Apify vs PhantomBuster (and is ScrapeField better?)
Apify is a platform of more than 80,000 scrapers, called Actors, most written by third parties. PhantomBuster is no-code automations that run in the cloud through your own accounts. Here is how they differ, when to choose which, and where ScrapeField fits.
| Apify | PhantomBuster | ScrapeField | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A platform of more than 80,000 scrapers, called Actors, most written by third parties | No-code automations that run in the cloud through your own accounts | An API for five platforms, Google Maps, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and X |
| What it covers | Almost any site, an Actor for each | LinkedIn, Sales Navigator and other sites, as automations | Google Maps, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and X: 45 endpoints |
| How you use it | Start an Actor’s run, wait for it, and read its dataset, from the console or the API | A no-code builder, schedules and CRM sync | From code, an agent or the MCP server: one GET returns the answer |
| How it bills | Compute units or a price per result, set by each Actor; from $19 a month after the free plan | $56, $128 or $352 a month billed annually, by execution hours, automation slots and credits | Credits per call, in packs from $39; they never expire |
| Free to try | $5 of usage a month on the free plan | A trial, with exports of 10 rows | 2,000 credits once, and a demo with no account at all |
| Needs your login | Each Actor’s author decides: the big LinkedIn Actors need none, a few ask for your cookies | Yes: it works through your own accounts | Never: no login, cookie or session of yours, for any reason |
| What you get back | Each Actor’s own shape: two Google Maps Actors, two schemas | Spreadsheets and CRM records | One documented schema per platform, named after its official API |
Checked 3 October 2026 against each vendor’s own pricing page. Rechecked quarterly — tell us if something here is out of date and we will fix it.
Which to choose
Choose Apify if you need a site nobody else covers, an Actor someone has already written, or schedules and storage on one platform.
Choose PhantomBuster if you want outreach: connection requests, sequences and lead lists that refresh themselves, synced to a CRM.
Is ScrapeField better?
Only for one job. Choose ScrapeField if you need Google Maps, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok or X data in your code, at a price per call you can multiply, without lending us an account. For anything else, choose Apify or PhantomBuster as above.
Each has a full comparison with us, including where it wins: ScrapeField vs Apify and ScrapeField vs PhantomBuster.
Try it before you decide
Every endpoint has a playground that runs against the live API with no key and no account. If the response shape does not fit your code, you will know in about a minute.