Building a store locator requires multiple map API services working together. Most businesses underestimate these costs until they receive their first bill. This calculator helps you understand the true cost before you commit.
How Map API Pricing Works
Both Google Maps and Mapbox use usage-based pricing. You pay for what you use, but the costs add up quickly:
- Map Loads: Every time someone views your store locator, that's a map load. A site with 10,000 monthly visitors can easily rack up 30,000+ map loads.
- Geocoding: Converting addresses to coordinates. Essential for importing store locations and calculating distances.
- Address Autocomplete: The suggestions that appear as a visitor types an address. Google charges $2.83 per 1,000 sessions after the first 10,000, and a busy search box gets through them faster than you expect.
Google Maps vs Mapbox: Key Differences
Google Maps gives each API 10,000 free requests per month but has higher per-unit costs. Mapbox offers a more generous free tier (50,000 free map loads) with lower costs at scale. For most store locators, Mapbox becomes more economical above 10,000 monthly map loads.
Hidden Costs to Consider
Beyond direct API costs, self-building a store locator means paying for development time, server infrastructure, maintenance, and debugging. When something breaks on a Friday night, you're on call.
StoreRocket removes all of that except the map bill itself, which stays yours because you connect your own Google or Mapbox key. What goes away is the building and the owning of it: the search, the radius filtering, the locations database, the admin your team can actually use, and the Friday night. Our pricing is per location, not per map load.
