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Head to head · Geo geocode · October 2026 research run

Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP vs OpenCage Geocoding API

OpenCage Geocoding API has a score of 69.5 (B) against Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP's 68.5 (B). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is security & auth, 20 points.

Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCPGoogle · HTTP API B68.5/100#123 of 452 OpenCage Geocoding APIOpenCage · HTTP API B69.5/100#113 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP for

  • security & auth (+20)

Pick OpenCage Geocoding API for

  • payments & pricing (+15)
  • maintenance & community (+16)
  • transparency & trust (+12)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runGoogle Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCPOpenCage Geocoding APIEdge
Reliability16%208585even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27777even
Agent ergonomics13%16.28586OpenCage Geocoding API +1
Security & auth14%17.56747Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP +20
Payments & pricing10%12.52035OpenCage Geocoding API +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85066OpenCage Geocoding API +16
Transparency & trust7%8.87587OpenCage Geocoding API +12
Negative events≤1500
Total68.5 · B69.5 · B

Facts side by side

FactGoogle Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCPOpenCage Geocoding API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorGoogleOpenCage
Hosted endpointhttps://maps.googleapis.comhttps://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePaid
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0 (client libraries)MIT (MCP server)
Tools exposed53
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
MCP registrynot listedio.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp
Last release2026-08-062026-06-25
Popularity5k stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 748k PyPI/wk19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

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.

OpenCage Geocoding API

Permanent storage of results on every plan, including after you cancel. Geocoding only, no place search or routing.

Before you call either

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

OpenCage Geocoding API

  1. Add no_annotations=1 and limit=1 when you only need coordinates
  2. Stop on 402, which means the day's quota is gone, and back off on 429
  3. Add no_record=1 when the query holds personal data
  4. Redact the key parameter before logging request URLs
  5. Credit OpenStreetMap wherever you show results

Other comparisons with Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP or OpenCage Geocoding API

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