A PhantomBuster alternative that does not upload your cookies
Every PhantomBuster Phantom starts by asking you to hand over your LinkedIn session cookie. In 2026 that is the single fastest way to lose your LinkedIn account. Here is the alternative.
Why PhantomBuster gets accounts restricted
PhantomBuster runs "Phantoms" on their servers. To log into LinkedIn as you, they need your session cookie. You upload it through their UI, they store it server-side, and Phantom actions run from their datacenter IPs.
LinkedIn has been flagging this cookie-and-IP mismatch more aggressively every quarter. In the first half of 2026, restriction reports from PhantomBuster users have doubled. The pattern is simple to detect: a session cookie that was issued to Paris, France suddenly making 200 profile views per hour from an AWS US-East IP.
Stekpad scrapes LinkedIn from your own browser
Stekpad is a Chrome extension. It scrapes from the exact browser you are already logged into. LinkedIn sees your normal session from your normal IP — indistinguishable from manual browsing. There is no cookie to upload, no datacenter hop, no mismatch to flag.
The tradeoff is that Stekpad needs Chrome open to run. For most operators doing 100-500 LinkedIn actions per day, that is fine. For 24/7 automation at scale, Cloud plan adds a managed browser option.
Pricing that actually scales with value
PhantomBuster starts at €69/month. Stekpad is €0 forever on the Free tier, €12/month on Pro, and €99 once on the lifetime deal. For a solo operator or a small growth team, the math is obvious: Stekpad pays for itself in the first week.
The trickier comparison is feature-by-feature. PhantomBuster has 100+ Phantoms; Stekpad has a single generic recipe engine. But the generic engine is infinitely flexible — any page you can open in Chrome becomes a recipe target.
Related on Stekpad
More in this cluster
Clay Alternative: Scrape Enrichment Data Without Buying Credits
Explains the Clay pricing model (per-credit enrichment) and how teams hit the cost wall fast on high-volume GTM campaigns. Positions Stekpad as a complementary layer: scrape the raw data yourself (LinkedIn, Crunchbase, company websites), feed structured rows into Clay or use them directly in Sheets/Airtable. Covers the 4 most common Clay enrichment use-cases and how to replicate each with a Stekpad recipe. Includes a cost comparison table (1,000 enrichments: Clay credits vs Stekpad free tier).
Stekpad pricing — start free, upgrade when you need more
Stekpad's free tier runs point-and-click scraping with native Google Sheets export; paid plans add scheduled runs, MCP access, and multi-seat use — with no per-row credits or phantom slot fees.
Bardeen alternative — scraping-first with MCP and live export
Stekpad is built specifically for structured data extraction — not workflow automation with scraping bolted on — so it handles authenticated pages, outputs clean schemas, and ships an MCP server that Bardeen does not offer.
Browse AI alternative — browser-native with MCP support
Stekpad gives you everything Browse AI does for data monitoring plus point-and-click schema building and an MCP server — with the key difference that it runs locally in your browser, so authenticated pages never require sending your session to a cloud server.
Try Stekpad free
Install the extension in one click. €99 lifetime if you want Pro.