Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Yelp Fusion API?

The Yelp Fusion API gives developers access to Yelp’s wealth of high quality local content and search capabilities for millions of businesses.

How can I get started using the Yelp Fusion API?

Getting started with the Yelp Fusion API is easy! Simply visit our sign-up page: https://docs.developer.yelp.com/page/start-your-free-trial. Here you can browse available plans, select the one that fits your needs, and get started quickly.

Please note that you need a Yelp user account. If you don’t already have an account, please visit our registration page. If you are a Yelp Business Owner Account user, please note this is different from a regular Yelp user account and you must be logged out of your Yelp Business Owner account in order to sign up for the API.

How do I ask questions and provide feedback?

Open and participate in issues at our GitHub page. You can also reach out to [email protected].

How many API requests do I receive?

The number of daily API requests depends on your Yelp Fusion API plan. Keys registered after March 20, 2024, have 300 daily calls from the starter plan and 500 daily calls for higher-tier plans. These API calls are STRICTLY FOR EVALUATION AND NOT FOR COMMERCIAL DEPLOYMENT. If you are managing or employed by a commercial product or organization, the daily limit may be used for evaluation purposes on a case-by-case basis unless otherwise permitted by Yelp in writing. Review the Yelp Fusion Enterprise application form and share your project in more detail if you have a need for more API requests.

What happens if I exceed my daily limit?

Any call you make after that in the same day will get back a response with status code 429 (Too Many Requests). Daily limits are reset every midnight UTC time.

How can I check how many remaining API calls I have left?

You can view your remaining calls by visiting the Manage App page or checking the header of each response. Please see the Fusion API Rate Limiting documentation for more details.

How much does it cost to use the Yelp API? Is there a fee if I need more than 500 calls per day?

Yelp offers different pricing plans for the Yelp Fusion API. You can find more information about pricing and included API calls on our sign-up page: https://docs.developer.yelp.com/page/start-your-free-trial. You can also reach out to our sales team via Yelp Fusion Enterprise application to set up a discussion.

How do I transition from an evaluation license to a commercial license?

Complete the Yelp Fusion Enterprise application. Yelp will evaluate your project and may respond with next steps if you are eligible for a commercial license.

Can I cache data from the API?

You may cache Yelp Fusion API content for a maximum of 24 hours. Yelp Business IDs can be stored indefinitely.

Can my organization commercially analyze the data I receive from its API credentials?

Analysis is not permitted for Yelp Fusion integrations. Visit the Yelp Knowledge website to learn more about supported use cases.

What locales does the API support?

The Yelp API supports numerous locales using the locale parameter. Here is the list of supported locales.

Why does the API not return some businesses that I can find on Yelp?

We only return businesses which have Yelp user-generated content added to them or have been updated by Yelp users. Specifically, any listing must have at least one review, photo, or other user-contributed enhancement.

How can I get access to full review text?

The Yelp Fusion API does not return full review text. Three review excerpts from individual business of approximately 160 characters each are returned by default from each Reviews API endpoint request.

Can I change which reviews are returned for an API query?

No, the Yelp Fusion API cannot be configured to return alternative or hand-picked review excerpts. In order to maintain a consistent Yelp experience across all platforms, a variety of factors are considered in order to determine and return a business’s top review excerpts. The sort order is based on recency, user voting, and other review quality factors to help consumers make informed decisions.

Can I get coordinates of a business through the API?

Yes, the large majority of businesses returned by Yelp Fusion API endpoints will have coordinates (latitude and longitude).

How do I filter by country?

The Yelp Fusion API returns results from all geographies where Yelp is available. To filter results to a specific city, make sure you use the location parameter when using Search API.

What’s the best way to match a specific business?

We offer a few options for business matching based what data you have to match. If you know the business name and address information, you can use the business match API. If you have a phone number, you can use the phone search API. You can also use autocomplete API to provide suggestions for businesses, keywords and categories.

Where can I get high resolution versions of the Yelp stars and logos?

Please visit the Yelp Display Requirements and Yelp Brand websites.

How do I get more than 50 results per request and more than 240 businesses per originating Search API query?

The Search API endpoint returns up to 240 results from your originating query and up to 50 results per individual Search API request. Use the offset parameter to get the next page of results.

To use the offset parameter, give it any number. If you specify limit=50 you'll get results 1 through 50. Further, specify offset=51 and you'll get results 51 through 100.

What image resolution options do you offer for business photos and user profile photos?

By default, we return the original full-sized resolution; we use 'o' for business photos from the Business Details endpoint and 'o' for user profile photos (image_url) in the Reviews endpoint. Here are the different resolutions we currently provide:

'o' (original): Up to 1,000x1,000
'l' (large): Up to 600x400
'm' (medium): Up to 100x100
'ms' (medium square): 100x100
's' (small): Up to 40x40
'ss' (small square): 40x40

That said, do keep in mind that sizing is not always consistent because users upload images at different resolutions.

What's the difference between the Yelp business ID and business alias?

Every Yelp business has both a unique ID, such as 4kMBvIEWPxWkWKFN__8SxQ, as well as a unique alias, such as yelp-san-francisco. Both are returned for every business in any endpoint that returns business information. Generally, business ID and business alias are interchangeable methods of identifying a Yelp Business.

The business alias is more human-readable, but often longer, than the business ID. The business alias may also contain unicode characters, so it is recommended to use the business ID whenever possible.

There are many more business attributes on Yelp's website and mobile app than are listed in the API documentation here. How do I access them?

Yelp’s success is built on our first class data for local businesses, so we are careful with which data fields we expose via our API. If you are building an app that could benefit from additional Yelp features or data, please apply for a Yelp Fusion Enterprise license and share your commercial project with us in more detail.

What is Yelp's GraphQL API?

Let's first explain GraphQL - it is a query language for APIs that places emphasis on being able to query for exactly the data you want. GraphQL gives you the ultimate flexibility in being able to specify in your API requests specifically what data you need, and get back exactly that. The Yelp GraphQL API will allow you to customize the request and responses when retrieving Yelp data.

For more information, check out our blog post and GraphQL Intro page.

How do I sign up for access to Yelp's GraphQL API?

GraphQL is part of the Yelp Developer Beta program which grants developers early access to new and experimental features. To sign up for the Developer Beta program, go to the Manage App page and click the Join button.