Places Search API

Endpoint

GET /v1/places/search

Parameters

query *

Search keyword, e.g. "coffee shops brooklyn" (max 500 characters)

limit

Number of results, 1-200 (default: 20)

lat

Center latitude for geographic bias (use with lng)

lng

Center longitude for geographic bias (use with lat)

zoom

Map zoom level 1-20 (default: 13). Smaller widens radius

country

2-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 region code (default: us)

language

2-letter ISO 639-1 language code (default: en)

Response fields

places

Array of matching places

place_id

Google place_id (ChIJ...) — use in Place Details / Reviews / Photos

name

Place display name

type

Primary category

subtypes

All Google categories

phone_number

Phone number (E.164)

website

Official website URL

domain

Website apex domain

rating

Average rating, 0.0-5.0

review_count

Total review count

reviews_per_rating

Reviews bucketed by star (1-5)

price_level

Price indicator (e.g. $, $10–20)

verified

True if verified by Google

business_status

OPEN, CLOSED_TEMPORARILY, CLOSED_PERMANENTLY

opening_status

Human-readable status (e.g. Open · Closes 3 AM)

working_hours

Hours keyed by day-of-week

opening_date

First listing date if known (often null)

address

Full address

street_address

Street component only

district

District / neighborhood

city

City

state

State / region

zipcode

Postal code

country

Country code

latitude

Latitude

longitude

Longitude

timezone

IANA timezone (e.g. America/New_York)

summary

Short editorial summary (hoisted from about.summary)

about

Structured About panel — contains summary and a details object with categorised attributes (Accessibility, Amenities, etc.)

photo_count

Total photos available

photos_sample

Sample of recent photos (same shape as Place Photos items)

place_link

Google Maps URL

reviews_link

Google reviews URL

booking_link

Booking URL (or null)

reservations_link

Reservation URL (or null)

order_link

Online order URL (or null)

owner_name

Listing owner name

owner_link

Listing owner profile URL

cid

Google CID identifier

google_mid

Google MID identifier

count

Number of places returned

query

Echo of the search query

limit

Echo of the requested limit

Example Request

curl "https://apidirect.io/v1/places/search?query=pizza%20new%20york&limit=10" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

import requests

response = requests.get(
    "https://apidirect.io/v1/places/search",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    params={
        "query": "pizza new york",
        "limit": 10,
        "lat": 40.7549,
        "lng": -73.9870,
        "zoom": 14
    }
)
print(response.json())

Example Response

{
  "places": [
    {
      "place_id": "ChIJifIePKtZwokRVZ-UdRGkZzs",
      "name": "Joe's Pizza Broadway",
      "type": "Pizza restaurant",
      "subtypes": ["Pizza restaurant", "Pizza delivery", "Restaurant"],
      "phone_number": "+16465594878",
      "website": "https://www.joespizzanyc.com",
      "domain": "joespizzanyc.com",
      "rating": 4.5,
      "review_count": 25433,
      "reviews_per_rating": {"1": 753, "2": 604, "3": 2107, "4": 4946, "5": 17023},
      "price_level": "$10–20",
      "verified": true,
      "business_status": "OPEN",
      "opening_status": "Open · Closes 3 AM",
      "working_hours": {"Monday": ["10 AM–3 AM"]},
      "opening_date": null,
      "address": "1435 Broadway, New York, NY 10018",
      "street_address": "1435 Broadway",
      "district": "Manhattan",
      "city": "New York",
      "state": "New York",
      "zipcode": "10018",
      "country": "US",
      "latitude": 40.75468,
      "longitude": -73.98703,
      "timezone": "America/New_York",
      "summary": "Modern outpost of a longtime counter-serve pizza joint prepping New York-style slices and pies.",
      "about": {
        "summary": "Modern outpost of a longtime counter-serve pizza joint prepping New York-style slices and pies.",
        "details": {
          "Accessibility": {"Wheelchair accessible entrance": true}
        }
      },
      "photo_count": 22117,
      "photos_sample": [
        {
          "photo_id": "CIABIhBpKlqRIOpwhdI384bUAF4L",
          "type": "photo",
          "photo_url": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/APNQkAH...",
          "photo_url_large": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/APNQkAH...=w3000-h4000-k-no",
          "video_thumbnail_url": null,
          "latitude": 40.7546469,
          "longitude": -73.9868158,
          "photo_datetime_utc": "2026-06-16T00:00:00.000Z",
          "photo_timestamp": 1781568000
        }
      ],
      "place_link": "https://www.google.com/maps/place/...",
      "reviews_link": "https://search.google.com/local/reviews?placeid=ChIJifIePKtZwokRVZ-UdRGkZzs",
      "booking_link": "https://www.google.com/searchviewer/42?...",
      "reservations_link": "https://www.fooddiscoveryapp.com/new-york-city/joes-pizza",
      "order_link": "https://www.google.com/searchviewer/42?...",
      "owner_name": "Joe's Pizza Broadway",
      "owner_link": "https://maps.google.com/maps/contrib/103877821925204408966",
      "cid": "4280570365733019477",
      "google_mid": "/g/11bw4ws2mt"
    }
  ],
  "count": 1,
  "query": "pizza new york",
  "limit": 10
}

Frequently asked questions

What identifier do I use for follow-up calls?

Each result includes a place_id (Google's standard ChIJ... format). Pass it to Place Details, Place Reviews or Place Photos to fetch more data about that place.

How do I bias results to a specific area?

Pass lat and lng for the center point and zoom for the radius. zoom=15 is roughly a neighborhood, 13 is a city, 10 is a metro area. Without coordinates, results use a default US center, so always pass them for local searches.

What's the maximum number of results per request?

200. The limit parameter accepts 1-200. For broader coverage, narrow the query or vary lat/lng to scan different areas.

How fresh is the data?

Place data is pulled in real time from Google Maps and reflects what a user would see right now on Google Maps for the targeted country and language.

How does pricing work?

You only pay for successful requests. The Places Search API costs $0.003 per request. There are no monthly fees or commitments. You get 50 free requests per endpoint every month.

Do I need a credit card to start?

No. You can sign up and use the free tier (50 requests/endpoint/month) without adding a payment method. You only need to add a card when you want to exceed the free tier.

Are there rate limits?

Yes, there's a concurrency limit of 3 simultaneous requests per endpoint per user. If you need more, just get in touch.