It depends on your provider, and the answer is often no, or yes at a significant surcharge. Geocoding storage rights are the contractual terms governing whether you can save a returned coordinate in your own database and for how long. Most teams do not discover the restriction until they are already at scale. On Stadia Maps, permanent storage is included on Standard plans and above with no per-request surcharge.

Key Takeaways

  • Geocoding storage rights govern whether you can retain a returned coordinate in your own database, and for how long.
  • Per Stadia Maps' analysis, Mapbox, AWS, and ESRI often charge between 6x and 8x the cost of a regular query if you intend to store the result.
  • Google's restrictions generally forbid caching for anything other than a specific end-user session.
  • Stadia Maps allows permanent storage on Standard, Professional, and Enterprise plans with no extra fees and no per-user re-validation.
  • Temporary storage in the normal course of work is allowed on all Stadia Maps plans, including Free.

What Are Geocoding Storage Rights?

When you geocode an address, the provider returns coordinates. The question of whether those coordinates are yours to keep is a licensing question, not a technical one. Nothing stops you from writing the response to a database. The terms of service determine whether you are allowed to.

Providers generally distinguish two cases:

  • Temporary storage. Holding a result in memory or a short-lived cache during the normal course of a request or session.
  • Permanent storage. Writing a result to your own database and retaining it indefinitely.

Nearly every provider allows the first. The second is where terms diverge sharply, and where costs can appear that were not in your original estimate.

What Does the Caching Tax Cost?

Stadia Maps published an analysis of this in The Hidden Cost of Search. Its findings on the industry:

  • Mapbox, AWS, and ESRI often charge between 6x and 8x the cost of a regular query if you intend to store the result.
  • Google employs complex restrictions that generally forbid caching for anything other than a specific end-user session.

The practical effect is that a cost model built on query volume can be off by a large multiple once storage enters the picture. A team that geocodes a million addresses once and stores the results is doing something very different, contractually, from a team that geocodes a million times and discards each result.

The same post notes a related constraint worth checking: Google often prevents displaying its geocoding results on a map from another provider. Storage rights and display rights are separate terms, and both can create lock-in.

What Does Stadia Maps Allow?

Per the Stadia Maps geocoding documentation and the pricing page:

  • Temporary storage in the normal course of your work is allowed on all plans, including Free.
  • Permanent storage (for example, writing results to a database) requires an active Standard, Professional, or Enterprise subscription.
  • There is no per-request storage surcharge, no per-user re-validation, and no permanent storage fee. Results can be cached as long as the subscription is active.

The governing language is in Section 8 of the Terms of Service, which lists among prohibited uses "permanently storing results for future use (e.g., as a database column), in part or in whole, from the Stadia Maps Geocoding APIs without an active Standard, Professional, or Enterprise subscription with appropriate permissions."

On the pricing page's feature comparison, storage rights appear directly in the plan table: Free and Starter show temporary storage, while Standard and Professional show persistent storage.

How Storage Rights Change Your Architecture

Storage terms are not just a line item. They shape how you can build.

If permanent storage is allowed, you can geocode once and reuse. Address normalization at signup, a one-time backfill of a customer table, or a nightly enrichment job all become straightforward. Your ongoing API cost tracks new addresses rather than total lookups.

If permanent storage is restricted, you have to re-geocode. That means either repeated API calls for the same addresses, or a session-scoped cache that gets discarded. Your cost tracks usage volume rather than unique addresses, and the gap between those two numbers grows as your product matures.

The difference compounds. A marketplace with a hundred thousand stable listings and heavy repeat browsing has wildly different bills under the two models.

Storage is one of several terms that only show up once you are past a free tier. For the others, see What Does a "Free" Map API Actually Cost?

Where This Gets Complicated

A few things worth knowing before you architect around storage rights.

  • Terms change. Provider pricing and licensing get revised. What is allowed today may carry a surcharge on renewal. Check the current terms rather than relying on a comparison written last year, including this one.
  • Storage and display rights are separate. A provider may allow you to store a coordinate but restrict where you can display it. Check both.
  • Downgrading has consequences. If permanent storage is tied to a plan tier, dropping to a lower tier may affect your right to retain data you already stored. Ask before you downgrade.
  • This is a summary, not the contract. The Terms of Service govern. If storage rights are material to your business, have someone read them.
  • Other providers' terms are their own. The figures above come from Stadia Maps' published analysis. Verify against each provider's current terms directly before making a decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you store geocoding results in a database?

It depends on the provider. On Stadia Maps, permanent storage of geocoding results in your own database is allowed with an active Standard, Professional, or Enterprise subscription, with no per-request surcharge. Temporary storage in the normal course of work is allowed on all plans including Free. Other providers commonly restrict permanent storage or charge a premium for it.

What is the geocoding caching tax?

The caching tax refers to the premium some geocoding providers charge to store results long-term rather than discard them after use. According to Stadia Maps' published analysis, Mapbox, AWS, and ESRI often charge between 6x and 8x the cost of a regular query when results will be stored. Google's terms generally forbid caching outside a specific end-user session.

What is the difference between temporary and permanent geocoding storage?

Temporary storage means holding a result in memory or a short-lived cache during the normal course of a request or session. Permanent storage means writing the result to your own database and retaining it indefinitely. Nearly every provider allows temporary storage. Permanent storage is where terms diverge and where surcharges typically apply.

Which Stadia Maps plans allow permanent geocoding storage?

Permanent storage requires an active Standard, Professional, or Enterprise subscription. Temporary storage in the normal course of your work is allowed on all plans, including Free and Starter. There are no extra fees, no per-user re-validation, and no permanent storage surcharges on plans that include it.

Why do geocoding storage rights matter for cost?

Storage rights determine whether your API cost tracks unique addresses or total lookups. If you can geocode once and store the result, ongoing cost scales with new addresses. If you must re-geocode, cost scales with usage volume. For products with stable data and heavy repeat access, the difference between those two models compounds significantly.

Where to Go Next

From the Blog

More on geocoding costs and terms from the Stadia Maps blog: