The Google Places API is Google's official, billed way to query business data; scraping reads the same public listings from Google Maps itself. The API gives you stable JSON, but it caps a search at 60 results, charges the higher Enterprise rate as soon as you ask for phone numbers, websites or ratings, has no email field, and its terms restrict storing the results. Scraping tools can cover a whole area, add emails from business websites and export a spreadsheet, but you depend on the tool keeping up with Google's page changes. For an app that shows places on a map, use the API. For a lead list, a scraper or lead tool is usually the better fit.
Most comparisons on this topic are written by scraping vendors, and several price the API as if every lead were one request. That's not how Google bills Text Search, so this guide works through the actual pricing pages and documentation, checked on 27 October 2026.
The short comparison
| Google Places API (New) | Scraping Google Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | JSON from Google's servers | Data read from public Maps listings |
| Results per search | 20 per page, max 60 across pages | Whatever the listing panel shows (~120), more if the tool splits the area |
| Setup | API key, billing account, code or an automation tool | Extension or web form, no code |
| Phone, website, rating | Yes, billed at the Enterprise tier | Yes |
| No field exists | Only if the tool crawls business websites | |
| Pricing model | Per request, by field tier, after a free monthly cap | Per lead, per row or subscription, depending on the tool |
| Storing the data | Restricted by Maps Platform terms (place IDs exempt) | Governed by Google's terms and data-protection law; see below |
| Breakage risk | Low; versioned API | Higher; depends on the tool's maintenance |
| Best for | Apps, live lookups, maps in a product | Lead lists, market research, outreach |
How Places API pricing actually works
Google moved Maps Platform from a single monthly credit to free usage caps per SKU in March 2025. Two things decide what a request costs:
- The endpoint. Text Search, Nearby Search and Place Details are separate SKUs.
- The field mask. Text Search requires you to list the fields you want. You are billed at the highest tier of any field in that list, so one phone number field turns the whole request into an Enterprise request.
Text Search is billed per successful request, and one request returns a page of up to 20 places. Here are the current list prices for the first band of usage (from the free cap up to 100,000 events a month):
| SKU | Free per month | Price per 1,000 requests | Example fields |
|---|---|---|---|
| Text Search Essentials (IDs Only) | Unlimited | — | Place IDs |
| Text Search Pro | 5,000 | $32.00 | Name, address, location, types, business status, Maps URL |
| Text Search Enterprise | 1,000 | $35.00 | Phone numbers, website, rating, review count, opening hours, price level |
| Text Search Enterprise + Atmosphere | 1,000 | $40.00 | Reviews, review summary, amenities such as takeout or outdoor seating |
| Place Details Pro | 5,000 | $17.00 | Same Pro fields, one place per request |
| Place Details Enterprise | 1,000 | $20.00 | Same Enterprise fields, one place per request |
For a lead list you almost always need phone and website, so the relevant line is Text Search Enterprise.
What a lead list costs through the API
Take the best case: every Text Search page comes back full with 20 new places.
- 1,000 free Enterprise requests × 20 places = up to 20,000 places a month at no charge.
- Beyond that: $35 per 1,000 requests ÷ 20 places = $1.75 per 1,000 places.
That is much cheaper than the "$30+ per 1,000 leads" figure you'll see in some comparisons. The best case doesn't hold for real searches, though:
- The 60-result cap. A query like "dentists in Chicago" stops at 60 places across three pages. To cover the city you have to tile it into many small areas, each its own query.
- Partial pages. Small cells often return fewer than 20 places, but a request is billed the same either way.
- Duplicates. Neighbouring cells return the same businesses. You pay for every copy and remove them yourself by place ID.
- Missing fields. Text Search gives you the website URL but no email. Getting emails means fetching and parsing each website, which is a separate system you build and run.
- Engineering time. The key, quotas, pagination, retries, the grid and de-duplication are all code you write and maintain.
A cheaper pattern some developers use: run Text Search with IDs only (free, unlimited), then call Place Details Enterprise only for the places you keep. That costs $20 per 1,000 places after the first 1,000, but you only pay for the businesses you actually want.
The 60-result cap vs the ~120 cap
These are two different limits, and they are often confused:
- Places API Text Search (New): at most 20 results per page and, in Google's words, "a maximum of 60 results across all pages, although this limit is subject to change."
- The Google Maps website: the results panel stops loading after roughly 120 places for one search.
Either way, one search won't list every business in a large area. The fix is the same for both: split the area into smaller cells, search each one, and merge the results by place ID. Our guide to scraping Google Maps beyond 120 results explains the grid method step by step.
Data coverage: what each route returns
The Places API returns a well-defined set of fields: name, address components, coordinates, types, business status, phone numbers, website, rating, review count, opening hours, price level, and at the Atmosphere tier, reviews and amenity flags. That covers most of what a public listing shows.
What it doesn't give you:
- Email addresses. No field in Places API (New) returns one. See how to extract emails from Google Maps for the website-crawl method.
- Social profiles. Same story: they live on the business's website, not in the API.
- Derived signals. Things like "has no website" or "few reviews for its category" are computed afterwards from the raw fields.
Lead tools built on Maps data usually add these on top. MapScraper's export, for example, has 41 fields, including email, social profiles, claim status, date of newest review and a digital weakness score.
Terms of use: the part most comparisons skip
This section is general information, not legal advice.
The Places API is licensed data, and the license comes with conditions. Google's Maps Platform Terms of Service (section 3.2.3) say customers will not "export, extract, or otherwise scrape Google Maps Content for use outside the Services," and give as an example that customers will not "copy and save business names, addresses, or user reviews." Caching is only allowed where the service-specific terms permit it. The Places API policies add that place IDs are exempt ("You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely"), that Places results shown on a map must be on a Google Map, and that results shown without a map need the Google logo.
In practice: an app that queries the API live and shows results to users fits these terms well. Exporting results into a CRM or spreadsheet to keep for outreach is exactly the kind of storage the terms restrict. Paying for the API doesn't make that use permitted.
Scraping the public Maps website isn't covered by an API license at all. Google's general terms apply to the website, and data-protection rules (GDPR in the EU, KVKK in Turkey, and similar laws elsewhere) apply to how you use the data afterwards, especially for marketing outreach. Business listings are public business information, but consent and opt-out obligations for marketing still apply to whoever sends the emails.
If the data is going into a commercial product or a large outreach program, have a lawyer read the terms that apply to you.
When to use which
- You're building an app or website feature (a store locator, a "places near you" list, address autocomplete): use the Places API. It's stable, it's documented, and showing data live on a Google map is what it's licensed for.
- You need a few hundred businesses once: either works. The API's free caps cover this if you can write the code. A no-code tool is faster if you can't. Our no-code comparison lists the options.
- You need a complete list for a city or region, with emails, in a spreadsheet: use a scraper or lead tool that splits the area and crawls websites. Rebuilding that on top of the API means paying per request and writing the grid, the dedupe and the email crawler yourself.
- You need fresh data on a schedule inside your own systems: a lead tool with an API gives you the scraped fields as JSON without running scrapers yourself. Comparisons with Outscraper and Apify cover how the main tools differ.
Where MapScraper fits
MapScraper is built for case 3 and case 4. You enter a category and a location, and before anything is charged, a free pre-count tells you how many businesses the area holds. The area is split into cells automatically and merged by place ID, so you get the whole area rather than the first 120. Emails are crawled from each business's own website (home, /contact, /about).
It runs as a Chrome/Edge extension, a cloud scraper and a REST and MCP API, all on one lead balance. You're charged only for rows delivered: stop a 3,400-row scan at row 412 and it costs 412 leads. Unused leads roll over to the next month. Results download as Excel, CSV or JSON.
Leads are sold in one-time packs: the launch offer is 1,000 leads for $5 (regular $19), with emails and the API included, and the leads never expire. Bigger packs bring the price per thousand down further.
Summary
- The Places API is billed per request by field tier. Phone, website and rating put you on Text Search Enterprise: 1,000 free requests a month, then $35 per 1,000 requests, with up to 20 places per request.
- Each API search stops at 60 results. Full coverage means a grid of searches, paying for duplicates and partial pages, and removing duplicates yourself.
- The API has no email field, and its terms restrict storing names and addresses outside Google's services. Place IDs are the exception.
- Use the API for apps that show live place data on a Google map. Use a scraper or lead tool for downloadable, complete lead lists with emails.
If a lead list is what you need, start with MapScraper's free pre-count so you know the size of the area before you spend anything, then use the launch offer of 1,000 leads for $5 (emails included, one-time, the leads never expire).