Updated Oct 2026

Google reviews API key: how to get one, and when a key isn’t enough

Searching for a “Google reviews API key” usually means one of two things. If you want a few public reviews of any place on a website, you need an API key for the Places API, and this guide shows how to create and restrict it in five minutes. If you want all the reviews of a business you own, or to reply to them, no key will do: that is the Business Profile API, which uses OAuth and requires Google to approve your project. Both paths are below, plus the third option we built because we needed the same thing on 50+ platforms.

1. Get a Places API key (public reviews, up to 5 per place)

1. Cloud project. Open console.cloud.google.com, create a project (or pick one) and attach a billing account. The Places API has a monthly free allowance, but it won’t run without billing enabled.
2. Enable the API. APIs & Services → Library → search “Places API (New)” → Enable. The legacy “Places API” also returns reviews, but new projects should use the New one.
3. Create the key. APIs & Services → Credentials → Create credentials → API key. Copy it somewhere safe; you can always see it again in Credentials.
4. Restrict it, before anything else. Edit the key: under API restrictions choose “Places API (New)” only. Under Application restrictions pick IP addresses for a server, or HTTP referrers (your domain) for browser calls. An unrestricted key that leaks will be used by someone else and billed to you.
5. Call Place Details with a field mask. Reviews are a field of the place, and you only pay for the fields you ask for:

curl "https://places.googleapis.com/v1/places/ChIJN1t_tDeuEmsRUsoyG83frY4" \
  -H "X-Goog-Api-Key: $GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Goog-FieldMask: displayName,rating,userRatingCount,reviews"

You get the place’s rating, its review count and at most 5 reviews chosen by Google, with no owner replies and no way to post one. That’s enough for a “what people say” block on a website, with Google’s attribution rules. It is not a way to read your own reviews. Pricing and limits: Google Maps reviews API; code in Python, Node and curl: Google reviews API in Python.

2. There is no “Google My Business API key”

The Business Profile API (the old Google My Business API) doesn’t accept API keys. Access works like this:

• OAuth, not a key. You create an OAuth 2.0 client ID in the Cloud console and the owner or manager of the Business Profile signs in and grants the business.manage scope. Your code then calls the API with their token.
• Approval first. Before any of that works, you submit Google’s “Application for Basic API Access” with your project number, a verified profile that has been active for 60+ days and a website that explains your use. Until approval, the project’s quota is 0 queries per minute. How to get Business Profile API access walks through the form and the common rejection reasons.
• What you get after approval. Every review of every location the signed-in user manages, with the owner’s replies, and the ability to reply, edit and delete replies, within 300 queries per minute per project and 10 reply edits per minute per profile (quota guide).

If a tool asks you to “paste your Google reviews API key” to show all your reviews and reply to them, it is either using the Places API (5 reviews, no replies) or doing something else with your password.

3. One key for your own reviews on Google and 50+ other platforms

Prisma issues an API key from its dashboard in a minute, with no approval on your side, and that one key reads the reviews of the businesses and apps you connect, on 50+ platforms, in the same JSON. Google locations connect with a Google sign-in by the owner, through Prisma’s own Cloud project.

curl "https://api.prismareviews.com/v1/reviews?platform=google_maps&limit=5" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PRISMA_API_KEY"

Two kinds of key, both in the dashboard: pk_test_… keys connect any platform instantly and return sample reviews, so you can build the integration first; pk_live_… keys read real reviews once a location is connected. Keys are sent as a Bearer token; rotate them from the dashboard, never put them in a browser.

What’s true today: Prisma reads Google reviews from the Google Maps listing (public reviews, read-only) while Google reviews Prisma’s Business Profile API application; replies on Google through Prisma start when that approval arrives. Replies already go out by API on the App Store, Google Play, Judge.me, eBay, Trusted Shops, eKomi and others. The per-platform status is on Platforms.

Which one do you actually need?

FAQ

Is the Google reviews API key free?

Creating the key is free. Calls to the Places API are billed per request after a monthly free allowance, and reviews require the Place Details request with the Pro field group. The Business Profile API is free but doesn’t use an API key: it needs OAuth and Google’s approval of your project.

Can I get all my Google reviews with an API key?

No. An API key only works with the Places API, which returns up to 5 reviews per place and no replies. All reviews of a location you own come from the Business Profile API, which authenticates with OAuth as an owner or manager of the profile, after Google approves your Cloud project.

Where do I find the Google My Business API key?

There isn’t one. The Google My Business API, now the Business Profile API, uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials, not an API key. You create an OAuth client ID in the Cloud console and the profile owner signs in; the project must be approved through Google’s access form first.