Pricing analysis PhantomBuster pricing in a nutshell: Trial (14 days) · Start €69/mo · Grow €159/mo · Scale €439/mo (the vendor bills the same figures in dollars outside Europe). Full tier breakdown, credit costs and hidden fees analysed below. Annual billing saves ~20%.
Plans
PhantomBuster ships 5 tiers. Per-seat pricing combined with a credit system for data lookups - the listed price is rarely the real cost.
PhantomBuster pricing tiers - verified October 2026 against the vendor's own pricing page (euros, the vendor's default currency; the same figures are billed in dollars outside Europe):
| Plan | Price | Best for | Limits / Inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trial (14 days) | €0 | Evaluation / testing | 5 slots · 2 hours of execution in total · 50 email credits + 1,000 AI credits |
| Free plan (after trial) | €0 | Light testing | 1 slot · 30 minutes of execution/month · no email credits · 10-row export cap |
| Start | €69/mo (€56/mo billed annually, -20%) | 5 active Phantom slots | 5 slots + 20h + 500 emails + 10K AI · 5 active Phantom slots · 20 hours execution/month |
| Grow | €159/mo (€128/mo billed annually, -20%) | 15 active Phantom slots (3× Start) | 15 slots + 80h + 2,500 emails + 30K AI · 80 hours execution/month · priority support |
| Scale | €439/mo (€352/mo billed annually, -20%) | 50 active slots (10× Start) | 300h + 10,000 emails + 90,000 AI credits · 50 active slots · 300 hours execution/month · priority support |
Credits
PhantomBuster bills actions in credits with non-equal costs. A 5,000-credit plan does NOT mean 5,000 lookups.
How PhantomBuster charges per action - the credit table buyers should memorise before signing :
| Action | Credits / cost |
|---|---|
| Phantom slot (concurrent automation) | 5 / 15 / 50 by tier |
| Execution time | 20h / 80h / 300h by tier |
| Email finder (1 credit per lookup, even if no match) | 500 / 2,500 / 10,000 by tier |
| AI credits | 10K / 30K / 90K by tier ✓ |
| Phone credits | Not stated ! |
| Unused credits | No rollover ! |
The; markers are bundled / free. The; markers are the line items that compound the bill - watch these closely when sizing your plan.
Compare
How PhantomBuster stacks against Derrick, Hunter, and the other tools we benchmarked.
To truly understand PhantomBuster’s real cost, you need to calculate the effective cost per action, not just the monthly price. Here’s a comparative analysis (PhantomBuster prices in euros, the vendor's default currency, and Derrick prices in euros).
| Action | PhantomBuster Start | PhantomBuster Grow | Derrick Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation time (per hour of execution)* | €3.45/hour (€69 / 20h) | €1.99/hour (€159 / 80h) | n/a (no execution hours) |
| Email finder (per lookup) | €0.138 (1 credit = €69/500) | €0.064 (1 credit = €159/2,500) | €0.01 |
| Phone finder | No phone credits listed | No phone credits listed | €0.40 |
*Monthly price divided by included hours. How many profiles one hour covers depends on the Phantom. A PhantomBuster email credit is spent on every lookup, even when no email is found (typical match rate 30-50%).
Objective: Scrape 1,000 LinkedIn profiles + find their emails
PhantomBuster Grow:
Derrick Standard:
→ Derrick is about 8x cheaper for this workflow (€20 vs €159), and the remaining 4,000 credits carry over to the next month.
PhantomBuster requires juggling between slots, hours, and credits. If you run out of hours but still have email credits, you can’t use them. Conversely, if you have hours but no more email credits, you must wait for the next cycle.
Derrick works with a single, flexible credit pool, in its web app and Google Sheets add-on for data enrichment (and through MCP and the REST API), without configuring cloud automations. Credits never expire while you stay on a paid plan.
What's included
Trial:
Free plan (after trial):
Start:
Grow (most popular):
Scale:
No plan offers:
Rate limits: PhantomBuster applies delays between actions to avoid bans (e.g., 1 LinkedIn connection every 30 seconds). These delays are automatic but can extend your execution times.
The verdict
PhantomBuster is a powerful and versatile platform for multi-platform automation (LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) with 150+ ready-to-use Phantoms. Its no-code interface and cloud operation are major assets for teams wanting to automate quickly without technical skills.
Strengths: Wide range of automations, quick setup, unlimited exports, cloud-based.
Weaknesses: Complex pricing system (slots + hours + credits), no rollover, high price for volumes, manual exports required, no dedicated phone credits.
For whom? PhantomBuster suits teams that need to automate actions across multiple social platforms and are willing to pay a premium for this versatility.
Alternatives to consider: If your need focuses on LinkedIn data enrichment and email finding with a limited budget, check out PhantomBuster alternatives like Derrick (starting from 20 EUR/month with rollover), or specialized tools like Evaboot, Captain Data, or TexAu depending on your use cases.
Need a simpler and more affordable solution? Derrick offers native data enrichment in its web app or Google Sheets starting from 20 EUR/month, without slot or execution hour management, with credit rollover. Test free with the FREE plan (100 credits/month).
Last updated: October 2026. PhantomBuster pricing and features may evolve. Check their official website for the most current information.
derrick •
Install the add-on and enrich your lists without leaving your spreadsheet.
Install in Google Sheets →
https://app1.derrick-app.com/mcp Call the same enrichment endpoints straight from your own stack or workflow.
Read the API docs →No credit card · No contract
Switch to Derrick
Derrick is a web app: nothing to install, no credit card, 100 free credits every month.
Sign up on the Derrick web app. Nothing to install, no credit card required: you start with 100 free credits per month.
Upload the CSV you exported from PhantomBuster, paste LinkedIn URLs, or import from LinkedIn Sales Navigator. The same actions also run in Google Sheets, in Claude (MCP) and via the API.
Pick the column to enrich and the data you need: emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack. Derrick fills the columns, and the email and phone finders only charge for what they find.
For a small team (2-5 people), the Start plan at €69/month may suffice to begin, but you’ll quickly be limited by the 5 slots and 20h of execution. The Grow plan at €159/month is better suited for regular use with 15 slots and 80h/month (the vendor bills the same figure in dollars outside Europe). In comparison, Derrick’s STANDARD plan at €20/month offers 10,000 shared credits for the entire team, and credits never expire while you stay on a paid plan.
Partly. PhantomBuster gives a 14-day trial (5 slots, 2 hours of execution in total, 50 email credits, 1,000 AI credits). After the trial there is a Free plan, but it is very limited: 1 slot, 30 minutes of execution per month, no email credits and a 10-row export cap. Real use means a paid plan.
Yes, execution hours reset each month. Unused hours are lost and don’t carry over to the next month. Email credits and AI credits follow the same monthly principle. In contrast, Derrick offers credit rollover on all paid plans, allowing you to accumulate credits from month to month.
PhantomBuster bills in euros (€) or dollars ($) depending on your location, with the same figures in both (for example Grow is 159 in either currency). Users in Europe are typically billed in euros. Your billing currency is set during your first payment and cannot be changed afterward.
If you exceed your slots, you must delete an existing Phantom to add a new one, or upgrade your plan. If you exhaust your execution hours, your automations automatically pause until the next monthly billing cycle. There’s no option to purchase additional hours on a one-time basis.
PhantomBuster excels in versatility (150+ platforms) and action automation (auto-follow, auto-message), but its pricing can become high for pure data enrichment. If your primary need is LinkedIn scraping and email finding, alternatives like Derrick offer better value with a simpler credit system and rollover. PhantomBuster remains relevant if you need to automate actions across multiple social platforms simultaneously.
Go further
Features, accuracy, integrations - everything beyond pricing.
Open the review → Top alternatives10 picks compared by use case : Google Sheets native, Sales Nav export, deliverability, enterprise.
See the ranking → Curated stackOur hand-picked shortlist across categories.
See the curation →