Bing vs Google vs Yahoo (Maps Ajax APIs)

Which one suits best for you? Here you will find several comparison charts of the Ajax Map APIs of the tree major service providers, to help you find the best one for your needs. The Content and General Features Although Google Map Services seem to be best of the tree, Bing and Yahoo Services also have some unique features. Bing Map Services allow for example rendering optimization against performance or display quality. And their services seem to be the most stable one among all. Yahoo Map Services may seem behind the other two, however it offers a very useful feature, place searching with keywords. And it will save your money. They all require registration, and support many of the features in common, like basic overlays and layers to group them. Please check demo applications for better understanding.

FEATURES	Bing	Google	Yahoo
Secure login over https	Yes	Yes	No
Can hide base layer	Yes	No	No
Hover Cursor	Yes	Yes	No
Drag Cursor	No	Yes	No
Localization	20 languages	54 languages	No
Image Map Types	No	V3 Only	No
Styled Map Types	No	V3 Only	No
3D View	Yes	Yes	No
Marker	Yes	Yes	Yes
Draggable Marker	Yes	Yes	No
Label	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transparent Label	No	Yes	No
Polyline	Yes	Yes	Yes
Polygon	Yes	Yes	No
Curve	Yes	Yes	Yes
Circle	Yes	Yes	Yes
Arrow	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ground Image	Indirect support	Yes	No
Screen Image	No	Yes	No
GeoXML	KML/RSS	KML/KMZ/RSS	No
Directions	Yes	Yes	No
Street View	No	Yes	No
Info Layer	Collections Only	Yes	No
Tile Layer	Yes	V2 Only	No
Layer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Traffic Info	Yes	Yes	Yes
KML Export	No	V2 Only	No
Snap To Road	No	Yes	No
Performance tuning	Yes	No	No
ScreenShot	Yes	Yes	Yes
Print	Yes	Yes	Yes
Geocoding	Yes	Yes	Yes
Reverse Geocoding	Yes	Yes	No
Place Search	Yes*	Yes	Yes

*	API supports but not implemented into respective component yet.

Limitations on free usage Below chart shows the limits allowed for users without any contracts. They are generally enough for a typical user and small user groups, however problems may raise as number of users increase.

LIMITS (FREE USAGE)*	Bing*	Google	Yahoo
Maximum number of sessions	342/Key/Day	N/A	N/A
Maximum number of objects	> 5,000*	10,000	> 5,000*
Geocoding queries	N/A	15,000/IP/Day	N/A
Direction queries	N/A	10,000/Key/Day	N/A
Place queries	N/A	1,000/Key/Day	N/A
Total number of queries	1,370/Key/Day*	17,000/Key/Day*	50,000/IP/Day
Maximum number of waypoints per direction	25	25	N/A

*	The limits per Key are shared accross all client applications using the same Key (APIKey).
*	Developers plan is chosen for the comparison. Please check http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/licensing.aspx for other plans.
*	Not declared but observed values.
*	Bing Maps use transaction unit for usage limiting. Please check http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/faq.aspx#general for details.
*	Assuming 5 users share the key.

Performance on free usage Below chart provides performance data among the three APIs. Measurements were done with same random numbers for all. 3 random vertices were used for Polylines. Note that, Bing Map has a special capability to optimize itself against display quality and performance, and beats the other two even in quality mode. Results might be affected with the complexity of the implementation side of the component besides the APIs themselves. (For example : Google Markers have more properties than Yahoo Markers and this will cost even at construction of the classes.)

PERFORMANCE (FREE USAGE)*	Bing*	Google*		Yahoo*
		V2	V3
Time required for adding 1000 markers (sec)	2.543	12.511 + 8.055	6.677 + 5.855	3.744 + 4.467
Time required for 1000 polylines (sec)	4.399	4.200 + 128.414	4.711 + 101.336	5.679 + 4.249

*	Tests were performed on a Pentium ® Dual CPU, 2GHz, 32Bit system.
*	Values acquired from an instance at which optimizations were against quality.
*	Google Map and Yahoo Map requires more time to update the display, indicated with plus values.