MapRouter vs Google Maps Platform
MapRouter costs about a seventh of Google’s list price for map views and a tenth for geocoding, needs no card, and can never bill more than you loaded. Google has richer place data (reviews, photos, opening hours), live traffic and Street View, which MapRouter doesn’t offer.
Price per 1,000 requests
| Request | MapRouter | Google Maps Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Map view (web) | $1.00 (about 20 tiles at 1 credit each) | $7.00, Dynamic Maps |
| Geocode or reverse geocode | $0.50 | $5.00, Geocoding |
| Autocomplete | $0.10 | $2.83, Places Autocomplete Requests |
| Time zone | $0.05 | $5.00, Time Zone |
| Free allowance | 10,000 credits a day (about 500 map views or 1,000 geocodes) | 10,000 calls a month per product |
MapRouter prices are at the base rate of 20,000 credits per $1; the $20 and $50 packs include bonus credits. Google prices are the first paid tier of its Essentials products, from its pricing list, October 2026.
Billing and safety
| MapRouter | Google Maps Platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Card to start | No, GitHub sign-in | Yes, a billing account |
| When usage spikes | Stops at what you loaded; each key also has a daily cap | Billed; budgets send alerts but don’t stop usage |
| Can an AI agent spend money? | No. Buying credits and raising caps are dashboard-only | Usage goes on your bill |
| Storing results | Allowed, under OpenStreetMap’s ODbL | Restricted by Google’s terms |
Pick Google when you need
- Reviews, photos, ratings and reliable opening hours
- Live traffic, Street View or current satellite imagery
- House numbers in countries where OpenStreetMap is thin
- An uptime SLA and invoicing
More on this in When to use Google instead.
Pick MapRouter when you want
- A map, address search and time zones set up by your coding agent in one prompt
- A hard ceiling on spend, with no card on file
- Data you’re allowed to keep