Openpath vs Google Places API for AI agents

Google Places API is a paid Google Maps Platform web service that returns place data (search, details, photos, autocomplete) from Google Maps. Openpath is an open directory of real-world listings built for AI agents: each result is one listing, with the employer’s Apply link for a job or an Openpath inbox address for a business’s owner. It needs no key.

The short answer

Google Places API: The broadest, freshest global place data, with ratings, reviews, hours and photos, for teams that can pay per call and follow Google's display rules.
Openpath: Giving an agent a job to apply for or a local business to message, with no key.

Openpath covers far less today: jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote, and businesses in and around Austin. Where it has what the agent is looking for, it is free and needs no sign-up.

Google Places API and Openpath, side by side

	Google Places API	Openpath
Searches	Places worldwide from Google Maps: businesses, points of interest, addresses, through Text Search, Nearby Search, Place Details and Autocomplete.	Live jobs from employers’ own job boards (Austin, Texas, and remote) and local businesses in Austin
Returns	JSON. You pick fields with a field mask, and the most expensive field you ask for sets the price tier (Essentials, Pro, Enterprise). Fields include place ID, name, address, location, phone numbers, website, hours, ratings, photos and reviews.	Plain Markdown, one listing per result: its facts, its source and the day it was checked. Typed JSON on request.
Before the first call	A Google Cloud project with billing enabled, plus an API key or OAuth token.	One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.
Free	A free monthly usage cap for each SKU: 5,000 Text Search Pro or Nearby Search Pro calls, 1,000 at the Enterprise tier, 10,000 Place Details Essentials, and unlimited ID-only searches. The pricing page does not mention the old $200 monthly credit.	Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent
Paid	Text Search Pro and Nearby Search Pro cost $32 per 1,000 calls (up to 100,000 a month). Enterprise, the tier that includes phone and website, costs $35 per 1,000. Place Details Pro costs $17 per 1,000.	Free for agents
Acting on a result	Phone numbers and website are Enterprise-tier fields. There is no way to message a business through the API.	A job has the employer’s Apply link; a business, and every listing its owner added, has an Openpath inbox address. An agent writes to it and the owner answers there. Openpath doesn’t notify owners who haven’t joined yet, so a message to them waits 30 days.
Limits on keeping or showing results	No pre-fetching, caching or storing beyond the stated exceptions. Place IDs may be stored indefinitely, and latitude/longitude for up to 30 days. Results may be shown without a map, but then the Google logo is required. When shown on a map it must be a Google Map, never a non-Google map.	Agents read listings and act on them; the terms say reading a listing doesn’t give the right to reuse it freely.
AI in its terms	The Maps Platform Terms forbid using Google Maps Content to improve ML or AI models, including to train, test, validate or fine-tune them. Grounding an LLM is allowed only through Maps Grounding Lite, which requires source links and forbids using Grounded Output to train models.	Built for AI agents. An agent may act only with its owner’s permission, and the terms don’t let Openpath train AI models on what owners post.
Coverage	Worldwide (Google Maps place data).	Jobs in Austin, Texas, and remote; businesses in Austin, for now
MCP server	Maps Grounding Lite, a Google-hosted MCP endpoint at https://mapstools.googleapis.com/mcp (tools include search_places). Docs: https://developers.google.com/maps/ai/grounding-lite	https://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, with no sign-in

Try Openpath

Connect, then search:

curl https://api.openpath.sh/v1/connect \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '{}'
curl -G https://api.openpath.sh/v1/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENPATH_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "q=plumber near Austin, TX"

Or let the JavaScript client connect for you. The Python client, openpath-sh, works the same way.

npm install @openpath/sdk

import { search } from "@openpath/sdk";
console.log(await search("plumber near Austin, TX"));

Agent apps that take MCP servers can add https://api.openpath.sh/mcp/search, which needs no sign-in. The local businesses docs have the full code, every parameter and each line of the answer.

One result, as it read on October 15, 2026:

## Wilson Plumbing, plumber in Austin

At 906 E 47th St, Austin, TX 78751.

Contact: https://openpath.sh/to/r16wy7rs084r
The owner hasn't joined Openpath, and Openpath doesn't notify owners yet, so a reply is unlikely for now. A message waits 30 days in case they join.
Source: Overture Maps, checked yesterday.
Data: Meta via Overture Maps, CDLA-Permissive-2.0.
Link: https://api.openpath.sh/v1/listings/c705c92b-8d0d-4b03-8bbb-aa9442843ec5

What Openpath doesn’t do yet

Jobs come from the job boards of a growing list of companies, in Austin and remote.
Businesses are in Austin, Texas, for now.
It shows no phone numbers or websites: owners are reached through their Openpath inbox.

Questions people ask

What do I need before I can use Openpath?

One empty request to /v1/connect, which returns a token. No account, email or card.

Is Openpath free?

Free: 600 searches a minute and 20,000 a day for each connected agent.

What do I need before I can use Google Places API?

A Google Cloud project with billing enabled, plus an API key or OAuth token.

Is Google Places API free?

A free monthly usage cap for each SKU: 5,000 Text Search Pro or Nearby Search Pro calls, 1,000 at the Enterprise tier, 10,000 Place Details Essentials, and unlimited ID-only searches. The pricing page does not mention the old $200 monthly credit.

Sources

Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.

Google Places API, read on October 15, 2026:

developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing: “Places API Text Search Pro 4FDA-34B1-A910 5,000 $32.00”
developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing: “Places API Text Search Enterprise E967-44BC-B44D 1,000 $35.00”
developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing: “Places API Place Details Pro 4ED6-464A-2AFC 5,000 $17.00”
developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing: “Places API Text Search Essentials (IDs Only) 635D-A9DD-C520 Unlimited”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/usage-and-billing: “To use the Places API, you must enable billing on each of your projects and include an API key or OAuth token”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/usage-and-billing: “if you select fields in both the Essentials and the Pro SKUs, you are billed based on the Pro SKU”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/data-fields: “International phone number internationalPhoneNumber Place Details Enterprise Text Search Enterprise Nearby Search Enterprise”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/data-fields: “Website URI websiteUri Place Details Enterprise Text Search Enterprise Nearby Search Enterprise”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/overview: “returns a JSON response. Places API (New) supports authorization by API key and OAuth token.”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies: “You must not pre-fetch, cache, or store Places API content beyond the allowed exceptions.”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies: “You can therefore store place ID values indefinitely.”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/policies: “When displaying Places API data without a Google Map, you must include the Google logo”
cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/maps-service-terms: “Customer may temporarily cache latitude and longitude values from the Places API for up to 30 consecutive calendar days”
cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/maps-service-terms: “Customer may use Google Maps Content from the Places API in Customer Applications without a corresponding Google Map.”
cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms: “use Google Maps Content to improve machine learning and artificial intelligence models, including to train, test, validate or fine-tune the models”
cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/maps-service-terms: “use Grounded Output to train, develop, or improve any machine learning models or artificial intelligence systems”
developers.google.com/maps/ai/grounding-lite: “a service with Model Context Protocol (MCP) support”
developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/overview: “built on one of the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive place models of the real world”