Hunter
- Starting price: Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual)
- Free plan: Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: Wilmington, DE (US entity) - team distributed (Paris, remote-first)
Updated
Hunter vs PhantomBuster vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Hunter vs PhantomBuster vs Derrick: Hunter is a email finder, verifier and lightweight cold-email platform, PhantomBuster is a cloud-based scraping and social automation. Derrick is a B2B enrichment platform with three surfaces - a Google Sheets add-on, a REST API, and an MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT drive enrichment for you). Hit rates are noticeably higher (more emails + phone numbers returned per query than Hunter or PhantomBuster) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Hunter or PhantomBuster for outreach.
Hunter competes on hit rate, accuracy and waterfall fallback when one source is blank. The side-by-side comparison below isolates Hunter's per-find cost (email vs mobile vs direct-dial), real-world deliverability of what comes back, and how it fits into Derrick's 10-source waterfall enrichment workflow.
Free plan Yes - 100 credits/mo
Starts at €9/mo
Setup time 30 seconds
Where it lives Google Sheets
✓ Free forever · ✓ No credit card · ✓ Cancel anytime · ✓ Your data stays in your Sheet
Trusted by 31,000+ users worldwide.
CURSOR Quick Facts
Hunter vs PhantomBuster vs Derrick at a glance
PhantomBuster
- Starting price: $56/mo (annual)
- Free plan: No (14-day free trial)
- Founded: 2016
- HQ: Paris, France
Derrick
★ Recommended- Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
- Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
- Founded: 2023
- HQ: Marseille, FR
Why Derrick wins 01
02
03
Why teams pick Derrick over Hunter and PhantomBuster
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Enrich leads with real-time validation, no manual overhead
Hunter and PhantomBuster excel at basic data capture and automation, but they lack real-time lead validation across enrichment fields, often requiring post-checks to confirm accuracy. Derrick delivers real-time email validation and 50+ enrichment attributes directly within Google Sheets, eliminating manual overhead. This means you enrich leads with instantly verifiable contact data and firmographics, reducing bounce risks and saving hours per month. With Derrick, validation happens as you screen, so your outreach is cleaner from the first touch.
02 Advanced automation with 3000+ integrations and no coding effort
Hunter and PhantomBuster excel at isolated tasks like email finding or web automation, but neither offers a native, 100% Google Sheets–based platform with 3000+ integrations. Derrick delivers advanced automation without coding by connecting directly within Sheets, eliminating export steps and separate tooling. Users save up to 5-10 hours per month while scaling multi-channel workflows across 3000+ integrations, with credits and real-time validation enhancing reliability. A quick use-case: sync LinkedIn insights, website data, and AI-generated scoring in one seamless sheet, no external scripting required.
03 Real-time QA for Data Quality, No Post-Checks Needed
Real-time QA for Data Quality, No Post-Checks Needed highlights how Derrick delivers immediate validation as data is captured, something hunter and PhantomBuster struggle to guarantee at scale. Unlike Hunter’s focus on email discovery or PhantomBuster’s automation-first approach, Derrick analyzes every data point within Google Sheets in real time, flagging inconsistencies before they propagate. This results in measurable efficiency gains, reducing post-hoc cleanup by up to 40% and improving deliverability with real-time email verification across 50+ attributes. A typical use case: auto-correct and validate contact records as they’re imported, eliminating the need for manual QA passes.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Hunter, PhantomBuster, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Hunter does better
- Outstanding email accuracy + verification
- No charge if Hunter can't find it
- Strong free tier + simple onboarding
What PhantomBuster does better
- 150+ pre-built Phantoms across platforms
- Best LinkedIn Sales Navigator export
- Composable workflow chains
What Derrick does better
- Free forever - €0/mo with 100 credits permanent in Google Sheets
- 100+ data points per lead - verified emails, phones, LinkedIn, tech stack, SIRET
- Zero LinkedIn ban risk + real-time email verification built in
- Pair with any sequencer - LaGrowthMachine, Smartlead, Lemlist, HeyReach
Real Annual Cost
True cost over 12 months
Headline pricing rarely tells the whole story. Here's the real cost of running each tool for a year.
| Hunter | PhantomBuster | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual) | $56/mo (annual) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€600/yr | ~€672/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes - 50 credits/mo, 500 recipients/sequence | No (14-day free trial) | ✓ Forever - 100 credits/mo |
| Setup cost | Hours to days | Hours to days | 30 seconds via Marketplace |
| Switching cost | CSV export + retraining | CSV export + retraining | Zero - works alongside any stack |
💡 Most teams pay 2-5x more on add-ons (extra seats, phone credits, integrations) than on the headline base price. Derrick keeps everything in one transparent tier.
Feature-by-Feature
Hunter vs PhantomBuster vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| hunter | Derrick App | PhantomBuster | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 49$/mois | 9€/mois | 69$/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Email Finder + Light Outreach derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
Web Automation
Hunter vs PhantomBuster vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Email Finder + Light Outreach Hunter
Free 50 credits/mo · Starter €34/mo (annual)
Best for: Solo SDRs and small teams doing email-first outbound
Hunter starts with a free tier offering limited credits, with paid plans beginning at an entry-level price; see full pricing breakdown for all tiers and details.
Results first.
Complexity removed.
Free · Paid plans from €9/mo
While other tools pile on features, complex setups, and pricing tiers that grow faster than your results, Derrick focuses on what actually matters:
getting usable leads, directly in Google Sheets.
No heavy workflows, No endless configuration. No learning curve.
Web Automation PhantomBuster
$56/mo (annual)
Best for: Growth hackers & ops teams
PhantomBuster offers a tiered pricing structure with an entry-level plan and additional paid options; a free tier may be available depending on current promotions. See full pricing breakdown on the official PhantomBuster pricing page for complete details.
Migration Guide
How to switch from Hunter to Derrick in 3 steps
Derrick is a Google Workspace app - no formulas to learn, no pipelines to migrate, no engineering work. Add it to Google Sheets and you're enriching in under a minute.
1
~30 sec Install Derrick from Google Workspace Marketplace
Click the install button on our Marketplace listing and grant Google Sheets access. No credit card required - you start with 100 free credits per month.
2
~30 sec Open any Google Sheet → Extensions → Derrick
Open a Sheet with your prospect list (paste a CSV from Hunter, scrape from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or import from your CRM). Click Extensions → Derrick and the sidebar opens with all enrichment features ready to use.
3
~1 min Enrich your list with one click
Select the column with names, LinkedIn URLs, or company domains. Pick what you want - emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack - and click "Enrich". Derrick fills the columns directly in your Sheet. No exports, no pipelines, no waiting.
Install Derrick free →
100 free credits / month · No credit card · Cancel anytime
Decision in 60 seconds
Which one is right for you?
Pick Hunter if…
- You specifically need solo sdrs and small teams doing email-first outbound
- Outstanding email accuracy + verification
- No charge if Hunter can't find it
- You're already invested in the Hunter ecosystem
Pick PhantomBuster if…
- You specifically need growth hackers & ops teams
- 150+ pre-built Phantoms across platforms
- Best LinkedIn Sales Navigator export
- You're already invested in the PhantomBuster ecosystem
Pick Derrick if…
- You want B2B enrichment directly in Google Sheets
- You need a usable free plan (100 credits/mo, no card)
- You don't want long contracts, lock-in, or sales calls
- You need 100+ data points per lead in one tool
What teams say after switching from Hunter vs PhantomBuster
See what our customers say about Derrick.
"This app saved me so much time and effort. Great for anyone looking to build a contact list or network at scale quickly. As a start-up it's been invaluable."
Alex Clark
Director | SaaS GTM Leader
"Working pretty nifty compared to Snov.Io. Price wise it does give a fair shake, and IMO better interface since it's google sheets."
David Sire
Mortgage Broker at Zero Point Mortgage
"Derrick is a very simple and user-friendly app to enrich your contacts database. Best thing: you can test it for free. And then the price is so low, it's a no brainer."
Etienne Grange
CEO Form'actions
"Super easy to enrich linkedin urls using this tool. Both personal and company url data can be easily enriched with a click of a button."
Zaid Bilal
RevOps Professional
"Amazing Tool, I would like to advocate this to my colleagues. So that you can get more users. Keep it Up. 5 Stars!"
Asif Hanzala
Lead Generation Specialist at IdeaPeel
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"I have been using other expensive apps or freemium like phantombuster, but Derrick has replaced them all. I love the simplicity of the Google sheet add-in, but what is best is the efficiency it delivers."
Julien Walon Cohen
CEO & Co-founder @ Diffly | B2B Sales Advisor
"The LinkedIn scraping and email finder combo is incredibly powerful. I can build a complete prospect list with contact info in under an hour. Absolute must-have for outbound."
Michael Kim
SDR Team Lead at CloudScale
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
AJ Alexander
Opportunity Prospector
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Derrick vs hunter main difference for teams?
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Derrick is built 100% natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for CSV exports or external platforms that Hunter and PhantomBuster require. While Hunter specializes solely in email discovery and PhantomBuster focuses on web automation, Derrick provides comprehensive B2B enrichment with 50+ attributes per contact alongside integrated AI scoring and segmentation using Claude and ChatGPT. For teams, this means no context switching, faster workflows saving 5-10 hours monthly, and rollover credits that maximize budget efficiency. Derrick also eliminates the need for LinkedIn Sales Navigator, reducing annual tool costs while delivering deeper enrichment directly in your spreadsheet.
Is Derrick a better alternative to hunter for outreach?
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Derrick offers a more streamlined alternative to Hunter for outreach, especially if you're already working in Google Sheets. While Hunter excels at email verification, Derrick provides deeper enrichment with 50+ attributes per contact, integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, and real-time email validation-all without leaving your spreadsheet. Hunter requires external platforms and CSV exports, whereas Derrick eliminates that workflow friction. For teams prioritizing efficiency and comprehensive prospect data alongside email accuracy, Derrick's native Sheets integration and rollover credits deliver better value than Hunter's email-only approach.
Which is Derrick vs hunter vs PhantomBuster in features comparison?
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Derrick is a Google Sheets-native enrichment platform designed for seamless in-spreadsheet prospecting without technical setup, whereas Hunter specializes purely in email discovery and verification with limited enrichment depth. PhantomBuster excels at web automation and data extraction but lacks comprehensive B2B enrichment capabilities. Derrick differentiates by offering fifty plus enrichment attributes, integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, real-time email validation, and rollover credits starting at just nine dollars monthly with no credit card required for the free tier, making it ideal for teams seeking an all-in-one solution directly within their existing workflow.
How do Derrick and PhantomBuster compare on pricing?
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Derrick and PhantomBuster pricing compares on a value-for-money basis that reflects their core strengths. Derrick uses a credit-based model with a free tier and scalable options: Free 100 credits, Small 4000 credits for $9, Medium 10,000 credits for $20, Large 25,000 credits for $47.50, and XL 100,000 credits for $175, with credits rollable and no credit card required for the free tier. PhantomBuster, by contrast, markets tiered plans that scale with usage and task complexity, often leading to higher per-record costs as you increase the volume of automations and extra data enrichment. If you need a 100% native Google Sheets workflow with embedded AI scoring, segmentation, and extensive credit carryover, Derrick typically delivers greater cost predictability and operational efficiency, while PhantomBuster excels in rapid automation across multiple platforms but can become more expensive at scale.
Does hunter offer better pricing than Derrick?
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Hunter's pricing is competitive for email-only solutions, with plans starting around $99 monthly. However, Derrick offers broader value at lower costs-starting at just $9 monthly for 4,000 credits with rollover flexibility and no credit card required for the free tier. While Hunter excels at email verification, Derrick provides 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, real-time email validation, and native Google Sheets functionality eliminating CSV exports. For teams needing comprehensive enrichment beyond email discovery, Derrick delivers superior pricing efficiency and feature density compared to Hunter's email-focused approach.
Can Derrick replace both hunter and PhantomBuster for enrichment?
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Derrick cannot fully replace both Hunter and PhantomBuster for enrichment, but it can cover core enrichment needs in a more integrated way. Unlike Hunter, Derrick offers 50+ enrichment attributes per contact or company and real-time email validation, all directly within Google Sheets, plus AI-driven scoring and segmentation. Compared to PhantomBuster, Derrick provides structured data enrichment rather than automated scraping at scale, with native workflows and a broad set of integrations. If your goal is comprehensive enrichment with actionable insights plus seamless workflow inside Sheets, Derrick reduces tool sprawl, but for pure email discovery (Hunter) or complex multi-source scraping automation (PhantomBuster), you’ll still benefit from specialized tools or additional data sources.
One-on-one
hunter vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how hunter compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-onePhantomBuster vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how PhantomBuster compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → Curated stackAll B2B sales tools we reviewed in depth
Step back from the duel - see our hand-picked sales-tool selection and how every category fits together.
See the full curation → Keep Exploring
