Google Maps vs. Mapbox - Which map solution should you pick?

Having an interactive map with your business location on your ‘Contact Us’ page is a must, no matter how old school you are. The majority of your site’s visitors will go there to see where your business or branch is. So, let’s see how to make that a great experience!

As a web development agency, we are often asked by our clients to implement a map on their shiny new websites. Building a geocoding application from scratch is not an option for obvious reasons. As a result, we’ve faced a difficult question. Which map solution should we pick?

After initial research, we’ve reduced our options to two candidates: Google Maps (pretty sure that you’ve never heard about it before!) and Mapbox. Then, we decided to dive deeper and compare these two services meticulously. We wanted to make our decision based on relevant data.

What were the key elements of our comparison?

• Search options and providing directions.
• Additional features, such as map markers.
• Customization options. The look and feel of web design is our top priority, so we often need to adapt the map to the UI of the website.
• And, last but not least, pricing models, as for some clients budget is a decisive factor.

What was the result of our analysis? Which solution turned out to fit our needs best? And do we recommend it? Keep reading to find out!

What is a web mapping service?

The solution we were looking for (and most probably you are as well) is called a web mapping service. Before we dive into the comparison, let’s get things straight and explain what exactly a web mapping service is.

It’s a service that uses geocoding, a technology that allows to turn an address into geographical coordinates. In addition to geocoding, web mapping services use geolocation, which makes it possible to identify the location of a device, whether it be a smartphone or a computer.

This service is available via an API, meaning that you can easily integrate it with your website or app. Thanks to web mapping services, users can search for their actual location or browse for other places by typing in an address or the name of a particular venue.

Google Map vs. Mapbox - Comparison of web mapping services

Disclaimer! The research for this section was done in October 2023. Since the world of tech is ever-changing, some of this information may become outdated in the future. I recommend double-checking it.

Search based on geolocation

Both services enable geolocation search. Mapbox offers it for free as long as you don’t exceed 100,000 requests in a single month. Then, it’s going to be $0.00075 or less per request.

If you’d like to use this feature in Google Maps, it’s going to cost you $0.005 per request. If you exceed 100,000 requests in a month, it’s going to be $0.004 per request.

Search based on place details

Want to let users find places based on place details, such as phone number or rating? If so, Google Maps will ask you to pay up to $0.025 per request. Once you exceed 100,000 requests in a month, it’s going to get cheaper. It will cost up to $0.020 per request. It all depends on the kind of details you’d like users to be able to use. The more detailed you want the search functionality to be, the more you will have to pay.

On the other hand, Mapbox offers such a functionality for free if you don’t exceed 2,500 requests per month. Then, it’s $0.0115 per request, or even cheaper if the number of requests keeps growing.

Directions

Do you want your users to be able to get directions that will guide them to your business’s location? If so, Google offers it out-of-the-box in its mapping service. Unfortunately, it’s not free. You will be charged extra $0.005 per request. If you go over 100,000 requests in a month, it’s going to cost you $0.004 per request.

On the other hand, if you go with Mapbox, then you won’t be charged anything until you exceed 100,000 monthly requests. Then, it’s going to cost you less than $0.002 per request.

Customization

Needless to say, being able to customize a mapping service is important if you care about maintaining design consistency throughout an application or a website. Luckily, both Google Maps and Mapbox allow you to do just that for free. Their users are given access to both ready-to-use templates and a wide range of customization options that you can play around with.

When it comes to Google Maps, you can make use of their cloud-based maps styling features. As for Mapbox, there’s Mapbox Studio, which allows for creating a custom-made map experience for your users.

Map marker clustering

Grouping map markers is a useful option when you have many locations close to each other. Without clustering, the map can become illegible and difficult to use. To improve user experience, you can group these markers. Both Google Maps and Mapbox offer such a feature.

However, we found the Google Maps clustering feature to be much more convenient from the developers’ point of view. In the case of Mapbox, implementing this functionality required more development time, so bear this in mind if you want to avoid wasting time and money.

Custom map marker features

Both Mapbox and Google Maps allow you to create custom markers tied to specific map coordinates. So, let’s call it a tie in that regard!

It’s all about the money… or is it?

When it comes to comparing the costs of both solutions, it’s necessary to clarify how exactly these costs are billed. Both Google Maps and Mapbox charge for load requests, but… they understand this term a bit differently.

Google Maps

A load request occurs when an application displays a map loaded either with or without a map ID using Maps JavaScript API. It also occurs when an application displays a map loaded with a map ID using either Maps SDK for iOS or the Maps SDK for Android.

Mapbox

A load request is counted whenever a Mapbox GL JS Map object is initialized on a webpage.

It’s worth noting that users’ interactions with the map, such as panning, zooming, or switching layers, aren’t considered additional map loads, so you don’t have to worry about being charged extra by either Google Maps or Mapbox.

Why should this bother you? When forecasting potential costs for every service, you should take into account how map loads are counted.

Now, we can get down to business and compare Google Maps and Mapbox pricing. Both companies charge based on the pay-as-you-go model, and you only pay for what you use. Here’s how it works!

Google Maps pricing

The pricing analysis below applies to the Dynamic Maps service. If you’d like to see how much other services cost, I recommend visiting the Google Maps platform pricing website.

Let’s start with the good news. Up to 28,000 requests are free of charge. What’s more, it’s a recurring thing. So, every month, Google Maps essentially gives you $200 to spend on service fees.

As for the cost of the Dynamic Maps service, you will be charged $7.00 for every 1,000 requests until you reach 100,000 requests. Then, the price shrinks to $5.60 per 1,000 requests. If you hope for a volume discount, you can ask for it once you exceed 500,001 load requests.

Mapbox pricing

We’ve taken into account Mapbox’s pricing for web applications, but not for mobile applications. They differ from one another, but the differences aren’t that big. If you’d like to know more, have a look at Mapbox’s pricing page.

The main difference between Google Maps and Mapbox pricing is that the latter offers more load requests free of charge. You get up to 50,000 for free. Then, you’re only going to pay $5.00 or less per 1,000 requests. However, you can only ask for a volume discount if you hit more than 1,000,000 requests.

In conclusion, Mapbox, an aspiring Google Maps competitor, has incredibly affordable prices.

Are there any other alternatives?

Obviously, you’re not limited to choosing between Google Maps or Mapbox. We decided to narrow down our search to these two options, but that doesn’t mean that the possibilities end here. Some other services worth checking out are TomTom, OpenLayers, and HERE, to name a few.

How does web mapping work in practice?

We made use of Mapbox in a couple of projects for our clients. I’m more than happy to share how it went in the case of Rocketmart.

Rocketmart is an NYC-based provider of modern vending machines. The founders turned to us seeking help with all kinds of challenges, from branding to web design. Implementing a mapping solution was an important part of the latter task, and Mapbox proved to be an excellent choice. It provided their website visitors with a quick and easy way to check where their vending machines are located.

TL;DR, just give me the conclusion!

Although I hope that you did read the article, I understand that you’re eager to find the answer to your initial question. So, which map solution should you pick? Well, I imagine that you won’t be happy to hear it.

It depends.

But it really does! We’ve discovered that everything depends on the type of project we’re dealing with and clients’ needs.

Therefore, my advice is that you figure out which one of these two services fits your requirements best. Then, think about how you feel about their pricing, and whether you need them to support any specific features.

For instance, if you have numerous locations that you want to mark on the map and, therefore, want to implement marker clustering with less effort, then using Google’s API might be more convenient.

Having trouble deciding?

If you’re feeling unsure about which service you should choose or how to implement it, don’t worry. Our team at Adchitects is here to assist you every step of the way. Visit our website and reach out to us for personalized guidance!