Help! Got Charged 1700 € for 5000 Google API Requests

Hey everyone,

I really need some help here! :weary:

So, I built an app that calculates distances using the Google API Matrix, and everything seemed fine until I checked the bill… Google hit me with a 1700 € charge for just 5155 requests! :scream:

I’m honestly confused because it doesn’t add up. Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips on how to reach out to Google for support or get this sorted out?

Any advice would be super appreciated! :pray:

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It’s charged based on the number of elements per request, so it’s actually 5155 requests multiplied by the number of origins and destinations. If you were close to maxing out the elements (5155 x (25 x 25)) and paying for the advanced distance matrix SKU (which includes traffic data at around 0.01 per element), it’s possible that the total cost added up quickly.

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Don’t rely on the Distance Matrix API if you’ve got a lot of origins and destinations—it gets expensive fast!

Instead, try using the Haversine Formula to calculate distances based on latitudes and longitudes you already have. It saved us thousands each month.

It’s not 100% spot on, but it’s accurate enough for a rough estimate of distances.

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Here’s the link to billing support: Get Cloud Billing support  |  Support Documentation  |  Google Cloud

I had a similar situation where I got charged 50 euros for an SQL API I forgot to turn off after studying. I reached out to support, explained the mistake, and they waived the fee.

But 1700 euros is a whole different level—good luck with that!

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I accidentally racked up over £70k on Amazon cloud services, but they waived the charges after I explained the situation. It helped that I had reached out to their paid support while setting everything up, and they kind of helped me mess it up in the first place! :sweat_smile:

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You’ve got up to 3 months to reach out to Google Support, and they might offer a one-time reimbursement if you explain the situation politely!

Also, I’d recommend setting up quotas in your Google Console. You can limit the number of requests per minute/day to prevent this from happening again.