What are some cheaper alternatives to Mapbox for location autocomplete?

Check out Stadia Maps, MapTiler, and Geocode Earth as hosted options. Compare their current autocomplete pricing against your actual request volume, and test results in Japan and Korea before switching. A lower price isn't much help if the places your users search for are missing.

If you can live without suggestions on every keystroke, consider matching the address after the user submits it. You can show the suggested match alongside what they entered and let them choose.

That cuts the number of searches compared with autocomplete. Mapbox geocoding and other providers may be worth pricing for that workflow. USPS and Census services are also options for relevant US addresses, though they won't cover your global requirement.

Pelias is another self-hosted option to investigate, including its OpenAddresses component. The software may be free, but the data imports, storage, updates, hosting, and maintenance still cost something. Check what data sources you would need for your target countries rather than assuming a single component covers the whole world.

For Photon, it may be worth revisiting the server quote and comparing cheaper dedicated machines. Storage needs depend on the data and setup, so verify the current requirements before buying hardware.

A hybrid could work if a lot of searches are just for cities and towns. Keep a local place-name index for those and use a hosted service for address-level searches. That adds some development and maintenance, but it can reduce paid requests without requiring a full global address-search stack.

Nominatim is worth investigating for place lookup and reverse geocoding, although that doesn't automatically make it a drop-in autocomplete replacement. Check the usage policy for any public instance, and compare storage and operating requirements carefully if you plan to host worldwide data yourself.