A new discounting system is being introduced to Google Maps this year that will make it easier to get started with projects and scale them up.

Under the previous version of the Google Maps API Premium Plan, customers were required to provide what they thought were the right estimates for usage for the coming year for Google Maps.

Depending on the usage levels, there were discounts available for high volumes, but these had to be predicted across multiple APIs, which would require help from a Google Maps partner to ascertain the calculations.

New discount model

Under the new Google Maps Platform discounting model, you will receive automatic discounts based on your usage for that month.

API call unit prices will start out the same each month, but as usage crosses certain thresholds, each call will be discounted in line with the usage tiers reached. This happens automatically and you don’t need to worry about how it is calculated.

Billing per API

Under the previous model clients were given map credits in set increments, for example 500,000 map credits for an internal licence on an annual basis, which could be used in a number of ways.

Map credits would buy different amount of calls depending on the API called and the total number of credits was calculated by tallying all of the credits and their various costings.

The Google Maps Platform Premium Plan bills on an individual API basis and automatic discounting is applied on each API separately. This means that if you have high volumes of geocodes and receive a discounted rate, it does not mean your map loads will be discounted. If they are low volume they will be billed at the base rate.

Unlocking higher discount tiers

You can go direct to Google and use your credit card to use the Google Maps Platform, but the discounting tier is capped at the first level.

To unlock higher discount tiers for applications with high usage, customers will need to go through a Google Cloud partner, like NGIS.

To find out more about the automatic billing, please contact our Google Team