Google Places API Alternatives: How to Choose — and Where Goggle Places Fits

Google's Places API is the default choice for location autocomplete, nearby search and place lookup. It isn't the only good option, though, and for many products it's no longer the best one. Teams switch for all kinds of reasons, from bills that are hard to forecast to terms that limit what they can build. This guide covers why people look for a Google Places API alternative, what to check before switching, how the main options compare, and how to migrate without breaking anything.

Why teams look for a Google Places API alternative

Unpredictable billing is the most common trigger. Google meters Places by SKU: autocomplete, details, nearby search and text search are each priced separately, and the price can change depending on which fields you request. One user journey can trigger several billable events, so a small UX change, like adding a details lookup after every autocomplete pick, can noticeably raise the monthly bill.

The second trigger is the terms of use. Google's terms limit how you can store and reuse Places content and require results to be displayed alongside Google branding. That's fine for a simple search box. It gets in the way if you want to enrich your own records, run analytics on location data or show results on a non-Google map.

The third is lock-in. Place IDs only make sense inside Google's own APIs. Once thousands of them are stored against customer records, switching providers becomes a project in its own right. The longer you wait, the bigger that project gets.

What to check before you switch

Start by writing down what you actually use. Most apps need autocomplete for a search or address box, sometimes a nearby lookup, and directions or a map now and then. That's a much smaller surface than Google's full catalogue, and it opens up providers you might otherwise rule out.

Then compare candidates on five points. Coverage: does the provider handle the queries your users type, such as postcodes, streets, towns, landmarks and businesses by name? Data source and licence: where does the data come from, and what attribution does it require? Geography: is the provider strong where your users are? A global dataset that's thin in the UK is worse for a UK product than a GB-first one. Pricing model: per request, per session or per map load, and can you forecast next month's bill from this month's logs? Developer experience: clear docs, sensible keys and a quickstart that gets you to a working call in minutes.

The main alternatives at a glance

Goggle Places is a GB-first location API that puts predictive search, nearby lookup, address lookup, directions and vector maps behind one key. Each service is priced per 1,000 requests with a free monthly allowance. It suits UK products that want a single provider for the search box, the map and the route.

Mapbox is a strong choice when a custom-styled map is central to your product. Its search products sit alongside its vector tiles, and some search usage is billed per session, so you'll need to plan for that much as you would with Google.

HERE and TomTom come from automotive and logistics backgrounds. Both offer broad geocoding and search with strong routing and traffic data, and they're often shortlisted by fleet and delivery teams.

Foursquare is known for detailed venue data in busy urban areas, which matters for consumer discovery apps that depend on venue categories and popularity.

OpenStreetMap-based services, either managed (such as Geoapify or LocationIQ) or self-hosted (Nominatim, Photon), offer open data and transparent licensing. Self-hosting removes per-request fees but means you run the infrastructure, the data updates and the monitoring yourself.

How Goggle Places maps onto Google Places

Place Autocomplete becomes predictive search. The /predict endpoint returns ranked postcodes, towns, streets and landmarks as the user types, each with a geo_point you can drop straight onto a map. If one search box needs to find businesses as well as addresses, /search runs the address and amenity indexes together and blends the results into one ranked list. Queries like "Premier Inn York" or "Nando's" resolve, as well as postcodes.

Nearby Search becomes /nearby. It returns points of interest around a point, or inside a map viewport, filtered by category: restaurants, pubs and bars, supermarkets, hotels, EV charge points, transport, car parks and more. Results come back nearest-first, with opening hours, website, phone and wheelchair access where the data has them.

Text search for businesses becomes /search with mode=places, which is ideal for a store locator. Pass a lat/lng bias and nearby branches rank first, or type a brand and a town, such as "travelodge bedford". For address capture, the Address API turns a postcode into its streets, town and county, and handles house number plus postcode in a single lookup.

Beyond search, the same key covers directions by car, bike, foot and public transport, travel-time matrices and isochrones, shareable route links, and hosted vector maps. Many teams that use several Google products can move to a single provider.

Pricing you can forecast

Goggle Places charges per service with no bundles to decode. Predictive search and address lookup each include 30,000 free requests a month, then cost £1.68 per 1,000. Nearby lookup includes 30,000 free, then £2.96 per 1,000. Vector maps include 30,000 free map loads, then £4.15 per 1,000. Directions include 10,000 free routes, then £2.96 per 1,000. Rates drop at higher volumes, and overage is billed monthly per service. Because one request is one billable unit, you can estimate next quarter's cost from this quarter's logs.

How to migrate from Google Places

First, take an inventory. List every Places call your product makes, where it's triggered and which fields the UI actually uses. This step usually turns up calls and fields that nothing depends on, which shrinks the migration before it starts.

Second, map each call to its equivalent: autocomplete to /predict or /search, nearby to /nearby, business lookup to /search with mode=places, and directions to /directions. Third, set up keys properly. Publishable keys are safe in the browser but must be restricted to your own origins. Secret keys stay on the server.

Fourth, run both providers side by side. Send a share of real queries to both, compare the top results for your most common searches, and look closely at edge cases such as rural postcodes, flats and brand names. Keep the new integration behind a feature flag so you can switch back instantly. Finally, update your attribution: nearby data comes from OpenStreetMap, and the "© OpenStreetMap contributors" credit must appear wherever it's shown. The Goggle SDK and widget display it by default.

When Goggle Places isn't the right fit

Goggle Places is built for Great Britain. If your users are spread across many countries, or your product relies on user reviews and photos for every venue, a global provider may suit you better. Some teams use both: Goggle Places for UK traffic and another provider for the rest of the world.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free alternative to the Google Places API? Every Goggle Places service has a free monthly allowance: 30,000 requests for search, nearby, address and maps, and 10,000 routes for directions. That's enough for prototypes and many small production apps. A card is needed to activate an account, but you're only charged if you go over the allowance.

How long does a migration take? For a typical app using autocomplete and nearby search, the code change is small. Most of the time goes on side-by-side testing and updating attribution. Plan for days to a few weeks rather than months.

Can one search box find both addresses and businesses? Yes. /search runs the address and amenity indexes together and returns one ranked list, so postcodes, towns and named places like hotels and restaurants all resolve from the same input.

Ready to compare? Follow the Quickstart in our docs: get a key, make your first predictive-search call in about two minutes, then point one feature at Goggle Places and compare it with your current setup.