A Google Directions API alternative for $10/month

What It Costs: Google Routes API vs Simple Routing

Google's Routes API is billed per request (Compute Routes) or per element (Compute Route Matrix), on a sliding scale. Simple Routing is a flat monthly plan with a daily request allowance.

Directions

Distance matrix (5×5 matrices, 25 elements each)

Google list prices as of October 9, 2026 — source.

Matrices Are Billed Per Call, Not Per Element

This is where the bills diverge fastest. Google's billing docs put it this way: "Compute Route Matrix requests are billed per ELEMENT returned from the request", where elements are origins multiplied by destinations.

What You Give Up

Google Maps Platform does things this service doesn't. If any of these matter to you, stay where you are.

• No live traffic. Travel times are based on OpenStreetMap road data and speed profiles. There's no real-time or predictive traffic, so rush-hour ETAs will be optimistic.
• North America and Europe only. Google is global. We're not, yet.
• No Places or geocoding (yet). You send coordinates, you get routes. Address search and place data aren't part of the API today — there's a waitlist for a geocoding API.
• No transit directions. Driving, walking, cycling and HGV routing are all supported; public transit isn't.

Migrating a Directions Request

The request is a different shape, but it's still one GET. The two things that trip people up: coordinates are longitude,latitude (Google is latitude,longitude), and the key goes in a header.

# Before: Google Directions API
curl "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/directions/json?origin=40.7506,-73.9935&destination=40.6413,-73.7781&key=GOOGLE_API_KEY"

# After: Simple Routing (standard OSRM route service)
curl "https://api.simplerouting.io/osrm/route/v1/driving/-73.9935,40.7506;-73.7781,40.6413?overview=full&steps=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

The response geometry is an encoded polyline at precision 5, the same format Google uses for overview_polyline.points, so your existing decoder keeps working. Drawing it on a Leaflet map and linking out to Google Maps for navigation:

// npm install @mapbox/polyline
const res = await fetch(
  "https://api.simplerouting.io/osrm/route/v1/driving/-73.9935,40.7506;-73.7781,40.6413?overview=full",
  { headers: { Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" } }
);
const route = (await res.json()).routes[0];

// route.duration is seconds, route.distance is meters
const latLngs = polyline.decode(route.geometry);  // [[lat, lng], ...]
const line = L.polyline(latLngs).addTo(map);
map.fitBounds(line.getBounds());

// "Open in Google Maps" deep link for turn-by-turn on the driver's phone
const link = "https://www.google.com/maps/dir/?api=1"
  + "&origin=40.7506,-73.9935&destination=40.6413,-73.7781&travelmode=driving";

On MapLibre, pass polyline.toGeoJSON(route.geometry) to a GeoJSON source instead. Full request and response reference is in the API docs.

Try It: Live Route Demo

# Get directions from Penn Station to JFK Airport
curl "https://api.simplerouting.io/osrm/route/v1/driving/-73.9935,40.7506;-73.7781,40.6413?overview=full" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer 988b35cc-6183-4922-bbc0-857e1a1d318d"

This is a live demo with a real API key (feel free to steal it).

No Lock-In

Not for you if…

• You need live traffic. Travel times come from OpenStreetMap road data and speed profiles, not real-time or historical traffic.
• You route outside North America and Europe. That's the coverage today. More regions get added on demand — email us.
• You need an enterprise SLA. This is a small operation: no uptime contract, no account manager, no procurement paperwork.