# 11 things to build with Yelp data.

> Ideas to build with public Yelp data: restaurant lead lists, health inspection watches, review-reply drafts and dinner pickers, by operation.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/ideas/yelp-data · Updated 2026-10-21

Yelp data is good for finding local businesses by price and feature, and for reading reviews, popular dishes and health inspections. Each idea below names the operations it calls, so you can quote it and run it.

- Operations: 4
- Price: from $0.000225 per record
- Free to start: $0.10

## The ideas

- **[A restaurant lead list for suppliers](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api).** For food suppliers and software vendors. It searches restaurants in a city by price level and features. Uses search.
- **[A health inspection watch](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/business-api).** For food safety consultants and diners. It reads the health inspection records on business profiles. Uses businesses.
- **[A review-reply drafter](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/reviews-api).** For owners. It reads new reviews and drafts replies for the owner to edit and post. Uses reviews.
- **[A popular dishes report](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api).** For restaurant consultants. It reads the popular dishes of the top places in an area and compares them. Uses search and businesses.
- **[A review topic report](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/business-api).** For managers. It reads review insights by topic for their business and rivals, side by side. Uses businesses.
- **[A rating trend dashboard](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/business-api).** For multi-location owners. It charts rating and review count from the stored series, which is free. Uses businesses and history.
- **[A dinner picker](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api).** For people deciding where to eat. It searches by area, price level and features and sorts by rating. Uses search.
- **[A local market report](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api).** For founders and analysts. It searches a category sorted by most reviewed to see who leads an area. Uses search.
- **[A directory sync](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/business-api).** For city guide sites. It refreshes address, phone, website and hours from business profiles. Uses businesses.
- **[An owner reply rate check](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/reviews-api).** For agencies serving restaurants. It reads reviews and counts how many have an owner reply. Uses reviews.
- **[A local ratings dataset](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api).** For researchers. It keeps ratings and star breakdowns for a category across a city. Uses search.

## Each idea and what it calls

| Idea | Operations | One call returns | Main operation price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A restaurant lead list for suppliers | search | Up to 100 businesses | search: $0.000225 per record |
| A health inspection watch | businesses | Up to 10 businesses | businesses: $0.000225 per record |
| A review-reply drafter | reviews | Up to 100 reviews | reviews: $0.000225 per record |
| A popular dishes report | search, businesses | Up to 100 businesses | search: $0.000225 per record |
| A review topic report | businesses | Up to 10 businesses | businesses: $0.000225 per record |
| A rating trend dashboard | businesses, history | Up to 10 businesses | businesses: $0.000225 per record |
| A dinner picker | search | Up to 100 businesses | search: $0.000225 per record |
| A local market report | search | Up to 100 businesses | search: $0.000225 per record |
| A directory sync | businesses | Up to 10 businesses | businesses: $0.000225 per record |
| An owner reply rate check | reviews | Up to 100 reviews | reviews: $0.000225 per record |
| A local ratings dataset | search | Up to 100 businesses | search: $0.000225 per record |

## How to start

1. Sign up. An agent registers itself with one POST and starts with $0.10 of free credit; a person can sign up on the site instead.
2. Quote the first call for free: send the search request with "estimateOnly": true and read the price before anything is spent.
3. Run the same call with "maxUsd" set as a ceiling, and keep the rows it returns.
4. Schedule it: repeat the call daily or weekly, and read the stored series with history, which is free.

## Operations used

- [Yelp Search API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/search-api): $0.000225 per record. Businesses for a place and keyword, with Yelp's own sort, price levels and feature filters.
- [Yelp Business API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/business-api): $0.000225 per record. Full profiles for up to ten businesses by URL or slug.
- [Yelp Reviews API](https://apiforagents.dev/platforms/yelp/reviews-api): $0.000225 per record. Reviews for up to ten businesses.

## Questions

### Can I filter search by price?

Yes. search takes price levels 1 to 4, feature filters, and a sort by relevance, highest rating or most reviewed.

### Do I need a Yelp account to build these?

No. The API reads public data and never asks for your login, password or cookie.

### What does a run cost?

Yelp records are priced from $0.000225 per record. A call can carry a minimum, so send it first with "estimateOnly": true. The quote is free and is the most the call can cost.

### Can an AI agent build and run these on its own?

Yes. It signs itself up with one call and gets $0.10 free, quotes each call before it spends, and pays from a prepaid balance. "maxUsd" caps every call, and only a person can add money.

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md