PhantomBuster vs Waalaxy vs Expandi: LinkedIn automation tools

Starleads wrote this guide. Starleads sells business contact lists and is not one of the tools compared here. Facts about the tools come from their own websites, checked on 20 October 2026; prices change, so check before you buy.

The quick answer

LinkedIn automation tools such as PhantomBuster, Waalaxy, Expandi and Dux-Soup send connection requests, messages and follow-ups from your LinkedIn account, or copy profile data out of LinkedIn into a spreadsheet. They save hours. They also run against LinkedIn's own User Agreement, which forbids bots and scraping, and LinkedIn's Help Center says members who use such tools "risk having their accounts restricted or shut down". So the real question is not only which tool is cheapest, but whether you are willing to put the profile you sell from at risk. If not, there are two routes that don't depend on automating LinkedIn: Sales Navigator used by hand, and a ready contact list you call and email.

Which one to pick:

• PhantomBuster: data extraction and enrichment workflows across LinkedIn and 15+ other platforms, with unlimited users.
• Waalaxy: simple invitation and message sequences, priced per user in rupees.
• Expandi: cloud-based LinkedIn and email sequences with detailed limit settings, for agencies and sales teams.
• Dux-Soup (now STACKED): drip campaigns from a desktop app on your own computer, or from the cloud.
• Sales Navigator, used by hand: researching named people inside LinkedIn's rules.
• A ready contact list: mobile numbers and emails of Indian decision-makers by city or state, without touching LinkedIn.

LinkedIn automation tools compared

Prices are as shown on the tools' own pricing pages on 20 October 2026: the entry plan paid monthly, with the yearly rate in brackets.

What LinkedIn's own rules say

LinkedIn's User Agreement (effective 3 November 2025) lists, under "Don'ts", that you agree you will not:

• "Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes (such as crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons or any other technology) to scrape or copy the Services, including profiles and other data from the Services;"
• "Use bots or other unauthorized automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages, create, comment on, like, share, or re-share posts, or otherwise drive inauthentic engagement;"

Its Help Center page "Prohibited software and extensions" says LinkedIn doesn't permit "any third party software, including "crawlers", bots, browser plug-ins, or browser extensions that scrape, modify the appearance of, or automate activity on LinkedIn's website", and that members who use them "risk having their accounts restricted or shut down". Section 3.4 of the agreement also reserves LinkedIn's right to limit "the number of your connections and your ability to contact other Members".

The tools describe their own safety measures, such as warm-up periods, daily limits and cloud servers. Those settings change how an account behaves; they don't change what the agreement says. If your LinkedIn profile is your main sales asset, weigh that before you connect it to any of these tools.

The four tools in detail

PhantomBuster

PhantomBuster runs cloud automations it calls Phantoms; "Each Phantom performs one task, such as extracting LinkedIn profiles, enriching contacts with email data, or exporting leads to a CRM." Workflows chain several together, and it collects data from "over 15 platforms", LinkedIn among them.

PhantomBuster pricing. The free trial gives 5 automation slots, 2 hours of execution time, 50 email credits and exports limited to 10 rows. Start is $69 a month (5 slots, 20 hours, 500 email credits), Grow $159 (15 slots, 80 hours, 2,500 credits) and Scale $439 (50 slots, 300 hours, 10,000 credits). Billed annually, they are $56, $128 and $352 a month ($672, $1,536 and $4,224 a year). All plans include unlimited users.

Limits. Automations pause when execution time runs out, until it resets or you upgrade. It doesn't sell data: its FAQ says it "does not sell, resell, or provide pre-built databases" and is "not designed for buying pre-made lead lists". Profile extraction is the kind of activity LinkedIn's agreement calls scraping.

Waalaxy

Waalaxy runs LinkedIn prospecting campaigns: invitations, pre-built sequences and automated follow-ups, with imports from LinkedIn Basic, Sales Navigator or Recruiter Lite, and CRM sync.

Waalaxy pricing (per user a month, shown in rupees from India). Pro, with 300 invitations a month, is ₹885 paid monthly, ₹704 quarterly or ₹431 yearly. Advanced, with 800 invitations, is ₹2,541, ₹2,042 or ₹1,271 and adds API access and Make, Zapier and n8n modules. Business, also 800 invitations, is ₹3,629, ₹2,904 or ₹1,815 and adds cold email sequences and 500 email finder credits. Every plan has a 14-day free trial.

Limits. Invitations are capped per plan, cold email is only on Business, and the LinkedIn Inbox is a paid add-on. The page doesn't say whether GST is included.

Expandi

Expandi is cloud-based and combines connection requests, messages and email follow-ups in one sequence, with a "Dedicated country-based IP-address", "Profile Auto Warm-up" and adjustable daily limits for connections, messages, InMails and event invites.

Expandi pricing. Business is $99 a month, with a 7-day free trial and no charge until you decide to continue. Its FAQ says the annual plan, paid upfront, gives "a 20% discount, equivalent to receiving two months for free", that "additional taxes may vary by country", and that more seats bring bigger discounts. The Agency plan for 10 or more seats is custom.

Limits. Image and GIF personalisation costs extra, and video personalisation is a paid add-on. Its pricing page also lists "Campaign Types that Allow Bypassing Outreach Limits", such as a campaign that sends "an additional 100 connection requests per week"; set that against section 3.4 of LinkedIn's agreement before you use it.

Dux-Soup

Dux-Soup is now sold as "STACKED, powered by Dux-Soup". It runs drip campaigns of up to 12 actions (visit, connect, message, InMail, endorse, follow, like a post), pauses when someone replies, exports LinkedIn data to CSV and connects to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Freshsales and other tools. It works with Sales Navigator and Recruiter.

Dux-Soup pricing. STACKED local, a desktop app for Mac or Windows that runs on your own machine, is $55 a month per seat, or $41.25 billed annually. STACKED cloud, run on Dux-Soup's servers, is $99 a month per seat, or $74.17 billed annually. Its guides offer a 14-day free trial with no payment details.

Limits. The local version runs on your computer, so campaigns depend on it being on; the cloud version costs more.

Routes that don't depend on automating LinkedIn

Sales Navigator, used by hand. LinkedIn's own paid search for salespeople, with "50+ advanced search filters", alerts and InMail. LinkedIn lists Core at US$119.99 a month per licence or US$1,079.88 a year, and Advanced at US$159.99 or US$1,799.88, with 50 InMails a month, and says the prices "may exclude" GST. Free trials are for members without a paid LinkedIn plan who haven't had a trial in the past 365 days, and LinkedIn asks for payment details. It is built for research and InMail inside LinkedIn rather than for building a calling list; our Sales Navigator alternatives guide covers what else does that job.

A ready contact list. Instead of extracting profiles, start from a file of Indian decision-makers with mobile numbers and emails, and reach them by phone and by email from your own mailbox. Our cold email software comparison covers the sending side. You can still look up your best prospects on LinkedIn by hand before a call; that is ordinary use of the site.

How to choose

• The account at stake. If your personal profile carries your reputation, the safest automation is none. LinkedIn names restriction or shut-down as the risk.
• Data or outreach. PhantomBuster is mainly about extracting and enriching data; Waalaxy, Expandi and Dux-Soup about sending sequences.
• Rupees or dollars. Waalaxy showed rupee prices per user; PhantomBuster, Expandi, Dux-Soup and Sales Navigator are priced in US dollars, so the rupee cost moves with the exchange rate. None stated GST-inclusive prices.
• Per seat or per account. PhantomBuster includes unlimited users; Waalaxy and Dux-Soup charge per user or seat; Expandi discounts more seats.
• Who your buyers are. LinkedIn suits managers at IT, services and larger companies. Many owners of small manufacturers and traders have no profile or rarely open it; for them, a phone number works better.
• Exports. If you need a spreadsheet to call from, check the plan: PhantomBuster's trial, for example, exports only 10 rows.

Where a leads database fits

An automation tool can only work on the people it finds on LinkedIn, and Waalaxy's plans, for example, allow 300 or 800 invitations a month. A sales team needs a steady supply of contacts it can call today. A Starleads list gives you a whole list of one kind of decision-maker in a city, a state or all of India, in an Excel file, with the share of mobiles and emails shown before you buy.

Our CEOs, MDs & Directors list has 36,173 contacts in 219 cities, 87% with a mobile number and 94% with an email. The Purchase & Procurement Heads list has 7,19,174 contacts, 93% with a mobile and 23% with an email. There is also an HR Professionals list of 18,055. Every list page shows 60 real contacts before you pay.

Directors and CEOs in the biggest cities:

• Mumbai 7,229 contacts · 93% email · 80% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 3,271 contacts · 92% email · 98% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 2,747 contacts · 95% email · 88% mobile ₹499

City and state lists cost ₹499, All-India bulk lists ₹1,999, with no GST added. For another mix, use the list builder.

1. Download the Excel file and keep the columns you need: name, designation, company, mobile, email, city.
2. Check the mobile numbers against the DND register and mark the ones registered.
3. Import the file as CSV into your CRM or calling app and split it between callers by city.
4. Verify the emails with an email verification tool and load them into a cold email sequence.
5. For the accounts that matter most, look the person up on LinkedIn by hand before the call.

What Starleads doesn't do. The data is compiled from business directories and similar sources, so not every row has an email or a named person, and contact details change. There is no look-up of one named executive, no LinkedIn profile links, no CRM integration or API (you import the file), no data outside India, and payment is by UPI or bank transfer, confirmed by hand.

What it costs: a worked example

Two salespeople in Bengaluru selling to purchase managers, for one month:

• Waalaxy Pro for 2 users: 2 × ₹885 = ₹1,770 paid monthly, for 600 invitations in all.
• Or PhantomBuster Start: $69, about ₹6,100 at roughly ₹88 to the dollar, with unlimited users.
• Or Sales Navigator Core by hand for 2 people: 2 × US$119.99 = US$239.98, about ₹21,100.
• A Starleads list: the All-India purchase heads list at ₹1,999, or one city list at ₹499, paid once.

The automation buys about 600 invitations, each of which still has to be accepted and answered. A list puts phone numbers in front of both callers on day one. As an illustration only: if each caller made 40 calls a day for 22 days and 1 in 50 calls led to a meeting, that would be about 35 meetings in the month. Your numbers will differ. Dollar prices move with the exchange rate.

Our verdict

PhantomBuster suits teams that want flexible data workflows, Waalaxy suits individuals who want simple LinkedIn sequences at a rupee price, Expandi suits agencies running LinkedIn and email from the cloud, and Dux-Soup suits people who prefer a desktop app. All four automate activity that LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits, and LinkedIn says accounts can be restricted or shut down, so treat that as a real cost. Sales Navigator used by hand and a ready contact list are the routes that don't put your profile at stake; for Indian sales teams that live on the phone, a list is the faster way to fill the day with calls.

Questions people ask

Is LinkedIn automation allowed?

Not under LinkedIn's rules. Its User Agreement forbids bots and "unauthorized automated methods" to add contacts or send messages, and forbids software that scrapes profiles. Its Help Center says members who use such tools risk having their accounts restricted or shut down.

How much does PhantomBuster cost?

Start is $69 a month, Grow $159 and Scale $439, or $56, $128 and $352 a month billed annually. A 14-day free trial needs no card but limits exports to 10 rows.

Is Waalaxy free?

It has a 14-day free trial. Paid plans start at ₹885 per user a month for Pro, or ₹431 a month on yearly billing.

Expandi or Waalaxy: which is cheaper?

Waalaxy, on its listed prices: Pro is ₹885 per user a month and Advanced ₹2,541, while Expandi Business is $99 a month. Expandi includes email follow-ups and InMails in its sequences; on Waalaxy, cold email needs the Business plan at ₹3,629.

Is there a LinkedIn scraper that LinkedIn allows?

LinkedIn's agreement forbids scraping or copying profiles with software unless LinkedIn has agreed otherwise in writing. If you need contact data in a file, buy it from a source that sells it, such as a contact list, rather than extracting it from LinkedIn.