Yes, Foursquare Developers has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes up to 10,000 free calls on Places API Pro endpoints in the sandbox. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $5.00/mo.
About
Foursquare Developers is a location platform for building app features with geospatial APIs and SDKs. The page highlights the Developer Console, Places API, Movement SDK, and Studio SDKs for search, geotagging, check-ins, autocomplete, place matching, and geospatial visualization.
The pricing page shows a free sandbox for the Places API with up to 10,000 free calls on Pro endpoints, a Spatial Desktop Basic plan at $0/month through 2026 with 3 GB cloud storage and 5 shared projects, and a Spatial Studio Community user plan that is always free with 1 GB cloud data storage, limited data catalog access, and public map publishing.
- Places API sandbox access
- 10,000 free Pro endpoint calls
- Spatial Desktop Basic through 2026
- 3 GB cloud storage limit
- 5 shared projects included
- Spatial Studio community plan
- 1 GB cloud data storage
- Public map publishing
Free Tier Value
This free tier gives access to the developer console plus a sandbox allowance of 10,000 Places API Pro calls. The cheapest paid option with a comparable developer-facing capability is the pay-as-you-go Places API, where 10,000 Pro calls would cost about $150 at the $15 CPM tier, but because the free access is sandbox-only and not a full production plan, a conservative buyer-facing estimate is roughly $5/month of value.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- Access to the Developer Console for location developer tools.
- Up to 10,000 free calls on Places API Pro endpoints in the sandbox.
See Foursquare Developers pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Places API
- Pro endpoint calls
- 0-500 calls: $0.00 CPM
- Pro endpoint calls
- 501-100,000 calls: $15.00 CPM
- Pro endpoint calls
- 100,001-500,000 calls: $12.00 CPM
- Pro endpoint calls
- 500,001+ calls: $9.00 CPM
- Premium endpoint calls
- 0-100,000 calls: $18.75 CPM
- Premium endpoint calls
- 100,001-500,000 calls: $15.00 CPM
- Pro endpoints include Place Search, Place Details, Autocomplete, Place Match, and Geotagging Candidates.
- Premium endpoints include Tips & Photos.
- Ask API endpoints can be Pro or Premium depending on requested fields.
- Volume-based pricing with lower rates at higher usage.
Spatial Desktop - Basic
- Cloud storage
- 3 GB
- Shared projects
- 5
- Agent tokens
- $1 worth
- Basic access to render, query, and analyze.
- Includes AI assistance from FSQ Spatial Agent.
- Preview access through 2026.
Spatial Studio Community
- Cloud data storage
- 1 GB
- Data catalog
- Limited access
- Database connectors
- Only planet NICFI
- Map publishing
- Public
- Hex Tiles
- No access
- Team collaboration
- No access
- Best for exploring the platform and low data storage requirements.
- Community support.
- Free account creation.
Spatial Workbench - Developer Plan
- Trial length
- 30 days
- Analyze, compute, and visualize in a single SQL workbench.
- Free 30-day trial with no subscription fee.
- Pay only for compute and storage used during the trial period.
FSQ Spatial Desktop - Standard
- Agent tokens
- $25 worth per billing period
- Simple analyses
- up to 200
- Complex analyses
- up to 30
- Cloud storage
- 5 GB
- Shared projects
- 15
- Access to render, query, and analyze.
- AI assistance from FSQ Spatial Agent.
- More agent tokens than Basic.
FSQ Spatial Desktop - Pro
- Agent tokens
- $100 worth per billing period
- Simple analyses
- up to 500
- Complex analyses
- up to 100
- Cloud storage
- 15 GB
- Shared projects
- 50
- Full access to render, query, and analyze.
- AI assistance from FSQ Spatial Agent.
- Highest desktop plan limits shown.
Pricing extracted from Foursquare Developers's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is Foursquare Developers free forever?
Yes. Foursquare Developers has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
What happens when you exceed Foursquare Developers's free tier?
You move to a paid plan. Foursquare Developers's cheapest paid plan is FSQ Spatial Desktop - Standard at $25 / month.
What is Foursquare Developers's free tier worth?
Foursquare Developers's free tier is worth about $5.00 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 41/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
