# Yelp

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/yelp/

5 people recommended Yelp in Hacker News comments, 2 had mixed feelings and 16 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 3 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

3 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “RamenHaus”.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Some people use it to find local restaurants and hidden gems, especially in NYC; critics say business ad sales and filtering hurt its reviews.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Pressure to pay for placement or features (3 comments in the sample): "trying to sell add-on services to the businesses and can harm your businss if you don't pay up for the features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516731)) "That was the day that I learned what legal online extortion looks like." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817820)) "Yelp filters positive reviews unless you advertise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46163467))
- Outdated or inaccurate business listings (3 comments in the sample): "Yelp is mostly useless now, because they're not effectively purging dead businesses." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482320)) "Hotel staff can’t update Yelp, Google Maps location with the info?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47490789)) "Yelp, etc. are at least equally inaccurate." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48796869))
- Reviews skew toward tourists or regional taste (2 comments in the sample): "In the southeastern US, Yelp is almost negative signal because southerners have legitimately horrible taste." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133661)) "it’s predominantly tourists so the places visited are predominantly places tourists visit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49142738))
- Pushes app download on mobile (2 comments in the sample): "Yelp prompts for an app download to jump me over to their world, which is a horrible user experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47843252)) "artificially blocking me from consuming it when on mobile" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667056))

## Why people recommend it

- Seen as more trustworthy and less inflated (2 comments in the sample): "Something that has seriously increased my trust in Yelp" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133209)) "Yelp does not feel as inflated to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133804))

## Other review sites people recommend

- [Rtings](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rtings-com/): 8 recommend, 3 mixed, 3 criticize
- [Consumer Reports](https://hackerapproved.com/p/consumer-reports/): 7 recommend, 4 mixed, 4 criticize

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.yelp.com/)

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Yelp", https://hackerapproved.com/p/yelp/ (5 recommend, 2 mixed, 16 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.