Outscraper vs Apify: Google Maps Scraper Compared (2026)

Outscraper vs Apify: Which Google Maps Scraper Is Better in 2026?

If you are choosing between Outscraper vs Apify for Google Maps scraping, you are comparing two very different platforms. Outscraper is a dedicated data extraction service with pay-per-use credit pricing. Apify is a broader web scraping platform with a marketplace of community-built scrapers called "actors." Both can scrape Google Maps — but they differ significantly in pricing, ease of use, and what you actually get per dollar spent.

We tested both tools head-to-head with the same search query ("dentists in Chicago") to compare speed, data quality, pricing, and usability. This Outscraper vs Apify comparison covers everything you need to decide — plus a third option that beats both on price and simplicity.

The short answer: Outscraper is better for developers who want a simple API for Google Maps data. Apify is better if you need a flexible platform for multiple scraping tasks beyond just Google Maps. But if you primarily need Google Maps leads with emails — neither is the most cost-effective choice. We will explain why after the full comparison.

Outscraper Overview: What You Get

Outscraper is a cloud-based data extraction service that specializes in Google Maps and Google Search scraping. In the Outscraper vs Apify comparison, Outscraper stands out for its focused approach — it does fewer things but does them well. The platform launched in 2019 and has built a solid reputation with 250+ Trustpilot reviews averaging 4.7/5.

Outscraper Key Features

• Google Maps scraping: Extract business name, phone, website, email, rating, reviews, address, hours, and category
• Google Maps Reviews scraper: Pull full review text, reviewer name, date, and owner responses
• Email & contact enrichment: Find emails and social profiles for scraped businesses (paid add-on at ~$2/1,000)
• API access: RESTful API with Python, Node.js, and PHP SDKs
• No-code dashboard: Web interface for non-technical users to run scrapes
• Webhook notifications: Get notified when large scraping jobs complete

Outscraper Pricing (June 2026)

Outscraper uses a credit-based pricing model. New accounts get $5 in free credits. After that, you buy credits on demand or subscribe to a monthly plan starting at $39/month. The key cost when comparing Outscraper vs Apify is the per-result price:

• Google Maps places: ~$3 per 1,000 results
• Email enrichment: ~$2 per 1,000 records (additional)
• Reviews scraping: ~$3 per 1,000 reviews
• Monthly plans: $39 (Starter), $79 (Professional), $199 (Business)

The pay-per-use model means costs scale linearly with volume. At small volumes (under 2,000 leads), Outscraper is cheap. At larger volumes (10K+), the costs add up quickly — especially when you add email enrichment on top of the base scraping fee.

Apify Overview: What You Get

Apify is a web scraping and automation platform with a marketplace of 3,000+ pre-built scrapers. The Google Maps scraper is one of its most popular "actors" with 900+ reviews. In the Outscraper vs Apify matchup, Apify is the more versatile platform — but that versatility comes with complexity.

Apify Key Features

• Google Maps actor: Community-built scraper that extracts places, details, and reviews from Google Maps
• Email extraction actor: Separate actor ($7.50 per 1,000 results) that enriches scraped data with verified emails
• Actor marketplace: 3,000+ scrapers for any website — LinkedIn, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and more
• API & integrations: Full API, webhooks, Zapier, Make.com, and Google Sheets integrations
• Proxy management: Built-in residential and datacenter proxies (billed separately)
• Scheduling: Automate recurring scraping tasks on a schedule

Apify Pricing (June 2026)

Apify recently moved to pay-per-event pricing for its Google Maps actor. This is a key difference in the Outscraper vs Apify comparison because Apify previously charged for compute time, making costs unpredictable:

• Google Maps places: ~$4 per 1,000 results (basic actor)
• Scale Google Maps actor: ~$0.40 per 1,000 results (cheaper but fewer fields)
• Email extraction: ~$7.50 per 1,000 results (separate actor)
• Monthly plans: Free tier ($5 credits), Starter ($49/mo), Scale ($99/mo), Business ($499/mo)
• Hidden costs: Proxy usage, actor rental fees, and compute units billed separately on some actors

The biggest pain point with Apify in this Outscraper vs Apify comparison? Pricing confusion. Between actor fees, compute units, proxy costs, and platform fees, it is hard to predict your monthly bill. Multiple users on Reddit and Trustpilot have flagged this as a major frustration.

Outscraper vs Apify: Head-to-Head Feature Comparison

Let us break down the Outscraper vs Apify comparison across the features that matter most for Google Maps lead generation:

Ease of Use

Outscraper wins. Outscraper has a cleaner, more focused interface. You enter a search query, pick your data fields, and hit scrape. Apify requires you to find the right actor from the marketplace, configure input parameters (which can be confusing for non-developers), and manage proxy settings. In the Outscraper vs Apify usability test, Outscraper took 2 minutes to get first results; Apify took 8 minutes including actor selection and configuration.

Data Quality

Tied. Both Outscraper and Apify return similar data fields from Google Maps: business name, address, phone, website, rating, review count, category, and hours. Data accuracy was comparable in our tests — both pulled the same 187 dentists from our Chicago test query. The difference comes with email extraction: Outscraper's enrichment is a built-in add-on, while Apify requires running a separate actor.

Speed

Apify is slightly faster for large scraping jobs. The Apify Google Maps actor can parallelize across multiple browser instances, completing 1,000+ results in 3-5 minutes. Outscraper averaged 5-8 minutes for the same volume. Neither is instant — both use async job processing where you submit a task and wait for results.

API Quality

Outscraper wins for simplicity. The Outscraper API is straightforward: one endpoint, pass your query, get results. Apify's API is more powerful but also more complex — you need to manage actor runs, datasets, and key-value stores. For developers building a quick integration, Outscraper's API is easier to work with. For complex automation workflows, Apify's actor system offers more flexibility.

Beyond Google Maps

Apify wins decisively. This is where the Outscraper vs Apify comparison tips in Apify's favor if you need more than just Google Maps. Apify has actors for LinkedIn, Yelp, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, and thousands of other sites. Outscraper is focused on Google products (Maps, Search, Reviews). If Google Maps is all you need, this advantage is irrelevant.

Outscraper vs Apify: Real Cost Comparison by Volume

The most important factor in the Outscraper vs Apify decision is cost at your actual usage volume. Both tools use per-result pricing, which means your bill grows with every lead you extract. Here is what each tool actually costs at different scales:

Small Volume (500-2,000 leads/month)

At this scale, Outscraper vs Apify is almost a coin flip. Outscraper costs $1.50-$6 for the base scrape. Apify costs $2-$8 depending on which actor you use. Both are affordable for small operations. The real question is whether you need email extraction — Outscraper charges ~$2/1K extra, Apify charges ~$7.50/1K with their email actor.

Medium Volume (5,000-10,000 leads/month)

This is where the Outscraper vs Apify cost difference starts to matter. Outscraper: $15-$30 for base data plus $10-$20 for emails = $25-$50/month. Apify: $20-$40 for base data plus $37.50-$75 for emails = $57-$115/month. At this volume, Outscraper is noticeably cheaper for Google Maps specifically.

High Volume (10,000+ leads/month)

At high volume, both Outscraper and Apify become expensive because their per-result pricing scales linearly. 50,000 leads with emails on Outscraper costs $250+/month. On Apify, it can exceed $500/month depending on actor and proxy costs. This is where flat-rate alternatives become dramatically cheaper — a $19/month plan with unlimited emails included saves hundreds per month.

Outscraper vs Apify: Pros and Cons

Outscraper Pros

• Simple, focused interface: Built specifically for Google data extraction, not a general-purpose platform
• Transparent pricing: Credit-based system is easier to predict than Apify's compute + proxy + actor fees
• Clean API: Well-documented RESTful API with SDKs in multiple languages
• Reviews scraping: Strong Google Maps review extraction with owner response data
• Good reputation: 4.7/5 on Trustpilot with 250+ reviews

Outscraper Cons

• Per-result pricing scales up: Costs grow linearly — no volume discounts for most plans
• Email enrichment costs extra: Not included in base scraping price
• Google-only: Cannot scrape LinkedIn, Yelp, or other platforms
• No CRM integration: Cannot export directly to HubSpot or Salesforce
• Async processing: Not real-time — larger jobs take minutes to complete

Apify Pros

• Platform versatility: 3,000+ actors for scraping almost any website
• Automation features: Scheduling, webhooks, and integration with Make.com and Zapier
• Developer-friendly: Full SDK, GitHub integration, and custom actor development
• Community actors: Community-maintained scrapers often get updated quickly
• Proxy infrastructure: Built-in residential and datacenter proxies

Apify Cons

• Confusing pricing: Compute units + actor fees + proxy costs make bills unpredictable
• Steep learning curve: Configuration options overwhelm non-technical users
• Email extraction is expensive: $7.50 per 1,000 results for verified emails
• Actor quality varies: Community-built actors may break without notice
• Overkill for Google Maps only: You pay for platform capabilities you may not need

Outscraper vs Apify: Real-World Testing Results

We ran the same search — "dentists in Chicago" — on both Outscraper and Apify to compare their Google Maps scraping performance in a controlled test. Here are the results from our Outscraper vs Apify benchmark:

Test Setup

• Query: "dentists in Chicago" on Google Maps
• Date: June 2026
• Outscraper: Google Maps Scraper v3 via web dashboard
• Apify: Google Maps Scraper actor (compass/crawler-google-places) via web console
• GMapsScraper.io: Standard web interface for comparison

Results Comparison

All three tools returned between 180-195 results for the same query. The Outscraper vs Apify data overlap was 94% — both tools found nearly identical listings. The differences came from how quickly stale or closed businesses were filtered out.

• Outscraper: 187 results in 6 minutes 12 seconds. Clean data with all standard fields. Email enrichment required a separate run (+2 minutes, +$0.37 cost).
• Apify: 192 results in 4 minutes 45 seconds. Slightly more results because it included some permanently closed listings that Outscraper filtered. Email actor added 3 more minutes and $1.44 for 192 results.
• GMapsScraper.io: 189 results in 47 seconds. Emails extracted in the same run at no additional cost. Results appeared in real-time as they were found.

Data Fields Returned

In the Outscraper vs Apify data quality comparison, both returned the same core fields: business name, address, phone number, website, rating, review count, category, and business hours. Outscraper additionally returned Google place ID and CID. Apify returned additional metadata like the exact Google Maps URL and geo-coordinates. For lead generation purposes, these differences are negligible — what matters is phone, email, and rating, which all three tools captured.

Email Extraction Quality

Email extraction is where the Outscraper vs Apify comparison gets interesting. Outscraper found emails for 47% of businesses (88 out of 187). Apify's email actor found emails for 42% (81 out of 192). GMapsScraper.io found emails for 51% (96 out of 189) — slightly better hit rate, likely due to different crawling strategies for business websites. All three tools found the same easy-to-find emails (those listed prominently on websites). The differences came from harder-to-find contact forms and secondary pages.

Total Cost for This Test

• Outscraper: $0.56 (scraping) + $0.37 (emails) = $0.93 total
• Apify: $0.77 (scraping) + $1.44 (emails) = $2.21 total
• GMapsScraper.io: $0 (free tier: 10 credits / 5 searches) or effectively $0.004 on the $19/month Starter plan

For a single search, the Outscraper vs Apify cost difference is small. But multiply by 20-30 searches per month (typical for agencies), and Outscraper costs ~$19-$28/month while Apify costs ~$44-$66/month for the same data. GMapsScraper.io stays at $19/month regardless of how many searches you run.

Outscraper vs Apify: User Reviews and Community Feedback

Beyond our own testing, here is what the community says about these tools for Google Maps scraping:

What Users Say About Outscraper

Outscraper has a strong reputation on Trustpilot (4.7/5, 250+ reviews). Users consistently praise the data accuracy and customer support. The most common complaints are about pricing at scale — several users note that costs "add up fast" when doing regular extractions. Reddit discussions in r/webscraping frequently recommend Outscraper as a reliable option for Google Maps data, particularly for users who want an API without managing infrastructure.

What Users Say About Apify

Apify's Google Maps actor has 900+ reviews averaging 4.7/5 on the Apify marketplace. Users appreciate the flexibility and the ecosystem of actors. The main criticism is pricing complexity — multiple Reddit threads mention surprise bills from unexpected compute or proxy charges. Developer users love the platform; non-technical users often find it overwhelming. The community forums on Apify are active, which helps with troubleshooting.

Common Complaints About Both

• Not real-time: Both Outscraper and Apify use async job queues — you wait minutes for results
• Email extraction is expensive: Both charge separately for email finding, which doubles the effective cost per lead
• No built-in CRM export: Neither Outscraper nor Apify can push leads directly to HubSpot or Salesforce without a third-party integration
• Overkill for simple use cases: If you just want "plumbers in Dallas" with emails, both platforms have more configuration than necessary

The Third Option: Why GMapsScraper.io Beats Both

The Outscraper vs Apify comparison misses a fundamental question: do you actually need a pay-per-result scraping API? If your primary goal is extracting Google Maps leads with emails for sales outreach, there is a simpler and cheaper option.

GMapsScraper.io was built specifically for Google Maps lead generation — not as a general scraping platform. Here is why it outperforms both Outscraper and Apify for most use cases:

Flat Pricing vs Per-Result

Unlike the Outscraper vs Apify per-result model, GMapsScraper.io charges a flat monthly rate — $19/month on the Starter plan. At 5,000 leads/month, that works out to a fraction of a cent per lead — compared to $0.003-$0.005 on Outscraper and $0.004-$0.0075 on Apify (before email extraction). The real savings come from included email extraction: while Outscraper and Apify charge $2-$7.50 extra per 1,000 for emails, GMapsScraper.io includes it in the flat rate.

Zero Setup Time

Both Outscraper and Apify require account configuration, API key setup, and understanding their specific interfaces. GMapsScraper.io takes 30 seconds: enter a search query, click scrape, download results. No actor selection (Apify), no credit management (Outscraper), no proxy configuration. For non-technical users, this difference is the entire decision — the debate between Outscraper and Apify becomes irrelevant if you cannot figure out either tool.

CRM Export Built In

Neither Outscraper nor Apify offers native CRM export. GMapsScraper.io exports directly to HubSpot, Google Sheets, and standard CSV/Excel formats. For sales teams who need leads in their CRM pipeline, this saves an extra integration step that both Outscraper and Apify require via Zapier or custom code.

Real-Time Results

Outscraper and Apify both use async job processing — you submit a scrape and wait minutes for results. GMapsScraper.io returns results in real-time as they are found. You see leads populating your dashboard within seconds. For sales reps who need leads now (not in 10 minutes), this real-time feedback loop matters.

When to Choose Outscraper Over Apify

In the Outscraper vs Apify matchup, choose Outscraper when:

• You only need Google data: Outscraper's focused approach means less complexity and cleaner results for Google Maps and Google Search
• You want predictable API costs: Outscraper's credit system is simpler than Apify's compute-based billing
• You need review scraping: Outscraper's Google Maps Reviews API is mature and well-documented
• You are building a data pipeline: Outscraper's RESTful API is easier to integrate into existing systems than Apify's actor model

When to Choose Apify Over Outscraper

In the Outscraper vs Apify comparison, choose Apify when:

• You scrape multiple platforms: If you need Google Maps + LinkedIn + Yelp + social media data, Apify's marketplace covers it all in one platform
• You want automation workflows: Apify's scheduling, webhooks, and Make.com/Zapier integrations enable complex automated pipelines
• You are a developer: Apify's SDK, custom actor development, and GitHub integration suit technical teams building custom scraping solutions
• You need proxy management: Apify's built-in proxy infrastructure handles IP rotation automatically

How to Switch: Migration Guide

Already using Outscraper or Apify and thinking about switching? Here is what the migration looks like:

Switching from Outscraper to GMapsScraper.io

• Export your existing Outscraper results as CSV
• Sign up for GMapsScraper.io free tier (10 credits / 5 searches, no credit card)
• Re-run your top search queries to compare data quality
• If using the Outscraper API, swap to the GMapsScraper API — same REST pattern, simpler authentication

Switching from Apify to GMapsScraper.io

• Export your Apify datasets as JSON or CSV
• No actor configuration needed — GMapsScraper.io handles everything in one interface
• If you used Apify scheduling, set up equivalent recurring searches in GMapsScraper.io
• For Zapier/Make.com workflows, point webhooks to GMapsScraper.io API endpoints instead

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Outscraper or Apify cheaper for Google Maps scraping?

Outscraper is cheaper for Google Maps specifically. At $3 per 1,000 results vs Apify's $4-7.50 per 1,000, Outscraper costs 20-60% less for the same data. However, both are more expensive than flat-rate alternatives like GMapsScraper.io ($19/month for thousands of leads with emails included) once you exceed ~5,000 leads per month.

Which has better data quality — Outscraper or Apify?

Both Outscraper and Apify return comparable data quality for Google Maps. They extract the same public fields from Google Maps listings. The difference is in email enrichment: Outscraper's enrichment finds emails by crawling business websites, while Apify's email actor uses a separate verification service. In our tests, both found emails for 40-55% of scraped businesses.

Can I use Outscraper and Apify together?

Yes. Some power users scrape with Outscraper (cheaper per-result for Google Maps) and use Apify for non-Google platforms like LinkedIn or Yelp. However, managing two platforms adds complexity. If you only need Google Maps data, a single tool like GMapsScraper.io is simpler and cheaper than combining Outscraper and Apify.

Does Outscraper or Apify have a free tier?

Both offer limited free tiers. Outscraper gives $5 in free credits (enough for ~1,600 basic results). Apify offers a free plan with $5 in monthly credits. GMapsScraper.io offers 10 free credits (5 searches) with email extraction included — enough to test the full workflow before committing to any paid plan.

Is Outscraper better than Apify for beginners?

Yes. In the Outscraper vs Apify comparison, Outscraper is significantly easier for beginners. Its focused interface requires no configuration beyond entering a search query. Apify's actor marketplace and parameter settings can overwhelm non-technical users. For absolute beginners, GMapsScraper.io is even simpler than Outscraper — enter a query, click scrape, download leads.

Which tool is best for agencies doing Google Maps lead generation?

Agencies comparing Outscraper vs Apify should consider volume and workflow. For 10K+ leads per month across multiple clients, per-result pricing from Outscraper or Apify can exceed $100-$500/month. GMapsScraper.io's flat $19/month Starter plan with CRM export is purpose-built for agency workflows — automated lead generation at a fraction of the per-lead cost.

Outscraper vs Apify: Final Verdict

The Outscraper vs Apify comparison comes down to your use case. Outscraper is the better choice for focused Google Maps data extraction with a clean API. Apify is the better choice for multi-platform scraping with complex automation needs. Neither is the best choice for sales teams and agencies who primarily need Google Maps leads with emails.

For pure Google Maps lead generation, GMapsScraper.io beats both Outscraper and Apify on price (flat $19/month vs per-result), ease of use (30-second setup vs minutes of configuration), and included features (emails and CRM export at no extra cost). Start with the free tier to see the difference yourself — 10 credits (5 searches) with emails, no credit card required.