Google Maps July 16, 2018 pricing overhaul — per-1,000 map-call rate from $0.50 to $7; free map calls from 25,000/day to 28,000/month
Summary
Claim: Google's July 16, 2018 Maps overhaul was widely reported (Geoawesome, May 2018) as raising prices by more than 1,400%: per-1,000 map-call rate from $0.50 to $7, and free map calls from 25,000/day to 28,000/month (Maps Marker Pro).
Source: https://maps-marker.com (Maps Marker Pro report); Geoawesome.
Confidence: Verified for the structural change. Caveat: the "1,400%" multiplier is use-case-dependent — Geoawesome / developer comparison reporting; treat the headline as directional, not universal.
Why this matters for Candid: Worked example of vendor-pricing risk. StreetEasy's subsequent OSM switch (StreetEasy switched from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap after calculating Google would cost ~$300k/year; Foursquare also switched) — calculating Google would cost ~$300k/year — is the SMB-relevant lesson: the tool that was cheap at adoption can become a budget line item.
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Referenced by (4)
- reference Research brief: live data and data-driven tools for SMBs — when it's an edge, when it's overkill (June 2026) relates-to
- reference Google Maps Platform restructured pricing March 1, 2025 — replaced the universal $200/month credit with per-SKU free caps and Essentials/Pro/Enterprise tiers depends-on
- reference StreetEasy switched from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap after calculating Google would cost ~$300k/year; Foursquare also switched depends-on
- rule R4 — Never rent mission-critical data infrastructure when the vendor can reprice unilaterally; keep the path to a free alternative warm depends-on