1. Official Yelp Places (Fusion) SKU Tiers vs ReviewsData API
Paying $19.99 per 1,000 API calls for 3 truncated sentences makes local sentiment analysis impossible on the official Yelp Fusion API.
| Capability | ReviewsData API | Official Yelp Places API | SerpApi Yelp Engine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews Returned per Business | Full paginated reviews (20+/page) | Max 3 excerpts (160 chars) | 10 per page |
| Review Text Completeness | 100% full customer text + owner reply | Truncated with '...' | Full text |
| Cost per 1,000 Calls / Reviews | $0.08 – $0.20 / 1K reviews | $7.99 – $19.99 / 1K calls | $15.00 / 1K searches |
| Database & RAG Caching | Permitted | Prohibited (>24h) | Permitted |
2. Fetch Full Yelp Reviews by Slug Alias or Business ID
Pass either the readable Yelp URL slug (alias) or business_id to GET /v1/yelp/reviews.
Search Austin Coffee Shops & Pull Full Yelp Reviews
Works with any Yelp business alias (e.g. houndstooth-coffee-austin) or business_id.
curl "https://api.reviewsdataapi.com/v1/yelp/reviews?alias=houndstooth-coffee-austin&limit=10" \
-H "x-api-key: rv_live_your_api_key"import requests
res = requests.get(
"https://api.reviewsdataapi.com/v1/yelp/reviews",
params={"alias": "houndstooth-coffee-austin", "limit": 10},
headers={"x-api-key": "rv_live_your_api_key"},
)
print(res.json()["data"]["reviews"][0])const res = await fetch(
"https://api.reviewsdataapi.com/v1/yelp/reviews?alias=houndstooth-coffee-austin&limit=10",
{ headers: { "x-api-key": process.env.REVIEWSDATA_API_KEY! } }
);
console.log(await res.json());{
"code": 0,
"status": "ok",
"data": {
"target": "houndstooth-coffee-austin",
"sentiment_summary": {
"average_rating": 4.6,
"polarity_breakdown": { "positive_pct": 88, "neutral_pct": 7, "negative_pct": 5 }
},
"reviews": [
{
"platform": "yelp",
"rating": 5,
"review_text": "Hands down the best cortado in downtown Austin. Baristas dial in single-origin espresso every morning...",
"sentiment": "positive"
}
]
}
}Test this exact endpoint right now in your browser (3 free anonymous runs):Run 3 Free Live Queries in Playground →
Reputation Intelligence Lab · GET /v1/yelp/reviews
Verify real-time latency, credit math & JSON schema
5,000 reviews/day
400 domains/day
1,000 merchants/day
HTTP Calls / Day
700
Multi-rail failover
Credit Unit
$1 = 10,000
Unified across 5 platforms
Empty Result Fee
0 Credits
$0.00 for 0 matches
Estimated Monthly Reputation Pipeline Cost (30 Days)
$22.80/ mo on Business ($39.33 on Growth)
Monthly consumption: 570,000 Credits (19,000 Credits/day)
ReviewsData API (Business $0.08/1K):$22.80 / mo
Outscraper / Yelp Fusion / Enterprise:$824.70 / mo
Empty search / upstream error fee:$0.00 (0 Credits)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does ReviewsData API support drop-in migration from Yelp Fusion /v3/businesses/search?
- Yes. Our gateway maps /v3/businesses/search and /v3/businesses/:id/reviews directly onto our normalized Yelp engine so existing Yelp Fusion clients can switch by changing only the base URL and x-api-key header.
- Can I look up Yelp reviews using the URL slug instead of an encrypted business_id?
- Yes—pass ?alias=houndstooth-coffee-austin directly to GET /v1/yelp/reviews without needing a separate search call first.