Why Export Google Play Reviews to Excel?
Google Play reviews are a goldmine of user insights, but analyzing them one-by-one in the Play Store is impractical. Exporting to Excel (or CSV) lets you:
- Filter and sort – Find all 1-star reviews, sort by date, or filter by keyword
- Analyze at scale – Process thousands of reviews with formulas and pivot tables
- Create visualizations – Build charts showing rating trends over time
- Run sentiment analysis – Use text analysis tools on the review content
- Compare competitors – Export multiple apps and benchmark their feedback
- Share with stakeholders – Create reports for product teams, executives, or investors
- Archive historical data – Build a database to track changes over months or years
Google Play API Limitations (What You Need to Know)
Before diving into methods, it's important to understand why bulk exporting Google Play reviews is challenging:
Official API Limits (Google Play Developer API):
- 60 requests per hour for review endpoints
- 200,000 requests per day total API quota
- Developer account required – only works for apps you own
These rate limits make the official API unsuitable for bulk review exports. According to Google's documentation, the API is designed for app publishers to manage their own apps, not for large-scale data collection.
Key Insight: Google does not provide a public API specifically for downloading bulk reviews from apps you don't own. This is why third-party tools exist to fill this gap.
Method 1: Google Play Console (Developers Only)
If you're the developer of the app, you can access reviews through Google Play Console:
How to Export from Play Console:
- Log in to Google Play Console
- Select your app from the dashboard
- Navigate to Quality → Ratings and reviews → Reviews
- Use filters to select the reviews you want
- Click the download icon to export as CSV
Limitations:
- ✗ Only works for apps you own (requires developer account)
- ✗ Cannot export competitor reviews
- ✗ Tedious pagination for large volumes
- ✗ Limited filtering options
Best for: App developers who need to export their own reviews occasionally. Not suitable for competitor analysis or market research.
Method 2: Third-Party Scrapers (Paid)
Several commercial web scraping services offer Google Play review exports:
| Service | Pricing | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Apify | Pay-per-use | Cloud-based scraping platform |
| Octoparse | $89+/month | Visual scraping tool |
| ScrapingBee | $49+/month | API-based scraping |
Considerations:
- ✓ Can export from any public app
- ✓ Handles anti-scraping measures
- ✗ Requires technical setup
- ✗ Monthly subscription costs
- ✗ May require coding knowledge
Method 3: Rivioo (Free)
Rivioo offers a simple, free way to export Google Play reviews without any technical setup or subscription fees.
- Max reviews: Choose how many reviews to export (up to 10,000)
- Sort by: Newest, oldest, highest rating, or most relevant
- Format: Select XLSX (Excel) or CSV
What Data You'll Get
When you export Google Play reviews, your spreadsheet will include these columns:
| Column | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Reviewer Name | Display name of the reviewer | John D. |
| Rating | Star rating (1-5) | 4 |
| Review Text | Full review content | "Great app but needs..." |
| Date | When the review was posted | 2026-01-05 |
| App Version | Version being reviewed | 3.2.1 |
| Developer Reply | Response from the developer (if any) | "Thanks for the feedback!" |
| Thumbs Up | Number of helpful votes | 15 |
Tips for Excel Analysis
1. Create a Pivot Table for Rating Distribution
Select your data and insert a pivot table. Drag "Rating" to Rows and "Review Text" to Values (count). This shows how many reviews you have at each star level.
2. Use COUNTIF for Keyword Analysis
Find how often specific words appear in reviews:
=COUNTIF(C:C,"*bug*")
This counts all reviews containing the word "bug".
3. Filter Low Ratings with Specific Keywords
Use Excel's filter feature to show only 1-2 star reviews, then search for keywords like "crash", "slow", or "error" to identify common issues.
4. Track Sentiment Over Time
Create a chart with dates on the X-axis and average rating on the Y-axis to visualize how user sentiment changes after updates.
5. Compare with Competitors
Export reviews from multiple competing apps into separate sheets, then compare average ratings, common complaints, and praised features.
Pro Tip: Use conditional formatting to highlight cells. For example, make all 1-star reviews red and 5-star reviews green for quick visual scanning.
Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
Here's a quick comparison of your options for downloading Google Play reviews to Excel:
| Method | Cost | Any App? | Technical Skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Play Console | Free | Own apps only | Low |
| Third-Party Scrapers | $49-89+/mo | Yes | Medium-High |
| Rivioo | Free | Yes | None |
For most users, Rivioo offers the best combination of simplicity, capability, and cost (free). Try it now to export your first Google Play reviews to Excel.