PhantomBuster has been selling LinkedIn automation since 2016. It sells Phantoms, single-task automations (export a search, read profiles, pull the likers of a post, find an email, send a connection request) that you chain into Workflows, across 15+ platforms by its own count. If you are looking for a PhantomBuster alternative for LinkedIn, the first question is which of those jobs you actually used it for, because the alternatives split along the same lines.
This page sorts them by job and compares each one on the three things that decide a switch: who does the work once it is set up, what the whole bill is for 1, 2, 3 and 5 LinkedIn accounts, and what each tool does for you in 2026, inside Claude included.
Why people leave PhantomBuster: execution hours, slots and setup
The machine is yours to build. Each Phantom does one job, and you configure it: which search to export, which list to read, which message template to send. Then you chain Phantoms into a Workflow and schedule the launches. PhantomBuster now also lists "LinkedIn outreach campaigns", "Lead warming" and "AI filtering & writing" on every plan; each step is still yours to set up. Every LinkedIn Phantom acts through your connected LinkedIn account, and the Sales Navigator Phantoms export from your own Sales Navigator search, so they need LinkedIn's seat.
The meter is runtime, not results. Every plan buys execution hours and slots: 20 hours and 5 slots on Start, 80 and 15 on Grow, 300 and 50 on Scale (PhantomBuster pricing, read 3 October 2026). The hours are shared by every account you connect. ColdIQ estimates that a 2,500-profile Sales Navigator export takes "4 to 6 hours" (ColdIQ, July 2026), and La Growth Machine writes that Start's 20 hours go "within a week of moderate usage" (La Growth Machine, June 2026). When the hours end, PhantomBuster's own FAQ says: "Your automations will pause until your execution time resets or you upgrade your plan."
The setup is the work. On Capterra a reviewer writes "It took me sometime to configure certain tasks that required certain knowledge" (September 2025), and the low reviews on Trustpilot return to Phantoms that stop working (quoted in the reviews section below).
That is what the alternatives below answer, each in its own way. BeReach's answer is that you do not build the machine at all: you agree the search plan and approve the messages, and BeReach sends the invitations, waits for each acceptance and delivers your approved message, every day, at the pace each account can carry.
What PhantomBuster really costs per month once you count hours, AI credits and enrichment
PhantomBuster bills per workspace. Each plan buys hours, slots and separate monthly pools of AI, email and URL finder credits:
| PhantomBuster plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Execution time | Slots | AI credits | Email credits | URL finder credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trial (14 days) | $0 | n/a | 2 hours in total | 5 | 1,000 | 50 | 100 |
| Start | $69 | $56 | 20 hours a month | 5 | 10,000 | 500 | 1,000 |
| Grow | $159 | $128 | 80 hours a month | 15 | 30,000 | 2,500 | 10,000 |
| Scale | $439 | $352 | 300 hours a month | 50 | 90,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
PhantomBuster lists "Connect multiple LinkedIn accounts" on every plan without a number, so for a team the question is how far one plan's hours stretch. Our reading, not a PhantomBuster rule: the hours split across the accounts you run.
| LinkedIn accounts | PhantomBuster, billed monthly | PhantomBuster, billed yearly (per month) | PhantomBuster + Sales Navigator Core on each account, billed monthly | BeReach, billed monthly | BeReach, billed yearly (per month) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $69 (Start, 20 hours) | $56 | $188.99 | EUR 99 / $119 (Pro, 2 accounts included) | EUR 79 / $99 |
| 2 | $69 (20 hours shared) to $159 (Grow, 80 hours) | $56 to $128 | $308.98 to $398.98 | EUR 99 / $119 (Pro) | EUR 79 / $99 |
| 3 | $159 (Grow, 80 hours shared) | $128 | $518.97 | EUR 199 / $239 (Max) | EUR 159 / $189 |
| 5 | $159 (Grow) to $439 (Scale, 300 hours) | $128 to $352 | $758.95 to $1,038.95 | EUR 299 / $359 (Max+) | EUR 239 / $289 |
What the plan price does not cover:
- More hours. There is no top-up of execution time: "There is no top-up option" (La Growth Machine, June 2026). One hour past Start's 20 means Grow, $69 to $159 a month.
- More credits. "You can purchase add-on credit packs or upgrade to a plan with a larger monthly allocation", with no pack price published; credits "reset monthly and don't roll over", and when a credit type runs out, "workflows that need that credit type will fail at that step" (PhantomBuster, Pricing Explained, July 2026).
- Sales Navigator, where you use it. The Sales Navigator Phantoms need LinkedIn's seat, $119.99 per license a month billed monthly. BeReach's own search needs none.
BeReach bills per plan, and every plan includes its LinkedIn accounts, the AI that writes every message, the lead search, the Claude and ChatGPT connector and the API. One monthly allowance covers all of it, with nothing to top up and no key to bring.
Billing basis: PhantomBuster prices are per workspace before VAT, read on phantombuster.com/pricing on 3 October 2026: $69, $159 and $439 a month billed monthly, or $56, $128 and $352 a month billed yearly ($672, $1,536 and $4,224 a year); from a European address the page shows the same figures in euros. Sales Navigator Core is LinkedIn's price, $119.99 per license per month billed monthly (LinkedIn), counted only in the column that names it. BeReach prices are from BeReach pricing: Pro EUR 99 ($119), Max EUR 199 ($239) and Max+ EUR 299 ($359) a month billed monthly, or EUR 948, EUR 1,908 and EUR 2,868 a year billed yearly. Euro and dollar amounts are not converted.
Read honestly: PhantomBuster costs less at the door. Start is $69 against BeReach Pro's $119 billed monthly, and Grow's $159 is under Max's $239 for three accounts. At five accounts it is $159 (Grow, about 16 hours each) to $439 (Scale), against $359 for Max+. What holds at every row is what the price includes: on PhantomBuster, hours of runtime and credit meters for a machine you build; on BeReach, the finding, the writing and the sending, run for you. The rest of the market is priced in the true cost of LinkedIn automation tools.
PhantomBuster alternatives by job: exporting post engagers, finding people, sending invites and messages, an API
Pick the job you used PhantomBuster for, and the shortlist follows.
Exporting post likers and commenters
This is the most common reason people open PhantomBuster: a post went well, and you want the list of who reacted.
- BeReach's free exports. The post likes export and the comment export take a post link and give back the people with their role and profile link, free with a BeReach account. Inside BeReach, collecting the engagers of any post is one step of the search, and those people go straight into your list.
- The senders import them too. HeyReach imports "LinkedIn Post (Reactors)", Expandi builds a lead list from a post engagement URL, Waalaxy imports post reactions, and Dripify takes leads from LinkedIn posts. Each then puts them in a sequence you build.
Every method side by side, with what each costs: how to export LinkedIn post likers and LinkedIn comment export tools compared. For the posts themselves, see LinkedIn post scraper tools compared.
Finding the people to contact
- Apollo is a contact database: "Access 240M contacts & 30M companies", with verified emails, phone numbers and email sequences, billed per user seat ($65 Basic or $99 Professional a month billed monthly). On LinkedIn its own help centre says "LinkedIn tasks need to be manually completed": it reminds you, and you send. The full comparison is Apollo alternative for LinkedIn outreach.
- Sales Navigator is where PhantomBuster's Sales Navigator export Phantom starts, on LinkedIn's own seat; see the Sales Navigator alternatives for prospecting.
- BeReach finds the people from your own words. Describe who you sell to; BeReach plans the searches, runs them live on public data, and says so when nobody matches instead of padding the list. It starts from what people just did, a comment, a post, a new role, and thousands of people can be found in minutes. No Sales Navigator seat needed. Try the side that finds people first with the free people search.
Sending invitations and messages
This is where PhantomBuster's Network Booster and message Phantoms sit, and where the dedicated senders compete. They all send from your LinkedIn accounts; they differ on who builds the list, who writes, and what each account costs.
- PhantomBuster vs HeyReach. HeyReach is a sender built around many accounts: "Unlimited senders, one fixed cost" on its home page, but under 10 senders it is $79 per sender a month billed monthly. It imports every lead ("Import relevant LinkedIn contacts from Sales Navigator, Clay, RB2B, HubSpot, or any other tool"), and messages are templates with variables; the AI that writes per person is your own Claude or ChatGPT plan through its MCP (HeyReach pricing, read 3 October 2026). More in PhantomBuster vs HeyReach.
- PhantomBuster vs Dripify. Dripify runs drip sequences you build from a pasted LinkedIn search URL or a CSV, with daily limits you set per account. Pro is $79 per seat a month billed monthly, one LinkedIn account per seat; its AI rewrites a draft you wrote, up to 150 times a month (Dripify pricing, read 3 October 2026). More in Dripify alternatives.
- PhantomBuster vs Expandi. Expandi is one plan, Business, at $99 per seat a month billed monthly, one LinkedIn account per seat, with sequences of actions and conditions you build and daily limits you set; its AI writes campaign messages on a daily credit allowance (Expandi pricing, read 3 October 2026). More in Expandi alternatives.
- PhantomBuster vs Waalaxy. Waalaxy runs in the cloud since July 2026: you import a LinkedIn or Sales Navigator search and pick from "99+ ready-to-use outreach sequences". Pro is EUR 39 and Advanced EUR 99 per seat a month billed monthly, one LinkedIn account per seat, with the inbox an "optional add-on for €20/month" (Waalaxy pricing, read 3 October 2026). More in Waalaxy alternatives.
- BeReach finds the people, writes one first message for each from their profile and recent posts, and once you approve sends the invitations and messages at each account's pace. Two accounts are in the EUR 99 Pro plan.
An API to build your own pipeline
- PhantomBuster's REST API launches Phantoms and fetches what they collected.
- Apify is a general web data platform; if you need data from many websites rather than LinkedIn outreach, see Apify vs BeReach.
- HeyReach includes its API, webhooks and MCP in every plan; Dripify's Open API reads campaigns and adds leads (sending messages through it is "coming soon"); Waalaxy's API needs Advanced or Business.
- BeReach's API and webhooks cover the outreach itself on every plan: finding people, reading profiles and posts, drafting first messages, approving and queueing them, the inbox and the replies. See the BeReach API.
Less searching.
More conversations.
Tell Vera who you want to reach. Review the first message. Take it from there.
Ask Vera to find leads
BeReach: one agent from finding to sending
BeReach is built so that you approve and it runs the LinkedIn mechanics. The three things it changes against PhantomBuster:
1. You approve. BeReach runs the rest.
- Find. Describe who you sell to in your own words. BeReach plans the searches, you agree the plan, and it runs them live on public data.
- Write. It reads each person's profile, company and recent posts and writes one first message for each of them, with the AI built in. No prompt to tune, no results file to clean.
- Approve. You read the drafts and approve them, one by one or in a batch. That is your part.
- Send. BeReach sends the invitations every day, waits for each acceptance and delivers your approved message. You never set a pace: it spaces every invitation and message for each account, slows a new account down on its own, and stops writing to anyone who replies.
Every reply lands in your inbox and the chat, and you answer it yourself or with the assistant's draft. BeReach sends one first message per person, not a multi-step sequence. How far a week goes is set by LinkedIn's own ceiling for each account: BeReach finds thousands of people in minutes, then works through them every day, at about 100 invitations a week per account, so about 200 a week on Pro's two accounts, 300 on Max and 500 on Max+. The reasoning behind that figure is in LinkedIn connection request limits.
2. One price, everything included. EUR 99 a month billed monthly (EUR 79 a month billed yearly): two LinkedIn accounts, the AI that writes every message, the lead search, the Claude and ChatGPT connector and the API. One monthly allowance covers all of it, with nothing to top up and no key to bring. There is no runtime to meter: a top-tier AI model is built in, with no model to pick, and when a BeReach search finds nobody, it says so and gives the credits back.
3. Results, and the 2026 setup. BeReach's own figures, as the site states them: 65% of connection requests accepted (industry average is 21%), a 22% reply rate across active campaigns, and 1,000+ teams joined this year. One customer, Jawad F., Sales Lead at Renault: "We replaced two SDRs with BeReach. Three times the meetings, a fifth of the cost."
Both PhantomBuster and BeReach work with Claude, and they do different jobs there:
| In Claude | PhantomBuster | BeReach |
|---|---|---|
| What the connector does | "A curated set of capabilities focused on the most common workflows, not the entire PhantomBuster API" (PhantomBuster docs); no tool count published | 27 tools to find people, read their profiles and posts, draft and send what you approve |
| Where the people come from | The Phantoms and campaigns you configure | BeReach's own search, from your words |
| Whose AI writes | AI writing metered in its own AI credits | A top-tier AI model built into BeReach, no key to bring |
| Plan | Listed on every plan | Included in every plan |
Any other agent gets the same as BeReach's connector through the API and webhooks.
PhantomBuster reviews: what users complain about
On Capterra PhantomBuster holds 4.5 from 64 reviews, and on Trustpilot 3.3 from 113 reviews, 34% of them one star (both read 3 October 2026). The repeated complaints in the low reviews, each with what answers it:
- Keeping the Phantoms running. "Horrible Support that takes days to respond. The Phantoms beark all the time and the tool is super buggy." (Florian Tailor, Trustpilot, June 2026). On BeReach there are no Phantoms to build or keep running: you approve the messages, and it sends the invitations and messages every day.
- Writing after a reply. "after a connection message, the lead replied and the client proceeded with manual conversation but after 2 days phantom sent a follow-up message." (Sajid Hussain, Trustpilot, January 2025). BeReach sends one first message per person and stops writing to anyone who replies.
- A trial too thin to judge. "Free trial doesn't even work properly...... Not about to sign up for a paid plan when I can't test the demo version!@" (Gareth Scragg, Trustpilot, February 2026). PhantomBuster's trial is 2 hours with "Exports limited to 10 rows"; BeReach's is 14 days with 2,000 credits, and nothing is charged before day 15.
- The price. "The only problem is that it is too expensive." (Marco Genaro P, Capterra, December 2023). On BeReach the price is the plan, with the search, the AI and the sending in one monthly allowance.
The table: PhantomBuster alternatives side by side
| Tool | What you still do yourself | Full cost for 2 LinkedIn accounts, billed monthly | What is extra | In Claude |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PhantomBuster | Configure the Phantoms, Workflows and campaigns; watch the hours | $69 Start (20 hours shared) to $159 Grow (80 hours) | Hours past the plan (next plan only), credit packs, Sales Navigator for its Sales Navigator Phantoms | "A curated set" of its automations, every plan |
| Apollo | Send every LinkedIn invitation and message yourself | $130 Basic or $198 Professional (2 seats) | Credits past each seat's allowance, the AI's research by the cell | Searches, enriches, enrols contacts in email sequences |
| HeyReach | Import the leads, write the templates, set each sender's limits | $158 Growth ($79 per sender) | Your own AI plan to write per person; email finding top-ups | MCP on every plan; your AI client does the thinking |
| Dripify | Import a search or CSV, build the sequence, set daily limits | $158 Pro ($79 per seat) | Email finder packs past 100 credits a month | A 4-tool MCP on Pro and Advanced |
| Expandi | Build the list and the sequence, set daily limits | $198 Business ($99 per seat) | Image and video personalization through partners | An MCP that drafts campaigns and never activates one |
| Waalaxy | Import a search, pick and tune a sequence | EUR 78 Pro or EUR 198 Advanced (2 seats) | Inbox at EUR 20 a month; MCP needs Advanced or Business plus a paid Claude plan | Pushes prospects into its lists and campaigns |
| BeReach | Agree the search plan, approve the messages | EUR 99 / $119 Pro, everything included | Nothing: one monthly allowance, nothing to top up | 27 tools that find people, draft and send what you approve |
Prices are from each company's own pricing page, read on 3 October 2026, per seat or per sender where the tool bills that way: PhantomBuster, Apollo, HeyReach, Dripify, Expandi, Waalaxy. Waalaxy's are in euros as its page shows them; the others in US dollars. BeReach plans are on the pricing page.
Read honestly: at two accounts PhantomBuster Start ($69) and Waalaxy Pro (EUR 78) cost less than BeReach Pro; HeyReach, Dripify, Apollo and Expandi cost more. What the BeReach price includes is the finding, the writing and the sending, with nothing extra to buy.
When PhantomBuster still wins (one-off scrapes of many sites)
Credit where it is due. PhantomBuster is the better buy when:
- You need many platforms. Its Phantoms cover 15+ platforms beyond LinkedIn, so a pipeline that pulls from several sites into one sheet is its home ground. BeReach acts on LinkedIn and searches public data; it does not collect from other platforms.
- You need email enrichment. 500 email credits a month on Start, 2,500 on Grow, 10,000 on Scale. BeReach does not find emails.
- You run one account and need occasional exports. Start at $69 a month billed monthly is less than any BeReach plan.
- You like building. Any Phantom chains into any Workflow, with a REST API to launch them, and every plan lists unlimited users.
If your job is LinkedIn outreach, for one to five accounts, and you want it done rather than built, that is the job BeReach does. The full head to head is PhantomBuster vs BeReach; against a signals tool, Trigify vs PhantomBuster, and for what replaces Trigify itself, Trigify alternatives.
How to switch from PhantomBuster
- Keep what your Phantoms collected. Your results files hold the LinkedIn profile links; download them as a CSV.
- Bring them into BeReach. Drop the CSV or paste the profile links, or describe who you want and let BeReach find them.
- Approve, and it runs. BeReach writes one first message for each person and, once you approve, sends at each account's pace.
BeReach has a 14-day trial with 2,000 credits, and nothing is charged before day 15. Weighing other tools too? See every LinkedIn outreach tool comparison.
FAQ
What is the best PhantomBuster alternative for LinkedIn?
It depends on the job you used it for. To export post likers and commenters, BeReach's free like and comment exports do it with a BeReach account. To send from many accounts with lists you import, HeyReach; for drip sequences you build, Dripify or Expandi. For the whole LinkedIn job, BeReach finds the people from your own words, writes one message to each and, once you approve, sends every invitation and message at each account's pace, from EUR 99 a month billed monthly with the AI included.
Is there a free PhantomBuster alternative?
For exports, yes: BeReach's post likes and comment exports are free with a BeReach account. For outreach, no tool here sends for free: Waalaxy's free plan cannot launch campaigns, Apollo's $0 tier does not send on LinkedIn, and PhantomBuster's own trial is 2 hours with exports limited to 10 rows. BeReach has a 14-day trial with 2,000 credits, and nothing is charged before day 15.
What happens when PhantomBuster execution time runs out?
Your Phantoms and Workflows stop. PhantomBuster's FAQ says "Your automations will pause until your execution time resets or you upgrade your plan. No overage charges are applied automatically." There is no top-up of hours, so the next step up from Start ($69 a month) is Grow ($159). BeReach meters no runtime: one monthly allowance covers the search, the AI and every send.
Can I export LinkedIn post likers and commenters without PhantomBuster?
Yes. BeReach's post likes export and comment export take a post link and give back each person with their role and profile link, free with a BeReach account. HeyReach, Expandi, Waalaxy and Dripify can also import a post's engagers into a campaign.
Does BeReach have an API like PhantomBuster?
Yes, on every plan. PhantomBuster's API launches Phantoms and fetches what they collected. BeReach's API and webhooks cover the outreach itself: finding people, reading profiles and posts, drafting first messages, approving and queueing them, the inbox and the replies. The same operations reach Claude through the BeReach connector.
How much does PhantomBuster cost?
$69 a month for Start, $159 for Grow and $439 for Scale, billed monthly ($56, $128 and $352 a month billed yearly), per workspace, as read on phantombuster.com on 3 October 2026. Each plan buys 20, 80 or 300 hours of runtime shared by every account you connect, with AI, email and URL finder credits on separate meters, and a Sales Navigator seat on top if you use its Sales Navigator Phantoms.
Is BeReach cheaper than PhantomBuster?
Not at the door: PhantomBuster Start is $69 a month billed monthly against $119 for BeReach Pro, and Grow at $159 is under Max at $239. At five accounts PhantomBuster is $159 (Grow, 80 hours shared) to $439 (Scale), against $359 for Max+. What the price buys differs at every count: hours of runtime and credit meters on PhantomBuster, the search, the AI that writes every message and the sending on BeReach.
Does BeReach send follow-up messages?
No. BeReach sends one first message per person, once they accept your invitation. Every reply lands in your inbox and the chat, and you answer it yourself or with the assistant's draft.
Does BeReach work in Claude?
Yes, on every plan. BeReach plugs into Claude, ChatGPT and more as a connector: 27 tools to find people, read their profiles and posts, draft and send what you approve, with no key to bring. Any other agent gets the same through the API and webhooks.
