If you’re knee-deep in B2B sales or marketing, you know the struggle: finding good leads that don’t eat up your whole week (or your sanity). There’s a pile of “GTM” (go-to-market) tools out there promising to automate your prospecting, but most are either overhyped, overpriced, or just plain confusing. This is for folks who want a no-nonsense, honest look at Scrapin and its main competitors, with a focus on getting reliable leads—without a computer science degree or an army of SDRs.
What Is Scrapin (and Why Should You Care)?
Scrapin is a B2B lead generation tool built for scraping contact data from LinkedIn and similar sites. The pitch: it automates finding, extracting, and exporting business contacts with minimal hassle. You can plug in your ICP (ideal customer profile), set some filters, and it’ll spit out a list of emails and LinkedIn profiles.
You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, but don’t all these tools do that?” Good question. The devil’s in the details—especially when it comes to data quality, ease of use, and not getting your LinkedIn account nuked.
How Scrapin Actually Works (and What’s Under the Hood)
Let’s break down what you actually get with Scrapin:
- Browser-based extension: You install it on Chrome, log into LinkedIn, and it scrapes profiles as you browse or run searches.
- Automated extraction: You can queue up searches or lists, and Scrapin will auto-visit and grab data in the background.
- Export options: CSV export is standard. Some integrations with CRMs (though “integration” often means “CSV import” in practice).
- Email finding: Scrapin tries to find work emails for each contact, usually using third-party enrichment APIs.
What Scrapin Does Well
- Simple setup: You don’t need a Zapier flow or a PhD. You install, log in, and start pulling data.
- Good targeting: It respects your LinkedIn filters and search criteria, so you’re not scraping random junk.
- Solid email accuracy: Not perfect, but above average for the price. Expect 60-80% deliverability if you warm up your sending domain.
Where It Falls Short
- LinkedIn risk: Like any scraping tool, heavy use will put your LinkedIn account at risk. Don’t go wild. Use realistic limits.
- Data freshness: You’ll get current LinkedIn info, but emails are only as good as the enrichment source Scrapin uses. Sometimes you get bounces.
- CRM “integration”: It’s mostly manual work. Don’t expect push-button syncing with Salesforce or HubSpot.
Scrapin Pricing (and Who It’s For)
Scrapin runs on a subscription model—roughly $50 to $150/month depending on volume. There are more expensive “agency” tiers if you’re scraping for multiple clients.
Best fit: Solo founders, small sales teams, or agencies who need targeted B2B leads from LinkedIn and don’t want to pay enterprise prices.
Not great for: Huge teams needing deep CRM integration, or anyone trying to avoid LinkedIn’s TOS gray area.
Pro tip: Don’t buy a year up front. Try it for a month and see if it actually gets you leads you can use.
Scrapin vs. Other B2B GTM Tools
Here’s where it gets interesting. There are at least a dozen tools fighting for this space. Let’s compare Scrapin to the main alternatives:
1. Apollo.io
- What it does: Combines a big B2B contact database with built-in email outreach.
- Pros: Huge database, lots of filters, real email sequences.
- Cons: More expensive, lots of outdated contacts, and you’re stuck with their data (less custom targeting).
When it’s better: If you want a giant list fast and don’t care about hyper-targeted LinkedIn searches.
2. LinkedIn Sales Navigator + PhantomBuster
- What it does: Use Sales Nav for targeting, then PhantomBuster to automate scraping and enrichment.
- Pros: Flexible, tons of automations, can chain together complex workflows.
- Cons: Steep learning curve, lots of moving parts, LinkedIn risk is even higher.
When it’s better: If you’re technical and want to build custom scraping pipelines (or just like tinkering).
3. Snov.io
- What it does: Email finder and sender, with LinkedIn scraping as an add-on.
- Pros: Good email enrichment, built-in campaign tools.
- Cons: LinkedIn scraping isn’t its main focus, and results aren’t as dialed in as Scrapin.
When it’s better: If email is your main channel and LinkedIn scraping is a nice-to-have.
4. Clay.com
- What it does: Data enrichment and automation platform for sales ops nerds.
- Pros: Insanely flexible, connects to everything, can do crazy data tricks.
- Cons: Expensive, overkill for most, assumes you know what “API enrichment” means.
When it’s better: If you’re running complex outbound at scale and have technical resources.
5. Lusha
- What it does: Chrome extension for grabbing business contact info from LinkedIn and web.
- Pros: Easy, quick, decent email accuracy.
- Cons: Limited credit-based model, some bounces, pricier per lead.
When it’s better: If you want speed and simplicity, and aren’t scraping in bulk.
Scrapin’s Place in the Stack
Scrapin isn’t the fanciest or the cheapest. What it does have going for it is focus: it’s about pulling targeted LinkedIn leads with minimal fuss. If you want a “just works” tool for LinkedIn scraping—without building a Frankenstein stack—Scrapin’s a solid bet.
Real-World Workflow: Getting the Most from Scrapin
Here’s how most folks actually use Scrapin (and what to watch out for):
- Define your ICP. Don’t just scrape everyone. Use LinkedIn filters to get laser-specific: title, company size, geo, etc.
- Set realistic scraping limits. Stick to 50-100 profiles/day. Anything more and LinkedIn will start sniffing around.
- Export and clean your data. Scrapin gives you a CSV. Spot-check the emails. Remove obvious junk or duplicates.
- Warm up your email domain. If you’re cold emailing, don’t blast 500 contacts on day one. Start slow to avoid the spam folder.
- Track results. Most people don’t. Tag leads in your CRM and see which sources actually convert. It’s rarely as many as you hope.
- Iterate. Try new LinkedIn search filters every week. See what gets replies and what doesn’t.
- Don’t buy every tool. Pick one, run a real campaign, then reassess. Shiny object syndrome is real, and expensive.
Pro tip: If you’re getting a ton of bounces, try running your emails through an extra verifier before sending. Most “enrichment” services inflate their accuracy numbers.
What to Ignore (and What to Watch Out For)
- “Unlimited” scraping: No such thing. Every tool has practical limits. The more aggressive you are, the higher the risk.
- “AI-powered” enrichment: It’s mostly marketing. Most tools use the same handful of third-party APIs for email finding.
- “1-click CRM sync”: Still mostly a myth for SMB tools. Plan on manual CSV imports unless you pony up for enterprise.
Watch out for: - LinkedIn bans. If your account matters, use a burner or spread scraping across team members. - GDPR and privacy laws. Don’t go scraping EU contacts unless you know what you’re doing.
TL;DR: Should You Use Scrapin?
If you want a simple LinkedIn scraping tool that gets you targeted B2B leads, Scrapin is worth a try. Don’t expect miracles, and don’t get greedy—scrape smart, clean your data, and focus on real conversations, not just filling your CRM with noise.
The truth: No tool is magic. Better to pick one, keep your process simple, and adjust as you go. Most people spend more time fiddling with tools than actually reaching out to prospects. Don’t be that person.