I mean this one I actually get. The price under the hood must be immeasurable. They run street cars, buy satellite data, have developers, qa, support. All for a product used by most for free.
I mean the charging a price for it yes, but expecting everyone to be able to pay it is a fantasy.
but they also run a first-party maps app. the price of the streetview cars, satellite data, development, and qa isn't all just for the API.
i'm not really criticizing, they can charge whatever they want if they don't want people to use their maps api. and i suspect they don't really want people to use their maps API - the pricing seems targeted to milk the orgs who can't be bothered to implement a cheaper option.
I mean the charging a price for it yes, but expecting everyone to be able to pay it is a fantasy.