I’m afraid to say, is not good news. It’s already causing a few headaches. As of 11th June, Google is slashing free usage limits and significantly increasing the cost of using their Maps API. Free usage is now capped at $200 per month, and prices have been raised by around 1400%. Furthermore, to continue using their API at all, you will need to have set up a billing account and have entered credit card details.
Google Maps API changes will affect anyone using Google Maps on their site – even a simple embedded map. If your company has a website, that probably means you.
We’ve summarized some of the key points below and included links to all the relevant articles. Google are heralding the Industry Email List launch of their new “the next generation of their Google Maps business”.
They have condensed their 18 different APIs into three core products – Maps, Routes, and Places. These updates will not affect existing code.
They also claim to have simplified their pricing structure, although it’s highly questionable as to whether they’ve achieved this. Billing account, complete with credit card details, to even continue using the API
Monthly usage is now capped at $200 worth of API calls. If you use Dynamic Maps on a page, that equates to about 28000 page loads per month (down from around 25000 per day) Prices have increased dramatically. Google hasn’t officially given any kind of comparison