Google Places API Now Costs $275/Month — Here's a Free Alternative

Google Places API pricing hit a breaking point in 2026. The basic "Essentials" tier starts at $275/month, and if you need contact details it's $400+. For indie developers, MVPs, and side projects, that's a non-starter.

I built BizData — a free REST API and MCP server that returns business data for any location worldwide. No API key. No signup. No rate limits (yet).

What It Does

Query any city + business category and get structured JSON back: name, address, phone, website, email, coordinates, opening hours. 37 business categories from restaurants to hospitals.

Example — find cafes in Paris:

GET https://bizdata-web.vercel.app/api/businesses?city=paris&category=cafe&limit=5

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Returns:

{
  "businesses": [
    {
      "name": "Café de Flore",
      "address": "172 Boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris",
      "phone": "+33 1 45 48 55 26",
      "website": "https://cafedeflore.fr",
      "latitude": 48.8540,
      "longitude": 2.3325
    }
  ],
  "count": 2309,
  "city": "paris",
  "category": "cafe"
}

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How It Works

BizData wraps the OpenStreetMap Overpass API and normalizes the messy OSM tag system into a clean REST interface. European cities have 50-70% data completeness. Paris alone has 8,300+ restaurants and 2,300+ cafes.

Also an MCP Server

If you're building with Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client:

https://bizdata-web.vercel.app/api/mcp

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Add it as a remote MCP server (Streamable HTTP transport). Your AI agent can then search businesses in natural language.

When to Use BizData vs Google Places

BizData

Google Places

Price

Free

$275-400+/month

Auth

None

API key required

Data source

OpenStreetMap (community)

Google's proprietary data

Best for

Europe, Asia, prototypes

US/UK, production apps needing 95%+ coverage

Completeness

50-70% (Europe), 20-33% (US/UK)

90%+ globally

Honest take: If you need comprehensive US data, Google is still better. If you're building an MVP, working with European data, or just don't want to pay $275/month for a side project, BizData works.

Try It

API: https://bizdata-web.vercel.app/api/businesses?city=london&category=restaurant&limit=3
Comparison of 7 alternatives: https://bizdata-web.vercel.app/compare
City explorer: https://bizdata-web.vercel.app/cities/paris

No signup. No API key. Just make a GET request.

37 Supported Categories

restaurant, cafe, bar, hotel, hospital, pharmacy, bank, supermarket, gym, school, university, library, cinema, theatre, museum, park, parking, fuel, car_repair, dentist, veterinary, post_office, police, fire_station, embassy, nightclub, fast_food, bakery, butcher, convenience, clothes, electronics, furniture, hairdresser, beauty, laundry, car_wash

Built this as a solo project. Feedback welcome — especially if you find data gaps in specific cities.