# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

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 MCP: grade B, 68.5/100, rank #123 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-maps-platform.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-maps-platform.json
- OpenCage Geocoding API: grade B, 69.5/100, rank #113 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencage.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencage.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP | OpenCage Geocoding API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 85 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 77 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 86 | OpenCage Geocoding API +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 47 | Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | OpenCage Geocoding API +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 66 | OpenCage Geocoding API +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 87 | OpenCage Geocoding API +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.5 · B** | **69.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP | OpenCage Geocoding API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Google | OpenCage |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://maps.googleapis.com` | `https://api.opencagedata.com/geocode/v1/json` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 (client libraries) | MIT (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | 5 | 3 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.OpenCageData/opencage-geocoding-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-08-06 | 2026-06-25 |
| Popularity | 5k stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 748k PyPI/wk | 19 stars, 5.5k npm/wk, 138k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (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

- [Geoapify Location Platform + MCP vs Google Maps Platform + Grounding Lite MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/geoapify-vs-google-maps-platform.md)
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- [LocationIQ vs OpenCage Geocoding API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/locationiq-vs-opencage.md)
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- [OpenCage Geocoding API vs Stadia Maps](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencage-vs-stadia-maps.md)
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