Yelp
Ranked 3 of 3 review sites by recommenders
Some people use it to find local restaurants and hidden gems, especially in NYC; critics say business ad sales and filtering hurt its reviews.
Some people use it to find local restaurants and hidden gems, especially in NYC; critics say business ad sales and filtering hurt its reviews.
23 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 16
- approval share
- 30%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Seen as more trustworthy and less inflated
“Something that has seriously increased my trust in Yelp”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “RamenHaus” “Yelp does not feel as inflated to me.”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “RamenHaus”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Pressure to pay for placement or features
“trying to sell add-on services to the businesses and can harm your businss if you don't pay up for the features”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds” “That was the day that I learned what legal online extortion looks like.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “The Family Keeping Watch over a 52-Year-Old Pot of Soup” “Yelp filters positive reviews unless you advertise”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Revumatic – AI Growth Loop for SMBs Tired of Yelp, Google Ads, and Groupon” Outdated or inaccurate business listings
“Yelp is mostly useless now, because they're not effectively purging dead businesses.”
Comment from 28 Aug 2026 in ““It works better in the app”” “Hotel staff can't update Yelp, Google Maps location with the info?”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Introducing DoorDash Tasks” “Yelp, etc. are at least equally inaccurate.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Organic Maps” Reviews skew toward tourists or regional taste
“In the southeastern US, Yelp is almost negative signal because southerners have legitimately horrible taste.”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “RamenHaus” “it's predominantly tourists so the places visited are predominantly places tourists visit”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “RamenHaus” Pushes app download on mobile
“Yelp prompts for an app download to jump me over to their world, which is a horrible user experience.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman” “artificially blocking me from consuming it when on mobile”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “I Won't Download Your App. The Web Version Is A-OK”
Other review sites people recommend
The two most recommended other review sites, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rtings | 12 | 3 | 80% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Consumer Reports | 11 | 4 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| YelpThis page | 7 | 16 | 30% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They have made it into a kind of Yellow Pages with comments.”
“Yelp is mostly useless now, because they're not effectively purging dead businesses.”
“I found some amazing, hidden, non-touristy”
“it's predominantly tourists so the places visited are predominantly places tourists visit”
“Those platforms have been gamified aggressively”
“Yelp does not feel as inflated to me.”
“In the southeastern US, Yelp is almost negative signal because southerners have legitimately horrible taste.”
“Something that has seriously increased my trust in Yelp”
“That was the day that I learned what legal online extortion looks like.”
“Yelp, etc. are at least equally inaccurate.”
“Friends don't let friends support Yelp.”
“Yelp prompts for an app download to jump me over to their world, which is a horrible user experience.”
“Yelp is just another VC-backed money play.”
“artificially blocking me from consuming it when on mobile”
“Hotel staff can't update Yelp, Google Maps location with the info?”
“The google and yelp datasets in NYC are really quite good.”
“trying to sell add-on services to the businesses and can harm your businss if you don't pay up for the features”
“Oof, that second one is ugly . Like Yelp style.”
“Yelp filters positive reviews unless you advertise”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.