ArcGIS Location Platform vs Azure Maps

ArcGIS Location Platform

Per-unit prices are public for every service, with a monthly free tier of 20,000 geocodes and 20,000 routes, keys limited to chosen privileges and a 99.9 per cent SLA. No rate limits or OpenAPI description were found, results may not be stored unless the dearer stored geocode is bought, and the agreement bars benchmarking without written permission.

Azure Maps

Azure Maps publishes OpenAPI documents for every service, per-service rate limits, a 99.9 per cent SLA and written rules on storing results, and Entra ID roles can limit a caller to one service. Place search exists only in Search 1.0, which the newer version has superseded, and the REST client libraries are all beta.

ArcGIS Location Platform

1. Send the token in an X-Esri-Authorization: Bearer or Authorization header. The docs' examples put it in a token parameter, which Esri's own best-practice page calls less secure.
2. Set forStorage=true on findAddressCandidates or reverseGeocode only when results will be kept. It needs pay-as-you-go and the Geocode (stored) privilege, and costs eight times the unstored rate.
3. Cap geocoding output with maxLocations (default and maximum 50) and outFields, because billing counts results returned and the default returns every field.
4. Page place searches with pageSize (maximum 20) and offset. A nearby or extent search costs $8 per 1,000 requests after 500 free a month.
5. Check the JSON body for an error object with code, message and details. Code 499 means the token is missing and 403 means it lacks the privilege.

Azure Maps

1. Send the key in the subscription-key header, or use Authorization: Bearer with x-ms-client-id. The key also works as a URL parameter, which leaks into logs.
2. Call GET /geocode?api-version=2026-01-01 for addresses. It can return 200 with no results, so check confidence, matchCodes and the entity type before use.
3. Use Search 1.0 (/search/poi/json, /search/nearby/json, /search/fuzzy/json) for places. The 2026-01-01 version has no place search.
4. Use eu.atlas.microsoft.com or us.atlas.microsoft.com to keep request data in that geography.
5. Don't store route or tile results beyond six months, and never for serving several users. The product terms allow keeping geocodes while the account is active.