Phantombuster is one of the best no-code automation tools out there. It allows you to extract data without any code, plus lets you automate virtually anything you want to do online. Do you want to automatically like Instagram posts under a specific hashtag? Phantombuster allows you to do it without the hassle of needing to code. But this is not all.
With over 150 types of automation tools that are called Phantoms or Workflows, you can implement an almost infinite number of different strategies. What is the end goal? The whole purpose of using Phantombuster is to grow your business.
There are Phantoms for dozens of social media platforms, including Linkedin, YouTube, Instagram, Quora, Twitter, and many more.
If you are looking to grow your online presence and gather data to streamline your digital marketing or lead generation activities, you should definitely learn more about Phantombuster. Lucky for you, we’ve gathered all the information there is to know about this tool in this ultimate Phantombuster review.
Keep on reading through to discover everything you need to know about Phantombuster, including Phantombuster pricing, the Phantombuster API, extension, plus much more.
Phantombuster Overview
If you’ve ever tried to scrape or gather data from social media platforms or other web sources, you know that you either need to do it manually or use code to make it efficient. But what about the marketers out there who can’t code but want to gather data in an efficient way? This is where Phantombuster comes in.
So, what is Phantombuster?
What is Phantombuster?
As one of the best no-code automation tools, Phantombuster is a life-saving tool for data extraction. Whether you want to gather social media posts under a specific hashtag or emails of LinkedIn users under search results, Phantombuster has those easy-to-use tools for you.
Phantombuster isn’t only amazing for data extraction or scraping. It also features tons of automation tools for growing your network and interacting with social media users or posts.
In total, Phantombuster features 3 main automated actions (connect, like & comment, and message) and 4 different extraction goals (profile pages, search results, posts, and emails). It also has over 22 categories of Phantoms you can choose from, including LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, and many more.
The Phantombuster LinkedIn and Phantombuster Sales Navigator tools are some of the most widely used Phantoms. You can even combine different Phantoms and create workflows that work best for you. There are also workflows created by Phantombuster to help you get the most benefit out of the tool.
Now that we know what Phantombuster is, let’s take a look at how it works.
How does Phantombuster work?
We told you that Phantombuster is a great data extraction and automation tool, but how does Phantombuster work exactly? For your convenience, we put together a quick list of step-by-step instructions in our Phantombuster review.
Create your Phantombuster account and purchase your desired subscription package (each of them has different limits and works better for different types of businesses).
Browse their Phantom Store and choose the Phantom or Phantoms that you want to use.
Set up your Phantom in 3 quick steps:
Connect your social media profile
Fill in the input info (e.g., what term you want to use for search results)
Choose the number of actions you want the Phantom to perform.
Launch your Phantom by choosing between 2 launch types:
Manual launch – performs 1 launch according to your inputs. This is usually done to test the results before moving on to repeated launches.
Repeated launch – performs automatic launches multiple times during the day (defined by you).
Once a Phantom has finished its tasks, you can find the results on each Phantom’s console page. Download the results either as a CSV or JSON file, then use it according to your needs.
You can refer to all your Phantoms in your Dashboard. Easily delete or edit the Phantoms’ setups whenever you want.
Once you figure out how to set up one Phantom, you’ll be able to repeat it for all the rest. Create any combination of Phantoms you want to finally achieve your optimal workflow.
Is Phantombuster safe?
Before using a tool, it is natural to wonder whether it’s safe to use. So, is Phantombuster safe? The answer is yes! All Phantombuster tasks are completed at a pace that allows for all actions to be successfully accomplished in a safe and timely manner.
The procedures of engaging with other accounts and gathering data are all safe and follow the rules each platform sets for such processes. You can use the tool without worrying about your accounts getting suspended or reported for spam.
Phantombuster Pricing
Being one of the best no-code automation tools, Phantombuster comes at a price. But don’t worry, it’s completely worth it. Phantombuster pricing is a core part of this Phantombuster review, so let’s dive right in and see what this amazing tool is going to cost you.
Phantombuster Free Trial
Before purchasing a tool and spending your precious budget on it, it’s vital to know whether you’ll get a lot of use out of it.
So, does Phantombuster have a free trial? Luckily, the answer is yes! You can get instant access for 14 days without even inputting credit card information. The trial gives you access to 5 slots for Phantoms of your choice, which you can use within 2 hours of execution time.
As a bonus with every package, you get email credits, which allow you to send a query to the Phantombuster email discovery service. Each query gives you an attempt to find a verified professional email address. With the free trial, you get 50 of these bonus email credits.
Once your 14 days expire, you’ll need to choose between 3 Phantombuster pricing plans.
3 Phantombuster Pricing Plans
Phantombuster offers 3 different pricing plans, which you can purchase both on a monthly and yearly basis. In case you pay for the whole year, you’ll get 16% off.
Now, let’s explore these packages and find the Phantombuster pricing plan that will work best for you.
Phantombuster Starter Package ($50/month if billed annually)
If you are new to “the world of automation” and expanding your lead generation strategies, the Starter package might be the one for you. You will get 5 slots for 5 different Phantoms, just like with the Free Trial. Unlike the Free Trial, this package will get you 20 hours of execution time per month. That’s equivalent to around 2000 leads per month, which is a fantastic result for the price.
Note: It takes about 30-45 seconds for 1 profile to be scraped for data. To gather around 1000 search results or send 1000 messages, it’ll take around 5-10 minutes.
With the Starter Package, you also get priority support directly from Phantombuster for any issues you may encounter.
Last but not least, you get 500 email credits per month. All of this comes at a price of $50 per month if billed annually. If billed monthly, it’ll cost you $59.
Phantombuster Pro Package ($117/month if billed annually)
The Pro package is better suited for businesses looking to make their processes even more efficient and grow faster. It is said to be their most popular package. So, let’s take a look at what the package contains.
Essentially, you get 15 Phantom slots and 80 extraction hours per month for all your automation and extraction activities. This way, you can use Phantombuster for multiple platforms and actions.
You also get priority support and even a dedicated expert to guide you through all your activities. As for bonus email credits, you get 2,500 of them each month with the Phantombuster Pro package.
Note: Keep in mind that you only get a dedicated expert when you purchase the package on an annual basis.
This package costs $117 per month if billed annually. If you want to pay on a monthly basis, it’ll cost you $139 per month. If the smaller package is not enough for you, this one should suffice. If it’s still not enough, take a look at the Phantombuster Team package.
Phantombuster Team Package ($335/month if billed annually)
Finally, the biggest package you can get from Phantombuster is their Team package. It gets you a whopping 50 slots for Phantoms that you can use with 300 hours of extraction time. Just like with the Pro package, you get priority support and a dedicated expert with the Team package as well.
If you’re looking to scale very quickly and skyrocket your business, this is the package for you. However, you need to have the budget for it. The Team package costs $335 per month if billed annually. If you want to pay on a monthly basis, it’ll cost you $399 each month.
Phantombuster Features
Welcome to the Features section of this Phantombuster review. To give you a complete overview of what this tool can give you, let’s cover some of the main features you get with Phantombuster.
Phantombuster API
Along with all the magical no-code tools, Phantombuster also offers you access to the Phantombuster API, which gives you total control over your account. If you are a developer, you shouldn’t have problems with setting it up. You’ll start getting responses very quickly.
So, what does the Phantombuster API allow you to do? Here are just some of its capabilities:
Launch and cancel Phantom agents whenever, wherever.
Create and modify scripts.
Get real-time console output, status reports, and messages from agents.
Extract records of user accounts, agents, and even scripts.
If you wish to find out more about the Phantombuster API, please refer to this page.
Phantombuster Extension
If you’re a fan of using Chrome extensions, you’ll love the Phantombuster extension and its capabilities.
As a growth hacker, if you want to get the most out of Phantombuster, using the Phantombuster extension is a good idea. Why? Actually, it can make it easier to use Phantombuster altogether by allowing you to retrieve your session cookies!
You simply need to be connected to a website, and Phantombuster will start retrieving the session cookies of multiple accounts at the same time.
As one of the core specialties of Phantombuster, the many Phantombuster LinkedIn tools are thorough and powerful. There are a whopping 45 Phantombuster LinkedIn tools (Phantoms) for you to choose from!
From LinkedIn Search Exports and Profile Scrapers to the LinkedIn Message Senders and Network Boosters, your choice is definitely not limited. Plus, there are even ready-made workflows you can use to grow your network, extract emails of users from search results, and more.
Since LinkedIn is an amazing platform to grow your professional network and, most importantly, generate leads, Phantombuster helps you figure it out in many ways. Here are just a couple of the best Phantombuster LinkedIn tools:
Phantombuster LinkedIn Message Sender – This Phantom allows you to automatically send out messages to your network without the need to use any code.
Phantombuster LinkedIn Group Members – This amazing Phantom gives you the ability to extract up to 2500 members from a LinkedIn group.
Phantombuster LinkedIn Auto Liker – With this Phantom, you can automatically like a list of posts on LinkedIn.
Don’t forget that you can group a couple of Phantoms together, create a workflow, and get the extracted data directly in the format you need.
Phantombuster Sales Navigator
Phantombuster has a unique feature called a “Sales Navigator” that gives extended search possibilities for many platforms. For example, while the LinkedIn search bar would allow you to search based on keywords, school, location, and other simple metrics, the Sales Navigator allows you to go into more detail. You’ll be able to scrape search results based on seniority level, industry, geography, years in current position, and much more.
There are 15 sales navigator Phantoms available in the Phantoms store, so take a quick glance to get better acquainted with its possibilities.
Phantombuster Workflows
For the growth hackers who are new to Phantombuster, the tool has ready-made workflows that are common and high-value. Essentially, you have your work cut out for you.
So, what are Phantombuster Workflows? In short, these Workflows are packages of Phantoms combined together to yield better results. Let’s look at some examples to make it clearer.
Grow Your LinkedIn Network – This is a combination of 2 Phantoms. One of them extracts a list of LinkedIn users under a specific search or a group. The other one automatically connects with them.
Google Maps Search to Contact Data – That’s right, Phantombuster also has Phantoms and Workflows that work for Google. This one allows you to collect email addresses, phone numbers, plus social media links from a Google Maps search result.
Instagram Hashtag Search to Post Engagement – This Phantombuster workflow allows you to reach your audience by engaging with specific hashtags. It automatically comments on the top posts of the hashtags you insert, which gives you a higher chance of being discovered by your niche audience.
Phantombuster features 11 ready-made workflows for you to choose from. However, you can always create your own if needed.
Does Phantombuster have integrations?
Yes! Phantombuster features integration with some of the best CRM systems out there, including HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. You can send your data directly to those platforms to grow and nurture your network with the smoothest possible workflow.
You can also connect Phantombuster with email enrichment tools like Hunter, Dropcontact, and Snov.io. Additionally, Phantombuster can also be integrated with Zapier and Integromat.
How do you set up Phantombuster?
Setting up Phantoms is the core part of mastering the tool. It’s not too hard, so once you set up one Phantom, you’ll pretty much have it all figured out.
The steps for setting up Phantombuster are quick and short. You simply have to know what you need from the tool. Although we already gave our step-by-step instructions on how to make Phantombuster work in this Phantombuster review, let’s take a closer look at the setup procedure.
Find the Phantom you want to use from the Phantom Store featured on the Phantombuster website.
If you’re looking to gain a wider following, you might want to use a Phantom that’ll automatically follow the users who follow one of your competitors in the hopes of getting a follow back.
If you want to gather the emails of LinkedIn users under a specific search, the Phantombuster LinkedIn Phantoms are the ones you need.
Once you’ve chosen the Phantom you want to use, it’s time to set it up. First, you’ll need to connect your social media accounts.
Phantombuster will need to get access to your social media accounts in order to perform actions on your behalf. This process is easy and very self-explanatory, so you will definitely figure it out.
Give the Phantom all the necessary info about what it needs to do.
Here, you will need to specify some input data. For example, if you want a LinkedIn Phantom to collect the email addresses of LinkedIn users under a specific search, you’ll need to specify the search term.
To complete the Phantom setups, you need to input the number of actions it needs to perform.
If you want a Phantom to gather 10 emails per launch, you’ll need to input the number 10. Phantombuster follows the rules and regulations set up by each platform, so it’ll usually give you a recommended number. However, in case you wish to modify the metrics, Phantombuster gives you that option as well.
Last but not least, you need to launch your Phantoms and put them to work.
First, you should perform a manual launch to see if the results are coming in the way you want. After you’ve tested it out, you can do a repetitive launch to gather as much info as you need in a timely manner.
Since you don’t want to violate the terms of social media platforms against spam, you should allow Phantombuster to be your guide and dictate the data extraction terms. This way, you will avoid causing any harm to your social media profiles.
How do I use Phantombuster on Twitter?
Phantombuster features many different types of Phantoms for different platforms. When it comes to Phantombuster Twitter tools, you get 15 different choices to choose from. Let’s go over some featured Phantoms and discover how to use the best Phantombuster Twitter Phantoms.
Twitter Follower Collector – This Phantom automatically extracts the followers of a specific Twitter account. You can combine this with the Twitter Auto Follow Phantom to create a workflow for expanding your audience.
Note: It’s a good idea to follow the accounts that follow your competitors. The chances are high that these users are interested in similar products and are, therefore, in your target. Who knows, you might catch their eye and earn a follow back.
Twitter Auto Retweeter – If you want to automatically retweet a list of tweets, this Phantom will do the trick without the need for any code!
Twitter Auto Poster – That’s right, Phantombuster allows you to schedule social media posts, including tweets, to go out at your desired time.
Twitter Likes Export – You can get your hands on an engaged audience by extracting the accounts that have liked a specific tweet.
Phantombuster Comparison
When choosing between no-code automation tools or other tools for that matter, it helps to compare it with similar solutions. This way, you will know for sure that you’re using the software that’s best for you and your business needs.
When it comes to Phantombuster, there aren’t too many tools that can beat its functionality and price. As a core part of this Phantombuster review, we’ve chosen 3 Phantombuster alternatives to discuss. So, let’s dive right into the Phantombuster comparison section of our Phantombuster review.
Phantombuster vs Hexomatic
Both Phantombuster and Hexomatic are no-code automation tools that enable you to scrape the web for data. While Phantombuster focuses on gathering data from social media platforms and performing social media automation actions, Hexomatic focuses on automating transcriptions, text-to-speech AI software, image format editing, other data transformations, and research.
Hexomatic can be used for QR code generation, scraping SEO meta tags, and much more. However, Hexomatic is missing features like automated social media posting, liking, and engaging.
Essentially, the features of these two platforms are extremely different. When choosing between Phantombuster and Hexomatic, pay attention to your business goals and needs.
If you’re looking to expand and grow your social media presence or generate leads through social media, Phantombuster is definitely the way to go. As for Hexomatic, you’re looking at a tool stack of a completely different caliber.
When it comes to pricing, Hexomatic is definitely the cheaper option. While Phantombuster pricing varies between $50-$335, Hexomatic offers 3 different pricing packages in the range of $20-$82.5. You can also contact Hexomatic and get their Enterprise package (the price is undisclosed).
Hexomatic has one huge advantage in terms of pricing packages. While Phantombuster has no free account and gives a free trial for only 14 days, Hexomatic has a free version. This free version gives you 75 automation credits per month. Although you only get to use 1 workflow, it is still better than nothing.
Phantombuster vs Octoparse
Octaparse is a great no-code extraction tool that lets you scrape the web for any data you need. In comparison with Phantombuster, the services of Octaparse are limited in terms of social media automation options.
While you can scrape social media platforms for posts, accounts, and much more with Octaparse, Phantombuster takes it a step further and combines it with engagement actions. Phantombuster allows you to actually automate the actions you will take with the extracted data.
Octaparse seems like an amazing tool for scraping data for many different industries, including social media, ecommerce, retail, and more. It focuses on data aggregation rather than automating social media actions.
When choosing between Phantombuster and Octaparse, consider your needs. If you’re looking for a simple data scraping tool that’ll be efficient and fast, Octaparse might be the way to go. However, if you’re looking for a more end-to-end tool for growth hacking that combines data extraction and engagement automation, Phantombuster is the tool you need.
While considering the pricing plans for these tools, you should know that Octaparse isn’t as affordable as you think. However, they offer a free version with limited capabilities that might suffice for small projects. Overall, you’re looking at packages that range between $75 and $209 per month.
Compared with the Phantombuster pricing plans, the pricing ranges between these 2 no-code automation tools aren’t too far apart. In this case, the price might not be the determining factor for you. You should consider the features you are looking for in a tool when choosing between Phantombuster and Octaparse.
Phantombuster vs Apify
Apify is a popular no-code automation tool that enables you to easily develop and launch data extraction procedures. It also gives you web integration and automation tools to enhance your growth hacking endeavors.
In comparison with Phantombuster, Apify is a real contender. There are some features that Apify performs better. For example, Apify allows you to scrape data from any website, while Phantombuster’s capabilities are limited to around 20 platforms.
Apify also allows you to interact with websites “like a real human.” In other words, you can click, scroll, and even fill out forms with Apify’s powerful open software platform.
Now, do these additional features offered by Apify come at a higher cost? Of course, they do. However, you can use Apify with a free account and limited capabilities as well. Although Phantombuster doesn’t have a free account option, it also doesn’t have prices that go as high as $499 per month and higher.
With Apify, you either choose to pay for a Personal account ($49 per month) or go with their Team account, which costs almost $500 per month. You can also get a custom package from Apify, but you’ll need to get in touch to get a custom quote.
If you’re looking for something custom anyways, you can subscribe with a custom plan defined by your needs!
Phantombuster Pros & Cons
If you don’t have time to go over our full Phantombuster review, we recommend skimming through these Phantombuster pros and cons we put together.
What are some common pain points when using Phantombuster? What are the advantages of Phantombuster’s social media tools? Find out almost all you need to know here:
Phantombuster Pros
Phantombuster Cons
Powerful growth hacking tools for social media
No free account (only a 14-day free trial)
No-code data extraction from the 20 most popular platforms on the web
There is a learning curve with setting up Phantoms
Features ready-made workflows for easier setup
Limited integration options
Follows the rules and regulations of platforms (avoids spam reports)
No built-in data visualization tools
Amazing tools for growing on LinkedIn (45 LinkedIn Phantoms)
Limited number of tutorial videos
Phantombuster: Final Review & Rating
Finally, we’ve approached the end of our Phantombuster review. Having discussed the Phantombuster pricing, features, API, extension, LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Twitter tools, alternatives, and much more, let’s talk about some highlights we noticed.
Phantombuster is one of the best no-code automation and data extraction tools out there, no doubt about it. It enables growth hackers who don’t know how to code scraping tools to gather all the social media data they could need. The platform also follows the rules and regulations of each social media site, making sure to keep your account safe from any harm.
There are dozens of Phantoms for over 19 platforms on the web, enabling data extraction as well as account engagement. Furthermore, these Phantoms can be combined into workflows to give you the highest value possible.
With Phantombuster pricing being in the range of $50-$335, the tool definitely has a good cost-benefit balance. If your budget allows, we recommend adding Phantombuster to your marketing tool stack. Luckily, there is a 14-day free trial with no strings attached, so you can make sure you like this no-code automation tool before fully committing.
Reviewed By Rem Darbinyan
Revolutionizing industries with AI, Rem Darbinyan is the CEO of ViralMango and an entrepreneur, AI expert, and influencer marketing strategist.
