> **For coding agents and LLMs:** This is one Social Fetch marketing page (markdown export). For API orientation start with [`/llms.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms.txt); for auth and crawl rules use [`/agents.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/agents.txt); for every operation use [`/llms-endpoints.txt`](https://www.socialfetch.dev/llms-endpoints.txt). ## This page - **On-site (HTML):** - **Markdown (.mdx) URL:** --- # PhantomBuster alternative: LinkedIn and social data by API, billed per lookup LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram data as JSON from one API call. Pay per lookup — no execution hours, slots or monthly plan. PhantomBuster is a cloud automation studio — pre-built Phantoms for LinkedIn outreach, scraping flows, and sales workflows, billed in execution hours and slots. Social Fetch is a developer API for structured social data. If you are automating a browser playbook, PhantomBuster. If you are calling an API from your backend, Social Fetch. ## Price headline - **Social Fetch:** from $1.35 per 1,000 credits (1 per TikTok or Instagram profile, 3 per LinkedIn profile) - **PhantomBuster:** $69/mo for PhantomBuster Start: 20 execution hours and 5 Phantom slots PhantomBuster prices runtime; Social Fetch prices results. If you know how many profiles you need, you know what Social Fetch will cost — with no monthly plan to keep paying. ## At a glance | | Social Fetch | PhantomBuster | | --- | --- | --- | | What you operate | REST endpoints + API key | Phantoms, workflows, execution hours | | Pricing | PAYG packs from $14; $1.64 per 1,000 credits at the Scale pack rate | Start $69 / Grow $159 / Scale $439 per month | | Meter | Credits per completed lookup | Execution hours + Phantom slots + AI/email credits | | Best user | Engineers shipping product features | Growth/sales teams running automations | | LinkedIn enrichment in an app | API route, JSON in response | Run a Phantom, export CSV/JSON, or call their API around automations | | Social API catalog | 264 ops / 25 platforms | Automation recipes — not a unified social schema API | ## Pricing (last verified 2026-09-23) **Execution hours vs per-lookup credits.** PhantomBuster Start $69/mo (20 execution hours, 5 slots), Grow $159 (80h, 15 slots), Scale $439 (300h, 50 slots). API access drives automations — you still think in hours and slots. Social Fetch bills per completed lookup, not runtime. | | Social Fetch | PhantomBuster | Note | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 75k TikTok or Instagram profile lookups | ~$124 at the Scale pack rate | Depends on Phantom runtime — hours, not rows | 1 credit per lookup. | | 25k LinkedIn profile lookups | ~$124 at the Scale pack rate | Depends on Phantom runtime — hours, not rows | LinkedIn profiles are 3 credits each (75,000 credits). | | Monthly floor | None on PAYG | $69+ once you leave free/trial limits | | | LinkedIn outreach sequences | Wrong tool | Core use case | | | Embed in a SaaS backend | Designed for this | Possible via API — still automation-shaped | | | Export limits on free/trial | Full API within credit balance | 10-row cap on free/trial exports | | PhantomBuster plan details from support.phantombuster.com pricing article (May 2026 figures cited there). Confirm current hours and slot counts on phantombuster.com/pricing before buying. Social Fetch figures use the Scale pack rate ($379 for 230,000 credits, about $1.64 per 1,000; September 2026); smaller packs cost more per credit. ## Feature matrix | Feature | Social Fetch | PhantomBuster | | --- | --- | --- | | Synchronous REST JSON (no actor run polling) | Yes | Partial | | One API key for all platforms | Yes | Partial | | Unified schema across platforms | Yes | No | | Public OpenAPI specification | Yes | Partial | | Official TypeScript SDK | Yes | No | | Interactive API playground | Yes | Partial | | TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, X in one vendor | Yes | Partial | | Pay-as-you-go without required monthly subscription | Yes | No | | PAYG credits never expire | Yes | No | | Web fetch (markdown/HTML) in same product | Yes | No | | Scheduled account / feed monitors | Yes | Yes | | Signed webhooks when watched accounts post | Yes | Partial | ## Phantoms are workflows; Social Fetch is data PhantomBuster's product is the automation: connect LinkedIn, run a Phantom on a schedule, push leads to a Google Sheet, enrich emails. The value is the playbook and the cloud browser time, not a clean multi-platform OpenAPI for your app server. Social Fetch has no outreach sequences, no LinkedIn invitation Phantom, no slot capacity. We return JSON for profiles and posts so your code can decide what to do next. Growth teams evaluating PhantomBuster for pipeline generation should not be redirected here. Engineers evaluating PhantomBuster as their "LinkedIn API" should look harder — you may be buying hours to approximate an API. ## Why execution hours fight app backends When your SaaS feature looks up 500 creators during onboarding, you want request count × price. PhantomBuster wants to know how long the Phantom ran, how many slots you occupied, and whether AI credits were consumed. That metering fits scheduled scrapes. It is awkward inside a request/response product path. Paid PhantomBuster plans include API access without the 10-row export cap — useful for triggering automations from your code. It is still an automation platform with an API, not a social data API with automations bolted on. ## A clean split for GTM and product Keep PhantomBuster (or similar) for sales ops automations. Keep Social Fetch for the product database of creators, brand monitoring, and in-app enrichment. Sharing one vendor for both jobs usually means one team is using the wrong abstraction. ## When PhantomBuster is the better choice - LinkedIn/sales outreach automations and lead workflows - No-code operators who want Phantoms, not HTTP clients - Scheduled scrapes where execution hours are the natural budget ## When Social Fetch is the better choice - Backend features that need social JSON in the request thread - Multi-platform product data under one REST schema - Predictable per-lookup pricing without hour/slot math ## Verdict: Automation studio vs social data API PhantomBuster wins for cloud social automations billed in execution hours. Social Fetch wins for production social data over REST. Do not replace one with the other — replace a misuse. If you are running Phantoms only to dump profile JSON into your app, you want an API. If you are wiring Social Fetch to send LinkedIn connection requests, you want an automation tool. ## FAQ ### Does PhantomBuster offer an API? Yes on paid plans, primarily to launch and manage automations. Social Fetch's API is the product: social resources as JSON, not Phantom runs. ### Which is cheaper for 50k profile lookups? Usually Social Fetch for pure data extraction, because you pay per lookup rather than per hour. At the Scale pack rate ($1.64 per 1,000 credits), 50k TikTok or Instagram profiles (1 credit each) is about $82. LinkedIn profiles are 3 credits each, so 50k is 150k credits: about $247 at that rate, or the 150k credits included in the $225/month Scale plan. PhantomBuster cost depends on how long Phantoms run and which plan hours you burn, so compare against your real runtime. ### Can I use both? Yes. PhantomBuster for GTM automations; Social Fetch for application data. That split matches how most companies already organize teams.