Google Map Places API Review: Endpoints, Pricing & Use Cases

Location Freemium View on RapidAPI ↗

Google Map Places is a marketplace API that proxies the core Google Maps Places functionality at significantly reduced cost. It covers 12 endpoints spanning place search, geocoding, directions, time zones, and Street View, making it a broad-purpose location intelligence layer for web and mobile applications. With a 9.9 popularity score and a reported 100% success rate across nearly 4,800 subscribers, it is one of the most relied-upon mapping APIs in the directory.

4.8k subscribers

9.9/10 popularity

174 ms avg latency

100% success rate

12 endpoints

July 10, 2026 reviewed

What this API is and who it is for

Google Map Places is a third-party proxy that surfaces the original Google Maps Places API at a lower price point than going directly to Google. If your project touches location in any meaningful way — store finders, travel apps, address autocomplete, route planners — this API covers almost every piece of that puzzle through a single subscription. Instead of negotiating separate Google Cloud billing, quota pages, and project keys, you get a unified set of endpoints with predictable monthly pricing.

The 149 ms average latency and 100% average success rate suggest a well-maintained proxy layer, not a flaky middleman. At nearly 4,800 subscribers and a near-perfect popularity score of 9.9 out of 10, the API clearly has sustained adoption behind it.

Endpoint walkthrough

All 12 endpoints follow the familiar /maps/api/... path structure, which means any existing Google Maps client code or SDK configuration translates directly with minimal changes.

Place discovery and lookup

placeDetails (GET /maps/api/place/details/json) — Fetch rich information about a specific place by its Place ID: opening hours, ratings, reviews, formatted addresses, phone numbers, and more.
textSearch (GET /maps/api/place/textsearch/json) — Query by a free-text string like

Google Map Places endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
Places
GET	placeDetails /maps/api/place/details/json	The Places API is a service that returns information about places using HTTP requests. Places are defined within this API as establishments, geographic locations, or prominent…
GET	textSearch /maps/api/place/textsearch/json	The Google Places API Text Search Service is a web service that returns information about a set of places based on a string — for example "pizza in New York" or "shoe stores near…
GET	findPlaceFromText /maps/api/place/findplacefromtext/json	A Find Place request takes a text input and returns a place. The input can be any kind of Places text data, such as a name, address, or phone number. The request must be a…
GET	nearbySearch /maps/api/place/nearbysearch/json	A Nearby Search lets you search for places within a specified area. You can refine your search request by supplying keywords or specifying the type of place you are searching for.
GET	autocomplete /maps/api/place/autocomplete/json	The Place Autocomplete service is a web service that returns place predictions in response to an HTTP request. The request specifies a textual search string and optional…
GET	queryAutocomplete /maps/api/place/queryautocomplete/json	The Query Autocomplete service can be used to provide a query prediction for text-based geographic searches, by returning suggested queries as you type. The Query Autocomplete…
GET	placePhoto /maps/api/place/photo	The Place Photo service, part of the Places API, is a read- only API that allows you to add high quality photographic content to your application. The Place Photo service gives…
Directions
GET	directions /maps/api/directions/json	The Directions API is a web service that uses an HTTP request to return JSON or XML-formatted directions between locations. You can receive directions for several modes of…
Geocoding
GET	geocode /maps/api/geocode/json	The Geocoding API is a service that provides geocoding and reverse geocoding of addresses. Geocoding is the process of converting addresses (like a street address) into…
Time Zone
GET	timezone /maps/api/timezone/json	The Time Zone API provides a simple interface to request the time zone for locations on the surface of the earth, as well as the time offset from UTC for each of those locations.…
Street View
GET	streetViewMetadata /maps/api/streetview/metadata	The Street View Static API metadata requests provide data about Street View panoramas. Using the metadata, you can find out if a Street View image is available at a given…
GET	streetView /maps/api/streetview	The Street View Static API lets you embed a static (non-interactive) Street View panorama or thumbnail into your web page, without the use of JavaScript. The viewport is defined…

Google Map Places pricing

Plan	Price	Rate limit	Quotas
BASIC	Free	—	Requests: 100 / daily
PRO	$9.99 / month	5 / second	Requests: 20,000 / monthly
ULTRA	$29 / month	10 / second	Requests: 75,000 / monthly
MEGA Recommended	$299 / month	50 / second	Requests: 2,000,000 / monthly

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free tier?

Yes. The BASIC plan is free and includes 100 requests per day with no monthly fee. It suits light prototyping or very low-traffic use cases.

What are the rate limits for paid plans?

PRO allows 5 requests per second, ULTRA allows 10 per second, and MEGA allows 50 requests per second. The free BASIC plan does not have a published per-second rate limit.

How many requests does each paid plan include?

PRO includes 20,000 requests per month for $9.99, ULTRA includes 75,000 per month for $29, and MEGA includes 2,000,000 per month for $299.

What is the average latency and reliability of this API?

The API reports an average latency of 149 ms and an average success rate of 100%, based on data in the APIMemo directory.

Which endpoints are included beyond basic place search?

Beyond place search, the API includes geocoding, reverse geocoding, directions with multi-modal transport, time zone lookups, Street View image retrieval, Street View metadata, and place photo access — 12 endpoints in total.

Which plan is recommended for high-volume production use?

The MEGA plan at $299 per month is explicitly marked as recommended. It provides 2,000,000 requests per month and a 50 requests-per-second rate limit, making it suitable for large-scale production applications.

Google Map Places API Review: Endpoints, Pricing & Use Cases

What this API is and who it is for

Endpoint walkthrough

Place discovery and lookup

Google Map Places endpoints

Google Map Places pricing

Frequently asked questions

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