A Google Places API alternative for local results

How they differ

Google's Text Search documentation says the API "orders the results based on their perceived relevance" and that the list "is not guaranteed to be consistent for identical requests." It does not say how that order relates to Google Maps or Google Search results.

Places API (New) Text Search takes a text query and returns up to 20 places per page, 60 across pages, ordered by what Google calls perceived relevance (or by distance with rankPreference). You choose the fields with a field mask, and the field tier sets the price: rating, review count, phone and website are in the Enterprise tier.

If you need to know what a searcher in a city actually sees, such as where a business sits in the local results, request the results page itself. CrawlerData's Google Local endpoint returns the local results for a query and city (title, rating, review count, type, address, phone, hours, website), and the Google Search endpoint returns the local pack alongside organic results, AI Overview and People Also Ask, in any of 31 countries.

They do different jobs. Places API is Google's place database, queried by text; CrawlerData returns the search results Google lists, so it does not return place IDs or Places-style detail records.

At a glance

List prices in USD, excluding tax, as published on October 20, 2026. "Not published" means we could not find it on Google Places API's public pages. Per-1,000 figures marked "our arithmetic" divide a plan price by its volume.

Moving from Google Places API

Both calls take a text query and a place. The difference is the output: Places returns place records, CrawlerData returns the local results in the order Google lists them, with a position for each.

const res = await fetch('https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places:searchText', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-Goog-Api-Key': API_KEY,
    'X-Goog-FieldMask': 'places.displayName,places.formattedAddress,places.rating,places.userRatingCount',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ textQuery: 'italian restaurant in Austin, Texas' }),
});
const { places = [] } = await res.json();
const results = places.map((p, i) => ({ position: i + 1, name: p.displayName?.text, rating: p.rating, reviews: p.userRatingCount }));

const res = await fetch('https://api.crawlerdata.com/v1/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY', 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ endpoint: 'google-local', params: { query: 'italian restaurant', country: 'us', location: 'Austin,Texas,United States' }, queue: 'live' }),
});
const { job, result } = await res.json(); // job.status "failed" => result is null, 0 credits
const results = (result?.local_results ?? []).map((r) => ({ position: r.position, name: r.title, rating: r.rating, reviews: r.reviews }));

• position is the rank in Google's local results for that query and city, which is the number to track. Places API returns no position field; its array order is Google's perceived relevance.
• Rankings change by city and by day, so store the query, the city and the date with every position.
• CrawlerData returns what Google's results list (title, rating, review count, type, address, phone, hours, website). Places API is Google's place database, with place IDs, photos and review text.

Full request and response schemas are in the OpenAPI spec, with runnable code in the examples repo. AI clients can connect to the MCP server at https://api.crawlerdata.com/mcp with the same API key.

Sources

All checked on October 20, 2026 (as of Oct 2026). Spotted something out of date? Email contact@crawlerdata.com and we will correct it.

• Google: Places API (New) Text Search (developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/text-search)
• Google Maps Platform: pricing (Places API SKUs and free usage caps) (developers.google.com/maps/billing-and-pricing/pricing)
• CrawlerData pricing