China's Yelp: Dianping, Meituan & Gaode Reviews vs Yelp — The 2025 Guide
China's local business review and discovery market is dominated by Dianping (大众点评, literally 'public reviews') with over 600 million monthly active users, and Meituan (美团, China's largest food delivery and local services platform with 700M+ MAU). Together as Meituan-Dianping (merged in 2018), they form a super app that combines restaurant reviews, food delivery, hotel booking, movie tickets, beauty services, and more. Yelp, the US-based review platform, has approximately 90 million monthly unique visitors globally. The Chinese platforms are far more feature-rich and integrated than Yelp, but face criticism over fake reviews and paid rankings.
TL;DR
Dianping (China's Yelp equivalent) has 600M+ MAU focused on reviews and local discovery. Meituan has 700M+ MAU as China's food delivery and local services super app. Yelp has approximately 90M monthly unique visitors. Dianping covers restaurants, hotels, entertainment, beauty, and services. Meituan adds food delivery, ride-hailing, and hotel booking. Gaode Maps also provides review functionality. Meituan reported 276B yuan revenue in 2024. Yelp reported $1.6B revenue in 2024.
Key Insights
Dianping: China's Original Review Platform
Dianping (大众点评) was founded in 2003, predating Yelp's launch by one year. With over 600 million monthly active users, Dianping is China's premier restaurant and local business review platform. Users submit detailed reviews with photos, ratings, and cost-per-person information. Dianping covers restaurants, hotels, attractions, beauty salons, fitness centers, entertainment venues, and professional services. Dianping has faced ongoing challenges with fake reviews and paid positive ratings, implementing AI-powered review verification systems to combat manipulation.
Meituan: China's Local Services Super App
Meituan is China's largest local services platform with over 700 million monthly active users. Meituan reported 276 billion yuan in total revenue for 2024, driven primarily by food delivery (approximately 200B yuan of on-platform transaction value) and local services. Meituan's super app integrates food delivery, restaurant reservations, hotel booking, movie tickets, ride-hailing, bike sharing, grocery delivery, and pharmacy services. Meituan has invested heavily in drone and autonomous vehicle delivery technology. Meituan employs over 7 million food delivery riders across China.
Yelp: The US Review Standard
Yelp is the United States' largest local business review platform with approximately 90 million monthly unique visitors and over 265 million cumulative reviews. Yelp reported $1.6 billion in revenue for 2024, primarily from advertising. Yelp's business model focuses on reviews and recommendations for restaurants, home services, health, auto, and other local categories. Yelp has been criticized for its advertising practices and review filtering algorithm. Yelp operates primarily in North America and select international markets with much smaller presence.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Dianping / Meituan | Yelp |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Active Users | 600M+ (Dianping) / 700M+ (Meituan) | 90M monthly unique visitors |
| Founded | 2003 (Dianping) / 2010 (Meituan) | 2004 (Yelp) |
| Food Delivery | Yes (Meituan core feature) | No (partner integrations) |
| Restaurant Reviews | Yes (Dianping core feature) | Yes (core feature) |
| Hotel Booking | Yes | Limited |
| Movie/Entertainment Tickets | Yes | No |
| Ride-hailing | Yes (Meituan) | No |
| Beauty/Service Booking | Yes | Limited |
| Revenue (2024) | Meituan: 276B yuan | $1.6B |
| Parent/Company | Meituan (HKEX: 3690) | Yelp (NYSE: YELP) |
| Market Coverage | China dominant | US + limited international |
| Fake Review Prevention | AI + manual review | Algorithm + user reports |
Frequently Asked Questions
Dianping (大众点评) is the closest equivalent to Yelp in China. Founded in 2003, Dianping predates Yelp by one year and serves as China's premier local business review platform with over 600 million monthly active users. Dianping covers restaurants, hotels, entertainment, beauty services, and more. For a more comprehensive experience, Meituan combines Dianping's review features with food delivery, hotel booking, movie tickets, and local services in a single super app. Together as Meituan-Dianping, they serve over 700 million users.
Yelp is not available in China and does not operate in the Chinese market. China's local review and discovery market is served entirely by domestic platforms: Dianping for reviews, Meituan for comprehensive local services, and Gaode Maps for location-based business discovery. Foreign visitors in China who want restaurant and local business recommendations should use Dianping (through Meituan app) or Gaode Maps, though the experience is primarily in Chinese. English alternatives like TripAdvisor have very limited coverage in China.
Meituan is far more comprehensive than Yelp. While Yelp focuses on reviews and recommendations, Meituan is a full-service super app combining reviews (through Dianping), food delivery, hotel booking, movie tickets, ride-hailing, and dozens of other local services. Meituan reported 276 billion yuan in revenue in 2024 compared to Yelp's $1.6 billion. Meituan has over 700 million MAU compared to Yelp's 90 million. However, Yelp maintains higher review quality and transparency standards, while Meituan and Dianping face ongoing challenges with fake reviews and paid rankings.
Foreigners can use Dianping through the Meituan app, but the experience is primarily in Chinese. The Meituan app supports some English functionality for food delivery, but reviews and detailed business information are almost entirely in Chinese. Foreign visitors can browse photos and ratings (star ratings are universal), and use machine translation apps to read reviews. Some expat communities maintain English-language restaurant guides on platforms like SmartShanghai, but Dianping remains the most comprehensive resource for discovering local businesses in China.