# Fetch the recent Google Maps reviews of any place through one API

Send a Google Maps place ID or URL. RouterGrowth returns the place's recent reviews as JSON: rating, text, date, likes, the owner's reply when there is one, and the place's overall rating and review count. One RouterGrowth key, no Google Cloud project.

HTML page: https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/api-reviews
Part of: [Google Maps tools](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps.md)

## The call

[`reviews.search`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/reviews.search): Recent reviews for a place on Google Maps or Yelp: rating, text, author, date and the owner's reply, plus the place's overall score.

Price on this network: $0.000788 per review plus $0.0035 per call, $0.002 minimum a call. The exact quote is shown before every run.

## What a real run returned

Run on 2026-10-19: 10 records in 7.9 s for $0.011375. Personal fields are masked. The 10 latest reviews of Clever Cycles in Portland (4.9 stars, 420 reviews). One of them carries the shop's reply.

| author | rating | published_at | text | owner_response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To*** | 5 | 2026-09-23 | Great service, great people, great selection and honest opinions. Our favorite bike shop among many great ones |  |
| Je*** | 5 | 2026-04-20 | This place is like a candy shop for bike lovers. Not for very light racing bikes, but for practical folding and/or electric bikes for every… | "Candy shop for bike lovers" might be our favorite description yet… |

## How to do it

1. **Get the place ID.** local.places returns a place_id for every listing, or paste a Google Maps URL.
2. **Call reviews.search.** POST /v1/run with capability reviews.search, the place, platform google_maps and a limit.
3. **Read result.reviews.** Each review has author, text, rating, published_at, url, owner_response and likes. result.place holds the overall rating and review count.
4. **Mind the reviewers.** Reviewer names are personal data. Keep them out of anything you publish.

## Ask it like this

- Get the 20 latest Google reviews for each bike shop on this list and flag any under 4 stars. (`reviews.search`)
- Find e-bike stores in Portland, then tell me which ones never reply to their reviews. (`local.places`, `reviews.search`)

## Connect

MCP server: `https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp`

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http routergrowth https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp
```

```bash
npm install -g routergrowth && routergrowth setup
routergrowth run -c reviews.search -i '{"place": "ChIJAQAAAD0KlVQRLk2TQEKLQZM", "platform": "google_maps", "limit": 10}'
```

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.routergrowth.com/v1/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTERGROWTH_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"capability": "reviews.search", "input": {"place": "ChIJAQAAAD0KlVQRLk2TQEKLQZM", "platform": "google_maps", "limit": 10}}'
```

## Worth knowing

- **Independent of Google.** This is not the Google Places API. RouterGrowth returns public reviews with its own key and billing.
- **Newest first.** This run came back sorted by date, from three days before the run back to April.
- **Some reviews have no text.** A star rating without words comes back with an empty text field; one of the 10 here did.

## Questions

### How many reviews can I fetch?

Set limit to the number you need. The rate is per review returned, and inspect shows it before you run.

### Does it include the owner's reply?

Yes, in owner_response, empty when the owner did not answer.

### Can I pass a Maps URL instead of a place ID?

Yes. place takes a Google Maps URL, a place ID (ChIJ...) or a Yelp business URL.

### Is the Places API key needed?

No. One RouterGrowth key covers it.

## Related

- [Scrape Google Maps from a Python script with requests](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/scraper-python.md)
- [Get Google Maps listings as JSON with one API call](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/scraper-api.md)
- [Scrape a business's Google Maps reviews without a browser](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/reviews-scraper.md)
- [Turn a Google Maps search into a lead list with websites and phones](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/lead-scraper.md)
- [A Google Maps scraper your agent runs: every business for a search, as rows](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/google-maps/scraper.md)