Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Thursday unveiled an updated pricing structure for Ola Maps, powered by the company’s artificial intelligence arm Ola Krutim. “As promised, here’s our response to Google Maps ‘belated’ price cuts. It’s time we build world class alternatives to big tech giants and empower Indian innovation!” founder Bhavish Aggarwal wrote on X.
The move comes a day afterGoogle said it would slash rates on Google Maps for developers in India by as much as 70% from August 1. Ola will now introduce a free tier for all mapping and location-based APIs to developers, allowing up to five million API calls per month at no cost, Aggarwal said in a blog post. This includes APIs such as autocomplete, reverse geocoding, vector tiles, and directions. He said for larger volumes, despite recent price adjustments by Google, Ola Maps is offering prices which are 50% of Google Maps reduced rates. “For users committing to Ola Maps for 3+ years, we are offering 2 years FREE!”
“It’s time we build world class alternatives to big tech giants and empower Indian innovation,” Aggarwal said. He said Ola has been a champion of the ONDC platform since its inception and the company will offer three years free access to Ola Maps for all startups and SMBs building on the ONDC platform.
Ola Krutim will also introduce a range of new APIs, including advanced features like traffic-aware directions, distance matrix with multi-modal transportation options, and specialised routing for two-wheelers and toll information. APIs on ‘places’ will bring powerful search capabilities, allowing users to find nearby locations, conduct natural language-based searches, and access detailed place information.
