# GoogleMapsAPI.io (https://googlemapsapi.io)

> Real-time REST 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 API Gateway: https://api.googlemapsapi.io
> Full Machine-Readable Reference for LLMs: https://googlemapsapi.io/llms-full.txt
> OpenAPI 3.1 Spec: https://googlemapsapi.io/openapi.json (and https://api.googlemapsapi.io/openapi.json)

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

- Unit Rule: **$1.00 = 10,000 Credits**
- Place Search (`/v1/places/search`, `/v1/places/nearby`): **5 Credits / place returned** ($0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places; min 10 Credits; 0 Credits if empty)
- Customer Reviews (`/v1/places/reviews`) & Photos (`/v1/places/photos`): **2 Credits / record returned** ($0.08–$0.20 per 1,000 records; 0 Credits if empty)
- Place Details (`/v1/places/details`) & Website Contact Enrichment (`/v1/leads/enrich`): **20 Credits / call** (0 Credits if enrichment finds 0 emails/social links)
- Autocomplete (`/v1/places/autocomplete`) & Reverse Geocode (`/v1/geocode/reverse`): **5 Credits / call**
- Free Trial: **2,000 Credits free** on sign-up (no credit card required, 60 RPM)
- Starter Plan: **$29/mo** -> 350,000 Credits/mo (+20% bonus, $0.41 / 1K places, 300 RPM)
- Growth Plan: **$79/mo** -> 1,100,000 Credits/mo (+39% bonus, $0.36 / 1K places, 600 RPM)
- Pro Plan: **$199/mo** -> 3,500,000 Credits/mo (+75% bonus, $0.28 / 1K places, 1,200 RPM)
- Business Plan: **$499/mo** -> 12,500,000 Credits/mo (+150% bonus, $0.20 / 1K places, 3,000 RPM)
- Never-Expiring PAYG Packs: $10 (100k Credits), $50 (550k Credits), $100 (1.2M Credits), $500 (7.5M Credits)
- Refunds: payments from the last 14 days, up to the unused balance

## Latency SLA & Drop-In Migration

- **Warm Local PostgreSQL + GiST Spatial Index**: `15–50 ms`
- **Live Upstream Google Maps SERP & Domain Crawl**: `0.8–2.5 s`
- **Drop-In Google Places API Compatibility**: Supports `/maps/api/place/textsearch/json`, `/maps/api/place/nearbysearch/json`, `/maps/api/place/details/json`, and `/maps/api/place/autocomplete/json`.

## AI Agent & MCP Integration

- Complete Single-File LLM Reference: [llms-full.txt](https://googlemapsapi.io/llms-full.txt)
- OpenAPI 3.1 JSON Specification: [openapi.json](https://googlemapsapi.io/openapi.json)
- Developer Utilities & Live Playground: [Tools Hub](https://googlemapsapi.io/tools)
- MCP Server for Claude Desktop, Cursor & Windsurf: `npx -y @googlemapsapi/mcp-server` ([MCP Guide](https://googlemapsapi.io/mcp))

## Engineering Guides (/guides)

- [All Engineering Guides](https://googlemapsapi.io/guides)
- [How to Scrape Google Maps Local Business Leads with Python & Node.js (2026 Guide)](https://googlemapsapi.io/guides/scrape-google-maps-python-nodejs): 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.
- [How to Extract Verified Business Emails & Social Profiles from Google Maps Leads](https://googlemapsapi.io/guides/extract-business-emails-from-google-maps): 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.
- [How to Scrape Google Maps Reviews for Sentiment Analysis & Reputation Monitoring](https://googlemapsapi.io/guides/google-maps-reviews-sentiment-api-guide): Extract hundreds of verified Google Maps customer reviews per business sorted by newest or lowest rating at $0.08–$0.20 per 1,000 reviews.
- [Migrating from Official Google Places API: Cut Your Bill by 95% with Zero Schema Lock-In](https://googlemapsapi.io/guides/migrate-from-google-places-api-save-90-percent): Step-by-step migration guide from Google Cloud Places API ($32/1K calls) to GoogleMapsAPI.io ($0.20–$0.50/1K places) using drop-in compatibility endpoints or native /v1/places/* routes.

## Competitor Comparisons (/compare)

- [All Provider Comparisons](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare)
- [GoogleMapsAPI.io vs Google Places API](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare/google-places-api-alternative): Compare GoogleMapsAPI.io against the official Google Places API: save up to 98% ($0.20–$0.50/1K places vs $32/1K), unlock >5 reviews per place, and enrich B2B emails.
- [GoogleMapsAPI.io vs Outscraper](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare/outscraper-alternative): Switch from Outscraper's slow async task queues to GoogleMapsAPI.io: get synchronous JSON responses in 25ms–1.8s, 80% lower review & enrichment pricing, and zero task polling.
- [GoogleMapsAPI.io vs SerpApi](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare/serpapi-google-maps-alternative): Compare GoogleMapsAPI.io vs SerpApi for Google Maps scraping: pay $0.20–$0.50 per 1,000 places instead of $75/mo ($15/1K calls), with non-expiring PAYG credits and B2B email enrichment.
- [GoogleMapsAPI.io vs Apify Google Maps Scraper](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare/apify-google-maps-scraper-alternative): Replace slow Apify Google Maps Scraper actor runs (compass/crawler-google-places) with GoogleMapsAPI.io: sub-2s REST responses, zero compute unit waste, and $0.20/1K places.
- [GoogleMapsAPI.io vs Bright Data](https://googlemapsapi.io/compare/brightdata-google-maps-alternative): Compare GoogleMapsAPI.io against Bright Data Web Scraper & SERP API: start free with 2,000 credits or $10 PAYG instead of $500/mo commitments, with parsed JSON and B2B email enrichment.

## Endpoints

### Place Search & Discovery

- [Google Maps Text Search](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-search): `GET /v1/places/search` (5 Credits / place (min 10; 0 if empty))
- [Nearby & Bounding-Box Search](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-nearby): `GET /v1/places/nearby` (5 Credits / place (min 10; 0 if empty))

### Business Details & Media

- [Place Details & Full Business Profile](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-details): `GET /v1/places/details` (20 Credits / business profile)
- [Place Customer Reviews & Owner Replies](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-reviews): `GET /v1/places/reviews` (2 Credits / review (min 10; 0 if empty))
- [Place High-Resolution Photos](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-photos): `GET /v1/places/photos` (2 Credits / photo (min 6; 0 if empty))

### B2B Contact Enrichment

- [Website Email, Phone & Social Lead Enrichment](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/leads-enrich): `GET /v1/leads/enrich` (20 Credits / enriched domain (0 if none found))

### Geocoding & Autocomplete

- [Place & Address Typeahead Autocomplete](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/places-autocomplete): `GET /v1/places/autocomplete` (5 Credits / request)
- [Reverse Geocoding (Coordinates to Address)](https://googlemapsapi.io/docs/geocode-reverse): `GET /v1/geocode/reverse` (5 Credits / request)

## FAQ

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

GoogleMapsAPI.io 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 GoogleMapsAPI.io 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. GoogleMapsAPI.io 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.googlemapsapi.io and authenticate via x-api-key or key=gm_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 2,000 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.