04Places API

The Google Places API — what it returns, how to use it, and a simpler alternative

The Google Places API turns a search query or a place ID into structured business data — name, address, coordinates, phone, website, rating. This page explains what it does, how to get a key, what it actually costs, and where a one-call alternative saves you the SKU stacking and the credit-card gate.

What the Places API actually does

It is an HTTP service under Google Maps Platform. You send a query — a search string, a nearby point, or a place ID — and it returns formatted records about establishments and points of interest. Three request types cover almost every use:

• Text Search / Nearby Search — hand it "dentist in Austin" or a latitude/longitude, get back a list of matching businesses with basic fields.
• Place Details — hand it one place ID, get the full record for that one place: phone, website, opening hours, rating.
• Place ID — a stable identifier for a business, so the same place resolves the same way across calls and across Google Maps.

The catch that surprises most people: search and details are billed as separate SKUs. Finding a business gives you the ID and a few fields; the phone number and website come from a second, more expensive call.

How to get a Google Places API key

1. Create a project in the Google Cloud Console.
2. Enable the Places API (New) for that project.
3. Attach a billing account with a credit card — required before any call returns data, even inside the free caps.
4. Generate an API key under Credentials and send it on every request.

The $200 monthly credit that once covered small projects ended on 28 February 2025. Usage is now governed by per-SKU free caps — roughly 10,000 Essentials and 5,000 Pro calls a month — after which every call is billed.

A simpler way to get the same data

RankFabrik's Places API returns the same core record — name, address, coordinates, phone, website, rating — from one call, no second SKU for the contact fields. And it prints the one number Google never does: the share of records where each field was actually filled. Here is a real sweep, measured before you'd pay a cent:

Missing fields come back as null, never invented, and the completeness block scores the whole batch — so an empty field is a fact you read up front, not a surprise you discover after billing.

GET /rechercher?q=dental+office&ville=new+york

{
  "count": 20,
  "completeness": { "address": 98, "phone": 74, "website": 61, "reviewsCount": 0 },
  "places": [
    {
      "name": "Example Dental Office",
      "address": "12 Example Ave, New York, NY 10001, USA",
      "latitude": 40.7128,
      "longitude": -74.0060,
      "phone": "+1 212 000 0000",
      "website": "https://example-dental.com",
      "rating": 4.6,
      "reviewsCount": null
    }
  ]
}

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