Two no-code tools pull businesses from Google Maps. One is a multi-platform scraping suite that bills raw rows and scheduled runs. The other is a maps-first lead product that bills contactable exports with enrichment included. On a sales page they look similar. On a Friday deadline they do not.
This page compares Lobstr.io and MapLeads on coverage, filtering order, cost per usable lead, retention, and when each product is the honest pick — without claiming one tool wins every job.
Table of Contents
- TL;DR: Lobstr.io vs MapLeads at a glance
- What Lobstr.io actually does well
- What MapLeads is built for
- Four places the products diverge
- Cost per lead: raw rows vs contactable exports
- When Lobstr.io is the better choice
- When MapLeads is the better choice
- Lobstr.io is not LOBSTR Wallet
- FAQ: Lobstr.io alternative for maps leads
- Verdict
TL;DR: Lobstr.io vs MapLeads at a glance
If you only have two minutes, this table is the article.
| What matters | Lobstr.io | MapLeads |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Multi-platform suite (Maps, Sales Nav, X, and more) | Google Maps + Apple Maps + Bing Maps lead extraction |
| Coverage model | One Maps search URL per zipcode, run in batches | Category + territory search; bulk city/country-style jobs |
| Filtering | After extraction (pay per unique row first) | Before export; only matching leads consume credits |
| Data freshness | Run-based; 7–28 day retention by plan | Live at export; files are yours (CSV, Excel, JSON) |
| Emails | Optional step; native verify (valid / risky / unknown, ~97% on “valid”) | Verified via BillionVerify (MapLeads' own product) + socials, included on every plan |
| Headline price | $0.5 / 1,000 raw leads (no email) | Lite $50 / 15k · Pro $100 / 40k · Max $200 / 100k |
| Best for | Multi-source scraping on a low entry ticket | Maps leads at scale, filtered, enriched, predictable cost |
Short version: no universal “best Google Maps scraper.” If prospecting spans Sales Navigator, X, and marketplaces in one dashboard, Lobstr.io earns its seat. If maps lead lists are the job — filtered, contactable, without zipcode babysitting — MapLeads is built for that lane.
What Lobstr.io actually does well
Lobstr.io is a French no-code scraping platform (around 2019). The piece that matters here is its Google Maps Leads Scraper. Mid-2026 store metrics for that scraper have shown on the order of 10,000+ users and thousands of runs — production use, not a toy.
Claims are largely fair on paper: about 200 leads per minute, a high reported task success rate, and dozens of attributes per lead (commonly ~87 fields). Paste a Google Maps search URL, the run scrapes businesses behind it, and results often land in Google Sheets. Phones and emails are available when you enable those steps.
Email handling is a real strength. Lobstr bills email extraction only when it finds at least one email. It also verifies in-app: each address tagged valid, risky, or unknown, with roughly 97% accuracy claimed on “valid.” For deliverability-focused teams, that native score is a genuine plus.
Around Maps sits a broader suite: SDK, CLI, Chrome extension, Make.com, plus Sales Navigator, X/Twitter, marketplaces, and more. Breadth is the pitch — one subscription, many sources.
The catch is coverage. Lobstr-style smart filters generate one Google Maps search URL per zipcode, scrape each batch, then deduplicate. Clever engineering. It is still a run you babysit, not a lead product you filter before spend. 2026 reviews have praised price and no-code flow while noting raw exports that need cleanup — a fair score for a fair generalist.
What MapLeads is built for
MapLeads does one job family well: local business lead extraction from maps, with contacts attached.
You search by category and geography across Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps. Filters apply before credits move — website present, email present, rating, review volume, open status, and similar gates. Verified emails and socials ship on every plan. Exports are CSV, Excel, or JSON. Public pages show aggregate stats only; contacts appear after export. Industry and city planning pages live under email lists.
There is no Sales Navigator scraper and no X exporter. That is intentional. Multi-platform teams keep a suite for those channels and use MapLeads for maps volume. Local B2B pipelines usually want the specialist: fewer zipcode URLs, fewer “extract then delete” rows, and cost tied to exported leads.
Setup is product UI. For automation later, MapLeads exposes a REST API and webhooks. Trial is 3 days (plan and payment method required to start) — see signup and pricing.
Four places the products diverge
Both tools scrape Google Maps without writing a scraper from scratch. Power users still end up with different bills because four details rarely make the hero banner.
| Feature | Lobstr.io | MapLeads |
|---|---|---|
| Country / large-area extraction | Zipcode URL grid, batched runs | Category + territory; bulk coverage without manual URL stitching |
| Filtering | After extraction (Match Filters / reason columns) | Before export; free-style exploration before spend |
| Retention | Run data 7–28 days by plan | Your export file; no drawer expiry on the download |
| Email verification score | Native valid / risky / unknown | Verified emails included; classification-style outreach fields in product |
| Phone / contact detail depth | Core listing + enrichment steps | Phones, emails, socials as lead package |
| Other platforms (LinkedIn, X…) | Yes — suite strength | Maps sources only (Google / Apple / Bing) |
| Automation surface | SDK, CLI, Make.com, extension | REST API, webhooks, product UI |
| Pricing unit | Credits / packs; email steps often extra | Flat monthly lead credits with enrichment included |
Zipcode batches vs maps-native bulk
Differentiator number one is operational, not cosmetic.
Lobstr-style coverage stitches per-zipcode Maps URLs, runs them, merges duplicates, and waits on the queue. Fine for a neighborhood. For every plumber across a large state, you orchestrate batch jobs: URL generation, run health, merge, re-run misses. Smart filters reduce double billing; they do not remove the batch character.
MapLeads treats category + geography as the primary input: search, filter, export — not “build a zipcode grid and hope retention holds.” Radius and polygon-style targeting (where available) replace pasting dozens of search URLs into a sheet. See features.
Filter after pay vs filter before pay
This is the detail that quietly sets monthly burn.
On Lobstr, the usual order is extract first, then inspect match columns and “no match” reasons. You pay per unique row — then learn which rows were worth keeping. Geo-matching can limit out-of-area waste; it does not flip the economics. Rows without a site or email still cost credits if they landed in the run.
On MapLeads, filters sit before export spend. Narrow to contactable businesses, then export. Credits attach to rows you chose to keep. That is not a prettier UI — it is a different cost per contactable lead, the unit that matters when the next step is a cold email sequence.
Sales teams feel this on CAC. Paying for rows you delete is expensive cleanup, not “cheap scraping.”
Retention windows vs files you keep
Lobstr has long described 7 to 28 day retention depending on plan. Miss the window and re-run. Fine for short experiments; painful when next quarter needs the same market without re-paying extraction.
MapLeads extracts at export time. The download is yours — CSV, Excel, or JSON — with no “results expire in the drawer” story. You still own list hygiene; you do not lose the file because a retention slider ticked down.
Emails: verify scores vs included enrichment
Strengths differ.
Lobstr wins on in-app verification labels and “bill email only if found.” The ~97% “valid” claim is useful when you need a status column before send. Coverage still varies by source — third-party notes have flagged low hit rates on some non-Maps scrapers in the suite, so fill rate is not free.
MapLeads wins on inclusion and packaging: verified emails and socials on every plan, not a chained paid step after raw rows. Verification runs through BillionVerify — MapLeads' own sister product, same team, built in rather than bolted on — so you're not paying Lobstr for raw rows and then paying a separate vendor to check them. Goal is an outreach-ready maps file, not a dump you re-enrich elsewhere. Export formats: export docs.
Lobstr leans Make.com / SDK; MapLeads leans product UI plus API/webhooks. Different shapes, same desire for unattended jobs once the list pattern is proven.
Cost per lead: raw rows vs contactable exports
“$0.5 per 1,000 leads” sounds unbeatable. As of mid-2026 that figure has been advertised for raw extraction without emails on Lobstr’s Maps scraper surface. It is real, and it is cheap — for a row, not for a lead you can email.
Lobstr’s live pricing is often a JavaScript credit simulator, so exact tiers move. Third-party reviews in 2026 have pegged entry-style packs around ~$25/mo for ~2,500 rows and ~$75/mo for ~10,000, with other competitor writeups citing packs from roughly €50/mo and email enrichment chained through paid “squids.” Treat those as directional. Confirm on Lobstr’s site the day you buy; packs and simulators change.
| Cost factor | Lobstr.io (credit packs / steps) | MapLeads (monthly leads) |
|---|---|---|
| Raw row | ~$0.5 / 1,000 (no email, advertised) | Included in lead credit |
| Email extraction | Extra credits (billed when found) | Included |
| Email verification | Extra credits / built into email step | Included (verified emails on every plan) |
| Rows without site/email you still pay | Often yes (filter after) | Avoidable with pre-export filters |
| Entry-style plan (directional) | ~$25/mo for ~2.5k rows (third-party 2026) | Lite $50/mo · 15,000 leads |
| Mid volume | ~$75/mo for ~10k rows (third-party) | Pro $100/mo · 40,000 leads |
| High volume | Higher packs via simulator | Max $200/mo · 100,000 leads |
| Approx. cost per lead | Highly variable once email + waste rows stack | ~$0.0033 Lite · $0.0025 Pro · $0.002 Max |
| Free pre-spend counts / filter explore | Not the same “filter before credit” model | Filter and scope before export |
Run the real math. Add email extraction, add verification, then add businesses with no website and no email that still burned extraction credits before you could drop them. Suddenly “half a cent per thousand raw rows” describes almost none of the contacts that hit a sequencer.
MapLeads keeps the story flat: one exported lead consumes one credit path on the plan, enrichment included, and pre-export filters keep waste out of the bill. At Lite, 15,000 leads for $50 is about a third of a cent per lead. Pro and Max push unit cost lower for teams that run multi-city campaigns every month. Full plan detail lives on pricing.
Competitor pricing above may change — verify on Lobstr’s current pricing UI before you commit. MapLeads figures are product list prices for monthly lead tiers with enrichment included.
When Lobstr.io is the better choice
Honest comparison means saying when the suite wins.
Choose Lobstr.io when:
- You scrape beyond maps — Sales Navigator, X, marketplaces — and want one no-code subscription for all of it.
- Native email verification labels (
valid/risky/unknown) inside the scraper workflow are non-negotiable and you already trust that meter. - You want the lowest entry ticket and accept cleaning raw rows, extra credits for emails, and retention windows.
- You are testing scraping casually — Lobstr has long offered a permanent free-style tier with tight export caps (commonly cited around 30 rows per export and limited scheduling); fine for experiments, not for agency client volume.
- You are comfortable operating batch zipcode runs and re-running when data ages out of 7–28 day retention.
No shade. Multi-platform generalists should not be forced into a maps-only product. Lobstr is a good tool being good at suite breadth. If you also evaluate other automation suites for LinkedIn-heavy work, the PhantomBuster alternative page covers a related shape of tradeoff.
When MapLeads is the better choice
What happens when you need every HVAC company in Texas — with emails — by Friday?
That is the job MapLeads is for: maps lead generation at city, region, or country-style scale, filtered to contactable, exported without a zipcode URL factory. If local B2B lists are the well you draw from, the specialist wins on operational overhead, cost per useful lead, and the absence of run-babysitting.
Prefer MapLeads when:
- Google Maps (plus Apple Maps / Bing Maps) is the primary source, not one of five scrapers in a suite.
- You want verified emails and socials included, not chained as optional paid steps after raw extraction.
- You want filter-before-export economics so credits do not evaporate on rows you will delete.
- You need predictable monthly volume (15k / 40k / 100k) instead of guessing how many credit packs a state-wide campaign will burn.
- You need exports sales already imports — CSV, Excel, JSON — and optional API / webhook delivery later.
Agencies often split the stack: keep Lobstr (or similar) for multi-channel social/LinkedIn jobs, put maps lists on MapLeads. That split is usually calmer than forcing country-scale Maps through a zipcode batch queue priced on raw rows.
For role-shaped workflows, see use cases for sales teams. For product surface depth, see features.
Lobstr.io is not LOBSTR Wallet
Quick sanity check. LOBSTR (the Stellar / crypto wallet product) is a completely different company and product universe. Same-sounding brand, opposite jobs.
Lobstr.io is the French no-code web scraping SaaS compared on this page. If search led you here while hunting wallet status or recovery threads, you are in the scraping conversation now — not the crypto one. Fat-finger the wrong signup and you will notice quickly: one product exports business tables; the other holds digital assets.
FAQ: Lobstr.io alternative for maps leads
Is Lobstr.io good for Google Maps scraping?
Yes, for many teams. No-code runs, rich attribute sets, native email verification labels, and a low advertised raw-row price make it a credible Maps scraper inside a multi-platform suite. Weak spots for maps-only volume: you often pay per extracted row and filter afterward, coverage runs as zipcode batch jobs rather than a single filtered export flow, and run retention commonly sits in a 7–28 day window. Good tool — know the model before you scale a whole country.
What is the difference between Lobstr.io and MapLeads?
Lobstr.io is a multi-platform scraping suite (Google Maps plus Sales Navigator, X, and more) built around credit packs, scheduled runs, and optional email steps with in-app verify statuses. MapLeads is a maps lead specialist: Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps, filter-before-export, verified emails and socials included on flat monthly lead plans, CSV/Excel/JSON exports. Breadth versus maps depth.
Is Lobstr.io the same as LOBSTR wallet?
No. LOBSTR the wallet is a Stellar/crypto product. Lobstr.io is a French no-code scraping platform. Unrelated companies that share a similar name.
How much does Lobstr.io cost per lead?
Base Maps extraction has been advertised around $0.5 per 1,000 leads without email (mid-2026 store-facing claims). Third-party reviews have described packs near $25–$75/mo for a few thousand to ~10k rows. Email finding and verification consume additional credits. Compare on cost per contactable lead after waste rows and enrichment — not per raw row. Confirm live pricing on Lobstr’s site; simulators change.
How does MapLeads pricing compare?
MapLeads publishes three monthly tiers: Lite $50 for 15,000 leads, Pro $100 for 40,000, Max $200 for 100,000, with verified emails and socials included. Unit cost lands near $0.0033 / $0.0025 / $0.002 per lead. That is a different contract from raw-row packs: you are buying exportable maps leads, not unbundled extraction steps. Details: pricing.
Does MapLeads include a free permanent plan like Lobstr?
MapLeads offers a 3-day trial with plan and payment method required to start, not a permanent free tier capped at tiny exports. If you need unlimited free forever experimentation with hard row caps, Lobstr’s free-style plan may fit better. If you need production list volume quickly, trial into a paid tier is the MapLeads path — signup.
Is scraping Google Maps legal?
Both products work with public business listings. B2B prospecting on public maps data is treated as lawful in many jurisdictions when you respect platform terms, privacy law (GDPR, CCPA where applicable), and email rules (CAN-SPAM, consent where required, unsubscribe). Neither comparison page is legal advice. Traceability, purpose limitation, and list hygiene still sit with you. MapLeads keeps public pages on aggregate stats; contacts only after export.
Can I use Lobstr and MapLeads together?
Yes. Common pattern: Lobstr (or PhantomBuster-class tools) for LinkedIn/social automation; MapLeads for city and country-style maps lists with enrichment included. That split avoids forcing every channel through one billing metaphor.
Verdict
Two real tools. One question: what are you actually scraping?
If the answer is a mix of platforms on a shoestring entry budget, Lobstr.io is a smart, honest buy — multi-source scrapers, native verify labels, raw-row headline pricing that looks great until email waste is counted. Prefer it when suite breadth beats maps depth.
If the answer is Google Maps (and map peers) as the lead engine — contactable businesses across a territory, filtered before spend, enrichment included, files you keep — MapLeads is the cleaner specialist. Flat lead credits, multi-map coverage, exports sales teams already import, without a zipcode batch queue as the primary coverage model.
Start with the market you care about. Pick a category and geography, filter to contactable, export, and compare unit cost to raw-row math yourself. See pricing, review features, or start a 3-day trial.