Gemini 2.5 Pro (AI Studio) + Google Maps Grounding: How are tool-use/context tokens billed?

Gemini API
, , ,
1

Hello,
I’m using the Gemini Developer API via Google AI Studio with a paid billing setup (not the free tier), with:

  • Model: gemini-2.5-pro

  • Feature: Grounding with Google Maps (tool use)

I’ve read the pricing pages and understand:

  • Standard billing is based on input tokens and output tokens.

  • For gemini-2.5-pro, thinking tokens are included in output tokens.

  • The pricing table also lists Google Maps grounding as: 10,000 RPD free, then $25 / 1,000 grounded prompts.

What’s unclear to me is how tool-use-related tokens are accounted for when using Maps Grounding—specifically any tool/function call payloads and the “context tokens” mentioned for the Maps widget/grounding flow.

Could you confirm:

  1. Are Maps Grounding tool-use/context tokens billed under the normal token accounting (input/output)?

    • If so, which side do they fall under (input vs output), and in what situations?

  2. Is the $25 / 1,000 grounded prompts charge applied in addition to token charges, per request that uses Maps Grounding?

  3. Does any portion of Maps Grounding incur a separate SKU beyond (a) input/output tokens and (b) the grounded-prompts unit?

If there is an official doc section that explicitly defines this, I’d appreciate a link.

Thank you!