Back in January, Google decided to charge websites making use of their Google Maps API $4 for every 1,000 visitors over 25,000 but today that cost has been reduced by 88% to 50 cents. In addition to the drop in price, Google is also simplifying the Maps usage limitations, applying the same pricing to Styled Maps and the default Google Maps.

Thor Mitchell, Google Maps API project manager has said that the lowered fees will only apply to the top .35% of sites that exceed the 25,000 map loads every day every day in 90 consecutive days. He also made it clear that if a company sees a surge in popularity, they will not have their Maps service cut off. At that point, Google will reach out to them to talk about payment options going forward.