Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs MapQuest

Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP

Maps Grounding Lite is GA, hosted, and takes an X-Goog-Api-Key header or OAuth with the maps-platform.mapstools scope. A Cloud billing account with a payment method is required before the free caps apply.

MapQuest

One account reaches geocoding, routing, place search and traffic through a REST API or a hosted MCP server with OAuth, at a published $0.0045 a transaction. No API terms, status page, changelog or product OpenAPI spec was found, and REST keys travel in the query string.

Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP

1. Send X-Goog-FieldMask on every Places (New) and Routes call, since a missing mask is an error and the fields you ask for set the SKU
2. Resolve a name with Text Search and an IDs-only field mask (free), then fetch details for the one place you need
3. Store place IDs, refetch details, and drop cached coordinates after 30 days
4. Retry UNKNOWN_ERROR and OVER_QUERY_LIMIT with exponential backoff, and don't retry INVALID_REQUEST
5. Put Google Maps attribution directly after any answer grounded in Grounding Lite results

MapQuest

1. Register an account and create an API key before connecting the MCP server. Every tool needs an active key, chosen by nickname on first use
2. Send REST calls to https://www.mapquestapi.com with key in the query string, and redact it from logged URLs
3. Read info.statuscode in geocoding and directions responses. 0 is success, and errors such as 610 (ambiguous location) arrive in the body
4. Set thumbMaps=false and maxResults on geocoding, and pageSize (1 to 50) on place search, to keep responses small
5. Do not store or cache geocodes on a monthly or pay-as-you-go plan