Google Geocoding API

Best for: Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call; Regulated or enterprise workloads - compliance attestations and an enterprise plan; AI agents and automation - an agent-ready surface (MCP / llms.txt)

• █████░░░░░
  50 / 100
  Agent friendliness
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Pricing transparency
• ████████▒░
  85 / 100
  Setup speed
• ███▒░░░░░░
  35 / 100
  Docs quality
• ██████████
  100 / 100
  Procurement ease
• ███████▒░░
  75 / 100
  Trust readiness

Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fields (pricing, compliance, capabilities, docs and developer-surface signals) - not from reviews or paid placement. Each axis is 0-100; an unknown signal scores 0 for that axis. Procurement ease is the inverse of buying friction (higher = easier to adopt).

Pricing model

Hybrid (base + usage) [2]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/usage-and-billing“The Geocoding API operates on a pay-as-you-go model, charging per request based on monthly volume and SKU. Billing requires an enabled billing account and API key or OAuth token with all requests.”mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/“Starter Plan - $100/month (50,000 monthly calls); Essentials Plan - $275/month (100,000 monthly calls); Pro Plan - $1,200/month (250,000 monthly calls). All plans include Geocoding.”

Published pricing

✓ Yes [3]developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing“SKU Name: Geocoding (BAC8-4E68-E261). Per-Request Pricing by Volume Tier: 10,001–100,000: $5.00 per 1,000 Events; 100,001–500,000: $4.00; 500,001–1,000,000: $3.00; 1,000,001–5,000,000: $1.50; 5,000,000+: $0.38.”

Free tier

✓ Yes [4]developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/faq“The 10,000 free monthly requests for Geocoding (an Essentials SKU) is recurring and permanent, not a one-time trial. The documentation states: '10,000 free requests recurring monthly' as part of the standard pricing structure effective March 1, 2025.”developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/march-2025“Google replaced the USD $200 monthly credit with '10,000 free requests recurring monthly' for Geocoding as an Essentials SKU. This represents a shift from a blanket credit system to service-specific free usage thresholds.”

Free tier details

10,000 free recurring monthly requests for the Geocoding (Essentials) SKU, effective March 1, 2025 (replaced the previous $200/month credit). Requests 10,001+ are billed at tiered rates starting at $5.00 per 1,000. [5]developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing“Geocoding (BAC8-4E68-E261). Free Usage Cap: 10,000. Cap - 100,000: $5.00 per 1,000 events.”developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/march-2025“10,001–100,000 requests: $5.00 per 1,000; 100,001–500,000: $4.00; 500,001–1,000,000: $3.00; 1,000,001–5,000,000: $1.50; 5,000,000+: $0.38.”

Self-serve signup

✓ Yes [6]developers.google.com/maps/get-started“To start using Google Maps Platform, you must create a billing-enabled Cloud project.”

Requires sales call

✗ No

Enterprise plan

✓ Yes [7]mapsplatform.google.com/pricing/“Enterprise Plan — Access our most powerful features, extensive customization, and maximum flexibility to build transformative solutions. Custom monthly call allocations.”

• Forward geocoding
• Reverse geocoding

Supported actions

geocode (address to coordinates), reverse_geocode (coordinates to address), place_geocode (place ID to address/coordinates), search_destinations (v4: address, place ID, or location), address_component_lookup, plus_code_lookup [8]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/geocoding-v4-overview“Geocode an address — Geographic coordinates for addresses. Also called forward geocoding. Geocode a location — Addresses for sets of latitude and longitude coordinates. Also called reverse geocoding. Place geocoding — Retrieve addresses from place IDs. Search for destinations — Search for a destination from an address, place ID, or location.”developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/overview“Geocoding: Converts addresses such as '1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA' into latitude and longitude coordinates or Place IDs. Reverse Geocoding: Converts latitude/longitude coordinates or a Place ID into a human-readable address.”

Regions

global (all regions where Google Maps is officially launched)

Languages

Arabic, Bulgarian, Bengali, Catalan, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Basque, Farsi, Finnish, Filipino, French, Galician, Gujarati, Hindi, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Lithuanian, Latvian, Malayalam, Marathi, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional)

Input types

free-form address, structured address components, lat/lon coordinates, Place ID, Plus Code

Output types

JSON, XML

Webhooks

✗ No [9]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/overview“The Geocoding API is a synchronous request/response REST API. No webhook or event-driven delivery mechanism is documented.”

Sandbox / test mode

✗ No [10]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/start“No dedicated sandbox or test-mode keys are mentioned. Testing is performed against the live production API.”

SDK languages

Python, Java, Node.js, Go [11]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/client-library“The Java Client, Python Client, Go Client and Node.js Client for Google Maps Services are community supported client libraries, open sourced under the Apache 2.0 License.”

MCP server

✓ Yes [12]developers.google.com/maps/ai/mcp“The Google Maps Platform Code Assist toolkit is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enhances the responses from large language models (LLMs) used for developing applications with the Google Maps Platform.”

SOC 2

SOC 2 Type II [13]developers.google.com/maps/security/compliance/security-compliance“our SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports are available to our customers”mapsplatform.google.com/resources/trust-center/soc-2/“SSAE 18 / ISAE 3402 Type II certification. Google Maps Platform undergoes a regular third-party audit to certify individual products against this standard. SOC 2 and SOC 3 reports are available to our customers.”

HIPAA

✗ No [14]cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/aup“Google Maps Platform's Acceptable Use Policy explicitly prohibits transmitting, storing, or processing health information subject to HIPAA regulations. Google does not intend use of the APIs to create obligations under HIPAA and makes no representations that the APIs satisfy HIPAA requirements.”issuetracker.google.com/issues/340582171“Most popular geocoders are not HIPAA compliant and will not sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), including Google Maps Platform.”

GDPR

✓ Yes [15]mapsplatform.google.com/resources/trust-center/“Data Protection Regulations: GDPR (EU & UK), Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD - Brazil), Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FDPA), U.S. State Data Protection Laws.”

ISO 27001

✓ Yes [16]developers.google.com/maps/security/compliance/security-compliance“ISO / IEC 27001 (Information Security Management)”mapsplatform.google.com/resources/trust-center/“ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 27017:2015.”

PCI DSS

– Unknown

Published SLA

✓ Yes [17]cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/sla“Google will use reasonable commercial efforts to provide a Monthly Uptime Percentage of at least 99.9% for each Covered Service.”

Rate limits

25 queries per second (QPS) default; 3,000 queries per minute (QPM) combined; no daily maximum. Higher quotas can be requested via Cloud Console. [18]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/usage-and-billing“default quota of 25 queries per second (QPS); queries-per-minute restriction of 3,000”developers.google.com/maps/faq“There are no maximum daily limits on the number of requests you can make to Google Maps Platform products, and the only usage limits are related to the maximum number of queries per minute (QPM).”

Known restrictions

Results pre-fetching, caching, or storage is generally prohibited under terms of service, lat/lng, formatted_address, and structured address values may be cached solely to support direct end user-facing functionality (not as a replacement for API calls); not time-limited but use is restricted, Place IDs are exempt from caching restrictions and may be stored indefinitely, Attribution required: display Google Maps logo or 'Google Maps' text when showing results outside of Google Maps, HIPAA: AUP explicitly prohibits transmitting, storing, or processing health information subject to HIPAA; Google does not sign BAAs for Maps Platform, Functionality varies by region, URL length limited to 16,384 characters per request (v3), component filters only enforce postal_code and country restrictions (v3) [19]developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/policies“Content pre-fetching, caching, or storage is prohibited with one critical exception. The place ID, used to uniquely identify a place, is exempt from the caching restrictions. You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely.”cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/aup“Google Maps Platform's Acceptable Use Policy explicitly prohibits transmitting, storing, or processing health information subject to HIPAA regulations.”cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/maps-service-terms“Customers may indefinitely cache latitude (lat), longitude (lng), formatted_address, and structured address values from the Geocoding API solely to support direct, end user-facing functionality, only where the cache is not used as a replacement for making an additional call to the Services.”

• Docs
• API reference

Docs rendering: static

API style

rest

Base URL

https://geocode.googleapis.com

Version

v4

Versioning

url

Stability

ga

Auth methods

api_key, oauth2

Idempotency keys

✗ No

Error format

vendor-specific; v3 returns JSON/XML with top-level "status" field (OK, ZERO_RESULTS, OVER_DAILY_LIMIT, OVER_QUERY_LIMIT, REQUEST_DENIED, INVALID_REQUEST, UNKNOWN_ERROR) and optional "error_message" string; v4 uses HTTP status codes

Rate limit

25 / second

SDKs

• Python googlemaps · repo
• Java com.google.maps:google-maps-services · repo
• Node.js @googlemaps/google-maps-services-js · repo
• Go googlemaps.github.io/maps · repo

• Auth docs
• Quickstart
• MCP server
• Deprecation policy

Launched

2005-01-01

GA

2026-03-30

Notable customers

SeaRates, Domino's Indonesia, Rome2rio, CBcloud, Expensya, Barantum

• Geocodio

  "The delightfully boring geocoder"

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Melissa

  Global data quality and enhancement solutions to profile, verify, clean, update, match, and integrate People data.

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Azure Maps (Search / Geocoding)

  "Azure Maps is a set of mapping and geospatial services that enable developers and organizations to build intelligent location-based experiences for applications across many different industries and use cases. Use the Azure Maps REST APIs and Web SDK to bring maps, geocoding, location search, routing, real-time traffic, geolocation, time zone information, and weather data into your web and mobile solutions."

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• LocationIQ

  "Affordable Google Maps alternative for your website or app"

  Subscription · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Radar Geocoding API

  "Use Radar's geocoding APIs to convert addresses to latitude and longitude coordinates, or vice versa."

  Hybrid · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

• Esri ArcGIS Geocoding (World Geocoding Service)

  "Geocoding and search help you convert your addresses and place-names into coordinates and display them on a map" with "accurate and reliable search results for addresses, landmarks, and much more from all over the world."

  Usage · free tier · public pricing · self-serve

Google Geocoding API alternatives · Google Geocoding API vs Geocodio · All Geocoding APIs APIs

Each field above carries a numbered source - hover for a preview, click to jump here.

1. ↑Description: developers.google.com
2. ↑Pricing model: developers.google.com · mapsplatform.google.com
3. ↑Published pricing: developers.google.com
4. ↑Free tier: developers.google.com · developers.google.com
5. ↑Free tier details: developers.google.com · developers.google.com
6. ↑Self-serve signup: developers.google.com
7. ↑Enterprise plan: mapsplatform.google.com
8. ↑Supported actions: developers.google.com · developers.google.com
9. ↑Webhooks: developers.google.com
10. ↑Sandbox: developers.google.com
11. ↑SDK languages: developers.google.com
12. ↑MCP server: developers.google.com
13. ↑SOC 2: developers.google.com · mapsplatform.google.com
14. ↑HIPAA: cloud.google.com · issuetracker.google.com
15. ↑GDPR: mapsplatform.google.com
16. ↑ISO 27001: developers.google.com · mapsplatform.google.com
17. ↑Published SLA: cloud.google.com
18. ↑Rate limits: developers.google.com · developers.google.com
19. ↑Known restrictions: developers.google.com · cloud.google.com · cloud.google.com

Every field change, who made it, and when - from our audited data pipeline and editors.

1. 2026-06-15 Score Agent Friendliness: 30 → 50
2. 2026-06-15 Score Docs Quality: 15 → 35
3. 2026-06-14 Robots Allows Agents: (none) → Yes
4. 2026-06-14 API Reference URL: (none) → https://developers.google.com/workspace/docs/api/how-tos/overview?hl=tr
5. 2026-06-14 Has Structured Data: (none) → Yes
6. 2026-06-14 Capabilities: {} → {"forward":true,"reverse":true}
7. 2026-06-14 Summary Md: (none) → Google Geocoding API converts addresses to latitude/longitude coordinates and b…
8. 2026-06-14 Score Docs Quality: 0 → 15
9. 2026-06-14 Rendering: (none) → static
10. 2026-06-14 Llms Txt Present: (none) → No
11. 2026-06-14 Docs URL: (none) → https://developers.google.com/docs
12. 2026-06-14 Score Agent Friendliness: (none) → 30
13. 2026-06-14 Scoring Methodology: (none) → Scores are computed deterministically from this profile's published, sourced fi…
14. 2026-06-14 Best For: (none) → Prototypes and side projects - free to start, no sales call, Regulated or enter…
15. 2026-06-14 Score Trust Readiness: (none) → 75
16. 2026-06-14 Score Procurement Friction: (none) → 100
17. 2026-06-14 Score Docs Quality: (none) → 0
18. 2026-06-14 Score Setup Speed: (none) → 85
19. 2026-06-14 Score Pricing Transparency: (none) → 100
20. 2026-06-14 Free Tier Details: set to 10,000 free recurring monthly requests for the Geocoding (Essentials) SKU, effe…
21. 2026-06-14 Self Serve Signup: set to Yes
22. 2026-06-14 Requires Sales Call: set to No
23. 2026-06-14 Enterprise Plan Available: set to Yes
24. 2026-06-14 SOC 2: set to type_2
25. 2026-06-14 HIPAA: set to No
26. 2026-06-14 GDPR: set to Yes
27. 2026-06-14 ISO 27001: set to Yes
28. 2026-06-14 SLA Published: set to Yes
29. 2026-06-14 SLA URL: set to https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/sla
30. 2026-06-14 Data Retention Policy URL: set to https://developers.google.com/maps/security/compliance/security-compliance
31. 2026-06-14 Documented Rate Limits: set to 25 queries per second (QPS) default; 3,000 queries per minute (QPM) combined; n…
32. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Requests: set to 25
33. 2026-06-14 Rate Limit Window: set to second
34. 2026-06-14 Known Restrictions: set to Results pre-fetching, caching, or storage is generally prohibited under terms o…
35. 2026-06-14 Auth Methods: set to api_key, oauth2
36. 2026-06-14 Auth Docs URL: set to https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/get-api-key-v4
37. 2026-06-14 API Style: set to rest
38. 2026-06-14 Base URL: set to https://geocode.googleapis.com
39. 2026-06-14 API Version: set to v4
40. 2026-06-14 Versioning Scheme: set to url
41. 2026-06-14 Stability: set to ga
42. 2026-06-14 Deprecation Policy URL: set to https://developers.google.com/maps/launch-stages
43. 2026-06-14 MCP URL: set to https://mapscodeassist.googleapis.com/mcp
44. 2026-06-14 Quickstart URL: set to https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/geocoding/start-v4
45. 2026-06-14 Idempotency Supported: set to No
46. 2026-06-14 Error Format: set to vendor-specific; v3 returns JSON/XML with top-level "status" field (OK, ZERO_RE…
47. 2026-06-14 Requires Verification: set to Yes
48. 2026-06-14 Slug: set to google-geocoding
49. 2026-06-14 Price Basis: set to 1,000 requests
50. 2026-06-14 Free Tier Limit: set to 10,000 requests/month

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