With the recent changes to the Google Cloud Platform/API key system, how do I use the Store Locator Plus plugin on my Wordpress website?

[Anton News]

I had installed the Store Locator Plus plugin on my websites about two years ago. Here's an example: http://farmingdale-observer.com/newsstands/ 

Recently, the plugin started saying it can't load Google Maps correctly and I determined I needed an API key and Google Cloud Platform account. It is not clear to me why I need these things for this plugin to work because I'm not a web developer. 

It says that if I sign up, I will get a 12-month free trial with a $300 credit, which sounds great, but after that, what will it cost? I don't use Google Cloud for any other business purpose. All I want is for the Store Locator Plus plugin to work on all of my sites. There are 18 sites: https://antonnews.com/

Does anyone have any idea of the cost of having this plugin on 18 sites? Can someone explain in simple terms what this all means and why it changed? Thank you.

(Please ignore the java tag. It would not let me post until I selected a tag from the list. It would not let me add my own.)

[Amit (Google Cloud Support)]

Hi

As I went through the given link for your website, it seems like you are affected by a recent change as mentioned here [1]. This link also describes how to use your API key when you have one.

For more information regarding new Pay-As-You-Go Pricing, I would recommend to check this link [2] which is effective since July 16, 2018. To reach out to Google Map Platform support team, you can check here[3] for more info.

[1]  https://www.storelocatorplus.com/google-api-key-changes-coming-june-11-2018/

[2] https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/usage-and-billing#requests-per-day-qpd-limits-have-ended-effective-june-11-2018

[3] https://developers.google.com/maps/support/