Elevation API Usage and Billing

The Elevation API uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model. Elevation API requests generate calls to one SKU for all but mobile-native apps. Along with the overall Google Terms of Use, there are usage limits specific to the Elevation API. Manage your costs and usage with tools available in the Google Cloud console.

How the Elevation API is billed

The Elevation API uses a pay-as-you-go pricing model. The Google Maps Platform APIs and SDKs are billed by SKU. Usage is tracked for each SKU, and any API or SDK may have more than one product SKU. Cost is calculated by

SKU usage × Price per each use

Use our Pricing and Usage calculator to estimate your usage cost per API or SDK. For qualifying Google Maps Platform SKUs, a $200 USD Google Maps Platform credit is available each month for each billing account. This credit is automatically applied to the qualifying SKUs.

Pricing for the Elevation API

SKU: Elevation

An Elevation SKU is charged for requests to the Maps JavaScript API’s Elevation service or to the Elevation API.

MONTHLY VOLUME RANGE
(Price per REQUEST)
0–100,000 100,001–500,000 500,000+
0.005 USD per each
(5.00 USD per 1000)		 0.004 USD per each
(4.00 USD per 1000)		 Contact Sales for volume pricing

Other usage limits

While there is no maximum number of requests per day, the following usage limits are still in place for the Elevation API:

  • 512 locations per request.
  • 6,000 QPM (requests per minute), calculated as the sum of client-side and server-side queries.

Terms of Use restrictions

For information on terms of use, see policies for the Elevation API, and the License Restrictions section of the Google Maps Platform Terms of Service.

Manage your cost of use

To manage your cost of use of the Elevation API or to meet the demands of your production traffic, set daily quota limits on all requests to any API. Daily quotas are reset at midnight Pacific time.

To view or change quota limits for the Elevation API:

  1. In the Cloud console, open the Google Maps Platform Quotas page.
  2. Click the APIs drop-down and select the Elevation API.
  3. To view the quota limits, scroll down to the Requests card.
    A table lists the quota names and limits.
  4. To change a quota limit, click the Edit icon for that limit.
    In the dialog that appears, in the Quota Limit field, enter the preferred billable daily quota limit (up to the quota limit, if any, specified by Google) and select Save.

If your API usage reaches your billable quota limit on any given day, your application will not be able to access the API for the remainder of that day.