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Google Maps - API needed - Standard vs Premium Pricing Plans from Google & Alternatives to Google Maps

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    #1

    Google Maps - API needed - Standard vs Premium Pricing Plans from Google & Alternatives to Google Maps

    All,

    I have a web app in which it would be nice to use Google Maps in an Alternate View on a grid.
    We have a list of locations with their latitude and longitude and want to display pins on a map showing those locations
    AA has a nice set of features in which to create such a thing and I have gotten it to work.

    One of the fields that is available in the setup for the Alternate view is "Google map API key"
    There is documentation on the AA documentation site about how to go to Google and get the API key. I did this and got a Google API key.

    The next day I got notice from Google indicating that websites that are not available for free and/or not publicly accessible fall into their premium plan, which has a starting fee of $10,000 per year.
    My site is going to be available to a very limited set of people and they will require an invitation, a UN and PW to get in. So I believe I fall under Google's premium plan pricing and I am facing a charge of $10,000 per year to add this feature to my site.
    That is $10,000 we are not willing to spend. (sites that are free to users and publicly available are free up to a certain number of map requests)

    Questions:
    1) Without lying to Google, is there a way around the $10,000 fee?
    2) Are there any providers (free or reasonably priced) of mapping services similar to Google that are known to work with AA?

    Thank You all.

    Kevin Callanan
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: Google Maps - API needed - Standard vs Premium Pricing Plans from Google & Alternatives to Google Maps

    I think if you create a free fully functional demo account that makes usage of their standard free API at no charge to anyone - that might satisfy their requirement that you provide it free of charge to anyone publicly on the web, while ONLY paying end users have access to the rest of the application.
    After all, it is the same exact code offered at no charge to the general public.
    My demo account can be used by anyone at any time without limitation, so far I have no issue with Google and I am not lying or attempting to deceive. Paid users of my application have no feature or use of any feature that is not in the free demo account, as it has no stipulations of time or cost in any way and is free of charge so in this way I provide my application completely free to the public.
    Lastly, and this is me personally - when using mapping for routing to an address I do not embed the map as there is no reason to, google maps does a much better job all it needs is an address.

    Now, on the other hand if your application is an internal application like on an intranet with no public access you probably DO fall under the pricey edition.
    Because of that HIGH price for a small developer I wish AS would consider creating much the same baked in support for this API
    https://developer.here.com/plans
    because they seem like they understand the cost better than Google with a 10k starting price...

    Hope that helps.
    NWCOPRO: Nuisance Wildlife Control Software My Application: http://www.nwcopro.com "Without forgetting, we would have no memory at all...now what was I saying?"

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Google Maps - API needed - Standard vs Premium Pricing Plans from Google & Alternatives to Google Maps

      Charles
      Thank you for the response, the strategy and a possible alternative

      Kevin

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Google Maps - API needed - Standard vs Premium Pricing Plans from Google & Alternatives to Google Maps

        Here it is from Google direct btw:https://developers.google.com/maps/faq

        Can I use the Google Maps APIs on a site that is password protected?
        Yes, you can, though you should consult the Google Maps APIs Terms of Service before using the Google Maps APIs on a password protected website. If consumers can easily sign up for a password without charge or if the purpose of the password protected map is to enhance the publicly available map (ie. administration), then your site is likely within the Google Maps APIs Terms of Service. If this is not the case, you need to use Google Maps APIs Premium Plan.
        SO again, I feel like I certainly meet these terms as there is a FREE account available to anyone to use 24/7 and nothing is stored in relation to the maps what they enter is what is displayed on the map
        NWCOPRO: Nuisance Wildlife Control Software My Application: http://www.nwcopro.com "Without forgetting, we would have no memory at all...now what was I saying?"

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Google Maps - Expensive Pricing Model Changed - Problem Mostly Solved

          All,

          Google is changing the way they charge for APIs (including google maps)
          Changes take effect June 11, 2018
          The $10,000 per year minimum is gone
          you get up to $200 free in usage fees
          After that cost is based on volume of API use
          Go to https://developers.google.com/maps for current information
          Last edited by Kevin at LECESSE; 05-31-2018, 05:25 PM. Reason: mistake part got cut off

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