5 Credits / call | $0.50 / 1K calls | $0.28 / 1K calls | $0.20 / 1K calls | 5–10 predictions |

## 3. Complete Endpoint Reference & Code Samples

### Google Maps Text Search (`GET /v1/places/search`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-search
- **Cost**: 5 Credits / place (min 10; 0 if empty) ($0.0005 / place ($0.20–$0.50 / 1K places))
- **Description**: Search Google Maps local businesses by natural-language query (e.g., 'coffee shops in SoHo, New York' or 'emergency plumbers in Austin, TX'). Returns structured business profiles including place_id, cid, phone number, website domain, rating, review count, opening hours, price level, and GPS coordinates.
- **Parameters**:
  - `q` (query, required): Free-text search query including business category and location (e.g., 'coffee shops in SoHo, New York'). [example: `coffee shops in SoHo, New York`]
  - `lat` (query, optional): Optional latitude coordinate to bias search results (-90 to 90). [example: `40.7233`]
  - `lng` (query, optional): Optional longitude coordinate to bias search results (-180 to 180). [example: `-74.003`]
  - `zoom` (query, optional): Map viewport zoom level (3 to 21, default 14). [example: `14`]
  - `limit` (query, optional): Maximum number of businesses to return (1 to 100, default 20). [example: `20`]
  - `region` (query, optional): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (e.g., 'us', 'gb', 'de'). [example: `us`]
  - `language` (query, optional): ISO 639-1 language code for localized names and categories (default 'en'). [example: `en`]
  - `fresh` (query, optional): Bypass the 30-day PostgreSQL index cache and force a live upstream Google Maps SERP fetch. [example: `false`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/search?q=coffee+shops+in+SoHo%2C+New+York" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/search?q=coffee+shops+in+SoHo%2C+New+York",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Nearby & Bounding-Box Search (`GET /v1/places/nearby`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-nearby
- **Cost**: 5 Credits / place (min 10; 0 if empty) ($0.0005 / place ($0.20–$0.50 / 1K places))
- **Description**: Discover Google Maps businesses inside a geographic viewport around exact GPS coordinates (lat, lng, zoom) or within an explicit bounding box (min_lat, min_lng, max_lat, max_lng). Ideal for grid-based territory scraping.
- **Parameters**:
  - `q` (query, required): Category or keyword to search within the target coordinates (e.g., 'italian restaurant', 'HVAC contractor'). [example: `italian restaurant`]
  - `lat` (query, required): Center latitude coordinate (-90 to 90). [example: `40.7233`]
  - `lng` (query, required): Center longitude coordinate (-180 to 180). [example: `-74.003`]
  - `zoom` (query, optional): Map viewport zoom level (3 to 21, default 15). [example: `15`]
  - `limit` (query, optional): Maximum number of businesses to return (1 to 100, default 20). [example: `20`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/nearby?q=italian+restaurant&lat=40.7233&lng=-74.003" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/nearby?q=italian+restaurant&lat=40.7233&lng=-74.003",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Place Details & Full Business Profile (`GET /v1/places/details`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-details
- **Cost**: 20 Credits / business profile ($0.002 / profile ($0.80–$2.00 / 1K profiles))
- **Description**: Retrieve the complete Google Business Profile by place_id, cid, or google_id. Includes verified contact info, rating breakdown (1-star to 5-star counts), full weekly opening hours, service attributes, and cached website contact enrichment.
- **Parameters**:
  - `place_id` (query, required): Google Maps Place ID (e.g., 'ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M'), numeric CID, or hex Google ID. [example: `ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M`]
  - `language` (query, optional): ISO 639-1 language code (default 'en'). [example: `en`]
  - `fresh` (query, optional): Bypass local PostgreSQL cache and fetch live from Google Maps. [example: `false`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/details?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/details?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Place Customer Reviews & Owner Replies (`GET /v1/places/reviews`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-reviews
- **Cost**: 2 Credits / review (min 10; 0 if empty) ($0.0002 / review ($0.08–$0.20 / 1K reviews))
- **Description**: Fetch verified customer reviews for any Google Maps business by place_id or cid. Supports sorting by newest, highest_rating, lowest_rating, or most_relevant, plus keyword filtering.
- **Parameters**:
  - `place_id` (query, required): Google Maps Place ID or numeric CID. [example: `ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M`]
  - `sort` (query, optional): Sort order: 'most_relevant', 'newest', 'highest_rating', or 'lowest_rating'. [example: `newest`]
  - `limit` (query, optional): Number of reviews to return (1 to 100, default 20). [example: `20`]
  - `query` (query, optional): Optional keyword filter to match inside review text (e.g., 'espresso', 'service'). [example: `espresso`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/reviews?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/reviews?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Place High-Resolution Photos (`GET /v1/places/photos`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-photos
- **Cost**: 2 Credits / photo (min 6; 0 if empty) ($0.0002 / photo ($0.08–$0.20 / 1K photos))
- **Description**: Retrieve high-resolution photo URLs, dimensions, categories (exterior, interior, food & drink, menu), and contributor attribution for a Google Maps business.
- **Parameters**:
  - `place_id` (query, required): Google Maps Place ID or numeric CID. [example: `ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M`]
  - `limit` (query, optional): Maximum number of photos to return (1 to 50, default 20). [example: `20`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/photos?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/photos?place_id=ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Website Email, Phone & Social Lead Enrichment (`GET /v1/leads/enrich`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/leads-enrich
- **Cost**: 20 Credits / enriched domain (0 if none found) ($0.002 / enriched domain ($0.80–$2.00 / 1K leads))
- **Description**: Crawl a business website domain (or look up by place_id) to extract verified B2B email addresses, direct phone numbers, contact page URLs, and social media profiles across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, and GitHub. Charges 0 Credits if no emails or social links are found.
- **Parameters**:
  - `domain` (query, required): Business website domain or URL (e.g., 'felixroastingco.com' or 'bluebottlecoffee.com'). [example: `felixroastingco.com`]
  - `place_id` (query, optional): Optional Google Maps Place ID to link enriched contacts back to the stored business profile. [example: `ChIJN5X_gWdZwokRck9rk2guJ1M`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/leads/enrich?domain=felixroastingco.com" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/leads/enrich?domain=felixroastingco.com",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Place & Address Typeahead Autocomplete (`GET /v1/places/autocomplete`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/places-autocomplete
- **Cost**: 5 Credits / request ($0.0005 / request ($0.20–$0.50 / 1K calls))
- **Description**: Real-time typeahead predictions for businesses, street addresses, cities, and landmarks with optional coordinate and country biasing.
- **Parameters**:
  - `q` (query, required): Partial text input from the user (e.g., '1600 Amphitheatre' or 'Felix Roast'). [example: `1600 Amphitheatre`]
  - `country` (query, optional): ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code restriction (e.g., 'US'). [example: `US`]
  - `lat` (query, optional): Optional latitude for proximity biasing. [example: `37.422`]
  - `lng` (query, optional): Optional longitude for proximity biasing. [example: `-122.084`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/autocomplete?q=1600+Amphitheatre" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/places/autocomplete?q=1600+Amphitheatre",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

---

### Reverse Geocoding (Coordinates to Address) (`GET /v1/geocode/reverse`)
- **Documentation URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/docs/geocode-reverse
- **Cost**: 5 Credits / request ($0.0005 / request ($0.20–$0.50 / 1K calls))
- **Description**: Convert raw GPS latitude and longitude coordinates into structured street addresses, postal codes, administrative areas, and corresponding Google Maps Place IDs.
- **Parameters**:
  - `lat` (query, required): Latitude coordinate (-90 to 90). [example: `40.722341`]
  - `lng` (query, required): Longitude coordinate (-180 to 180). [example: `-74.001298`]
  - `language` (query, optional): ISO 639-1 language code (default 'en'). [example: `en`]

```bash
curl "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/geocode/reverse?lat=40.722341&lng=-74.001298" \
  -H "x-api-key: pd_live_your_api_key"
```

```python
import requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.placesdataapi.com/v1/geocode/reverse?lat=40.722341&lng=-74.001298",
    headers={"x-api-key": "pd_live_your_api_key"},
    timeout=30,
)
print(res.json())
```

## 4. Engineering Guides & Architecture Blueprints

### How to Scrape Google Maps Local Business Leads with Python & Node.js (2026 Guide)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/scrape-google-maps-python-nodejs
- **Summary**: Production engineering guide to extracting Google Maps business leads, phone numbers, coordinates, and opening hours at scale using bounding-box grid pagination in Python and Node.js.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Official Google Places Text Search caps results at 60 places per query (3 pages of 20) and bills $32.00 per 1,000 requests.
  - To capture 100% of businesses across a dense metro area (e.g., all 1,800 restaurants in Manhattan), subdivide the city into a 0.02° × 0.02° latitude/longitude grid and query GET /v1/places/nearby.
  - Deduplicate overlapping viewport pins using the canonical place_id (ChIJ...) or numeric cid returned on every record.
  - Empty grid cells (parks, water, residential blocks) return 0 records and cost 0 Credits.

### How to Extract Verified Business Emails & Social Profiles from Google Maps Leads
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/extract-business-emails-from-google-maps
- **Summary**: Turn Google Maps business listings into verified B2B outbound leads with emails, E.164 phones, LinkedIn, and Instagram handles using /v1/places/search + /v1/leads/enrich.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Step 1: Query GET /v1/places/search to collect target businesses along with their normalized root domain (e.g., felixroastingco.com) and E.164 phone number.
  - Step 2: Pass each unique business domain to GET /v1/leads/enrich?domain=... to crawl the website's homepage, /contact, and /about pages in real time.
  - Our enrichment engine extracts general, sales, and founder emails plus LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok links.
  - If a business website has no discoverable email or social link, 0 Credits are charged.

### Google Maps Reviews API Without the 5-Review Places API Cap (Python & Node.js Guide)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/google-maps-reviews-sentiment-api-guide
- **Summary**: Extract unlimited verified Google Maps customer reviews per business sorted by newest or lowest rating at $0.08–$0.20 per 1,000 reviews—without Google Cloud's 5-review cap.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Official Google Places Details ($25/1K Enterprise + Atmosphere SKU) hard-caps the reviews[] array at 5 reviews total and forbids sorting by newest or 1-star ratings.
  - GET /v1/places/reviews accepts any ChIJ... Place ID, numeric cid, or 0x... hex ID and supports sort=newest, sort=lowest_rating, sort=highest_rating, and query=<keyword>.
  - Each review record includes review_id, rating (1–5), review_text, published_at, is_local_guide, owner_response, and attached photo URLs.
  - Pricing is just 2 Credits per returned review ($0.20 per 1,000 reviews PAYG base, or $0.08 per 1,000 on Business; 0 Credits if empty).

### Migrating from Official Google Places API: Cut Your Bill by 95% with Zero Schema Lock-In
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/migrate-from-google-places-api-save-90-percent
- **Summary**: Step-by-step migration guide from Google Cloud Places API ($32/1K calls) to PlacesData API ($0.20–$0.50/1K places) using drop-in compatibility endpoints or native /v1/places/* routes.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Google Cloud Places API charges $32.00 per 1,000 Text Search Pro calls when you request phone numbers, websites, opening hours, or ratings.
  - PlacesData API includes phone, website, opening hours, rating, review count, and coordinates in every search record for $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places.
  - Use our drop-in /maps/api/place/textsearch/json and /maps/api/place/details/json compatibility aliases for a 1-line base URL migration.
  - Store and index returned business records in your own database or CRM without 30-day cache eviction rules.

### Build an Automated B2B Local Lead & Cold Email Pipeline with Clay, n8n & PlacesData API
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/clay-cold-email-google-maps-lead-pipeline
- **Summary**: Step-by-step architecture for sourcing high-intent local SMB leads from Google Maps, filtering by rating and review count, and enriching verified decision-maker emails at <$2.50 per 1,000 leads.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Static B2B databases miss 60%+ of newly opened clinics, contractors, agencies, and brick-and-mortar SMBs that appear on Google Maps first.
  - Filter leads programmatically by rating (e.g., 3.5–4.4 stars for reputation management offers) or has_website=true before enriching emails.
  - Chain GET /v1/places/search (5 Credits/place) -> GET /v1/leads/enrich (20 Credits only when emails/socials are found; 0 Credits if empty).
  - Total all-in data cost for 1,000 enriched local businesses with verified emails and social handles is under $2.50 on PAYG.

### High-Throughput Reverse Geocoding API: Convert Lat/Lng Coordinates to Addresses & Place IDs in Python & Node.js
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/reverse-geocoding-api-coordinates-to-address-python
- **Summary**: Convert raw GPS coordinates (latitude, longitude) into formatted street addresses and Google Maps Place IDs at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 requests—90% cheaper than Google Geocoding API.
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Google Cloud Geocoding API costs $5.00 per 1,000 calls ($5,000 per million GPS pins) and restricts permanent storage in your own database.
  - GET /v1/geocode/reverse costs just 5 Credits per call ($0.50/1K on Starter PAYG down to $0.20/1K on Business—up to 96% cheaper).
  - Every response returns formatted_address, canonical Google Maps place_id (ChIJ...), country_code, and exact WGS84 coordinates.
  - Permanent caching in PostgreSQL/PostGIS, ClickHouse, or Snowflake is 100% permitted.

### Outscraper Pricing Breakdown (2026): Real Cost per 1,000 Leads, Add-On Multipliers & Sync API Comparison
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/guides/outscraper-pricing
- **Summary**: Transparent 2026 Outscraper pricing breakdown ($3/1K + stacked email add-ons & async queues) vs PlacesData API ($0.20–$0.50/1K, 25ms JSON, $1.20 free).
- **Key Takeaways**:
  - Outscraper bills $3.00 / 1,000 places (501–100k medium tier, $10 minimum top-up) and $1.00 / 1,000 above 100k, plus separate stacked charges for Domain Emails (+$3/1K) and Customer Reviews ($3/1K medium tier).
  - PlacesData API bills strictly by returned record ($1.00 = 10,000 Credits): 5 Credits ($0.20–$0.50/1K) per place, 2 Credits ($0.08–$0.20/1K) per review, and 20 Credits ($0.80–$2.00/1K) per enriched website domain — with 0 Credits charged when 0 results or 0 emails are found.
  - Instead of submitting asynchronous batch jobs and polling status URLs for 30–180 seconds (or waiting on CSV exports), PlacesData API returns typed JSON synchronously in 21–50 ms (warm PostgreSQL 16 + GiST spatial cache) or 0.8–2.2 s (live SERP).
  - Every new developer account gets $1.20 (12,000 Free Credits) instantly with no credit card + $2.00 (+20,000 Credits) Sandbox Streak bonus, plus 1-click OAuth 2.1 Remote MCP at https://mcp.placesdataapi.com/v1/mcp.

## 5. Competitor Benchmarks

### PlacesData API vs Google Places API (developers.google.com/maps)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/google-places-api-alternative
- **Headline**: $0.20 vs $32.00 per 1,000 places (up to 98% savings).
- **Summary**: Official Google Places API charges $32.00 per 1,000 Text Search Pro requests (plus $3/1K Contact Data and $5/1K Atmosphere Data SKU add-ons), hard-caps results at 60 places per query and 5 reviews per business, and forbids caching data for CRM or lead generation. PlacesData API delivers full business profiles, phone numbers, websites, opening hours, unlimited customer reviews, and website B2B email enrichment starting at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places.

### PlacesData API vs Outscraper (outscraper.com)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/outscraper-alternative
- **Headline**: $0.20 vs $2.85 per 1,000 places (with instant synchronous JSON).
- **Summary**: Outscraper relies on asynchronous background batch tasks that frequently take 30–180 seconds to queue and require webhook or status-polling loops—making it unusable for interactive user interfaces, live AI agents, or real-time CRM enrichment. PlacesData API returns synchronous JSON in 25ms (warm cache) to 1.8s (live SERP) at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places.

### PlacesData API vs SerpApi (serpapi.com)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/serpapi-google-maps-alternative
- **Headline**: $29/mo vs $75/mo entry plan ($0.20–$0.50/1K places vs $15/1K calls).
- **Summary**: SerpApi is a general-purpose search engine scraper that charges $75/month for just 5,000 searches ($15.00 per 1,000 requests), bills per request even when only a handful of places are returned, and lacks website email enrichment. PlacesData API is purpose-built for Google Maps intelligence—delivering up to 100 places per call at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places, plus non-expiring Pay-As-You-Go packs from $10.

### PlacesData API vs Apify Google Maps Scraper (apify.com)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/apify-google-maps-scraper-alternative
- **Headline**: 25ms–1.8s vs 30s–90s response time (zero container spin-up or RAM billing).
- **Summary**: Running Apify's Google Maps Scraper (compass/crawler-google-places) spins up a heavy headless Chromium container on every run—taking 30 to 90 seconds to boot and charging you for both Pay-Per-Result fees AND Actor Compute Units (RAM/CPU time). PlacesData API is an always-warm, low-latency REST API that returns structured Google Maps places, reviews, and enriched emails in milliseconds to 1.8 seconds.

### PlacesData API vs Bright Data (brightdata.com)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/brightdata-google-maps-alternative
- **Headline**: $10 PAYG vs $500/mo minimum commitment ($0.20/1K places vs $1.50–$3.00/1K).
- **Summary**: Bright Data's Web Scraper IDE and SERP API target enterprise procurement teams with $500/month minimum commitments, complex bandwidth + request pricing, KYC compliance hurdles, and asynchronous snapshot delivery. PlacesData API gives developers instant self-serve access with 12,000 free credits on signup, $10 non-expiring PAYG packs, and sub-2-second synchronous JSON.

### PlacesData API vs PhantomBuster (phantombuster.com)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/phantombuster-google-maps-scraper-alternative
- **Headline**: $0.33 vs $69/mo with zero execution-hour caps or Phantom slot limits.
- **Summary**: PhantomBuster charges $69–$439/month for capped cloud browser execution hours (20h–300h/mo) and limited Phantom slots, requiring CSV polling and separate Data Scraping Crawler Phantoms just to find business emails. PlacesData API gives your Clay tables, n8n workflows, and Python backends a synchronous sub-second REST API with built-in website email and social enrichment—paying strictly per verified record returned.

### PlacesData API vs Scrap.io (scrap.io)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/scrap-io-alternative
- **Headline**: $0.20 vs $4.90 per 1,000 Google Maps leads (up to 96% cheaper, zero CSV delay).
- **Summary**: Scrap.io requires a $49/month minimum subscription for 10,000 city-restricted export credits ($4.90/1,000 leads, expiring every 30 days) and gates country-wide or polygon searches behind a $499/month tier (100,000 leads = $4.99/1K), while Outscraper charges $3.00/1K places + $3.00/1K domain emails on slow 30s–180s async batch queues. PlacesData API delivers real-time synchronous JSON in 21–50ms (cached) to 1.8s (live SERP) at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places—with never-expiring $10 PAYG packs, built-in website B2B email enrichment (/docs/leads-enrich), and 1-click Claude/ChatGPT Remote MCP (https://mcp.placesdataapi.com/v1/mcp).

### PlacesData API vs Geocodio (geocode.io) (geocod.io / geocode.io)
- **URL**: https://placesdataapi.com/compare/geocodio-alternative
- **Headline**: $0.20 vs $0.50 per 1,000 global geocodes (195 countries vs US/CA only).
- **Summary**: Searching for geocode.io or migrating off Geocodio (geocod.io)? Geocodio is restricted strictly to US & Canada street addresses ($0.50/1K PAYG or $1,000/mo Unlimited) and returns zero Google Maps Place IDs (ChIJ...), commercial POI phone numbers, websites, opening hours, reviews, or B2B emails. PlacesData API delivers global 195-country forward & reverse geocoding (/v1/places/search, /v1/places/autocomplete, /v1/geocode/reverse) with canonical Place IDs and 200M+ business profiles starting at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 lookups.

## 6. Frequently Asked Questions

### How does the $1 = 10,000 Credits pricing model work?

PlacesData API uses a transparent record-based credit system where $1.00 = 10,000 Credits. Place search endpoints (/v1/places/search and /v1/places/nearby) cost 5 Credits per returned business record ($0.50 per 1,000 places base, or $0.20 per 1,000 places on the Business plan). Reviews and photos cost 2 Credits per record ($0.20 per 1,000 base, $0.08 per 1,000 on Business). Place details and website lead enrichment cost 20 Credits ($0.002) per profile. If a search returns 0 matching places or lead enrichment finds 0 emails/social links, you pay 0 Credits.

### How does PlacesData API compare to the official Google Places API ($17–$40 / 1,000 calls)?

Official Google Places API charges $32.00 per 1,000 Text Search Pro requests plus Contact ($3/1K) and Atmosphere ($5/1K) SKU surcharges, restricts each query to a maximum of 60 results (3 pages of 20), caps reviews at 5 per place, and prohibits caching or storing data for more than 30 days. PlacesData API starts at $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places (up to 98% cheaper), includes phone numbers, websites, opening hours, and coordinates in every search response, supports deep review pagination, and includes built-in website email and social link enrichment.

### Where do the business emails and social media profiles come from?

Google Maps listings include the business's official website domain, phone number, and address, but rarely display an email address directly on the map card. When you call GET /v1/leads/enrich?domain=example.com (or inspect contacts_enrichment on /v1/places/details), our SSRF-hardened enrichment engine crawls the business's official homepage, /contact, and /about pages in real time to extract verified email addresses and social links across LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. If 0 emails and 0 social links are found, 0 Credits are deducted.

### What is the response latency for cached vs. live real-time Google Maps queries?

Queries hitting our warm PostgreSQL 16 + GiST spatial index (covering 200M+ business profiles across major US, UK, EU, and global metros) respond in 15–50 ms. Cold long-tail queries or requests with ?fresh=true execute a live pass-through to our upstream Google Maps SERP cluster in 1.2–2.8 seconds and automatically write-through to the local index.

### Can I migrate from Google Places API or Outscraper without rewriting my application?

Yes. In addition to our clean /v1/places/* endpoints, our gateway supports drop-in compatibility routes for Google Places API (/maps/api/place/textsearch/json, /maps/api/place/details/json, /maps/api/place/nearbysearch/json, /maps/api/place/autocomplete/json) so you can switch your base URL to https://api.placesdataapi.com and authenticate via x-api-key or key=pd_live_....

### Am I charged when a search returns 0 results or when an API request fails?

Never. Searches that return 0 matching places cost 0 Credits. Website lead enrichment calls that discover 0 emails and 0 social links cost 0 Credits. Invalid parameters (HTTP 400), rate-limited requests (HTTP 429), and gateway errors (HTTP 5xx) also cost 0 Credits.

### Should I choose a Monthly Subscription or a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) Credit Pack?

Monthly subscriptions ($29 Starter / 350k credits, $79 Growth / 1.1M credits, $199 Pro / 3.5M credits, $499 Business / 12.5M credits) include +20% to +150% bonus credits, bringing your effective cost down to $0.20 per 1,000 places. PAYG Credit Packs ($10 / 100k, $50 / 550k, $100 / 1.2M, $500 / 7.5M) have zero recurring charges and your purchased credits never expire.

### What are the RPM rate limits and concurrency allowances?

Free Trial accounts include 12,000 Credits and 60 RPM (2 RPS). Upgrading to any paid plan or PAYG pack unlocks high-throughput production concurrency: 300 RPM (Starter), 600 RPM (Growth), 1,200 RPM (Pro), and 3,000 RPM / 50 RPS (Business).

### What payment methods are accepted?

You can top up or subscribe immediately using Cryptocurrency (USDT, USDC, BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB across Solana, Tron, Polygon, Arbitrum, BSC, and Ethereum) via NOWPayments with 0% gateway fee and an automatic +5% Bonus Credits reward. You can also configure your company legal name, billing address, and VAT / Tax ID in your dashboard for compliant billing records.

### What is your refund policy?

Payments made within the last 14 days are eligible for a pro-rated refund of unused purchased credits. Promotional signup credits have no cash value.