Apify Google Maps Scraper Review: Pricing, How It Works, and Best Alternatives (2026)

Apify Google Maps Scraper is a cloud-based actor on the Apify platform that extracts business listings from Google Maps. It charges $4 per 1,000 scraped places on the free plan, or $6 per 1,000 with company contacts enrichment (emails and social profiles). Google Maps caps standard search results at roughly 120 listings per query; Apify's actor bypasses that limit using a grid-search technique. The actor has 393,000 total users and a 4.7-star rating from 1,286 reviews on the Apify Store.

By Shane Daly, Content Writer at Lead Scrape

Both tools extract business data from online directories, but their pricing and data coverage differ. Lead Scrape is a desktop application that pulls data from multiple business directories for a flat $247 per year (Business version) or $97/year (Standard), with email verification, tech stack analysis, and SEO metrics included.

What Is Apify Google Maps Scraper?

Apify Google Maps Scraper is a serverless actor maintained by Compass on the Apify platform. It extracts structured business data from Google Maps, including business names, addresses, phone numbers, ratings, and website URLs, and exports results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or Google Sheets without requiring code.

How Does Apify Google Maps Scraper Work?

You enter search terms or a Google Maps URL, set result limits, and click Start. The actor handles pagination and exports structured business listings to CSV, JSON, Excel, or Google Sheets.

Each scraped record includes the business name, address, phone, website, category, rating, review count, hours, Google Place ID, and coordinates. Optional add-ons pull email addresses, social media profiles, images, and review text at roughly $2 per 1,000 reviews.

To run a scrape, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Apify Console
2. Open the Google Maps Scraper actor (maintained by Compass)
3. Enter search terms or paste a Google Maps URL
4. Set result limits and geolocation boundaries
5. Click Start
6. Export results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or Google Sheets once the run completes

The actor handles proxy rotation, pagination, and anti-blocking automatically.

Geolocation and Custom Search Areas

The actor supports targeting by city, zip code, state, country, or custom latitude/longitude coordinates. For precise targeting, it accepts bounding boxes defined by coordinate pairs. Grid-search combined with geographic targeting reduces duplicates and irrelevant results.

How Apify Handles Google's Anti-Bot Defenses

Google Maps deploys CAPTCHAs, rate limiting, IP blocking, and frequent DOM changes to shut down bots. Apify rotates residential proxies automatically, throttles request rates to mimic human patterns, and retries failed requests with backoff logic. The actor is updated when Google changes its layout. Large result sets may still encounter blocks; smaller batches reduce failure rates.

How Do Apify Google Maps Scraper and Lead Scrape Compare?

Apify charges per result on a credit system while Lead Scrape charges a flat $247 per year for unlimited scraping. Lead Scrape includes email verification, tech stack data, SEO metrics, CRM integrations, and native webhook support at no extra cost. Apify charges extra for email enrichment and lacks built-in integrations or outbound webhooks.

Data Accuracy and Freshness

Apify pulls listings in real time from Google Maps, so the data reflects whatever Google currently shows, including stale or closed listings that appear regularly. Apify does not flag or filter these records. Lead Scrape cross-references multiple business directories to surface inconsistencies, and its built-in email verification (97%+ accuracy) catches invalid addresses before they reach your outreach list.

How Much Does Apify Google Maps Scraper Actually Cost?

Apify Google Maps Scraper costs $4 per 1,000 base results and $6 per 1,000 with email enrichment. A free tier provides $5 in monthly credits. Paid plans start at $49 per month.

According to the Apify actor listing, the paid Business plan offers a Gold discount that drops the base to $2.10 per 1,000 places, but that plan starts at $49/month before any scraping charges. Several G2 reviews note that costs accumulate faster than expected when running multiple actors or enrichment steps. One G2 reviewer wrote: "The pricing can get expensive quickly if you're running large-scale scraping jobs. The free tier is very limited and it's easy to burn through credits without realizing it."

The breakeven point sits around 3,500 results per month. Above that, Lead Scrape's flat rate saves progressively more. A marketing agency pulling 20,000 local business listings per month saves $1,193 in year one.

Who Should Use Which Tool?

Apify suits developers who need custom scraping pipelines and occasional low-volume Google Maps extractions. Lead Scrape is the better fit for agencies, sales teams, and freelancers who prospect regularly and want unlimited data with verified emails, enrichment, and CRM integrations for one flat price.

Apify is a good fit if: you are a developer building custom pipelines with Apify's actor ecosystem, or you run occasional low-volume scrapes where pay-per-result stays manageable.

Lead Scrape is the better choice if: you need B2B contact data on a regular basis and want every data point, from emails to tech stacks to SEO metrics, bundled into one price. See the full Lead Scrape feature list for details. Pair your exports with a cold email outreach workflow, a lead scoring system, or LinkedIn lead generation to build multi-channel prospect lists.

Apify Google Maps Scraper Reviews: What Users Are Saying in 2026

The Apify Google Maps Scraper actor holds a 4.7-star rating from 1,306 reviews on the Apify Store and has attracted 401,000 total users since launch. Positive feedback centers on ease of setup and consistent data output. Negative feedback clusters around billing surprises and missing enrichment features that require workarounds or separate tools.

Positive Feedback Themes

• No-code setup. Reviewers on G2 consistently note that basic scrapes run without writing a single line of code.
• Reliable structured output. The actor returns clean JSON, CSV, or Excel files with consistent field mapping, ready for import without manual cleanup.
• Automatic proxy rotation. Technical users appreciate that Apify handles residential proxy management, IP rotation, and retry logic behind the scenes, removing a major maintenance burden compared to self-hosted scrapers.
• Active maintenance. The actor receives updates when Google changes its Maps layout. Users on the Apify community forum and r/webscraping note that downtime after Google DOM changes is typically resolved within days, faster than most open-source alternatives.

Common Complaints and Frustrations

• Cost unpredictability. The credit-based billing model makes it difficult to forecast monthly spend. Multiple G2 reviewers flag that large-scale scraping jobs and enrichment add-ons drain credits faster than expected, and the free tier runs out within a few sessions.
• Email enrichment costs extra. Base results include business name, address, phone, and website but not email addresses. Adding emails and social profiles raises the per-result rate from $4 to $6 per 1,000.
• No built-in email verification. Scraped emails include catch-all addresses, defunct domains, and role-based inboxes. Without a verification step, bounce rates climb when feeding Apify output directly into outreach campaigns.
• Missing enrichment data. The actor does not return tech stack details, SEO metrics, company revenue, or employee counts. Users who need these fields must chain additional Apify actors or subscribe to third-party data providers, adding complexity and cost.
• Learning curve for advanced workflows. While basic scraping is point-and-click, scheduling recurring runs, chaining multiple actors, and pulling results through the API require familiarity with JSON configuration and REST endpoints. Forum posts on r/webscraping and the Apify community reflect this divide between casual and power users.

Lead Scrape sidesteps these pain points with flat annual pricing, bundled email verification at 97%+ accuracy, tech stack and company size data, and native CRM connectors that replace custom API integration.

Apify Google Maps Scraper vs Lead Scrape: Pros and Cons

Lead Scrape wins on cost, data depth, email verification, and ready-made CRM connectors. We checked both tools against reviews on G2 and Capterra. A G2 reviewer noted: "Of all the tools we use, LeadScrape returns the best data to reach out to prospects." Another Capterra reviewer wrote: "The amount of data you get for the price is unbeatable. Email verification built in saves us from paying for a separate tool."

Apify Pros

• Cloud-based platform accessible from any browser without installing software
• Developer-friendly API and actor ecosystem for building custom scraping pipelines
• Free tier with $5 in monthly credits for testing
• Automatic proxy rotation and anti-blocking built into the platform

Apify Cons

• Costs escalate quickly at moderate-to-high volume
• Email extraction is a paid add-on
• No built-in email verification, tech stack detection, or SEO metrics
• No native webhook push or prebuilt CRM connectors; integrations require custom API code
• Scrapes only Google Maps, no access to other business directories

Lead Scrape Pros

• Saves over $1,100 per year compared to Apify at 20,000 results/month
• Emails, tech stack, company size, revenue, and SEO data ship with every license
• Built-in email verification at 97%+ accuracy
• Desktop app processes data locally, so there is no cloud dependency or credit balance to track
• Ready-made CRM connectors for six platforms plus native webhooks that move records into N8N, Zapier, or Make
• Queries multiple business directories instead of relying on Google Maps alone

Lead Scrape Cons

• Desktop application only (Windows and Mac), no cloud access like Apify provides
• No API or actor ecosystem for developers who want to build custom scraping pipelines
• Requires an annual license commitment, while Apify lets you pay only when you scrape

What Are Common Apify Google Maps Scraper Issues and How Do You Fix Them?

The most frequent Apify Google Maps Scraper problems are incomplete results, failed runs, and higher-than-expected costs. Most trace back to broad search queries, exhausted credits, or anti-bot protections triggering mid-scrape.

• Scrape returns fewer results than expected. Google Maps caps visible results at roughly 120 per query. Enable the grid-search feature to split the area into smaller zones, and use specific search terms ("Thai restaurants in downtown Portland" rather than "restaurants").
• Run fails or times out. Break large scrapes into smaller geographic batches and verify your Apify account has enough credits; an exhausted balance stops the actor mid-execution.
• Duplicate listings across runs. When grid-search zones overlap, duplicates appear. Deduplicate by Google Place ID after export; it is unique per listing and the most reliable key.

How to Choose the Right Google Maps Scraper for Your Needs

The right tool depends on three factors: how many leads you need each month, whether you require enriched data beyond basic listings, and whether you prefer managing cloud infrastructure or using a ready-to-run desktop application.

Questions to Ask Before You Commit

1. How many leads do I need per month? At fewer than 500 records, even the Apify free tier or a browser extension may cover your needs. Once you pass roughly 3,500 results per month, per-result pricing exceeds Lead Scrape's flat $247 annual fee, and the gap widens from there.
2. Do I need verified email addresses? Apify delivers raw emails with no verification, which means bounce rates rise when you feed data straight into outreach. Lead Scrape bundles email extraction and verification at 97%+ accuracy with every license.
3. Do I need tech stack, SEO, or company size data? Apify returns listing-level fields only (name, address, phone, website, rating). Lead Scrape adds technology stack detection, domain authority, and estimated revenue and headcount. See the full feature list for details.
4. Am I building a developer pipeline or a sales workflow? Apify's actor ecosystem suits engineers assembling custom scraping chains with API calls and JSON configs. Lead Scrape's point-and-click interface and native CRM connectors suit agencies, sales teams, and freelancers who want data flowing into outreach tools without writing code.
5. Do I need data from sources beyond Google Maps? Apify's actor scrapes only Google Maps listings. Lead Scrape queries multiple B2B directories in a single search, returning a broader set of results. For a wider view of available lead generation tools, see our full comparison.
6. How important is cost predictability? Agencies billing clients a fixed monthly retainer benefit from a tool with a known annual cost. Lead Scrape's flat-rate licensing eliminates the variable line item that credit-based scrapers introduce.
7. Will I route leads into a CRM or outreach tool? If so, check whether the scraper offers native connectors. Lead Scrape ships with built-in CRM integrations for HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Pipedrive, Instantly, Smartlead, and Lemlist, plus webhook support for connecting to N8N, Zapier, or Make.

When Free Tools Are Enough (and When They Are Not)

Free browser extensions handle up to 120 Google Maps results with no email enrichment or verification, useful only for validating a niche. Open-source GitHub scrapers cost nothing but require self-hosting proxies and ongoing maintenance when Google changes its page structure. Apify's free tier ($5 in monthly credits) covers a handful of test scrapes but is not enough for ongoing prospecting.

Free tools fall short the moment you need more than a few hundred records per month, verified email addresses, enriched company data, or automated delivery to a CRM. At that threshold, the choice narrows to per-result pricing (Apify, Outscraper) or flat-rate pricing (Lead Scrape). For a broader B2B lead generation strategy paired with cold email outreach or prospect list building, a flat annual license delivers the strongest return on investment.

Apify Google Maps Scraper Alternatives Worth Considering

The main alternatives to Apify Google Maps Scraper include Lead Scrape (flat-rate desktop tool), Outscraper (cloud pay-per-result), HasData and Decodo (scraper APIs), Clay (sales enrichment platform), open-source Python scrapers on GitHub, browser extensions, and the official Google Places API.

Open-source Python scrapers and browser extensions are free but limited in scale and enrichment. The official Google Places API is the most reliable source but costs more at volume and does not include email addresses for B2B lead generation at scale.

For a broader comparison of lead generation tools, including tools that cover directories beyond Google Maps, see our full comparison page.

What Is the Future of Google Maps Scraping in 2026?

Google Maps scraping is shifting from one-off data pulls to ongoing pipeline automation. Google has hardened its Maps platform with CAPTCHAs, IP blocking, and DOM changes, which raises maintenance overhead for self-hosted scrapers. Managed platforms like Apify absorb that maintenance, but per-event pricing means costs rise alongside extraction complexity.

The market is moving from raw extraction toward enriched, verified lead data. Buyers expect verified emails, tech stack data, and records that flow straight into a CRM. Search interest in "apify google maps scraper" has grown 321% year over year (source: DataForSEO, US) as local lead generation accelerates. At the same time, compliance pressure is rising: GDPR enforcement actions involving scraped business data are becoming more common in EU jurisdictions, and any scraping workflow feeding personal data into outreach should be reviewed against GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and applicable local regulations.

Should You Choose Apify or Lead Scrape for Google Maps Scraping?

For developers building custom scraping pipelines at low volume, Apify Google Maps Scraper is a flexible cloud option. For anyone running regular B2B prospecting, Lead Scrape returns more data for a fraction of the price. The $247 annual license covers unlimited scraping, verified emails, tech stack detection, native CRM integrations, and webhook routing into N8N, Zapier, or Make for the rest of your stack. For most sales teams, agencies, and freelancers running outreach in 2026, that math wins.

Sources

• Apify Google Maps Scraper actor and pricing
• Apify: Google Maps Scraper pay-per-event pricing
• G2 reviews for Apify
• Capterra reviews for Lead Scrape
• G2 reviews for Lead Scrape
• HasData Google Maps scraper API
• Decodo scraper API
• Clay sales enrichment platform

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