# Google Maps Reviews Scraper (`gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews`) Actor

Extract real Google Maps reviews — author, star rating, full text, and timestamp — for any place by ID or URL.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews.md
- **Developed by:** [Gopalakrishnan](https://apify.com/gopalakrishnan) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, Social media
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.25 / 1,000 review scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Google Maps Reviews Scraper

Get real reviews — author, star rating, full text, and timestamp — from any Google Maps
place. This actor drives a real browser because Google's modern review endpoint requires a
BotGuard anti-abuse token that only a real browser session can produce; static HTTP replay
does not work for this data (verified during development).

### How it works

1. Resolves the place's display name from its Google place ID.
2. Searches for it on Google Maps and opens the place's full detail panel.
3. Opens the Reviews tab and extracts the first batch of reviews directly from the page.
4. If more reviews are available ("More reviews" / scrolling), intercepts the browser's own
   review-loading network calls to capture additional pages.

Because this is a real browser run (not a lightweight HTTP request), it is slower and costs
more to run than a typical HTTP-based actor — budget `maxReviewsPerPlace` accordingly.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `placeIds` | array (required) | Google Maps place IDs (e.g. `ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo`) or full Google Maps place URLs. |
| `maxReviewsPerPlace` | integer | Caps reviews fetched per place (default 20). Also caps runtime/cost. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Proxy settings. Datacenter works; switch to residential if you see blocking. |

### Output

One record per review:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `placeId` | The place this review belongs to |
| `reviewId` | Google's internal review ID (only available for reviews fetched via pagination, not the first on-page batch) |
| `cid` | Google's place CID, `0x<hi>:0x<lo>` format |
| `authorName` | Reviewer's display name |
| `authorProfileUrl` | Link to the reviewer's Google Maps profile |
| `avatarUrl` | Reviewer's avatar image URL |
| `rating` | 1–5 star rating |
| `text` | Full review text |
| `publishedAt` / `lastEditedAt` | ISO timestamps (only available via pagination; the on-page batch only exposes a relative date like "a month ago", not parsed into an absolute timestamp) |
| `scrapeStatus` / `scrapeError` | `success`/`partial`/`error` with a message when applicable |
| `scrapedAt` | When this row was scraped |

### Pay-Per-Event billing

| Event | When charged |
|---|---|
| `actor-start` | Once per run. |
| `review-scraped` | Once per review successfully scraped. |

This actor runs a real browser per place, so price both events higher than a typical
HTTP-based scraper to cover the extra compute cost — check current Apify Store "Google Maps
Reviews" actor pricing before finalizing.

### Running locally

```bash
apify run --purge
```

Put a test input in `storage/key_value_stores/default/INPUT.json`, e.g.:

```json
{
  "placeIds": ["ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo"],
  "maxReviewsPerPlace": 10,
  "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }
}
```

# Actor input Schema

## `placeIds` (type: `array`):

Google Maps place IDs (e.g. 'ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo') or full Google Maps place URLs.

## `maxReviewsPerPlace` (type: `integer`):

Caps how many reviews are fetched per place. This actor drives a real browser to scroll the reviews panel, so this also caps runtime/cost.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. Try datacenter first; switch to residential if you see blocking.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "placeIds": [
    "ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo"
  ],
  "maxReviewsPerPlace": 20,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "placeIds": [
        "ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "placeIds": ["ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "placeIds": [
    "ChIJ67CkOzjvDogR2L42VGEgXJo"
  ]
}' |
apify call gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=gopalakrishnan/google-maps-reviews",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/edEZyxRp6RIeXyHqU/builds/7Q2DD4bi14OZJBunY/openapi.json