Head to head
Foursquare Places vs HERE
As a maps & geocoding API, HERE rates higher on the APIbenchmarks Index, 81.5 to 77.4, a 4.1-point gap. Here is how they compare on each criterion.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Foursquare Places | HERE |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | ||
| Reliability | ||
| Ecosystem & SDKs | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| APIbenchmarks Index | 77.4 | 81.5 |
Specifications
| Foursquare Places | HERE | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Places/POI search & geotagging | Automotive & enterprise location data |
| Free tier | $200/mo credit + 500 free Pro calls | 30k req/mo (Base Plan, card required) |
| Pricing | Per call (volume-based) | Per 1k req / transactions |
| Official SDKs | 9 languages | 6 languages |
Is Foursquare Places better than HERE?
On the APIbenchmarks Index, HERE rates higher (81.5 vs 77.4). It leads on the four weighted criteria, but price is reported separately, so the best choice still depends on your budget.
Verdict in one line
HERE leads by 4.1 points (81.5 vs 77.4) and wins 2 of 4 criteria; Foursquare Places wins 1.
Winner by criterion
| Criterion | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | 78 | 78 | Tie |
| Reliability | 80 | 90 | |
| Ecosystem & SDKs | 68 | 80 | |
| Accessibility | 85 | 78 |
Choose Foursquare Places if… / choose HERE if…
- →accessibility matters most to you (85 vs 78)
- →you need broad SDK coverage (9 official SDKs vs 6)
- →your use case matches its focus: places/poi search & geotagging
- →reliability matters most to you (90 vs 80)
- →ecosystem & sdks matters most to you (80 vs 68)
- →your use case matches its focus: automotive & enterprise location data
Pricing side by side
- Model
- Per call (volume-based)
- Free tier
- $200/mo credit + 500 free Pro calls
- Free (Sandbox)$0
- Pro Endpoints (pay-as-you-go)$15.00 CPM (per 1,000)
- Premium Endpoints (pay-as-you-go)$18.75 CPM (per 1,000)
- Ask API$30.00 CPM (Pro) / $36.00 CPM (Premium)
- EnterpriseCustom
- FSQ OS Places (open dataset)Free (Apache 2.0)
- Model
- Per 1k req / transactions
- Free tier
- 30k req/mo (Base Plan, card required)
- Freemium / Base$0/mo
- Pay-as-you-grow$1 per 1,000 transactions
- Pro$449/mo
- EnterpriseCustom
Vendor-published pricing, verified 2026-06-27 (Foursquare Places) and 2026-06-27 (HERE).
SDK and language coverage
Both · 1
Android (Places & Movement SDK)
Only Foursquare Places · 8
iOS / Swift (Places & Movement SDK)React NativeJavaScript / web (Address Autofill, Web Place Search samples)Python (API samples, bulk harmonization)REST / HTTP (v3 API)Postman collectionModel Context Protocol (official foursquare-places-mcp server)Apache Spark (FSQ OS Places dataset access)
Only HERE · 5
iOS (native)Flutter (Explore Edition)Flutter (Navigate Edition)JavaScript (Maps API)REST API
Strengths and weaknesses
- +Deep, structured venue data: 100M+ POIs with a 1,500+ category taxonomy, stable category IDs, attributes, hours, and user-generated tips/photos
- +Explicitly Google-independent POI source, appeals to companies that compete with Google or want to avoid Maps Platform lock-in
- +Transparent pay-as-you-go CPM pricing with a 10,000-call/month free Pro tier and no card required to start
- –Restrictive, revocable API data license, data generally can't be stored, merged, or redistributed outside your application
- –Coverage and freshness can trail Google outside dense urban / US / Western markets, and tip/photo depth varies
- –Premium endpoints (tips, photos, ratings) have no free tier and start at $18.75 per 1,000 calls
- +Generous free tier: 250,000 transactions/month, roughly 25x Google Maps' free geocoding allowance
- +Overage pricing (~$1 per 1,000) is far cheaper than Google's $5 per 1,000 at production volume
- +Built on HERE's own automotive-grade map database (~400M addresses, ~120M places, 100+ countries), high accuracy
- –Pricing model is complex and hard to forecast at scale, usage is product- and tier-specific
- –Standard plans prohibit permanent storage/caching of geocoding results without a costly enterprise license
- –Freemium rate limit of ~5 requests/second constrains high-concurrency real-time applications
Foursquare Places vs HERE: questions
- Which has better documentation, Foursquare Places or HERE?
- Foursquare Places and HERE score the same on documentation and developer experience (78).
- Which is more reliable, Foursquare Places or HERE?
- HERE scores higher on reliability: 90 vs 80 out of 100.
- Do Foursquare Places and HERE have a free tier?
- Foursquare Places: yes ($200/mo credit + 500 free Pro calls). HERE: yes (30k req/mo (Base Plan, card required)).
- How are Foursquare Places and HERE priced?
- Foursquare Places: Per call (volume-based). HERE: Per 1k req / transactions.
- Which has more official SDKs?
- Foursquare Places lists 9 official SDKs, HERE lists 6.