HERE Geocoding & Search vs Outscraper for AI agents
HERE Geocoding & Search is HERE's location search API family (Discover/Search, Autosuggest, Geocode, Reverse Geocode) for finding addresses and places/POIs. Outscraper is a third-party service and API that scrapes Google Maps places in bulk and returns them as structured records.
The short answer
- HERE Geocoding & Search: Cheap per-call POI and address search with a free monthly tier. Good when results stay inside an app and are not fed to AI systems.
- Outscraper: Bulk extraction of Google Maps business lists, such as lead lists.
Side by side
| HERE Geocoding & Search | Outscraper | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Addresses, places/POIs, EV charge points and third-party data such as Tripadvisor, searchable by free text or along routes. | Google Maps places by query (for example "restaurants brooklyn usa") or by place ID, plus reviews and photos. |
| Returns | JSON with an items array. Only title, id, resultType and position are guaranteed. Place results can add address, categories, contacts (phone, www, email) and openingHours. | JSON (exports also in CSV, Excel and Parquet) with fields such as name, site, phone, address, rating, hours and, with enrichments, emails and social links. |
| Before the first call | A HERE platform account on the Base Plan, which requires entering a payment method at sign-up (since 2025), plus an app ID and API key. | An Outscraper account and API key. |
| Free | 5,000 Discover/Search transactions a month on the Base Plan (30,000 for Geocode and Autocomplete). | Not stated on its pages |
| Paid | Discover/Search: EUR 2.33 per 1,000 (5,001 to 200,000), then EUR 1.87 per 1,000 up to 1,000,000. | Not stated on its pages |
| Acting on a result | Place results can include phone, website and email contacts. There is no way to message a business through the API. | Records include the business phone and website from Google Maps, and enrichments can add emails. There is no messaging through Outscraper. |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | The Platform Terms bar caching or storing Results outside the Platform for more than 30 days (24 hours for Japan and Positioning). The Base Plan also excludes asset-tracking use cases. | Not stated on its pages |
| AI in its terms | Restrictive. Unless your plan or a separate agreement allows it, the Platform Terms (6.3 f) forbid using HERE Materials "in connection with a machine learning or artificial intelligence (“AI”) system," including generative AI. | Not stated on its pages |
| Coverage | Not stated on the pages read. Searches can be limited to countries by ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code. | Not stated on its pages |
| MCP server | HERE Location Reasoning, an MCP server at https://hlr.here.ai/mcp (docs: https://docs.here.com/location-reasoning/docs/hlroverview). Access terms and pricing for it were not confirmed. | outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server on GitHub (https://github.com/outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server), run with npx -y outscraper-mcp and OUTSCRAPER_API_KEY. |
Where Openpath fits
If the agent needs a local business to message in Austin, Texas, Openpath returns the listings themselves, free and with no key. See Openpath vs HERE Geocoding & Search and Openpath vs Outscraper.
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use HERE Geocoding & Search?
A HERE platform account on the Base Plan, which requires entering a payment method at sign-up (since 2025), plus an app ID and API key.
Is HERE Geocoding & Search free?
5,000 Discover/Search transactions a month on the Base Plan (30,000 for Geocode and Autocomplete).
What do I need before I can use Outscraper?
An Outscraper account and API key.
Is Outscraper free?
Its pages listed no free use when we read them on October 15, 2026.
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
HERE Geocoding & Search, read on October 15, 2026:
- here.com/get-started/pricing: “Discover / Search pricing Monthly Transactions Cost per 1,000 0 to 5,000 Free 5,001 to 200,000 €2.33”
- here.com/get-started/pricing: “200,001 to 1,000,000 €1.87 1,000,001+ Contact us 1 Transaction is counted for every Request.”
- here.com/get-started/pricing: “Discover addresses, Places/POIs, EV charge points, truck-specific attributes and 3rd party data like Tripadvisor”
- here.com/learn/blog/april-2025-platform-release-notes: “The Base plan requires entering a payment method during the onboarding process to access our platform.”
- docs.here.com/geocoding-and-search/docs/discover: “Only title, id, resultType, position can be expected for all results.”
- legal.here.com/en-gb/terms/here-platform-terms: “for more than 30 days, except HERE Positioning services which cannot be cached or stored outside the Platform for more than 24 hours”
- legal.here.com/en-gb/terms/here-platform-terms: “Use HERE Materials in connection with a machine learning or artificial intelligence (“AI”) system”
- legal.here.com/en-gb/terms/here-platform-terms: “Except as otherwise permitted in your Subscription Plan or separate agreement with HERE, you may not:”
- here.com/get-started/pricing/base-plan-restrictions: “The following use cases are excluded from the Base Plan.”
- docs.here.com/location-reasoning/docs/hlroverview: “HERE Location Reasoning is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server”
- docs.here.com/location-reasoning/docs/hlroverview: “The HERE Location Reasoning MCP server is available at: https://hlr.here.ai/mcp”
Outscraper, read on October 15, 2026:
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-python: “client = OutscraperClient(api_key='SECRET_API_KEY')”
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-python: “"site": "http://www.colonienyc.com/", "phone": "+1 718-855-7500"”
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server: “Official Outscraper MCP server for AI agents: Google Maps scraping, business data enrichment, lead generation”