PhantomBuster Review: Automations That Need Watching
PhantomBuster fits sales teams that build lead lists for LinkedInIn this PhantomBuster review, learning curve draws 16 negative mentions and 1 favourable one, and customer support draws 14 negative mentions.
Every score on this page validated by the site owner · latest validation Oct 16, 2026 · How we score
PhantomBuster in three sentences
PhantomBuster is a tool for lead list building, LinkedIn outreach and CRM sync. Scores rest on 37 tagged reviews, and learning curve is the most cited drawback, with 16 negative mentions. The pricing page lists the Start plan at $69 a month, billed monthly, read on Sep 29, 2026.
See it before you read on
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What it costs
Three plans. Every figure read on the vendor's pricing page on Sep 29, 2026.
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- Automation slots
- 5
- Execution time
- 20h/month
- Email credits
- 500/month
- AI credits
- 10k/month
- Automation slots
- 15
- Execution time
- 80h/month
- Email credits
- 2,500/month
- AI credits
- 30k/month
- Automation slots
- 50
- Execution time
- 300h/month
- Email credits
- 10,000/month
- AI credits
- 90k/month
Pricing page read: the Start plan at $69 a month, billed monthly, or $56 a month, billed annually.
Scores calculated on 37 tagged reviews; global score 6.5.
What you get, what you don't
Six things PhantomBuster does. None of the six is missing on the vendor's pages; the weak spots are in what reviewers say, below.
- HubSpotNative
- SalesforceNative
- PipedriveNative
- Apollo.ioVia Zapier or API
- AirtableVia Zapier or API
- Data hostedEU servers
- GDPR data processing agreementAvailable
- SOC 2 reportNot published
- Single sign-onNot published
- ChannelsWeb form
- HoursNot published
- PhoneNot published
- Read as negative4 of 7 tagged reviews
The data behind the score
Our five scores against the average of the tools we score.
Should you buy it?
Name your dealbreaker. No profile is scored on its own yet: too few tagged reviews per profile, so the page shows the overall score.
Buy it if You want lead list building, LinkedIn outreach and CRM sync in one tool, and can work within the Start plan's 5 automation slots and 20h/month of execution time, read on Sep 29, 2026. Skip it if You want a short learning curve or fast support answers: learning curve draws 16 negative mentions and customer support draws 14.
Learning curve is the most cited drawback Learning curve draws 16 negative mentions and 1 favourable one. We hold no published fact that shows another tool here does better.
Customer support draws 14 negative mentions Customer support draws 14 negative mentions and 2 favourable ones; the help center lists a web form, read on Oct 7, 2026. Tomba covers it
Price level draws 12 negative mentions Price level draws 12 negative mentions and 3 favourable ones; the Start plan is $69 a month, billed monthly, read on Sep 29, 2026. We hold no published fact that shows another tool here does better.
Setup draws 9 negative mentions Setup draws 9 negative mentions and 18 favourable ones. We hold no published fact that shows another tool here does better.
Questions to ask the vendor
- How many automation slots and hours of execution time does a LinkedIn extraction workflow use on Start?Start lists 5 automation slots and 20h/month of execution time, read on Sep 29, 2026.
- How fast does support answer a web-form request, and who answers it?Customer support draws 14 negative mentions, and the help center lists a web form, read on Oct 7, 2026.
- What does onboarding cover for a new workspace?Learning curve draws 16 negative mentions.
- What can a workspace do on the Free plan after the trial ends?Free plan and free trial exports are limited to 10 results, read on Sep 29, 2026.
If PhantomBuster isn't it
Three tools we score in this category and PhantomBuster's secondary categories. Each card names where the tool is weaker. The highest-scored tool that covers a dealbreaker above is always among them. Learning curve, Price level and Setup have no card: we hold no published fact that shows another tool here does better. Click a card, or a name below, to put it next to PhantomBuster.
- Chat and email support, read on Sep 26, 2026
- Free plan and trial draws 3 negative mentions
- Lists people search with Sales Navigator-style queries, read on Sep 29, 2026
- Interface draws 3 negative mentions
- Failed lookups are not charged, read on Sep 29, 2026
- Stability draws 2 negative mentions
PhantomBuster vs Tombathe three alternatives
 PhantomBuster |
Tomba |
Captain Data |
TexAu |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our score | 6.5 | 8.6 | 8.0 | 7.6* |
| Price and plan | ||||
| Entry price | $69 /mo | $89 /mo | $660 /mo | $99 /mo |
| Free plan | Free plan | Free plan | No free plan stated | Free plan |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | No free trial stated | Free trial (length not stated) | |
| Four dimensions, same grid | ||||
| Ease of setup | 7.9 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 8.6 |
| Feature depth | 6.6 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 6.9 |
| Value for money | 6.9 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 8.7 |
| Support quality | 6.1 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 7.5 |
| Fit | ||||
| Cancellation | Cancel anytime | Cancel anytime | Monthly or annual term, tacitly renewed | Cancel anytime |
| Support channels | Web form | Chat, email | Slack channel | Email and in-app chat |
| Main strength | Lead extraction from many platforms | Email finder with verification | People and company enrichment API | Waterfall enrichment with CRM sync |
Tomba is an email finder, verifier and phone number finder for B2B contacts, read on Sep 26, 2026; it lists HubSpot and Pipedrive CRM sync, read on Oct 3, 2026.
Captain Data lists a REST API and an MCP server for Claude, Cursor and agents, read on Sep 29, 2026.
TexAu lists built-in waterfall enrichment and scheduled runs, read on Sep 29, 2026, and sequencing as not available.
Read between Sep 29 and Oct 5, 2026: PhantomBuster, Tomba and TexAu list cancelling at any time; PhantomBuster keeps the plan active to the end of the period; Captain Data lists a monthly or annual term, tacitly renewed.
Same five-dimension grid for every tool; the fifth dimension changes with the category and stays out of this table. Prices and integrations read on each vendor's public pages between Sep 26 and Oct 5, 2026. * Under 10 tagged reviews: the score is weighted toward the site average; with none, it is the site average. Some of these prices have not been read again for 6 months. Check the vendors' pages before you buy.
What the reviews say, in depth
Ease of setup scores 7.9 on 19 tagged reviews
Setup draws 18 favourable mentions and 9 negative ones, and ease of use has 47 favourable mentions and none negative. Learning curve draws 16 negative mentions and 1 favourable one.
The Chrome extension page describes saving high-intent leads directly in LinkedIn, read on Sep 29, 2026.
PhantomBuster lists extraction from 15+ platforms and LinkedIn outreach
The home page lists live data extraction from 15+ platforms, read on Sep 29, 2026. The outbound workflows page lists scheduled LinkedIn connection requests and follow-ups, read on Sep 29, 2026. Feature range draws 28 favourable mentions and 4 negative ones.
The pricing page states that email credits are used when PhantomBuster enriches profiles with email addresses, separate from execution time, read on Oct 5, 2026.
The PhantomBuster API is included on all plans
The help center states that all plans include full access to the API at no additional cost, read on Sep 29, 2026. Integrations draw 22 favourable mentions and 1 negative one.
The help center lists direct integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce and Pipedrive, one-way for Salesforce and Pipedrive, and Apollo.io and Airtable through Make, Zapier or n8n, read on Sep 29, 2026.
The Start plan costs $69 a month, billed monthly
The pricing page lists the Start plan at $69 a month, billed monthly, or $56 a month, billed annually. Grow is $159 a month, billed monthly, or $128 a month, billed annually. Scale is $439 a month, billed monthly, or $352 a month, billed annually. All read on Sep 29, 2026.
Price level draws 12 negative mentions and 3 favourable ones, and value for money scores 6.9 on 23 tagged reviews. Start, Grow and Scale each list unlimited exports, read on Sep 29, 2026.
PhantomBuster publishes a 14-day free trial without a credit card
The pricing page states a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, read on Sep 29, 2026. After the trial, the workspace switches to the Free plan, and Free plan and free trial exports are limited to 10 results, read between Sep 29 and Oct 5, 2026.
Plans can be cancelled at any time and stay active until the end of the billing period, read on Sep 29, 2026. Monthly plans are refundable within 14 days if no resources were used, and annual plans within 30 days of the charge, read on Sep 29, 2026.
Support quality scores 6.1 on 7 tagged reviews
Customer support draws 14 negative mentions and 2 favourable ones. The help center lists a web form to contact support, read on Oct 7, 2026.
Before you commit
The pricing page lists the Start plan at $69 a month, billed monthly, or $56 a month, billed annually, read on Sep 29, 2026. It also states a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
This page cannot say whether a given account will be restricted. Account safety draws 2 negative mentions and 1 favourable one among the 37 tagged reviews.
The pages read list data extraction from 15+ platforms and built-in LinkedIn connection requests and follow-ups, read on Sep 29, 2026. Email credits cover enriching profiles with email addresses, read on Oct 5, 2026. This page does not cover cold email sending.
Learning curve draws 16 negative mentions and 1 favourable one, the most cited drawback. Ease of setup scores 7.9 on 19 tagged reviews.
The home page lists live data extraction from 15+ platforms, read on Sep 29, 2026. This page does not list them one by one.
This page does not document how PhantomBuster signs in to LinkedIn, so it cannot confirm whether a session cookie is needed. The site lists a LinkedIn Chrome extension that saves leads directly in LinkedIn, read on Sep 29, 2026.
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