Are you looking for the best Google Maps scraper to extract leads for your business, but confused about the pricing models?
There are multiple lead generation tools and data extraction software options in the market to help you scrape Google Maps data, but today we will be comparing two completely different pricing approaches: PhantomBuster's execution time model versus Scrap.io's lead-based pricing.
Table of Contents
- PhantomBuster: The Execution Time Trap
- Setting Up PhantomBuster for Google Maps
- PhantomBuster's Hidden Costs and Limitations
- Scrap.io: Pay-Per-Lead Transparency
- Scrap.io's Predictable Pricing Model
- Advanced Filtering: Why It Matters for Your Budget
- Real Cost Comparison: What You Actually Pay
- Final Verdict: Which Pricing Model Makes Sense
- Frequently Asked Questions
Watch our detailed cost comparison of PhantomBuster vs Scrap.io for Google Maps data extraction
PhantomBuster: The Execution Time Trap
PhantomBuster is an all-in-one automation and web scraping platform that lets you extract business data from multiple sources. I'm particularly thinking about social medias, but it can also work as a Google Maps data extraction tool. But here's where it gets tricky - PhantomBuster charges you based on execution time, not results.
What you need to do is to insert a URL or a list of URLs thanks to Google spreadsheets, you set up your settings, you click on launch, you wait for a little bit and finally you can export your data. But during all this time, you're paying for minutes, not leads.
Regarding Google Maps, you can collect all the data related to the business detail page. Plus, in some cases, you can also gather email addresses and social media links if the company has got a website. But you'll pay the same execution time whether you get 10 leads or 100 leads.
Setting Up PhantomBuster for Google Maps
Let me show you a demo on how to do so. Here we are on phantombooster.com. To be honest, it's been a while since I have been using the tool, but it's okay, we will manage it. We will only compare the free plans and as you can see, I've got 30 minutes of execution time remaining for this month.
This execution time is related to how many Phantoms I'm willing to use, and a phantom is equal to a pre-made script. With a free plan, I've only have access to a single slot, meaning to a single Phantom.
Let's have a look at the solutions. We are looking for a Google Maps script, so let's have a look. We've got two Phantoms: Google Maps search to contact data and Google Maps search export.
The Google Maps search to contact data allows you to get email addresses and social media links if available, which is a good news. But the bad news is that it's considered as two slots and we only have access to a single slot, so we can't use this flow.
So let's try out the second one, which is Google Maps search export. The issue is that we can't have access to email addresses and social media links anymore. I click on more, I can click and use this Phantom.
Let's see what we've got. We need to tell the Phantom which Google Map searches we would like it to scrape, so we need to insert our URL. So let's go to Google Maps and we will target restaurants near New York City.
I've got my URL, I copy it and I paste it here. I click on Save. The browser language will be set to en English. The number of spreadsheet rules to process per launch - we don't need to fill in that. What about the number of results to scrape per search? Well, 200 is the maximum, so let's try with a hundred leads.
Do I need to extract GPS coordinates for each location? Why not. Result file settings - I can name my result file, fields to keep everything. I click on Save.
The last step before launching our script is to launch it repeatedly or only once. So I'm going to launch it manually and I want to get a notification in case of an error. What about the advanced settings? Well, we don't need that one either, so I click on Save. I click on launch.
Where is my data? Well, I click on the Node. The only problem is that I can only download a CSV file, which is not necessarily what I'm looking for. Let's assume I want to get an Excel file instead. What I have to do is to open an Excel file, a blank Excel file, then you need to click on data from the Text slash CSV file, you select your CSV file and a few moments later you can get your data.
Let's have a look. I've got the URL of the detailed page, the title so the company name, the rating, the review count, the category, the attribute which should be the description I believe, the address, the website if there is one, plus a number whether it has been claimed on Google Maps, the latitude and the longitude, the opening hours - Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and so on. And that's it.
PhantomBuster's Hidden Costs and Limitations
It sounds good, but there are obviously some drawbacks. The first one is that we can't have access to the email address, which could be a piece of data you might be looking for. And secondly, you cannot directly filter out your results. If you are looking for, I don't know, a restaurant with a rating between 4 and 4.5, well you have to filter out your results afterwards, which means that it's very likely that you will have to manually remove some of your leads.
But here's the real kicker - you've already paid for those useless leads in execution time. That's the fundamental problem with PhantomBuster's pricing model. You pay for time, not value.
If you want to learn more about the legal aspects of scraping Google Maps data, check out our comprehensive guide on whether it's allowed to scrape Google Maps.
Scrap.io: Pay-Per-Lead Transparency
On the other hand, Scrap.io offers you a no-code Google Maps scraper solution for extracting local business data with a completely different pricing philosophy. It has a very easy to use interface which implies that anyone can use this lead generation tool without any technical experience, which is not necessarily the case on PhantomBuster.
PhantomBuster does require at least a bit of knowledge, and if you don't know how to start, you might be a bit lost.
Scrap.io's Predictable Pricing Model
What about the free plan on Scrap.io? You can get up to 100 free leads for seven days, which is an interesting aspect of this Google Maps scraping tool. It means that you no longer pay depending on the execution time, but you rather pay based on the number of business leads you can retrieve.
This is a game-changer. With Scrap.io, you know exactly what you're getting before you pay. If the search shows 6,000 potential results but you only want 100 leads, you'll pay for exactly 100 leads - no more, no less.
You can also filter out your results in a more accurate way. You need to insert an activity - I might be looking for a restaurant, but maybe I'm looking for something a bit more specific: rice restaurant, a tofu restaurant, a seafood restaurant. You get the idea. There are around 4,000 different categories listed on Google Maps, so if you want to have full access, we'll leave your link in the description.
You can also type a city. This is just for the demo and because I'm currently located in France, all the cities are French cities. And the good news is that you can get email addresses. You can get email addresses when there is more than one - well, you have access to all of them, plus you can get social media links when they are available.
For a complete guide on extracting email addresses from Google Maps, check out our detailed tutorial on how to find email addresses from Google Maps.
Getting Started with Scrap.io
To begin with, you need to create your account, which can be done by clicking on sign up. Now, once you have created your account, you will have access to your dashboard, and this is the tab in which you will be able to retrieve all your leads.
In the same way as we have done previously, I can type an activity, meaning a category. I can select a country. I can select a level 1 division - it depends on which country you picked up, but in that case you might be able to choose the state. I can also choose the county, which is related to the level 2 division, or I can target a city.
Let's type New York for the sake of the example. I can search and I will automatically have an overview of how many leads I will get, and I can get up to 6,000 results. Obviously, because my plan is limited to a hundred, I wouldn't only have access to the first 100 rows, but it's enough to show you how to proceed.
Advanced Filtering: Why It Matters for Your Budget
The good news is that you can filter your data in order to make sure you don't have to remove any data rows afterwards. I've got two kind of filters: essential and advanced ones.
I might want to target only restaurants as a main activity and not as a secondary category. I might want to target closed restaurants - maybe not, so I click on no. Restaurant with a website, with a phone number - why not. With an email address, with a Facebook link - well, why not, but it's not an absolute necessity. An Instagram link, a YouTube link, a Twitter link, LinkedIn link - well, let's say I want them to have a Facebook link.
Whether the business has been claimed on Google Maps - well, maybe I want to target businesses who are not claimed yet. I can choose a price range, with a rating from, I don't know, 3.5 to 4.5. I can also choose a number of reviews or the number of photos. Whether there is a contact form on the website, and also whether there is an ad pixel on the website.
Let's say yes. I click on filter and I will get fewer results but much more targeted ones. Maybe it was a bit too specific, so let's try it out one more time. Maybe I want to get all of them, and it's way better.
This filtering capability is crucial for your budget. With PhantomBuster, you'd pay execution time for all these irrelevant leads, then spend more time manually filtering them out. With Scrap.io, you only extract and pay for the leads you actually want.
Export Process and Data Quality
If everything sounds good to me, I can click on export. I can give my export a name, and if I click on Advanced options, I will have an overview of the 70 columns I will be able to retrieve. I click on export. I'll see you back once I've got my results.
Another good news is that I can download a CSV or Excel file. I've got the name of the company, whether it's closed or not, the main type and the secondary types, the website, the phone number, the full address which is divided into different subtypes, meaning division one, division two, division three, the cities, the postal code and so on, the country, the latitude plus the longitude, the link of the Google Maps detailed page.
Rich Data Extraction Results
What do we have here? We have the email address, and we've got a hundred email addresses, which is correct because we have filtered our results beforehand. With a Facebook link, some Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn links, the price range, the review count, review ratings and review per score, the number of photos, the URLs of some pictures, opening hours meaning the business hours, the characteristics - so what does the restaurant offer to its customers.
Finally, we end up with some SEO elements. I've got the website title if the company has got a website, with the meta keywords, the meta descriptions, the meta image, the additional email addresses, the contact pages. We already have made another video about this topic with additional social media links. Finally, there are website technologies and ad pixels.
For more advanced data extraction techniques, you might want to read our guide on Google Maps scraping using the API and reviews extraction.
Real Cost Comparison: What You Actually Pay
Let me break down the real costs you'll face with each platform:
PhantomBuster's Hidden Costs:
- Pay for execution time whether you get useful leads or not
- No email extraction on free plan
- Manual filtering required (more time = more money)
- Risk of paying for duplicate or irrelevant data
- Complex setup increases execution time
Scrap.io's Transparent Pricing:
- Pay only for leads you actually extract
- Email addresses included when available
- Advanced filtering before extraction (save money)
- No payment for duplicates or filtered-out results
- Instant setup, no time wasted
Let's say you want 1,000 qualified restaurant leads in New York with email addresses. With PhantomBuster, you'd need to:
- Run the extraction for all restaurants (paying execution time)
- Manually filter for email addresses (paying more time)
- Remove duplicates and irrelevant results (even more time)
- Still end up with fewer quality leads
With Scrap.io, you:
- Set filters for restaurants with email addresses
- Extract exactly 1,000 leads
- Pay for exactly 1,000 leads
- Get higher quality data
If you're running cold email campaigns for your business, this difference in data quality and cost predictability is crucial for your ROI.
Final Verdict: Which Pricing Model Makes Sense
To sum up, let's consider the pros and the cons of both pricing models.
PhantomBuster's Execution Time Model
On the one hand, PhantomBuster can come in handy if you want to automate your tasks from multiple platforms. But regarding Google Maps, you need to set up your extraction, you are unable to scale at a country level, and you are unable to know lead prices before initiating your extraction.
Most importantly, you're paying for time, not results. This means you could spend your entire monthly allocation and end up with unusable leads.
Scrap.io's Lead-Based Model
On the other hand, Scrap.io is much more useful regarding Google Maps. You can get your data with a few clicks, zero setup, real-time data, filters, country scale, and you know your lead prices before your launch an extraction. In other words, you only pay for what you need.
This pricing transparency is especially important for businesses managing multiple restaurant email lists or other industry-specific lead generation campaigns.
Conclusion
For those interested in exploring more advanced lead generation techniques, Scrap.io offers comprehensive Google Maps scraping capabilities with real-time data extraction and advanced filtering options that can scale to extract leads from entire countries - all with transparent, lead-based pricing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between execution time and lead-based pricing?
Execution time pricing charges you for how long your scripts run, regardless of results. You might pay for 30 minutes and get only 10 useful leads. Lead-based pricing charges you per actual lead extracted, so you know exactly what you're paying for before you start.
Why is PhantomBuster's execution time model problematic?
PhantomBuster's model means you pay for time even if you get bad results. If your extraction fails, takes longer than expected, or returns mostly unusable leads, you've still spent your monthly execution time allocation. It's like paying for a taxi by time instead of distance - you could sit in traffic and pay more for going nowhere.
How much can I save with lead-based pricing?
With Scrap.io's lead-based pricing, you typically save 60-80% compared to execution time models because you're not paying for setup time, failed extractions, or filtering time. You also avoid the hidden costs of manual data cleaning that comes with execution time tools.
Can I get email addresses with both tools?
With PhantomBuster's free plan, you cannot access email addresses through their basic Google Maps export script. However, Scrap.io can extract email addresses when available, and if there are multiple emails for a business, you get access to all of them at no extra cost.
Which pricing model is better for beginners?
Lead-based pricing is much more beginner-friendly because you know exactly what you'll pay before starting. With execution time pricing, beginners often waste their monthly allocation on learning how to set up extractions properly.
How do I avoid paying for bad data?
Scrap.io's filtering system lets you specify exactly what type of leads you want before extraction. You can filter by rating (3.5 to 4.5 stars), number of reviews, whether businesses have claimed their Google Maps listing, and even whether they have specific social media profiles. This means you only extract and pay for qualified leads.
What about data accuracy between the two models?
Both tools extract real-time data directly from Google Maps, ensuring accuracy. However, Scrap.io provides more comprehensive data including website SEO elements, social media links, and additional contact information, giving you richer lead data for your campaigns without additional execution time costs.
Can I scale my lead generation with these pricing models?
Lead-based pricing scales much better. With execution time, you're always worried about running out of monthly minutes. With lead-based pricing, you can extract 100 leads one month and 10,000 the next, paying only for what you need. This is especially important for agencies managing multiple client campaigns.