Prox vs Yelp Ads

When you weigh Yelp Ads, what you really want to know is simple: will more people walk in, and what will each one cost you? Here is an honest look at Yelp Ads next to Prox.

Prox is a go-now search engine for local businesses: real-time advertising for people who want to be advertised to. Nearby shoppers open it to see what is live right now, ranked by distance and recency, never by ad spend. Free through Jan 31, 2027, live updates included. Save a card, $0 today.

Yelp is a different animal, and in one way a much bigger one. Yelp reported 330 million cumulative reviews at the end of 2025 and about 8.4 million active claimed business locations. When people want to know if a place is any good, many check Yelp. That review library took twenty years to build. No new app matches it, Prox included.

Yelp Ads are a separate, paid product on top of that. They run pay-per-click: you pay when someone taps your ad, not when they call, book, or walk in. Published pricing starts at $150 a month, and Yelp notes minimums can change. Yelp does not publish a standard cost per click; it shows you an estimate for your category during setup. One contractor-focused agency puts home-service clicks at roughly $5 to $25, with most contractors spending $500 to $5,000 a month. Yelp's own 2025 results say average cost per click rose 10% year over year.

To be fair, Yelp gives self-serve advertisers real control. You can adjust, pause, or cancel at any time, with no term contract, and spend never goes past the monthly maximum you set.

Where Yelp Ads are honestly better: high-intent readers at scale. Someone comparing plumbers on Yelp is close to hiring one. If your reviews are strong and your category is competitive, paid placement there can pay for itself. Prox can't offer that audience today.

Where the meter stings: a tap from someone who never comes in costs the same as a tap from your next regular. Yelp's standard dashboard tracks clicks and leads, not whether each one became a customer, so you have to track that part yourself.

Prox doesn't sell clicks. There are no bids and no per-tap meter. With live updates, if Tuesday goes quiet at 2pm, you change your post to say so: "No wait right now." Shoppers 0.4 miles away see the update, sorted by distance and how fresh it is.

The honest catch: Prox is new and growing city by city. Where you are, the audience may be small at first, and the shops on it now are among the first. We won't promise you a number of customers. The printable shop QR is free, and shoppers never pay.

One more honest note: claim your free Yelp business page either way. Your reviews live there whether you advertise or not.

They solve different problems. Yelp answers "is this place any good?" Prox answers "what is open and worth walking to right now?" Plenty of shops will want both.