i've spent a lot of time on this, including recently. the honest truth is that google places is simply the best in the world, and the 2nd place is far behind. that's probably foursquare. after that, mapbox, then mapquest, then https://geocode.earth/ . all of those are paid. alternatively, you can use yelp. it's free, but it only shows results for places that have ratings, you get rate limited, and it's only available in like 32 countries. after that, you start heading down the open street maps branch which, if you're willing to roll your own server, can be "free" (except for your server and your time), or you pay for a provider who will give you access to OSM data (again, not free). there just aren't a lot of great options for mapping. if i'm wrong and someone knows of a better service - please - please - share it. Answer from saltpeter_grapeshot on reddit.com