If You Think That Google Maps Is Free, Think Again
Have you ever wondered how Google Maps makes money? From the user perspective, Google Maps and it’s all of its insane resources whether it be satellite view, street view, or real-time traffic are all completely free to use. But, despite being free to the end user, it turns out that Google Maps actually pulls in quite a bit of revenue. In fact, Google Maps is expected to pull in $11 billion in revenue in 2023 which roughly values the business at $62 billion. You might be inclined to think that Google Maps makes all of their money through sketchy avenues like data collection or privacy invasion but Google Maps’ monetization is actually rather straightforward and ethical. They essentially allow businesses to pay a premium price in order to have custom branding and more visibility on Google Maps. Additionally, they also license out Google Maps through a variety of different avenues from direct map integrations to address autofill. This video tells the story of Google Maps and how Google Maps became a $62 billion business in its own right.
