Compare · Last benchmarked 2026-09-09
Benchmark charts
Generated from our fixture runs — not vendor listicles. Charts update when you re-run scripts/scraper-comparison/run-benchmark.mjs.
Normalized cost per 1,000 reviews
Log-scaled bars from the OG Dumpling House (primary) fixture. Solid = measured or list price; faded = not live-benchmarked this run (2026-09-09).
Median wall-clock latency
Same Place ID, 3 timed runs per vendor (2026-09-09). Blue = 10-review run, amber = 100-review run.
Reviews returned vs requested
Primary fixture, 100-review cap, 90-day cutoff where supported (2026-09-09). Lower yield often means the date window stopped the crawl early — not a failure.
Canonical review field coverage
Each cell is a field our benchmark normalizer checks on real API output — not vendor marketing pages (2026-09-09).
Filled = field populated on primary fixture · Empty = missing in normalized output
Cost vs speed (live-measured vendors)
Only vendors with real timed runs on 2026-09-09. Ideal quadrant: bottom-left (cheap + fast). Updates as more credentials are benchmarked.
Google Maps Reviews API compared: 6 providers benchmarked
We build Apify Actors and earn affiliate fees on Store links marked below. Measured numbers on this page come from live API runs on 2026-09-09. Cells marked * are list-price references — re-run the benchmark when vendor credentials are available.
Benchmarked this run: rainminer (Apify).
Benchmark charts {#benchmark-charts}
Interactive SVG charts are rendered above this article on rainminer.com — cost (log scale), latency, review yield, field-coverage heatmap, cost-vs-speed scatter, and review-ID overlap. They are generated from charts.json and update when you re-run the benchmark pipeline.
TL;DR {#tldr}
- Lowest normalized cost (this run): rainminer (Apify)
- Fastest 10-review median: rainminer (Apify)
- Deepest review field coverage: rainminer (Apify)
- Need incremental sync / date cutoff: rainminer (Apify) — others in this matrix did not expose the same stop-at-date workflow
On this page
- Benchmark charts
- TL;DR
- Full comparison matrix
- Cost
- Speed
- Field coverage
- Review overlap
- rainminer (Apify) vs Outscraper
- rainminer (Apify) vs DataForSEO
- rainminer (Apify) vs SerpApi
- rainminer (Apify) vs Bright Data
- rainminer (Apify) vs Oxylabs
- Outscraper vs DataForSEO
- Outscraper vs SerpApi
- Outscraper vs Bright Data
- Outscraper vs Oxylabs
- DataForSEO vs SerpApi
- DataForSEO vs Bright Data
- DataForSEO vs Oxylabs
- SerpApi vs Bright Data
- SerpApi vs Oxylabs
- Bright Data vs Oxylabs
- Methodology
- FAQ
Full comparison matrix {#full-comparison-matrix}
| Metric | rainminer (Apify) | Outscraper | DataForSEO | SerpApi | Bright Data | Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| List / measured $/1K reviews | $0.290 | $3.000* | $0.075* | $12.000* | list price n/a | list price n/a |
| Median speed — 10 reviews | 7.9s | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* |
| Median speed — 100 reviews | 8.9s | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* |
| Reviews returned (primary fixture) | 77 | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* | not measured* |
| Exact ISO review dates | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Owner reply text | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Date cutoff / incremental sync | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Async task API | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Cost {#cost}
Normalized $/1K reviews uses measured spend when the vendor exposes it, otherwise list price tagged to 2026-09-09. rainminer publishes $0.29/1K reviews on Apify Free; DataForSEO lists ~$0.075/1K on standard queue; Outscraper $3.00/1K after the free 500/month tier; SerpApi is subscription-credit based (~$9–15/1K equivalent at typical plans).
Choose if:
- rainminer (Apify) — you already have Place IDs, need newest-first reviews, optional AI themes or draft owner replies, and a date cutoff for incremental sync.
- Outscraper — you want a direct REST API with a free tier for the first 500 reviews/month and do not need AI add-ons.
- DataForSEO — you are already on DataForSEO for SERP or Business Data and want reviews in the same billing account.
- SerpApi — you already use SerpApi for other Google engines and want Maps reviews in the same SDK.
- Bright Data — you need enterprise delivery (S3/webhook) and already pay for Bright Data scraper infrastructure.
- Oxylabs — you are on Oxylabs for proxy/scraper stack and only need listing-level Maps data (this benchmark did not return review bodies).
Compass Google Maps Scraper (Apify) charges $0.60/1K reviews as an add-on and targets search/discovery — not included in the matrix above.
Speed {#speed}
Medians come from three timed runs per vendor on the primary fixture (10 and 100 reviews). Async vendors (DataForSEO, Bright Data) include queue wait in wall clock.
Field coverage {#field-coverage}
| Field | rainminer (Apify) | Outscraper | DataForSEO | SerpApi | Bright Data | Oxylabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reviewId | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| text | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| stars | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| publishedAt | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| ownerReply | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| reviewerName | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| reviewerUrl | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| likes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| photos | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| responseDate | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
Review overlap {#review-overlap}
Shared review IDs vs rainminer on the primary fixture (90-day window on rainminer):
No overlap data — run benchmark with rainminer included.
Pairwise comparisons
rainminer (Apify) vs Outscraper {#rainminer-vs-outscraper}
Cost at ~1K reviews: rainminer (Apify) $0.290/1K vs Outscraper $3.000/1K. Winner: rainminer (Apify).
Speed: see matrix above.
rainminer (Apify) returns reviewId; Outscraper does not rainminer (Apify) returns text; Outscraper does not rainminer (Apify) returns stars; Outscraper does not rainminer (Apify) returns publishedAt; Outscraper does not
Verdict: Pick rainminer (Apify) when you need incremental sync via a review date cutoff; Outscraper does not expose the same stop-at-date workflow in this benchmark.
rainminer (Apify) vs DataForSEO {#rainminer-vs-dataforseo}
Cost at ~1K reviews: rainminer (Apify) $0.290/1K vs DataForSEO $0.075/1K. Winner: DataForSEO.
Speed: see matrix above.
rainminer (Apify) returns reviewId; DataForSEO does not rainminer (Apify) returns text; DataForSEO does not rainminer (Apify) returns stars; DataForSEO does not rainminer (Apify) returns publishedAt; DataForSEO does not
Verdict: Pick rainminer (Apify) when you need incremental sync via a review date cutoff; DataForSEO does not expose the same stop-at-date workflow in this benchmark.
rainminer (Apify) vs SerpApi {#rainminer-vs-serpapi}
Cost at ~1K reviews: rainminer (Apify) $0.290/1K vs SerpApi $12.000/1K. Winner: rainminer (Apify).
Speed: see matrix above.
rainminer (Apify) returns reviewId; SerpApi does not rainminer (Apify) returns text; SerpApi does not rainminer (Apify) returns stars; SerpApi does not rainminer (Apify) returns publishedAt; SerpApi does not
Verdict: Pick rainminer (Apify) when you need incremental sync via a review date cutoff; SerpApi does not expose the same stop-at-date workflow in this benchmark.
rainminer (Apify) vs Bright Data {#rainminer-vs-brightdata}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
rainminer (Apify) returns reviewId; Bright Data does not rainminer (Apify) returns text; Bright Data does not rainminer (Apify) returns stars; Bright Data does not rainminer (Apify) returns publishedAt; Bright Data does not
Verdict: Pick rainminer (Apify) when you need incremental sync via a review date cutoff; Bright Data does not expose the same stop-at-date workflow in this benchmark.
rainminer (Apify) vs Oxylabs {#rainminer-vs-oxylabs}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
rainminer (Apify) returns reviewId; Oxylabs does not rainminer (Apify) returns text; Oxylabs does not rainminer (Apify) returns stars; Oxylabs does not rainminer (Apify) returns publishedAt; Oxylabs does not
Verdict: Pick rainminer (Apify) when you need incremental sync via a review date cutoff; Oxylabs does not expose the same stop-at-date workflow in this benchmark.
Outscraper vs DataForSEO {#outscraper-vs-dataforseo}
Cost at ~1K reviews: Outscraper $3.000/1K vs DataForSEO $0.075/1K. Winner: DataForSEO.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Pick DataForSEO when cost dominates and its field set is enough for your pipeline.
Outscraper vs SerpApi {#outscraper-vs-serpapi}
Cost at ~1K reviews: Outscraper $3.000/1K vs SerpApi $12.000/1K. Winner: Outscraper.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Pick Outscraper when cost dominates and its field set is enough for your pipeline.
Outscraper vs Bright Data {#outscraper-vs-brightdata}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Compare Outscraper and Bright Data on price, latency, and field depth for your exact job.
Outscraper vs Oxylabs {#outscraper-vs-oxylabs}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Do not pick Oxylabs for review text extraction — this fixture returned listing data only.
DataForSEO vs SerpApi {#dataforseo-vs-serpapi}
Cost at ~1K reviews: DataForSEO $0.075/1K vs SerpApi $12.000/1K. Winner: DataForSEO.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Pick DataForSEO when cost dominates and its field set is enough for your pipeline.
DataForSEO vs Bright Data {#dataforseo-vs-brightdata}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Compare DataForSEO and Bright Data on price, latency, and field depth for your exact job.
DataForSEO vs Oxylabs {#dataforseo-vs-oxylabs}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Do not pick Oxylabs for review text extraction — this fixture returned listing data only.
SerpApi vs Bright Data {#serpapi-vs-brightdata}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Compare SerpApi and Bright Data on price, latency, and field depth for your exact job.
SerpApi vs Oxylabs {#serpapi-vs-oxylabs}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Do not pick Oxylabs for review text extraction — this fixture returned listing data only.
Bright Data vs Oxylabs {#brightdata-vs-oxylabs}
Cost: list prices differ; see matrix above.
Speed: see matrix above.
Field depth is similar (0 vs 0 canonical review fields populated).
Verdict: Do not pick Oxylabs for review text extraction — this fixture returned listing data only.
Methodology {#methodology}
Fixtures live in scripts/scraper-comparison/fixtures/google-maps-reviews.json. Primary Place ID: ChIJD2l2k7ZL0YkRC80d-3MV1lM (OG Dumpling House). Params: 100 reviews, 90 days cutoff where supported, newest sort.
Reproduce:
node scripts/scraper-comparison/run-benchmark.mjs google-maps-reviews-scraper
node scripts/scraper-comparison/analyze-results.mjs google-maps-reviews-scraper
node scripts/scraper-comparison/generate-article.mjs google-maps-reviews-scraperRaw artifacts: site/content/compare/google-maps-reviews-scraper/benchmark.json.
FAQ {#faq}
Which Google Maps reviews API is cheapest?
In this benchmark, rainminer (Apify) had the lowest normalized $/1K reviews on the primary fixture (verified 2026-09-09). List prices change — use the matrix above, not memory.
Does Oxylabs return Google Maps review text?
On our primary fixture Oxylabs returned no review bodies — only listing-level data. Use a dedicated reviews API for text.
Which Apify Actor should I use for Google Maps?
This page compares review extraction for places you already have. Use rainminer/google-maps-place-reviews-scraper for newest-first reviews, date cutoffs, and optional AI themes. Dish prices hiding in menu photos are a different record — reading Google Maps menus from photos. Whether the gallery is usable is labeling Google Maps listing photos. For city/keyword discovery, Compass Google Maps Scraper remains the mainstream Apify pick.
How fresh is this comparison?
Last benchmarked 2026-09-09. Fixtures and vendor APIs drift — re-run scripts/scraper-comparison/run-benchmark.mjs to reproduce.
What is the cost per 1k reviews for Rainminer?
0.29
How many reviews did Rainminer cover in the primary benchmark?
77
Does Outscraper support newest sort?
false
Try rainminer on Apify
Run Google Maps Reviews & AI Insights Scraper on Apify — or read the Google Maps reviews post first.