The Ola Maps alternative, India + global, one API key
Compare maps.guru vs Ola Maps: free tier, India vs global coverage, ONDC program, and what happens when you need maps outside India.
Ola Maps pricing in 2026: 500,000 free API calls per month combined across all APIs, India coverage only, with paid rates not published (sales contact required). ONDC-registered startups get free usage until August 2027. maps.guru pricing: free forever with 50,000 tile requests and 10,000 geocoding requests per month with global coverage in 195 countries, and Pro at ₹3,999/month ($49) for 1,000,000 tiles plus 200,000 geocoding requests, publicly priced with no sales call.
| Metric | Ola Maps | maps.guru |
|---|---|---|
| Free calls / month (combined) | 500,000 combined across all APIs (India only)Ola free tier is India-only | 50,000 tiles + 10,000 geocoding |
| Global coverage | India only, data residency in India | Global: 195 countries, Cloudflare edge |
| Paid tier price | Usage-based, rates not public, requires sales contact | Pro $49/mo or ₹3,999/mo: public, no sales call |
| ONDC startup program | Free until August 2027 for ONDC startups | Not applicable. Use Ola Maps for ONDC. |
| Routing APIs | Live: Directions, Distance Matrix, Route Optimizer, Snap-to-Road | Coming soon. Check roadmap. |
| Credit card required | No, free with no CC | No CC for free plan |
| INR pricing | Yes, INR native; SOC 2 + ISO 27001 certified | Yes, ₹3,999/mo Pro |
Ola Maps' data and infrastructure is restricted to India per their terms. Applications serving users in other countries cannot use Ola Maps. The footer explicitly states data stays in India. If your user base is international or you plan to expand globally, you need a separate provider for non-India geographies.
Source: Ola Maps Product PageThe Ola Maps pricing page shows volume sliders with a calculator but does not publish per-call rates. To get a paid quote you must contact sales@olakrutrim.com. This makes cost modeling impossible without a sales conversation, unlike maps.guru's public flat-rate pricing.
Source: Ola Maps PricingThe 500K free calls are a single shared bucket across tiles, geocoding, routing, elevation, and all other APIs. Heavy routing or geocoding usage can exhaust the tile budget and vice versa. maps.guru provides separate quotas per API type.
Source: Ola Maps PricingIf your app exclusively serves India and you want the largest free tier (500K calls/mo), Ola Maps is a strong choice, especially for ONDC startups (free until Aug 2027). If you need global coverage, transparent paid pricing, or are building for both India and international users, maps.guru serves both with ₹3,999/mo Pro pricing.
Yes, this is a valid architecture. Use Ola Maps tile and geocoding APIs when the user is in India, and maps.guru for users elsewhere. However, this adds routing complexity. For most teams, a single provider with global coverage (maps.guru) simplifies the stack significantly.
Ola Maps uses proprietary India mapping data and may have better POI density and real-time traffic data for India-specific use cases. maps.guru uses OpenStreetMap data which is community-maintained and generally strong in urban India but may lag on very local POI data compared to Ola's proprietary dataset.
The vocabulary behind tiles, geocoding, and API pricing, in plain language.
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