Last updated: July 14, 2026. All information regarding other providers is accurate to the best of our knowledge using information from each provider’s website as of that date.

The question that decides your geocoding bill: can you keep the results?

Geocoding an address once is cheap. Geocoding the same address every month because your provider's terms require you to delete the results is not. Before comparing per-lookup prices, check what each provider's terms of use let you do with the coordinates after you receive them.

This page summarizes the current published terms of major geocoding providers, with links to each source so every claim can be verified. Terms change, so always confirm against the provider's own documents before making decisions.

Four kinds of storage terms

Providers sort into four groups. Knowing which group a provider belongs to tells you most of what you need to know about your long-term costs.

1. No permanent storage at any price
   To keep a geocoded database with these providers, you have to re-process the entire database on a rolling basis:

   • Google caps caching of coordinates at 30 days.

   • HERE caps it at 30 days.

   • TomTom allows caching only for as long as its response headers permit.

2. Storage sold as a premium tier

   • Mapbox charges $0.75 per 1,000 for temporary geocoding that cannot be stored at all, and $5.00 per 1,000 for permanent geocoding that can.

   • AWS charges $0.50 per 1,000 for standard geocodes that cannot be stored (caching itself requires the storage option), and $4.00 per 1,000 for stored results.

3. Storage only permitted as long as you have an active account or subscription

   • Azure Maps lets you retain geocodes while your Azure account stays active.

   • Smarty lets you store rooftop geocoding data while your subscription is active, with a purchasable perpetual license if you leave.

   • Precisely sets storage rights in each negotiated contract.

   • As required by Royal Mail, Geocodio limits storage of reverse geocoding results to 1 year after your subscription ends.

4. Unrestricted storage

   • Most results from Geocodio can be stored without restrictions (with the exception of UK reverse geocoding results)

   • The free US Census geocoder. The Census geocoder is public domain, yet it offers interpolation-only precision, roughly 85% match rates, and no SLA with periodic downtime events.

Storage terms at a glance

Source documents: Google Service Specific Terms, HERE Platform Terms, TomTom Terms and Conditions, Mapbox Geocoding API docs, AWS Places pricing buckets, Microsoft Product Terms, Smarty Subscription Agreement, and the US Census Geocoder.

What storage restrictions cost at scale

Consider a team that adds new addresses every month and needs a persistent geocoded database for a CRM, an analytics warehouse, or reporting. With a storage-permitted provider, each address is geocoded once. With a storage-restricted provider, the entire cumulative database must be re-processed monthly to stay within the cache window. By month 12, that means re-geocoding a year's worth of addresses every month.

Here is the estimated year-one cost at four volumes, using each provider's most cost-effective published plan and list prices as of July 2026. For providers with both a storable and a non-storable tier, the storable tier is priced here, since that is the compliant path for keeping a database.

Year two is worse

The re-run model compounds. In year two, the cumulative database keeps growing, so a storage-restricted provider processes almost three times the year-one volume. At 100,000 new addresses per month, Google's year-two re-run cost is roughly $57,900, up from $28,550 in year one. Geocodio's stays around $1,170, because each address was only ever geocoded once.

Storage is not the only restriction

A few other clauses worth knowing about before you commit to a provider:

• Map display rules. Google results shown on a map must be shown on a Google map. Mapbox results are generally to be used with a Mapbox map. Azure restricts displaying most results on third-party maps. HERE and TomTom permit third-party maps.

• Analysis restrictions. Google prohibits creating content from results, and names point-in-polygon analysis as an example. That rules out district and boundary lookups built on Google coordinates.

• AI and machine learning. Google prohibits using Maps content to train, test, validate, or fine-tune models. HERE goes further: its Platform Terms (Section 6.4) prohibit using HERE materials with any machine learning or AI system, including model training, predictive analytics, and generative AI.

• Contract-end obligations. Google requires deleting all content from the Services at termination. HERE requires ceasing use and destroying materials within 30 days. Smarty's rooftop geocoding data must be deleted at subscription end unless a perpetual license is purchased.

• Derivative databases. TomTom prohibits compiling databases derived from its results.

Geocodio's terms place no restrictions on map display, point-in-polygon analysis, derivative datasets, or industries. Data appends like Congressional districts, Census tracts, and ACS demographics are part of the product rather than a terms violation.

Where Geocodio isn’t a good fit

• If you need coverage outside the US, Canada, Mexico, and the UK, Google, HERE, and Mapbox cover most of the world and Geocodio does not.

• If you need interactive type-ahead address entry (autocomplete), Google, Mapbox, Smarty and other providers offer it.

• If your lookups are ephemeral and never stored, Mapbox's temporary tier and AWS's standard tier are inexpensive.

The storage question matters most when you keep, analyze, enrich, or join the results. For that kind of work, the tables above are the comparison to run.

This information is complete to the best of our knowledge and was verified against provider documents in July 2026. We believe competition is a good and necessary thing, and strive to accurately and fairly describe our competitors. See any mistakes? Please email us.