These get compared as if one is a cheaper version of the other. They are not. They solve different problems, and picking the wrong one wastes either money or weeks.
What the Places API is for
The Google Places API is Google's official, licensed interface to place data. You send a request, you get structured JSON, and you are permitted to use it in a product within the terms.
It is the right choice when you are *building software*: a store locator, a booking flow, an app that needs address autocomplete. You get a stable schema that will not change under you, official support, and a clear licence.
The costs are real, though. It is priced per request, so a large sweep gets expensive. It needs a developer to integrate. And the terms restrict what you may store and for how long, and how results must be displayed — restrictions that exist for good reasons but that rule out a lot of list-building.
What a browser extension is for
A scraper extension reads the listings already rendered on the Maps page in front of you. No API key, no integration, no per-request bill.
It is the right choice when you want *a spreadsheet*, not a system: a list of every roofer within 25 miles, enriched with contact details, exported to CSV and worked through by a human.
It also does things the API does not. The API returns place data. It does not tell you how many reviews went unanswered, what the website is built on, or how long since anyone reviewed the business — the derived signals that indicate whether a business's marketing is working. Those come from looking at the business the way a person would.
The trade-offs are equally real. You are working with what Maps renders, so availability follows what the interface shows. There is no licence granting you rights to redistribute what you collect. And you are responsible for compliance — both with Google's terms and with the law where you operate.
A straight comparison
*Choose the Places API if:* you are building a product, you need a licensed data source, you need guaranteed schema stability, or you are embedding results in something you ship to customers.
*Choose an extension if:* you want a lead list, you are not a developer, you need enrichment and scoring the API does not provide, or per-request pricing does not work for the volume you have in mind.
*Choose neither if:* you need verified direct dials and org charts for mid-market companies. That is a B2B data provider's job, and neither of these does it well.
The honest summary
If you are writing code that other people will use, the API is almost always right — the licensing alone justifies it.
If you are one person trying to find thirty businesses to call this month, an API integration is a lot of work to arrive somewhere a browser extension gets you in ten minutes.
We publish GMapsScout, so treat this comparison accordingly — but the recommendation above is what we would tell someone who asked. Sending a developer building a store locator toward a Chrome extension would waste their time.
The [Google Maps extractor](/google-maps-extractor) page has the full field list if you want to compare it against the Places API response schema directly.