Python Libraries & Popular Times Tools

Python Libraries

Library	Status	API Key?	Fields	Notes
googlemaps (official)	Active	Yes	50+ (API)	Official wrapper. Same pricing/limits as API
gomaps	Dormant (Sep 2023)	No	9	Name, URL, address, coords, website, phone, rating, hours, Popular Times. Likely broken

Popular Times & Foot Traffic Tools

Popular Times is NOT available via any official Google API. Must be scraped or obtained from third-party services. Historical data is also inaccessible.

populartimes (m-wrzr) — 900 Stars

pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/m-wrzr/populartimes

Returns: weekly hourly popularity (0-100 scale), wait times, time spent, current popularity. Requires API key with billing. MIT license. Unstable as Maps updates.

LivePopularTimes (GrocerCheck)

Extension adding live busyness data to populartimes. Functions: get_populartimes_by_address (no API call), get_populartimes_by_PlaceID (API + scrape), get_places_by_search.

BestTime.app (Commercial)

Endpoints	Forecasts (hourly 0-100%), Live Busyness, Venue Filter (by traffic/day/hour/ratings/type), Venue Search
Coverage	150+ countries
Unique	Dwell time analysis, surge detection, filter by foot traffic intensity
Free Tier	Test account with limited credits

Website: besttime.app

LocalAPI

REST API returning 20+ fields per business in 2-3 seconds including Popular Times histograms (peak hours by day of week). Claims to be the only API exposing Popular Times via endpoint. Free tier: 50 searches. local-api.com

Workarounds for the 5-Review API Limit

Method	Reviews Available	Cost
Official Places API	5 max	Enterprise tier
Google Business Profile API (own locations)	All	Free
Google Takeout (own GBP)	All	Free
Outscraper	All	First 500 free
Apify reviews actors	All	$0.25-0.40/1K
google-reviews-scraper-pro	All	Free (+ proxies)
Tampermonkey userscript	All (manual)	Free
DIY Playwright/Puppeteer scroll	All	Free (+ proxies)
SerpAPI reviews endpoint	All	$50+/mo