Google Maps Reviews & AI Insights Scraper

Google Maps Reviews & AI Insights Scraper is a Google Maps API alternative for place details, newest-first reviews, and two AI add-ons Compass does not ship. Paste a Maps URL or Place ID and export name, address, phone, rating, star histogram, exact review timestamps, and owner replies — then optionally add AI themes with evidence quotes and draft owner replies written in the same style as that listing's last 5 owner responses.

You pick which unanswered ratings get a draft: negative (1–2★), negative & neutral (1–3★), neutral (3★), positive & neutral (3–5★), or positive (4–5★). $0.29 per 1,000 reviews on the Free plan (Compass is $0.60/1K). Each AI add-on is a separate per-place event. No Google account, no official API key.

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What does Google Maps Reviews & AI Insights Scraper do?

This Actor scrapes public Google Maps listings you already know. It does not search a city or keyword — you bring the places, it returns structured details, reviews, and optional AI insights.

Give it:

• Google Maps place URLs (/maps/place, /maps/search, cid links, short links)
• or Google Place IDs (ChIJ…)

Get back one dataset row per place: contact fields, coordinates, opening hours, rating, review count, 1–5 star histogram, a nested reviews array sorted newest first with exact publishedAtDate values, an unanswered count for the star band you pick, and — when the add-ons are on — reviewThemes and/or draftReplies.

Set Stop after this review date (90 days, 2025-01-01, or an ISO timestamp) to cut the feed as soon as older reviews appear. That is the incremental-sync path for reputation products.

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What can this Google Maps reviews scraper do?

• Extract place details: name, address parts, phone, website, categories, coordinates, hours, claim/closed flags, photos
• Extract newest Google reviews with text, stars, exact publish time, likes, photos, reviewer profile fields, and owner replies
• Flag unanswered reviews in the star band you pick (needsOwnerReply, unansweredReviewCount) with no extra model call
• AI themes add-on: recurring topics with evidence quotes, top praise, and complaints
• Draft owner replies add-on: paste-ready replies in the listing's own voice (last 5 owner responses) for the ratings you choose
• Stop at a date (absolute or relative) so nightly runs only collect what is new
• Accept Place IDs or Maps URLs — same contract teams already send to Compass
• Run details-only (maxReviews: 0) when you need histogram and contact fields without review text
• Export JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML and schedule via the Apify API

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Why scrape Google Maps place details and reviews?

Public Maps listings are the default source for local reputation and store-locator enrichment. Typical jobs:

1. Reputation monitoring — pull last night's reviews for a fixed venue list
2. Incremental sync — reviewsStartDate: "8 days" instead of re-reading the full history
3. Lead enrichment — attach phone, address, rating, and histogram to known Place IDs
4. Competitive research — compare star mix and recent comments across nearby businesses
5. Hotel guest feedback — newest-first reviews for hospitality ops
6. Restaurant quality tracking — watch 1–2 star spikes after a menu or staff change
7. Agency client reporting — weekly review velocity and owner-reply coverage
8. Store locator enrichment — rating, hours, and photos on a location directory
9. Review-velocity trends — count new reviews per week without a Google API quota
10. Owner-reply SLA — count unanswered 1–3 star reviews and generate draft replies
11. Theme mining — recurring praise and complaints with quotes you can show a client
12. Reply-queue automation — push suggestedReplies into a helpdesk or Sheets column
13. Local SEO audits — categories, claim status, and public review volume
14. Market-entry research — recent visitor language for a shortlist of sites

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How to scrape Google Maps reviews

1. Open this Actor in Apify Console.
2. Add Google Maps place URLs and/or Place IDs.
3. Set Max reviews per place (or 0 for details only).
4. Optionally set Stop after this review date (30 days or 2025-06-01).
5. Keep Newest sort when you use a date cutoff.
6. Optionally turn on AI themes and/or Draft owner replies (off unless you set the flags via API).
7. If drafts are on, pick Draft replies for these ratings (3★ = neutral).
8. Run and download the dataset.

maxReviews applies per place. Ten places at maxReviews: 20 return up to 200 reviews.

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How much does it cost to scrape Google Maps reviews?

Pay per event. We absorb platform usage — the prices below are what you pay.

Event	Free	What you get
Review scraped	$0.29 / 1,000 reviews	One Google review (text, stars, exact date, owner reply)
Place details	$0.49 / 1,000 places	One listing (contact, rating, histogram, hours)
AI review themes	$5.00 / 1,000 places	Themes, evidence quotes, praise/complaints for that place
Draft owner replies	$5.00 / 1,000 places	Style-matched drafts for unanswered reviews in your star band
Actor start	$0.00005 / GB	Standard Apify start fee

Vs Compass (Free tier, September 2026): Compass Google Maps Reviews Scraper charges $0.60/1K reviews and returns a raw dump — no themes, no unanswered queue, no reply drafts. Compass Google Maps Scraper charges $4.00/1K places plus $0.50/1K reviews as an add-on; its paid “competitor AI analysis” compares businesses, it does not draft owner replies in the listing's voice. This Actor is the place-ID + newest + date-cutoff job plus two optional AI add-ons.

Example: 1,000 new reviews across 20 places with both add-ons ≈ $0.30 in review fees + $0.01 in place fees + $0.20 in AI add-ons.

Higher Apify Store plans pay less per review (down to $0.19/1K on Gold).

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Input

{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=Dumpling%20House&query_place_id=ChIJD2l2k7ZL0YkRC80d-3MV1lM"
    }
  ],
  "placeIds": ["ChIJD2l2k7ZL0YkRC80d-3MV1lM"],
  "maxReviews": 5,
  "reviewsStartDate": "3 months",
  "reviewsSort": "newest",
  "includeReviewThemes": true,
  "includeDraftReplies": true,
  "draftReplyRatings": "negativeAndNeutral",
  "language": "en"
}

Provide at least one place URL or Place ID.

Field	Type	Default	Description
startUrls	Array of { url }	—	Google Maps place URLs (/maps/place, /maps/search, /maps?cid=, short links)
placeIds	Array of strings	—	Google Place IDs (ChIJ… / GhIJ…)
maxReviews	Integer	5	Max reviews per place. 0 = details only (histogram still included)
reviewsStartDate	String	—	Stop when a review is older than this. 2024-05-03, ISO datetime (UTC), or relative (8 days, 3 months)
reviewsSort	String	newest	newest, mostRelevant, highestRating, or lowestRating
includeReviewThemes	Boolean	false	AI themes add-on. Console try-for-free prefills this on.
includeDraftReplies	Boolean	false	Draft owner replies add-on, styled like the listing's last 5 owner responses.
draftReplyRatings	String	negativeAndNeutral	Unanswered ratings to draft: negative, negativeAndNeutral, neutral, positiveAndNeutral, positive. 3★ = neutral.
language	String	en	Google Maps UI language — affects relative dates and opening-hours labels
proxyConfiguration	Object	Apify Proxy	Recommended on the platform; switch to residential groups if you hit blocks

The date cutoff needs the default newest sort: the Actor walks newest → oldest and stops at the first review older than reviewsStartDate.

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Output

Each dataset item is one place, with reviews nested on the same row (the shape reputation products already consume).

{
  "name": "OG Dumpling House",
  "title": "OG Dumpling House",
  "address": "410 Jefferson Rd, Rochester, NY 14623, United States",
  "street": "410 Jefferson Rd",
  "city": "Rochester",
  "postalCode": "14623",
  "state": "NY",
  "countryCode": "US",
  "website": "http://ogdumplinghouseny.com/",
  "phone": "+1 585-413-0353",
  "phoneUnformatted": "+15854130353",
  "categoryName": "Dumpling restaurant",
  "categories": ["Dumpling restaurant", "Chinese restaurant"],
  "location": { "lat": 43.0903574, "lng": -77.6429184 },
  "openingHours": [{ "day": "Wednesday", "hours": "11 AM–9 PM" }],
  "totalScore": 4.5,
  "reviewsCount": 1255,
  "reviewsDistribution": {
    "oneStar": 52,
    "twoStar": 22,
    "threeStar": 66,
    "fourStar": 180,
    "fiveStar": 935
  },
  "placeId": "ChIJD2l2k7ZL0YkRC80d-3MV1lM",
  "url": "https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query_place_id=ChIJD2l2k7ZL0YkRC80d-3MV1lM",
  "imageUrl": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gps-cs-s/...",
  "reviewsScrapedCount": 1,
  "unansweredReviewCount": 0,
  "reviewThemes": {
    "summary": "Guests praise fast service and dumplings; a few mention weekend waits.",
    "themes": [
      {
        "name": "Speed of service",
        "sentiment": "positive",
        "mentionCount": 4,
        "evidenceQuotes": ["fast service and delicious food!"]
      }
    ],
    "topPraise": ["Fast service", "Dumplings"],
    "topComplaints": [],
    "reviewsAnalyzed": 5
  },
  "draftReplies": [],
  "reviews": [
    {
      "reviewId": "Ci9DQUlRQUNvZENodHljRjlvT25SVWIzWjVhR1p1TW5WVGJucE9jblJXVFRCSlZIYxAB",
      "name": "Jeffrey Brewster",
      "text": "fast service and delicious food!",
      "publishAt": "a day ago",
      "publishedAtDate": "2026-08-31T22:20:38.429Z",
      "stars": 5,
      "rating": 5,
      "likesCount": 0,
      "reviewUrl": "https://www.google.com/maps/reviews/data=...",
      "reviewerId": "106919063158098904284",
      "isLocalGuide": false,
      "responseFromOwnerDate": "2026-09-01T21:07:13.000Z",
      "responseFromOwnerText": "Thank you so much, Jeffrey!",
      "needsOwnerReply": false
    }
  ]
}

Field	Description
title / name	Business name (both aliases are always set)
address	Formatted address, split into street, city, postalCode, state, countryCode
phone / phoneUnformatted	Public phone when listed
openingHours	Day and hours pairs as shown on the listing
totalScore	Average rating
reviewsCount	Number of Google reviews on the listing
reviewsDistribution	Star histogram (oneStar … fiveStar)
placeId	Google Place ID
imageUrl / imageUrls	Primary listing photo and gallery
reviewsScrapedCount	How many reviews this run returned for the place
unansweredReviewCount	Scraped reviews in your star band with no owner reply (always computed, no AI)
reviewThemes	AI themes add-on output. null when that add-on is off or the model call is skipped
draftReplies	Draft owner replies add-on output. null when that add-on is off; [] when it ran but nothing matched
draftReplyStyleExamples	The 5 most recent owner replies used as the voice to copy. null when drafts are off
reviews	Newest-first review objects with text, stars, exact dates, IDs, links, public reviewer fields, likes, photos, owner responses, and needsOwnerReply

The run Output tab has two views: Overview (one row per place) and Reviews (one row per review: stars, text, date, owner reply, reviewer). You can also download JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or HTML from Storage.

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Does this search Google Maps by keyword?

No. It only scrapes the places you pass as URLs or Place IDs, which keeps runs cheap and predictable. For keyword or area search, use a dedicated Google Maps search Actor, then feed those Place IDs here.

Related rainminer Actors:

• Google Maps Menu Scraper — menu items and prices from listing photos
• Google Maps Review Summary Scraper — Google's own short review-summary text on the listing (not themes or reply drafts)

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FAQ

Do I get exact review dates?

Yes. Every review has publishedAtDate as an exact ISO timestamp, alongside Google's relative publishAt label ("a day ago"). The exact timestamp is what makes the date cutoff and incremental runs work.

How many reviews can I get per place?

The feed paginates until Google stops returning pages, so several hundred per place is normal. Set maxReviews to the number you need — very large values simply run longer. Combine with reviewsStartDate for cheap nightly syncs.

How is this different from Compass Google Maps Reviews Scraper?

Compass returns the raw review dump. This Actor matches that place-ID + newest + date-cutoff job, then adds two optional add-ons: AI themes with evidence quotes, and draft owner replies written like the listing's last 5 responses for the star band you pick (3★ = neutral). Existing Compass-shaped integrations that omit the flags keep the same fields and cost.

Do I need a Google API key or login?

No. This Actor reads public Maps listing and review pages. There is no Google Cloud key, OAuth, or end-user login.

Do I need a proxy?

Google throttles heavy traffic from single IP ranges. Apify Proxy is enabled by default; if you scrape many places or see repeated empty responses, switch the proxy configuration to residential groups.

Is it legal to scrape Google Maps?

This Actor collects public listing and review information, including public reviewer names and profile fields. Do not process personal data unless you have a legitimate reason. GDPR and similar laws may apply. If you are unsure, consult a lawyer. See also Apify's guidance on scraping.

Where can I get help?

Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab in Apify Console.

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Image Credit

Image credit: Google Maps