Alternatives · LinkedIn automation
A PhantomBuster alternative an agent can buy itself.
PhantomBuster runs automations, billed by execution time on monthly plans. If what you need is data (profiles, companies, search results, jobs) in your own code or agent, a per-record API is simpler to budget.
- Profiles from
- $0.004
- To start
- $5
- Free trial
- $0.10
- Facts checked
- October 2026
Updated 22 October 2026
API for Agents and PhantomBuster, side by side
Their side is from their own pages, linked below, as seen on 16 October 2026. Prices change: check the source before you decide.
| API for Agents | PhantomBuster | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Per record, pay as you go | Monthly plans, by execution hours |
| To start paying | $5 top-up, no plan | From $69 a month |
| Free to try | A $0.10 trial, no card | 14-day trial, exports limited to 10 rows |
| Agent signs itself up | Yes: one POST, a person claims it later | No |
When PhantomBuster is the better pick
- You want ready-made automations with a visual interface.
- You need actions on your own account: connection requests, messages.
When API for Agents is the better pick
- You want data, per record, without a monthly plan.
- You need predictable cost: the quote is the charge.
- You do not want to share a LinkedIn session cookie.
What you get with API for Agents, whichever you pick
- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.
Try it before you move anything
curl -s -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/agent/identity -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type":"anonymous"}'
# exchange identity_assertion at /oauth2/token, then:
curl -s -X POST https://apiforagents.dev/v1/linkedin -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFA_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"op":"profiles","subjects":["satyanadella"],"estimateOnly":true}'Sources (1)
- PhantomBuster pricing explained (its blog), seen 16 October 2026
Try it in a minute. $0.10 free.
The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type.
Why people pick API for Agents
- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.
API for Agents is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by LinkedIn or any company named here. LinkedIn is a trademark of LinkedIn Corporation; other names belong to their owners. Public data only: nothing behind a login.