Geocodio vs Google Maps Geocoding

The biggest differences between Geocodio and Google Maps

People often ask us how we compare to Google. We've compiled this list of some of the most important considerations. Which provider is best for you depends on your use case.

If you're looking for an alternative to Google Maps geocoding, there are several important factors customers often consider.

Terms of Use: Does Google let you store geocodes?

Google's terms of use are extremely restrictive and don't let you store the data. Geocodio's terms are permissive and let you store and re-use the data however you want, without restrictions.

Google does not allow you to store the geocodes. Google Maps has a lot of restrictions on how you use and store their results. With Google Maps, you cannot store the results, display them on anything except a Google Map, cannot use them for advertising, cannot use them for fleet/asset tracking, or other use cases that they prohibit. If you're considering using Google Maps, you may want to have a lawyer review their Terms of Service first to make sure your use case is allowed.

Geocodio lets you store geocodes without restrictions. With Geocodio, you can store the results in a database, put them in your CRM, use them on any type of map, and even resell them if you want. See our Terms here.

Additional data

Geocodio allows you to add a wide variety of data appends all in the same request, such as timezone, Census FIPS codes (tracts), Census statistical data, political districts, school districts, and more. While Google has some of this data, they prohibit you from storing it (for example, timezones).

International support

Geocodio supports US and Canada, whereas Google has global support.

How much does geocoding cost with Google vs Geocodio?

Geocodio is significantly cheaper than Google, even before considering that you can store the data from Geocodio (whereas with Google, you might have to pay for the same addresses over and over again due to storage restrictions).

Google limits free geocoding to 40,000 per month and you must have a credit card on file to use their free tier. Extra lookups above that point are $4/1,000. Google does not make their high-volume prices transparent.

Geocodio is much more affordable. Geocodio offer the first 2,500 lookups are free per day with no credit card required. After that, they're $.0005 each, or $0.50/1,000. Our pricing is transparent and you can calculate how much it would cost you here. You can also purchase credits if you would like to lock-in a volume discount. Geocodio credits never expire.

For high volume, Geocodio has a simple, flat-rate, month-to-month Unlimited option with no annual contract required. This enables you to process up to 4.8M lookups per day (which is the capability of the hardware) with no rate limiting.

See Geocodio's pricing here.

What is the Google Maps geocoding API rate limit?

The Google Maps Platform geocoding rate limit is limited to 50 calls per second. Google Maps Geocoding was not built for batch or bulk geocoding.

Geocodio is a geocoder that was purpose-built for high-volume batch and bulk geocoding. Geocodio's single request API endpoint has a rate limit of 1,000 requests per minute on the pay-as-you-go plan. This is for individual API calls, so using our batch geocoding you will be able to process thousands of lookups without having to worry about a rate limit. Our Unlimited plan, for both our self-service and Enterprise products, is not rate limited.

Can you geocode a spreadsheet of addresses with Google geocoding?

No. If you have a spreadsheet, you can't use Google geocoding. They only have an API. (Unless you are familiar with working with APIs in your spreadsheet and don't mind paying for geocoding every time you open your spreadsheet.)

Geocodio has both an API and a spreadsheet geocoding tool. You can run a CSV of addresses through our API or via our upload tool.

How do Geocodio's results compare to Google's?

Geocodio and Google use different data sources. Geocodio relies on official government datasets for our underlying data (mostly from local and state governments). Sometimes, Geocodio is more accurate, and sometimes, Google is more accurate.See our feature comparison here.

Unfortunately, Google prohibits us from publishing benchmarking data. We encourage you to run a test of 1,000 cleaned addresses through both services to do your own comparison.

We can say that from what our customers have told us, our results are comparable. Some companies use Geocodio as their main geocoder and Google as the fallback, and others use Google as the main and Geocodio for the fallback.

Can you get timezone data from the Google Maps API?

Google Maps allows you to append Timezones by using their separate Timezone API. However, you are prohibited from storing the data.

Geocodio lets you add additional data at the same time and in the same format as your coordinates or addresses, including:

Routing, Distance, and Directions

Yes, Google Maps offers routing, directions, and transit options. However, they prohibit you from storing that data.

Geocodio does not currently offer routing, but we are actively working on distance-related features. If you're interested in distance (such as the driving distance or time between two locations without turn-by-turn navigation), please reach out.

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