Yelp Reviews Scraper — Owner Replies & Reputation Monitor

Unofficial tool for publicly accessible Yelp data. Yelp and related trademarks belong to their respective owners. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Yelp Inc. Provided for informational and reputation-monitoring use only; users must comply with applicable terms and laws.

Actor	Role
Yelp Reviews Scraper	Reviews + owner replies + monitor ◄── you are here
Trustpilot Scraper	Company reviews, TrustScore, incremental monitor
Glassdoor Scraper	Employer reviews, interviews, salaries, jobs

Yelp Reviews Scraper collects Yelp reviews and public owner responses into structured JSON on Apify — star ratings, full review text, photos, reactions, reviewer stats (optional), and business context. Use it as a practical Yelp API alternative for Python or Node.js pipelines, agency ORM workflows, and scheduled reputation monitoring. Filter unanswered 1-star reviews, cap history per location, or run monitor mode so daily cron jobs only emit new reviews instead of re-downloading full histories.

Best for: Yelp review mining, owner-reply coverage, competitor reputation tracking, local SEO / NAP snapshots, and JSON/CSV datasets for BI or AI assistants via Apify MCP.

When to use this Actor

• Yelp reviews scraper jobs for one or many /biz/ pages, aliases, or encrypted business IDs
• Owner reply audits — keep only answered reviews, or only unanswered ones
• Incremental monitoring — scheduled runs that stop early once known reviews appear
• Star / date / keyword-filtered exports for sentiment and complaint themes
• Optional search (pizza in San Francisco, CA) that expands into review scrapes

When not to use this Actor

• Private Yelp for Business inbox, messaging, or ads manager — this Actor only reads public review pages
• Writing reviews, claiming profiles, or authenticated business-owner actions
• Full restaurant menus, deals, or email-enrichment lead gen (out of scope)
• Sites other than Yelp business / search pages

Modes

Mode	What it does
reviews	Review rows (optional business profile row). Default.
monitor	Named KV watermarks + early-stop; emit only new reviews / rating deltas

Key features

• Reviews + owner replies — hasOwnerReply, ownerReplyText, ownerReplyDate, name/role when public
• Filters the official Actor lacks — star ratings, sort (newest / elites / highest…), keyword search, onlyUnanswered / onlyWithOwnerReply
• Monitor-first ops — watermark + seen review IDs; webhook / Telegram for new 1–2★ or unanswered reviews
• Privacy default-off — reviewer name, location, and counts are null unless includeReviewerProfile is on
• Typed dataset rows — recordType: review, business, monitor_event
• Residential proxies — recommended (US); datacenter IPs are often blocked

Input parameters

Parameter	Description
mode	reviews / monitor
startUrls / businessAliases / businessIds	Business pages, slugs, or 22-char enc IDs
searchTerm + searchLocation	Optional discovery, then reviews
maxReviews	Per-business review cap (0 = until maxPages)
sortOrder	newest (default), oldest, recommended, highest, lowest, elites
starRatings / publishedAfter / publishedBefore / reviewSearchQuery	Filters
onlyUnanswered / onlyWithOwnerReply	Owner-reply filters
includeReviewerProfile	Off by default (GDPR-friendly schema)
includeBusinessProfile	Push a business row in reviews mode
yelpDomain / language	Regional host + review-feed language
monitorStoreName / monitorBaselineOnly / resetMonitorState	Monitor KV controls
webhookUrl / telegramToken / telegramChatId	Alerts
proxyConfiguration	Use Apify Residential (US)

Example — reviews + unanswered 1-star

{
  "mode": "reviews",
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-danko-san-francisco" }],
  "maxReviews": 100,
  "sortOrder": "newest",
  "starRatings": ["1", "2"],
  "onlyUnanswered": true,
  "includeBusinessProfile": true,
  "includeReviewerProfile": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}

Example — monitor baseline then schedule

{
  "mode": "monitor",
  "businessAliases": ["gary-danko-san-francisco"],
  "monitorStoreName": "yelp-monitor-store",
  "monitorBaselineOnly": true,
  "monitorMaxPages": 3,
  "earlyStopAfterKnown": 5,
  "notifyOnNegativeReviewsOnly": true,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}

After the baseline run, set monitorBaselineOnly to false (or omit it). Schedule every 15–60 minutes — later runs emit only deltas and stop early.

Output

recordType	Fields (highlights)
review	reviewId, reviewUrl, reviewText, reviewRating, publishedDate, hasOwnerReply, ownerReplyText, photos, reactions, business context
business	businessId, businessAlias, businessName, businessRating, businessReviewCount, address, categories
monitor_event	changeType (new_review, rating_drop, rating_rise, review_count_change, …)

Output example — review

{
  "recordType": "review",
  "reviewId": "revEncNew111111111111",
  "reviewUrl": "https://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-danko-san-francisco?hrid=revEncNew111111111111",
  "reviewText": "Incredible tasting menu.",
  "reviewRating": 5,
  "reviewLanguage": "en",
  "publishedDate": "2026-08-20T18:00:00.000Z",
  "hasOwnerReply": true,
  "ownerReplyText": "Thank you for dining with us!",
  "ownerReplyDate": "2026-08-21T09:00:00.000Z",
  "ownerReplyName": "Gary Danko",
  "photoUrls": ["https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/example.jpg"],
  "reviewerName": null,
  "businessAlias": "gary-danko-san-francisco",
  "businessName": "Gary Danko",
  "businessRating": 4.6,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-25T17:40:00+00:00"
}

Use cases

Use case	What you get
Restaurant / local ORM	New Yelp reviews + unanswered 1-star alerts on a schedule
Owner-reply coverage	Which locations reply, how fast, and which complaints sit unanswered
Competitor research	Structured review text, stars, photos, and public replies for rivals
Local SEO / NAP	Business row with rating, review count, address, categories
AI assistant workflows	Run via Apify API, clients, or MCP and summarize complaint themes

Integration examples

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('crawloop/yelp-reviews-scraper').call({
  mode: 'reviews',
  startUrls: [{ url: 'https://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-danko-san-francisco' }],
  maxReviews: 100,
  sortOrder: 'newest',
  proxyConfiguration: {
    useApifyProxy: true,
    apifyProxyGroups: ['RESIDENTIAL'],
    apifyProxyCountry: 'US',
  },
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.slice(0, 5));

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(token)
run = client.actor("crawloop/yelp-reviews-scraper").call(
    run_input={
        "mode": "monitor",
        "businessAliases": ["gary-danko-san-francisco"],
        "monitorStoreName": "yelp-monitor-store",
        "monitorBaselineOnly": False,
        "proxyConfiguration": {
            "useApifyProxy": True,
            "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
            "apifyProxyCountry": "US",
        },
    }
)
items = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
print(len(items), items[:3])

cURL

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/crawloop~yelp-reviews-scraper/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "reviews",
    "startUrls": [{"url": "https://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-danko-san-francisco"}],
    "maxReviews": 50,
    "onlyUnanswered": true,
    "proxyConfiguration": {
      "useApifyProxy": true,
      "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
      "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
    }
  }'

MCP and AI assistants

Use this Actor from AI tools via Apify MCP. Connect your Apify account, then call crawloop/yelp-reviews-scraper.

Example prompts:

• "Run the Yelp Reviews Scraper for https://www.yelp.com/biz/gary-danko-san-francisco, max 50 newest reviews, and return stars plus owner replies as JSON"
• "Scrape unanswered 1-star Yelp reviews for gary-danko-san-francisco and summarize the complaint themes"
• "Chain Yelp Reviews Scraper then Trustpilot Scraper for the same brand and compare reply coverage"

Suite next step

After you have Yelp location reviews, run Trustpilot Scraper for the same brand’s review-site reputation (TrustScore, company replies, incremental monitor). For employer-side reviews, continue with Glassdoor Scraper.

FAQ

Is this a Yelp Fusion API?

No Yelp Fusion API key is required. The Actor reads publicly available business review pages and returns structured dataset rows — a common Yelp API alternative for scraping / monitoring use cases. Fusion’s public review cap does not apply here.

Why do I need residential proxies?

Yelp rate-limits and challenges many datacenter IPs. Use Apify Residential proxies (US for yelp.com) for reliable runs.

How does monitor mode save cost?

It stores review watermarks in a named Key-Value Store. Later runs only emit new reviews / rating changes and stop pagination early when they hit already-seen content.

Can I get owner / manager replies?

Yes. Public owner responses are parsed onto each review (hasOwnerReply, ownerReplyText, ownerReplyDate). Use onlyUnanswered to find reviews that still need a response.

Does it include reviewer names?

Not by default. Turn on includeReviewerProfile if you need display name, location, and public counts. The field names stay in the schema either way (null when off).

Does it export JSON / CSV?

Yes. Results land in the Apify dataset. Download JSON, CSV, or Excel from the run, or pipe via API / integrations / MCP.

Tips

• Prefer monitor for production schedules; use reviews for historical dumps.
• Keep concurrency moderate (2–4) on shared residential pools.
• Always enable Residential proxies for Store QA and production.
• newest sort + publishedAfter stops pagination once older reviews appear.