Places I Go vs Yelp
Your circle, not the crowd.
Yelp is built for public reviews: strangers' opinions help you find somewhere new. Places I Go is built for your own — a private record of where you've been, what you ordered, and what you thought, shared only with the friends you pick.
Public reviews vs. private ratings
Yelp says reviews and user profiles can be seen by anyone with an internet connection, whether or not they have an account. Places I Go has no public profiles: your ratings and reviews are visible only to you unless you share them.
Saving a place vs. remembering every visit
On Yelp you can save places to Collections (private by default, or public), add a note to each one, and check in to log that you were there. In Places I Go, every visit gets its own rating, review, and photos, so you can see whether a place has held up — or slipped — over time.
Your own rating for every dish
Yelp's Popular Dishes are gathered from other people's reviews and photos. In Places I Go you rate the items yourself — the dish, the hotel bed, the mechanic's service — and each one gets its own chart over time, so you know exactly what to order next time.
Recommendations from people you trust
Instead of anonymous reviewers, Places I Go shows what your friends have visited and rated, with a thumbs-up pin on your map for the spots they vouched for.
“I have completely removed Yelp from my phone.”
I have used Places I Go for several months now. I have completely removed Yelp from my phone. The ability to track my experiences with my trips and to share them only with the people who I choose gives me the privacy and control that I want over my information.
More Than Ratings
What you can do with your own history in Places I Go.
Trips
Group visits into trips with a map, timeline, and stats like stops, days, and miles. Road trips get real door-to-door driving distances, and shared trips stay in sync for everyone on them.
GeoInsights
See every country, state, and region you've visited on a map, with visit counts and year-by-year filters.
Insights
Saved searches built from your own ratings, tags, distance, and dates: “Where's my best-rated pizza within 5 miles?” or “Which places did I visit this year?”
Item ratings over time
Rate the dish, the hotel bed, or the mechanic's parts cost, and every item gets a chart, so you can see what's stayed great.
Visits with friends
Invite a friend to a visit and their ratings, photos, and notes appear alongside yours, so the memory stays in one place.
Friends' picks on your map
Spots your friends vouched for show up on your map with a thumbs-up pin, right next to your own places.
Share exactly what you choose
Share a place, a trip, or a GeoInsights view with a preview that lets you toggle what's included. Nothing goes out until you approve it.
Your own tags and filters
Tag by cuisine, occasion, neighborhood, or service type, then filter by tag or by rating.
Chains as one place
Aggregated Places rolls every location of a chain into one profile, so you can compare locations on a map.
Beyond restaurants
Hotels, mechanics, plumbers, and other service providers, so you know exactly who to call next time.
Apple Watch and iPad
Log visits from your wrist, ask Siri to find a saved place, and use multiple windows on iPad.
Export, and no ads
Export your places, visits, ratings, and reviews as a JSON file anytime. No ads, and no data harvesting.
When Yelp is the better fit
Yelp is free, works on Android and the web, and has public reviews of places you've never been, but every review you post there is public too. Places I Go is an iPhone and iPad app with a 30-day free trial. It has no ads and doesn't sell your data, so subscriptions are how it's paid for. You can use both: Yelp to discover, Places I Go to keep your own ratings private.
| Feature | Yelp | Places I Go |
|---|---|---|
| Who sees your reviews | Anyone, with or without an account | Only you, and friends you share with |
| Visits | Check-ins log that you were there | Each visit has its own rating, review, photos, and rated items |
| Dishes and items | Popular Dishes, gathered from other people's reviews and photos | Your own rating for each item, charted over time |
| Saved places | Collections, private or public, with notes | Places with your full visit history, tags, and filters |
| Recommendations from | Other Yelp users | Friends you add by email |
| Platforms | iPhone, Android, and web | iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch |
| Price | Free | 30-day free trial, then a subscription |
Yelp is a registered trademark of Yelp Inc. Places I Go is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Yelp. Yelp details are from Yelp Support as of October 2026 and may change.
Common Questions
Can other people see my ratings in Places I Go?
Only the friends you share with. You can share your places, visits, or trips with your friends, but no one else can see them. There are no public profiles.
Can I look up public reviews in Places I Go?
No. Places I Go doesn't have public reviews. Keep using Yelp or another review site to discover new places, and use Places I Go to keep your own record and see what your friends recommend.
Is Places I Go free?
It's free for 30 days, with no credit card needed. After that it's a subscription. See Pricing.
Keep Your Ratings Between Friends
30 days free. No credit card required.
