PhantomBuster
- Starting price: $56/mo (annual)
- Free plan: No (14-day free trial)
- Founded: 2016
- HQ: Paris, France
Updated
PhantomBuster vs Apollo vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- PhantomBuster vs Apollo vs Derrick: PhantomBuster is a cloud-based scraping and social automation, Apollo is a b2b sales intelligence and outreach. 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 PhantomBuster or Apollo) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with PhantomBuster or Apollo for outreach.
Where PhantomBuster requires you to build pipelines outside your data, Derrick keeps the data and the logic in the same Sheet. The side-by-side comparison below pits PhantomBuster's no-code IDE, learning curve and per-execution pricing against Derrick's =DERRICK() formula that scales with usage.
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
PhantomBuster vs Apollo vs Derrick at a glance
Apollo
- Starting price: Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase)
- Free plan: Yes (Free forever)
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: San Francisco, CA
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 PhantomBuster and Apollo
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Real-time validation without data gaps for outreach
Real-time validation is where Derrick shines, addressing data gaps that PhantomBuster often leaves unverified and Apollo sometimes accelerates but without guaranteed freshness. Derrick delivers live email validation within the flow, ensuring outreach lists stay deliverable and up-to-date no matter the source. That translates to measurable impact, such as higher open and reply rates due to fewer bounces, and faster cycle times since validation happens on-the-fly. With 100% native Google Sheets integration, Derrick eliminates CSV exports and manual checks, keeping outreach accurate without workflow friction.
02 Flexible integrations without custom development for workflows
PhantomBuster and Apollo offer automation and data extraction, but they often fall short on seamless, workflow-wide integrations without coding. Derrick delivers 100% native Google Sheets support and 3000+ integrations through Zapier/Make/n8n, enabling flexible workflows without custom development. Teams can realize measurable gains, saving 5-10h per month on setup and maintenance while maintaining end-to-end prospecting within Sheets. For rapid use cases, Derrick converts complex sequences into within-Sheets automations, avoiding external sync friction.
03 Real-time enrichment quality at scale with AI-assisted validation
PhantomBuster and Apollo can automate scraping and outreach at scale, but they often struggle with real-time, multi-source enrichment accuracy, leading to inconsistent data quality. Derrick delivers AI-assisted validation within a 100% native Google Sheets workflow, ensuring real-time checks without exporting data to external tools. This translates to measurable improvements in deliverability and reliability, with up to a 15–25% reduction in invalid contacts observed in pilot teams. Derrick’s integrated AI scoring, coupled with 50+ enrichment attributes, provides scalable, trustworthy lead profiles directly where you work.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where PhantomBuster, Apollo, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What PhantomBuster does better
- 150+ pre-built Phantoms across platforms
- Best LinkedIn Sales Navigator export
- Composable workflow chains
What Apollo does better
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- Intuitive list-builder
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.
| PhantomBuster | Apollo | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | $56/mo (annual) | Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€672/yr | ~€588/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | No (14-day free trial) | Yes (Free forever) | ✓ 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
PhantomBuster vs Apollo vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| PhantomBuster | Derrick App | apollo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 69$/mois | 9€/mois | 59$/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Web Automation derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
Sales Intelligence
PhantomBuster vs Apollo vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Web Automation PhantomBuster
$56/mo (annual)
Best for: Growth hackers & ops teams
PhantomBuster offers a tiered pricing structure with an accessible entry-level option and paid plans designed for scaling automation, with specifics detailed on the pricing page. See the full pricing breakdown for complete details and plan-by-plan differences.
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.
Sales Intelligence Apollo
Free / $49 annual or $59 monthly /seat (post-2026 price increase)
Best for: SMB & mid-market outbound
Apollo pricing starts with a free tier offering basic access, with paid plans beginning at competitive monthly rates; for exact tiers, usage limits, and add-ons, see the full pricing breakdown. View complete pricing details on the dedicated Pricing Apollo page.
Migration Guide
How to switch from PhantomBuster 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 PhantomBuster, 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 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 Apollo if…
- You specifically need smb & mid-market outbound
- Massive 250M+ contact database
- All-in-one stack at SMB price
- You're already invested in the Apollo 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 PhantomBuster vs Apollo
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 PhantomBuster difference for automation?
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Derrick focuses on AI-powered data enrichment directly within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for external platforms or CSV exports, while PhantomBuster specializes in web automation and scraping workflows. PhantomBuster excels at large-scale data extraction from social platforms and websites, but requires manual enrichment for deeper insights. Derrick integrates Claude and ChatGPT for intelligent scoring and segmentation, offers rollover credits with no card required for free tier, and delivers fifty-plus enrichment attributes per contact. For teams already working in Google Sheets seeking seamless automation without technical setup, Derrick provides a more streamlined alternative to PhantomBuster's template-based approach.
Is Derrick a better alternative to PhantomBuster?
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Whether Derrick is a better alternative to PhantomBuster depends on your specific workflow needs. PhantomBuster excels at web automation and large-scale data scraping, particularly for social media extraction. Derrick, however, operates natively within Google Sheets with built-in AI enrichment, real-time email validation, and rollover credits, eliminating the need for external platforms or complex setup. If you prioritize seamless spreadsheet-based prospecting without technical overhead, Derrick offers superior efficiency. For pure automation and scraping tasks, PhantomBuster remains specialized. Many teams use both complementarily, leveraging PhantomBuster for extraction and Derrick for enrichment and outreach within their existing workflows.
Derrick vs PhantomBuster vs apollo: which is best for pricing?
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Derrick offers the most flexible pricing model with rollover credits that don't expire monthly, starting at just nine dollars for four thousand credits with no credit card required for the free tier. PhantomBuster and Apollo both scale aggressively with volume, making per-record enrichment expensive for frequent use. Derrick's native Google Sheets integration eliminates costly external tools and eliminates the need for LinkedIn Sales Navigator, saving teams up to twelve hundred dollars annually while delivering fifty plus enrichment attributes per contact with integrated AI scoring capabilities.
How does PhantomBuster compare to apollo for data enrichment?
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PhantomBuster excels at automated data extraction and rapid workflow automation, with a large library of pre-built templates for social scraping and lead generation. Apollo shines in its extensive, verified B2B contact database and robust outreach features. For data enrichment specifically, both can deliver basic enrichment, but their depth tends to be shallower than a dedicated solution. Derrick, by contrast, offers 50+ enrichment attributes, real-time email validation, native Google Sheets workflow, AI-driven scoring and segmentation, and seamless integrations-all within a familiar Sheets-centric experience. If you’re comparing enrichment depth and workflow cohesion, Apollo and PhantomBuster deliver strong automation and provisioning, but Derrick provides deeper enrichment coverage, stricter data quality control, and ongoing value without leaving Sheets.
Which is cheaper, PhantomBuster or apollo, for teams?
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PhantomBuster and Apollo have different pricing structures making direct comparison challenging. PhantomBuster charges based on automation credits and monthly usage, while Apollo operates on a per-seat model with tiered plans starting around $49 monthly. For most teams, Apollo typically proves cheaper upfront, but PhantomBuster can be more cost-effective at scale depending on your automation volume. However, Derrick App offers a compelling alternative with rollover credits, no credit card required for the free tier, and transparent per-credit pricing starting at just $9 monthly, making it often the most budget-friendly option for teams seeking data enrichment without long-term commitments.
Can Derrick replace both PhantomBuster and apollo in workflow?
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Derrick can replace some workflow needs that PhantomBuster and Apollo address, but not as a complete one-to-one swap for every scenario. Derrick excels as a 100% native Google Sheets enrichment platform with real-time email validation, AI-driven scoring, and extensive Zapier/Make/n8n integrations, all without CSV exports or LinkedIn Navigator dependencies. For tasks centered on large-scale scraping or multi-channel outreach, PhantomBuster or Apollo may still offer strengths in data extraction or extensive contact databases. Derrick complements them by tightening data quality, speed, and cost efficiency within a Google Sheets-centered workflow.
One-on-one
PhantomBuster vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how PhantomBuster compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-oneapollo vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how apollo 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
