Definition
Dianping is a platform for business listings, consumer reviews and local-life discovery. Meituan’s rules center describes its “大众点评排行榜” (Dianping rankings) as “基于大众点评APP、小程序等终端内的用户大数据，经算法自动计算，每日更新” — computed daily by an algorithm from user data — and states the rankings are “公正不收费……不接受任何形式购买排名” (fair and unpaid; buying ranks is not accepted).
How it works
Users look up businesses and read or post reviews; the platform turns this data into star ratings, rankings and recommendations. Rankings come in types such as category lists, city guides and specialty-dish lists, and businesses must clear thresholds on rating and review counts to qualify; the official rules say review manipulation and fake traffic lead to immediate delisting.
Usage
The typical use is checking a restaurant’s or venue’s reputation, average spend and recommended dishes before going out, and discovering local services. On October 8, 2015, Meituan and Dianping merged into one company (renamed “Meituan” in September 2020); Dianping is now a Meituan brand, and Meituan’s official site lists the Dianping app among its applications.
Related and confusable terms
Dianping and Meituan are two consumer brands under the same company: Dianping centers on in-store business listings and user reviews, while Meituan spans a wider set of local-life services such as delivery. “Dianping” names the platform, while “大众点评排行榜” is only its in-app ranking feature; the generic word for reviewing does not refer to this platform either.
Discussed on Next Token
In episode 007, in the chapter “搜索 API：给个人 Agent 补上中文信息” (Chinese transcript), 橘子 noted that the Dianping website “现在都看不了信息的”, while DeepSeek’s search could surface local-life information; 杨攀 said “美团和点评是，防爬虫防的极其严格，你是绝对爬不下来的” and guessed the capability behind it may not be crawler-based. These are the participants’ observations and speculation about information access; the platform’s actual techniques are unverified (full chapter).
Frequently asked questions
What is the relationship between Dianping and Meituan?
The two companies merged on October 8, 2015 (renamed “Meituan” from September 2020), and Dianping is now a consumer brand under Meituan; Meituan’s official site lists the Dianping app among its applications.
Where can I download the Dianping app?
Meituan’s official download area links the Dianping app (w.dianping.com); use the entry currently provided on Meituan’s official site.
How are Dianping rankings computed?
The official rules say rankings are computed daily by an algorithm from user data, are independent of whether a business cooperates with the platform, and cannot be bought; eligibility and delisting rules are in the Meituan Rules Center.