Google Earth Pro Drops From $399 Per Year To Free

Google dropped its pay model for Google Earth Pro this week, opening all of the software’s advanced mapping tools to the public. You can now measure buildings, records your “flights” around the virtual globe, and print hi-res photos of any location. For existing Google Earth Pro users, that means the end of a $399 annual subscription.

Google Earth Pro is now free, after being a subscription software for years.
Google Earth Pro

Putting Google Earth Pro on your computer isn’t difficult, but there’s more to it than simply downloading the software. You’ll need to visit the Google Earth Pro page, click Download, and create an account. You then install the software and enter your username and a license key that Google emails you, at which point you’re ready to go.

Google Earth Pro can be used for measure and planning.
Google Earth Pro, displaying its planning capabilities. Image credit: Google

If you aren’t using Google Earth Pro for business purposes, the standard Google Earth software probably has all the features you need: you can fly to whatever location you’d like and check it out from almost any angle. But Google Earth Pro has a couple features that even casual users will like. One is movie maker, which lets you create your own virtual tour and share it with friends, and the other is a map making tool. Whether you’ve been dying to try these new features or not, the price is certainly right.
Joshua Gulick

Joshua Gulick

Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for Smart Computing Magazine.  A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.