Yelp Places API vs Outscraper for AI agents
Yelp Places API is Yelp's licensed API (formerly Yelp Fusion) for searching businesses and reading Yelp business details, ratings, photos and review excerpts. Outscraper is a third-party service and API that scrapes Google Maps places in bulk and returns them as structured records.
The short answer
- Yelp Places API: Yelp ratings, review excerpts and photos for restaurants and local services in consumer apps that display Yelp content. The terms rule out passing that content to an LLM.
- Outscraper: Bulk extraction of Google Maps business lists, such as lead lists.
Side by side
| Yelp Places API | Outscraper | |
|---|---|---|
| Searches | Local businesses listed on Yelp. Yelp says it covers "millions of businesses around the world," and the supported-locales page lists 32 countries. | Google Maps places by query (for example "restaurants brooklyn usa") or by place ID, plus reviews and photos. |
| Returns | JSON over REST at https://api.yelp.com/v3. Results include name, address, phone, Yelp rating, price level, review count, coordinates, categories, image and Yelp URL. Photos and review excerpts depend on the plan. | JSON (exports also in CSV, Excel and Parquet) with fields such as name, site, phone, address, rating, hours and, with enrichments, emails and social links. |
| Before the first call | A Yelp developer account (a business email is required for the trial) and a private API key. Paid plans need a credit card on file. | An Outscraper account and API key. |
| Free | A 30-day trial with up to 5,000 API calls, for evaluation only, not commercial use. There is no permanent free tier. | Not stated on its pages |
| Paid | Base costs $229 a month plus $5.91 per extra 1,000 calls. Enhanced costs $299 a month plus $6.57 per 1,000. Premium costs $643 a month plus $14.13 per 1,000. The FAQ says paid plans include 30,000 calls a month by default. | Not stated on its pages |
| Acting on a result | Results include the business phone number and its Yelp page URL. There is no way to message a business through the Places API. | Records include the business phone and website from Google Maps, and enrichments can add emails. There is no messaging through Outscraper. |
| Limits on keeping or showing results | No caching or storing of Yelp Content for more than 24 hours. No building your own business-listing database from it. Display Requirements apply, and Yelp can require removal of content within 24 hours. | Not stated on its pages |
| AI in its terms | Very restrictive. Section 9 bans training or fine-tuning generative AI models on Yelp Content. Section 9.4 bans submitting or ingesting any Yelp Content into any Generative AI Model, for example in prompts to ChatGPT. Yelp sells a separate Yelp AI API for conversational use at $25 per 1,000 calls. | Not stated on its pages |
| Coverage | 32 countries in Yelp's supported-locales list, including the US. | Not stated on its pages |
| MCP server | Yelp/yelp-mcp on GitHub (https://github.com/Yelp/yelp-mcp). It wraps the Yelp Fusion AI API with one yelp_agent tool and needs a Yelp Fusion AI key, not a Places API key. | outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server on GitHub (https://github.com/outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server), run with npx -y outscraper-mcp and OUTSCRAPER_API_KEY. |
Where Openpath fits
If the agent needs a local business to message in Austin, Texas, Openpath returns the listings themselves, free and with no key. See Openpath vs Yelp Places API and Openpath vs Outscraper.
Questions people ask
What do I need before I can use Yelp Places API?
A Yelp developer account (a business email is required for the trial) and a private API key. Paid plans need a credit card on file.
Is Yelp Places API free?
A 30-day trial with up to 5,000 API calls, for evaluation only, not commercial use. There is no permanent free tier.
What do I need before I can use Outscraper?
An Outscraper account and API key.
Is Outscraper free?
Its pages listed no free use when we read them on October 15, 2026.
Sources
Every line about another company comes from its own pages. Prices and terms change, so check the source before you rely on one.
Yelp Places API, read on October 15, 2026:
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “$229 per month plus $5.91 per additional 1,000 API calls”
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “$299 per month plus $6.57 per additional 1,000 API calls”
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “$643 per month plus $14.13 per additional 1,000 API calls”
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “Receive 5,000 free API calls during the 30-day trial period”
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “Start 30-day free trial Business email required”
- business.yelp.com/data/resources/pricing: “$25 / 1,000 API calls Minimum 1,000 daily API calls”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/places-faq: “These API calls are STRICTLY FOR EVALUATION AND NOT FOR COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/places-faq: “This plan includes 30,000 API calls per month by default”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/places-intro: “valuable information such as name, address, phone number, Yelp rating, price levels, and review counts”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/places-intro: “The Yelp Places API uses private key authentication to authenticate all endpoints.”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/places-intro: “millions of businesses around the world”
- terms.yelp.com/developers/api_terms: “opt into a paid subscription program by providing credit card and other necessary information”
- terms.yelp.com/developers/api_terms: “cache, record, pre-fetch, or otherwise store any portion of the Yelp Content for a period longer than twenty-four (24) hours”
- terms.yelp.com/developers/api_terms: “use it to update or create your own database of business listing information”
- terms.yelp.com/developers/api_terms: “Submit or ingest any Yelp Content into any Generative AI Model (e.g., prompts that contain any Yelp Content into ChatGPT”
- terms.yelp.com/developers/api_terms: “for the purpose of training, developing, enhancing, or fine-tuning any Generative AI Models without Yelp’s prior written approval”
- github.com/Yelp/yelp-mcp: “MCP server for exposing tools powered by Yelp's data”
- docs.developer.yelp.com/docs/resources-supported-locales: “Following are the locales Yelp Places API supports.”
Outscraper, read on October 15, 2026:
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-python: “client = OutscraperClient(api_key='SECRET_API_KEY')”
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-python: “"site": "http://www.colonienyc.com/", "phone": "+1 718-855-7500"”
- github.com/outscraper/outscraper-mcp-server: “Official Outscraper MCP server for AI agents: Google Maps scraping, business data enrichment, lead generation”