Do you want to develop apps like Yelp? If you are then this guide will help you in building a successful app.
Well, the Yelp app is kind of a review app. Here people can list their businesses and open the options for their customers that they can share their feedback, photos, reviews, experience and many more about the businesses like restaurants, stores, cafes, and many more.
With the help of this review app people get the information about the particular ones and accordingly take their services and products. This app helps people to make better decisions about purchasing and spending their money on particular services and products.
In this detailed guide, you will discover everything about the review app like Yelp, what it is, how to build an app like Yelp, revenue models, benefits, challenges, AI integration, and many more. You will also know the app market size and trends of these kinds of apps.
Let’s look at these amazing market stats and the size of the review apps.
Market Statistics and Trends of Review Apps Like Yelp
Developing a review app similar to Yelp can be a strategic move, especially considering the following market statistics for 2025 and beyond:
- According to Social Pilot, a significant 92% of consumers will choose a local business only if it boasts a 4-star rating or higher.
- Approximately 72% of prospective consumers will convert to customers only after reading a positive review.
- As per study, 94% of online shoppers have confirmed that negative reviews drag them away from visiting a business.
- Displaying 5-star reviews and testimonials can increase conversion rates by 270%.
- Businesses can see an increase in sales by 31% with positive online reviews.
- The Google Play Store downloads grew by 31%, while the Apple App Store had just a 2.5% growth rate.
- Global ad spending in the in-app advertising market is projected to reach $390 billion by 2025, marking a substantial increase compared to previous years.
What is a Yelp App?
Yelp is a most popular review app that helps people find the best restaurants, salons, hotels, and more based on reviews. In this platform users can read reviews, see ratings, check photos, and also add their own feedback based on their experiences.
Businesses can also use Yelp, “the review application,” to connect with customers and promote their services. It’s like a digital word-of-mouth platform where people share their honest opinions to help other people so they can make better choices.
Read More: How to Reduce Mobile App Development Cost?
Amazing Features to Add While Develop Apps like Yelp
There are many features that are really important to add while developing an app like Yelp. These amazing features make your review app successful, considerable, and engageable in this competitive market:
1. User Reviews & Ratings
This feature is important to add when you go to create an app like Yelp because this feature allows users to rate businesses and write reviews to help others that people will make informed decisions.
2. Business Listings
With the help of this feature every business can register their business in this app. In this feature businesses need to include detailed business profiles with name, address, contact info, photos, and operating hours.
3. Advanced Search & Filters
Advanced search and filter features are the best to add in your review app like Yelp because this feature enables users to search businesses by category, location, ratings, price range, and other essential filters.
4. Location-Based Recommendations
Location based recommendations features are also important to integrate while making a Yelp- like app because this feature uses GPS to show nearby businesses and offer personalized recommendations based on user preferences.
5. Photo & Video Uploads
Photos and videos upload option is also a considerable feature because, with the help of this feature, users can add photos and videos to reviews, making them more engaging and trustworthy.
6. Review Moderation & Spam Detection
Review moderation and spam detection feature is the most preferred in these applications because of AI, now detection is easy. AI can detect fake reviews, spam, or inappropriate content to maintain credibility.
7. Business Claim & Management
Business claim and management is also a wanted feature in review applications because it allows business owners to claim their listings, update details, respond to reviews, and run promotional ads.
9. Bookmark & Favorite Lists
Bookmark and favorite lists are the important features for review applications because with the help of this feature users can save favorite places or create lists for future visits. This feature makes the app more preferable for users.
10. Push Notifications & Alerts
Push notifications and alerts are the most useful feature for these types of applications because with the help of this feature users will get personalized notifications about new reviews, discounts, or trending businesses.
11. In-App Messaging & Chat
With the help of this feature users are allowed to communicate with businesses for inquiries, reservations, or support. This feature is very useful for users.
12. Multilingual Support
Multilingual support is also the most considerable feature in review applications because it supports multiple languages to reach a global audience and improve accessibility. Users can easily choose the preferred language and understand the app.
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Benefits of Developing an App Like Yelp
Well, before making a decision to develop apps like Yelp, you have to be aware of the benefits of building an app like Yelp and the types of advantages offered by this app for businesses and users. Here are some important benefits:
1. High User Engagement
One of the main benefits of developing such an app is high user engagement because people rely on reviews before visiting restaurants, stores, or services. These types of review apps keep users engaged by providing genuine review, ratings, photos, and discussions.
2. Increased Business Visibility
With the help of these applications you can increase business visibility. Local businesses get more exposure because users explore and discover them through the app. So these applications are helping them to grow their customer base.
3. Location-Based Services
Location based services are also a reason to create an app like Yelp because of GPS integration, users can easily find businesses nearby. This app makes it easier for people to explore local options and try the options for experience.
4. Community Building
Community building is one of the main benefits of developing such apps because a review app creates a community where people share experiences, connect, and support businesses.
5. Data-Driven Insights
Data driven insights are also considered as a benefit to develop apps like Yelp because businesses can analyze user behavior, trends, and feedback to improve services and marketing strategies.
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Main Challenges in Developing Review Apps Like Yelp
When you are going to create an app like Yelp, you will face many challenges; this is not easy to develop. Here are the key challenges:
1. Gathering and Managing User-Generated Content
Users are the main contributors to these kinds of apps where one reviews, adds comments, gives ratings, and uploads pictures. That’s not easy and is considered a great challenge. This app includes reward schemes, smooth user interfaces, and active community engagement.
2. Location-Based Services and Mapping Integration
These review apps will require accurate location services and mapping integrations so users can find businesses nearby. When developers are working on balancing accurate third-party API integration like Google Maps or OpenStreetMap with cost efficiency, it will be a challenge.
3. Competition with Established Platforms
Although new applications shall find it hard to establish themselves against such heavyweight platforms as Yelp, Google Reviews, or TripAdvisor, the new app must show unique features or emphasize a better user experience or a niche market.
4. Ensuring Fast and Scalable Performance
With the growth of the app, it must be able to ‘smoothly handle up to hundreds of thousands of reviews, images, and user-related interactions.’ This calls for investments in a scalable infrastructure and optimizing the performance of the app to keep it working well in the long run.
5. Privacy and Data Security
User reviews and business data are very sensitive information. Hence, strong security measures must be instituted to safeguard user data, prevent data breaches, and comply with laws on the protection of data by the app.
| Bill Gates also stated that “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” |
How AI Enhances Review Apps Development?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a vital role in improving review apps, making these sorts of apps smarter, more user-friendly, and more efficient. Well, here we cover some points about how AI enhances review app development:
1. Automated Sentiment Analysis
With the help of AI, these review apps can analyze user feedback and categorize the feedback as positive, negative, or neutral. Artificial intelligence helps businesses to understand customer sentiment quickly without reading each review manually.
2. Real-Time Spam Filtering
Real time spam filtering is now easy and smooth because of AI. Artificial intelligence automatically removes spam or irrelevant reviews, ensuring that users see only meaningful and helpful content of the particular search.
3. Personalized Recommendations
AI algorithms can suggest products, services, or businesses based on user preferences and past interactions. Artificial intelligence improves user experience and increases engagement by recommending personal preferences.
4. Enhanced Search and Filtering
AI-powered search features help users to find the relevant reviews quickly by filtering them based on keywords, sentiment, or user preferences. Now users do not need to spend a lot of time on searching and choosing the best one.
5. Fake Review Detection
AI helps in detecting fake reviews by analyzing writing patterns, review frequency, and user credibility. AI helps in maintaining trust and ensures that only genuine reviews are displayed on the app because these apps are only review based.
6. Voice and Image-Based Reviews
With the help of AI, now users are enabled to submit reviews using voice or images. AI making the review process more interactive and accessible for people who prefer speaking over typing. This thing enhances the usability of the app.
7. Chatbots for Instant Support
AI-driven chatbots can assist users by answering their queries instantly. AI also guides them to write reviews, and provides recommendations based on feedback. AI helps a lot and provides instant support to users.
8. Smart Review Summarization
Now AI can summarize the reviews like instead of reading thousands of reviews, AI can generate short summaries highlighting key points from multiple reviews. This advancement saves users time and plays a smart move.
9. Multilingual Review Translation
AI-powered translation tools help users to read and write reviews in multiple languages. Now users can easily understand and write reviews about the particular one. This makes the app globally accessible.
10. Predictive Analytics for Businesses
AI helps businesses analyze, review trends, and predict future customer behavior. This allows them to improve their services accordingly, and that is a positive thing because it improves the businesses.
Core Technologies Behind Yelp App Development
Whenever you make up your mind to develop apps like Yelp, you have to choose the best tech stack for your app. Carefully choose the technologies with the help of one of the top mobile app development companies. To make the easy selection of tech stack, we make a table that highlights the core technologies behind Yelp app development:
| Category | Technologies Used |
| Frontend (UI/UX) | React Native, Swift (iOS), Kotlin (Android) |
| Backend | Python, Node.js, Ruby on Rails |
| Database | MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon DynamoDB |
| Cloud & Hosting | AWS (Amazon Web Services), Google Cloud |
| Search & Indexing | Elasticsearch, Solr |
| Maps & Location | Google Maps API, Mapbox |
| AI & Recommendations | Machine Learning, NLP (Natural Language Processing) |
| Payment Integration | Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay |
| Security | OAuth, JWT (JSON Web Token), SSL Encryption |
You can also use these tech stacks for grocery list app development. These technologies are perfectly suited to developing a grocery list app. So prefer and choose accordingly and build the robust app.
How to Create An App Like Yelp: Step-By-Step Process
If you make a decision to create an app like Yelp, then the first question you may have is, “how to make an app like Yelp, right?”. Your query is genuine and we understand your concern. That’s why we provide a step-by-step development process in this guide. With the help of these easy and streamlined processes you can smoothly build an app like Yelp which only requires a structured approach.
So look at this simple 5-step process and follow them:
1. Research & Planning
At the initial stage you have to identify your target audience and market requirements. And at the same time you also have to analyze Yelp’s features and make a list of considerable features. After this you need to choose a business model (advertising, subscriptions, commissions, etc.).
2. Design & Prototype
Design and prototype is the next step, your hired designers will create wireframes to visualize the app layout. Then make sure the design of your app is an intuitive user interface (UI) for smooth navigation. Now, it’s time to develop a prototype to test app flow before development.
3. Develop the Core Features
After designing and prototyping, now it’s time to develop apps like Yelp, and for that, you have to hire mobile app developers who can build the app with expertise. Your developers will build features which enhance the value of your app.
4. Testing & Deployment
After developing the core features and entire app now your hired testers will conduct rigorous testing to fix bugs and enhance performance. The testers will ensure the app works smoothly across Android and iOS. Then they launch the app on the App Store and Google Play.
5. Marketing & Monetization
After deployment, it’s time to promote the app through social media, SEO, and ads. You can also implement revenue models like advertising, premium listings, and subscriptions to generate a good amount of money. Then, you need to gather user feedback and update the app regularly.
Revenue Models of Yelp App
There are many revenue models available in the market. With the help of these revenue models, you can generate money through this app, but you have to choose the best one for your app. When you go for advanced to-do list app development, you can also use these revenue models to generate money. Let’s look at some key revenue models of the Yelp app:
1. Advertising (Main Revenue Source)
Advertisement is one of the best and essential revenue models for reviewing apps like Yelp. because in this model businesses pay you to appear at the top of search results. These ads are labeled as “Sponsored” and help businesses get more visibility.
2. Enhanced Business Profiles
In this monetization strategy, businesses pay a categorized fee to upgrade their profile with additional features like if they want to remove competitor ads from their page then they need to pay. If they want to add a call-to-action button (e.g., “Call Now” or “Get a Quote”) in that case they need to pay or many more cases.
3. Transaction Fees
Transaction fees are also a more considerable revenue model for Yelp-like apps because in this you can earn a commission from online food orders, reservations, and service bookings made through the append many more.
4. Yelp Deals and Gift Certificates
If you want this revenue model then this is also good to use because in this model businesses can sell promotional deals and gift certificates on Yelp like applications. These kinds of apps take a percentage of each sale as a service fee.
5. Partnerships & API Integration
Partnerships and API integration are also the best choices to generate money through this app because, in this model, you will carry partnerships with companies like Apple Maps and other platforms, earning revenue from data-sharing agreements.
How Much Does it Cost to Create An App Like Yelp?
The mobile app development cost is similar to Yelp. It depends on multiple factors like features, complexity, experience of your development team, location of your developers, and many more. Each and every factor affects the overall app development cost. So here’s a cost estimation table for developing an app similar to Yelp, categorized by Basic, Advanced, and Complex versions:
| Development Role | Basic App ($15,000 – $30,000) | Advanced App ($30,000 – $80,000) | Complex App ($80,000 – $200,000+) |
| UI/UX Design | $3,000 – $5,000 | $5,000 – $12,000 | $12,000 – $25,000 |
| Frontend Development | $5,000 – $10,000 | $10,000 – $25,000 | $25,000 – $60,000 |
| Backend Development | $5,000 – $12,000 | $12,000 – $30,000 | $30,000 – $70,000 |
| Database & APIs | $2,000 – $5,000 | $5,000 – $12,000 | $12,000 – $25,000 |
| Admin Panel | $3,000 – $5,000 | $5,000 – $12,000 | $12,000 – $25,000 |
| Search & Filters | $1,500 – $3,000 | $3,000 – $7,000 | $7,000 – $15,000 |
| Maps & Location | $2,000 – $4,000 | $4,000 – $8,000 | $8,000 – $20,000 |
| AI & Recommendations | Not Included | $5,000 – $12,000 | $12,000 – $30,000 |
| Payment Integration | $2,000 – $4,000 | $4,000 – $8,000 | $8,000 – $15,000 |
| Testing & QA | $2,000 – $5,000 | $5,000 – $10,000 | $10,000 – $20,000 |
| Maintenance & Support | $1,000 – $3,000/month | $3,000 – $7,000/month | $7,000 – $15,000/month |
Total Estimated Cost:
- Basic App: $15,000 – $30,000
- Advanced App: $30,000 – $80,000
- Complex App: $80,000 – $200,000+
The Average Time Period of Creating a Review App
The development period of a review app like Yelp depends on its features, complexity, and platform choice (iOS, Android, or both). You have to ask your selected mobile app development company about the time period of building a review app like Yelp.
For your better consideration, we have just broken down the estimated time period of review app development into different stages based on the basic, advanced, and complex versions.
| Development Stage | Basic App (3-6 months) | Advanced App (6-12 months) | Complex App (12-18+ months) |
| Planning & Research | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 6-8 weeks |
| UI/UX Design | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks | 10-14 weeks |
| Frontend Development | 6-8 weeks | 10-16 weeks | 16-24 weeks |
| Backend Development | 8-10 weeks | 12-20 weeks | 20-30 weeks |
| Database & APIs | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks | 10-16 weeks |
| Search & Filters | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks |
| Maps & Location | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks |
| AI & Recommendations | Not Included | 6-10 weeks | 10-16 weeks |
| Payment Integration | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks |
| Testing & QA | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks | 10-14 weeks |
| Deployment & Launch | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 6-10 weeks |
Total Estimated Time:
- Basic App: 3-6 months
- Advanced App: 6-12 months
- Complex App: 12-18+ months
| Remember that – The customer is always right. Hence businesses must improve their services based on customer feedback to deliver them a great experience. |
Nutshell
Let’s discuss the conclusion. Hopefully, you are satisfied with this detailed blog. As per our discussion, we cover everything about Yelp app development. You are curious to know how to make an app like Yelp and yes with the help of a professional app development company that can provide all mobile app development services at the most affordable prices, you can successfully develop apps like Yelp.
Well, at Octal IT Solution, you will get the top developers who are specialized in building high-quality, scalable review apps like Yelp. Get in touch with our expert team who will assist you in design intuitive interfaces, implement robust back-end systems, and ensure smooth integration of essential features. On the other hand they will ensure your review app like Yelp not only meets but exceeds user expectations.
Recommended Read: Online News Portal Development
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