After testing Phantombuster, HeyReach, and SalesRobot—automating outreach campaigns and analyzing the results across multiple LinkedIn accounts—the differences became apparent:
Phantombuster functions as a versatile automation platform with extensive flexibility across multiple networks. Its strength lies in data scraping and workflow creation, but it requires technical knowledge to set up effective automations and lacks native multi-account management capabilities, which can present safety concerns when scaling LinkedIn automation.
HeyReach specializes in multi-account management and inbox rotation, making it suitable for agencies and SDR teams running high-volume LinkedIn outreach campaigns. Its user-friendly interface and team management features work well for users managing 5+ accounts, though it lacks the data enrichment capabilities of Phantombuster.
However, none of these tools addresses the main problem plaguing LinkedIn Automation tools: avoiding getting banned by LinkedIn. This is why we have included SalesRobot in this comparison; it was made with a focus on LinkedIn Account Safety in mind.
SalesRobot, meanwhile, focuses on LinkedIn account safety and reliability. Through dedicated residential IP addresses, LinkedIn mobile API integration, and smart daily throttling, it helps B2B founders, sales professionals, and lead generation agencies automate LinkedIn outreach while minimizing account risks. While it has a more focused feature set than competitors, its emphasis on account protection makes it appropriate for users with valuable LinkedIn profiles.
In this article, I compare Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot in four key areas:
I'll also examine pricing and integrations to provide a comprehensive overview of each platform.
Phantombuster vs. HeyReach vs. SalesRobot: At A Glance
Here’s a quick TLDR if you’re too busy or too impatient to read it (we don’t judge 😉)
What is Phantombuster?
"The Swiss Army knife for automated data workflows" 🔄🔧
Phantombuster was founded with the goal of democratizing web automation and data extraction for non-developers. This vision led to the development of a flexible platform offering 150+ pre-built automation scripts (called "Phantoms") that can execute a wide range of tasks across multiple platforms.
Phantombuster's strength lies in its versatility. The platform enables users to scrape data from LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms, automate workflows, and connect processes through their chain feature. Each Phantom represents a specific automation task, such as extracting LinkedIn profiles from search results or automatically sending connection requests.
While Phantombuster can be used for LinkedIn outreach, its broader focus makes it less specialized for this specific use case. The platform is best suited for users who need comprehensive data extraction and multi-platform automation capabilities, rather than those focusing primarily on LinkedIn outreach campaigns.
What is HeyReach?
"Scale your LinkedIn outreach across multiple accounts" 🚀🔄
HeyReach was created specifically to solve the challenges of scaling LinkedIn outreach across multiple accounts. It focuses squarely on helping agencies and sales teams manage high-volume LinkedIn outreach campaigns efficiently.
The platform's standout feature is its multi-account management capability, allowing users to easily handle 20-50+ LinkedIn accounts with automatic inbox rotation to distribute activity and reduce risk. HeyReach also offers robust team management features through its native team dashboard, making it ideal for agencies with multiple team members managing outreach campaigns.
HeyReach is designed with user-friendliness in mind, featuring a clean interface and plug-and-play setup for outreach campaigns. Its playbooks, dynamic personalization fields, and A/B testing capabilities make it a powerful tool for users focused exclusively on LinkedIn outreach at scale.
What is SalesRobot?
"LinkedIn automation that keeps your account safe" 🛡️🤖
SalesRobot was founded in May 2020 with a clear mission: to make LinkedIn automation reliable and safe. After observing that many existing tools were getting users' LinkedIn accounts restricted or banned, the SalesRobot team set out to create a solution that would provide effective automation while prioritizing account safety.
The platform has grown to serve over 3,700 users in just four years, establishing itself as the trusted choice for B2B founders, sales professionals, and LinkedIn lead generation agencies who cannot afford to risk their valuable LinkedIn profiles.
What sets SalesRobot apart is its technical approach to safety. The platform uses dedicated residential IP addresses and integrates with LinkedIn's mobile APIs on the backend, significantly reducing the risk of detection. Its smart throttling system can detect early warning signs from LinkedIn and adjust activity levels accordingly, preventing account restrictions before they happen.
SalesRobot offers a more focused feature set than Phantombuster; it excels in its specialization: providing reliable and safe LinkedIn automation alongside email capabilities for comprehensive outreach campaigns.
Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot: LinkedIn Automation Safety
Account safety when automating LinkedIn activities is a critical consideration for all users.
LinkedIn automation safety refers to the measures a tool takes to prevent LinkedIn from detecting and restricting automated activity on your account. This is crucial because LinkedIn actively monitors for automation and can restrict or ban accounts that violate their terms of service.
In this section, we compare the tools' safety capabilities, specifically their:
IP Address Management
SalesRobot provides dedicated residential IPs, while HeyReach uses rotation techniques, and Phantombuster uses standard IPs.
When it comes to LinkedIn automation, IP addresses are a critical factor in account safety. LinkedIn monitors IP addresses to detect unusual login patterns and automation tools.
Phantombuster uses standard cloud-based IPs for its automation, with no dedicated IP options for users. This means your LinkedIn activity shares the same IP address with other Phantombuster users, increasing the risk of detection. While Phantombuster offers proxies through third-party services, this requires additional setup and expense.
HeyReach improves on this model by distributing activities across multiple accounts, which helps reduce the risk associated with any single account. However, it still lacks dedicated IPs for individual accounts, instead focusing on rotation strategies to distribute risk.
SalesRobot provides dedicated residential IP addresses for each LinkedIn account. This means your account always connects from the same trusted IP address, which appears to LinkedIn as a legitimate residential connection rather than a data center IP. This significantly reduces detection risk and more closely mimics natural human behavior.
Activity Throttling
Each platform handles throttling differently, with varying degrees of sophistication.
All three tools implement some form of activity throttling to prevent LinkedIn from detecting automation, but their approaches differ significantly.
Phantombuster allows users to set manual delays between actions and limit daily operations, but these settings are static and don't adapt to LinkedIn's changing algorithms or response patterns. This fixed approach can leave accounts vulnerable when LinkedIn adjusts its detection systems.
HeyReach offers more sophisticated throttling through its account rotation system, distributing activities across multiple accounts to keep individual account activity below detection thresholds. While effective for managing multiple accounts, this approach focuses on distributing risk rather than eliminating it.
SalesRobot's throttling system monitors LinkedIn's responses for early warning signs and automatically adjusts activity levels in response. This adaptive approach means the system becomes more conservative when it detects potential issues, helping prevent restrictions before they occur. The platform also implements natural timing variations between actions to mimic human behavior more effectively.
Detection Prevention Techniques
Each platform uses different methods to avoid detection by LinkedIn's systems.
Beyond IP management and throttling, each platform employs additional techniques to prevent detection.
Phantombuster offers basic randomization of actions and timing but lacks advanced prevention techniques. LinkedIn's increasingly sophisticated systems more easily detect its browser-based automation approach.
HeyReach focuses on distributing activity across accounts and implementing some randomization features. Its LinkedIn warm-up feature gradually increases activity levels to make automation less obvious, but the underlying technology still uses standard browser automation.
SalesRobot utilizes LinkedIn's mobile APIs rather than browser automation. This approach communicates with LinkedIn in the same way their official mobile apps do. Additionally, SalesRobot implements human behavior patterns in its automation, including realistic typing speeds, random delays between actions, and natural browsing patterns that mimic genuine user behavior.
Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot: Multi-Account Management
Each platform offers different approaches to managing multiple LinkedIn accounts:
Multi-account management refers to a tool's ability to effectively manage and automate activities across multiple LinkedIn accounts simultaneously. This capability is particularly important for agencies and sales teams looking to scale their outreach efforts.
In this section, we compare the tools' multi-account management capabilities, specifically:
- Account capacity and setup process
- Activity distribution and inbox rotation
- Team collaboration features
Account Capacity and Setup
Each platform handles account capacity and setup differently based on their primary use cases.
HeyReach is purpose-built for multi-account management, supporting 20-50+ LinkedIn accounts. The platform offers a streamlined setup process for adding new accounts and organizing them into campaigns. This high capacity makes HeyReach suitable for agencies managing numerous client accounts or large sales teams with multiple LinkedIn profiles.
Phantombuster takes a different approach, requiring one session per account with manual setup for each. While running multiple accounts is possible, this requires creating separate Phantoms for each account and managing them individually. This approach works for a small number of accounts but becomes more challenging as you scale.
SalesRobot supports multiple LinkedIn accounts with each account receiving its own dedicated IP address. The platform is designed for users who may have fewer accounts but want enhanced safety measures for each, such as founders with personal brands or sales professionals with established LinkedIn presences.
Activity Distribution and Inbox Rotation
The platforms use different methods to distribute activities across accounts.
HeyReach features an automatic inbox rotation system that distributes outreach activities across multiple accounts. This allows users to maintain higher overall activity levels while keeping each individual account below LinkedIn's detection thresholds. The platform automatically adjusts which accounts are active based on previous activity, helping to maintain natural usage patterns.
Phantombuster lacks native inbox rotation, requiring users to manually schedule different Phantoms at different times to achieve a similar effect. This manual approach increases the management burden and risk of errors as you scale to more accounts.
SalesRobot focuses on optimizing each individual account's activity rather than rotating between accounts. Its throttling system ensures each account operates at safe levels without triggering LinkedIn's algorithms. While this approach may result in lower total volume compared to HeyReach's rotation strategy, it prioritizes safety and quality of engagement for each account.
Team Collaboration Features
Each platform offers different options for team collaboration.
Collaboration features are important for teams managing multiple accounts. HeyReach offers a team dashboard that allows managers to assign accounts to team members, track performance, and manage campaigns across the organization. This purpose-built approach streamlines team management for agencies and sales teams.
Phantombuster's team capabilities require manual setup and configuration. While it does offer team account options, the platform lacks native features for assigning specific accounts to team members or collaborating on campaigns.
SalesRobot's plans include team collaboration features with dedicated account managers who work alongside your team. The platform offers assistance with strategy, messaging, and optimization, creating a hybrid approach that combines software with professional services.
Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot: Workflow Capabilities
Phantombuster offers the most extensive cross-platform workflow options, HeyReach focuses exclusively on LinkedIn, and SalesRobot balances LinkedIn and email capabilities.
Workflow capabilities refer to a tool's ability to automate complex sequences of actions across different platforms and integrate with other tools in your stack. Effective workflows can significantly increase productivity and lead generation results.
In this section, we compare the tools' workflow capabilities, specifically:
- Platform coverage and integration options
- Sequence customization and personalization
- Data enrichment capabilities
Platform Coverage and Integration
Phantombuster offers the broadest platform coverage, while HeyReach and SalesRobot focus on LinkedIn with different secondary capabilities.
Phantombuster excels in platform coverage, offering automation across LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and many other platforms. It's 150+ prebuilt Phantoms cover a wide range of use cases, from data scraping to multi-step workflows.
The platform also allows users to create chains of Phantoms, connecting different automation steps into comprehensive workflows that span multiple platforms. This extensive coverage makes Phantombuster ideal for users needing to automate various platform processes.
HeyReach focuses almost exclusively on LinkedIn, with deep specialization in outreach workflows on this platform.
While this narrower focus limits its versatility compared to Phantombuster, it allows HeyReach to offer more specialized LinkedIn features. The platform includes limited native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Pipedrive, etc.) but lacks a public API for custom integrations.
SalesRobot bridges these approaches by focusing primarily on LinkedIn automation and offering email capabilities for multi-channel outreach. This dual-platform approach allows users to create coordinated campaigns that reach prospects on both LinkedIn and email, increasing overall engagement rates. SalesRobot offers CRM integration and sync assistance with its Pro plans, helping users maintain a unified view of prospect interactions across channels.
Sequence Customization and Personalization
HeyReach offers the most advanced LinkedIn personalization, while SalesRobot provides human-assisted message creation.
Effective outreach requires personalized messaging that resonates with prospects. Each platform approaches this challenge differently.
Phantombuster offers basic personalization capabilities, limited primarily to the data you upload or extract. While it's possible to create personalized messages, the platform lacks advanced dynamic personalization fields or A/B testing capabilities. Users typically need to prepare their personalization data in advance through other tools.
HeyReach shines in this area with its dynamic personalization fields and native A/B testing capabilities. The platform allows users to create highly customized outreach sequences with multiple variables and test different approaches to optimize results.
Its playbooks feature provides templates that can be quickly customized for various campaigns.
SalesRobot takes a hybrid approach, combining software with human expertise. Its plans include professionally written message sequence templates created by the SalesRobot team based on your specific needs.
The platform also offers assisted A/B testing, with experts analyzing results and suggesting improvements. This combination of technology and human expertise can lead to more effective sequences, especially for users without extensive copywriting experience.
Data Enrichment Capabilities
Phantombuster leads in data enrichment, while HeyReach and SalesRobot focus on outreach effectiveness.
Data enrichment is crucial for effective targeting and personalization in outreach campaigns. The three platforms vary significantly in their capabilities in this area.
Phantombuster excels in data enrichment, with numerous Phantoms dedicated to extracting and enriching prospect data. Users can scrape LinkedIn profiles, companies, and groups, then enrich this data with additional information from other sources. This comprehensive data collection capability makes Phantombuster particularly valuable for users who need detailed prospect information.
HeyReach offers limited data enrichment capabilities, focusing instead on effective outreach with the data you already have. While it can capture basic profile information from LinkedIn, it lacks the advanced scraping and enrichment features found in Phantombuster.
SalesRobot falls between these approaches, with its plans including ideal customer profiling and list building by the SalesRobot team. Rather than providing extensive data enrichment tools, SalesRobot offers human expertise to help identify and target the right prospects. This approach trades some automation for quality, potentially leading to more focused outreach campaigns.
Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot: User Experience & Support
SalesRobot provides the best balance of usability and support services. HeyReach offers a clean LinkedIn-focused interface, while Phantombuster provides flexibility with a steeper learning curve.
User experience encompasses the interface design, ease of use, learning curve, and support options available to users. A good user experience can significantly impact productivity and satisfaction with a tool.
In this section, we compare the tools' user experience and support offerings, specifically:
- Interface design and ease of use
- Learning curve and documentation
- Customer support and service options
Interface Design and Ease of Use
HeyReach offers a clean, focused interface, SalesRobot balances simplicity with safety controls, and Phantombuster provides flexibility with complexity.
HeyReach features a clean, modern interface designed specifically for LinkedIn outreach. Its dashboard provides clear visibility into campaign performance, and the campaign creation process follows a logical, step-by-step flow. The platform's focused nature means there are fewer options to navigate, making it intuitive even for non-technical users.
SalesRobot strikes a balance between simplicity and control, with an intuitive interface that emphasizes safety features alongside outreach capabilities. The dashboard clearly displays account status, activity levels, and campaign performance. Safety controls are prominently featured, making it easy to monitor and adjust automation settings to maintain account security.
Phantombuster's interface reflects its flexibility, with a more technical design that accommodates its wide range of capabilities. The platform organizes automation tasks into Phantoms, which users can configure and chain together. While this approach provides significant flexibility, it also results in a more complex interface with a steeper learning curve, particularly for users without technical backgrounds.
Learning Curve and Documentation
HeyReach is the quickest to learn, SalesRobot provides extensive onboarding, and Phantombuster requires more technical knowledge.
The time required to become proficient with each tool varies significantly based on its complexity and focus.
HeyReach offers the gentlest learning curve among the three platforms, with its focused feature set and intuitive interface allowing users to create their first campaigns quickly. The platform's playbooks provide templates that new users can adapt, further reducing the initial learning effort.
SalesRobot addresses its learning curve through comprehensive onboarding, which include detailed onboarding questionnaires, user training, and ongoing optimization calls. This support-focused approach helps flatten the learning curve, especially for users who take advantage of the done-for-you services.
Phantombuster presents the steepest learning curve, requiring users to understand the individual Phantoms and how to chain them together effectively. While the platform offers documentation and templates, becoming proficient with complex workflows typically requires more time and technical knowledge. This learning investment pays off in flexibility but can be challenging for non-technical users.
Customer Support and Service Options
SalesRobot leads with premium services, while HeyReach and Phantombuster focus on self-service approaches.
Support and service options can significantly impact the value users derive from a tool, particularly for complex use cases.
SalesRobot stands out with its comprehensive service offerings, which include dedicated account managers, message sequence creation by professional copywriters, assisted A/B testing, and CRM integration support. The Pro plan even adds LinkedIn profile enhancement and content creation services. These options make SalesRobot particularly valuable for users who want expert assistance alongside their automation tools.
HeyReach offers standard support options with a focus on team management features. While it doesn't provide the same level of done-for-you services as SalesRobot, its native team dashboard helps managers support their teams effectively. Support is available through standard channels but lacks the personalized approach of dedicated account managers.
Phantombuster primarily follows a self-service model, with extensive documentation and community resources but limited personalized support. The platform assumes users will learn to configure and chain Phantoms themselves, which works well for technical users but can be challenging for those seeking more guidance.
Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot: Pros & Cons
Phantombuster Pros And Cons
HeyReach Pros And Cons
SalesRobot Pros and Cons
Final Verdict: Phantombuster vs HeyReach vs SalesRobot
Use Phantombuster if:
- You need to automate workflows across multiple platforms (not just LinkedIn)
- Data scraping and enrichment are core to your strategy
- You need flexible API access for custom integrations
- You want to chain multiple automations together
- Budget is a primary concern for getting started
Try Phantombuster free for 14 days
Use HeyReach if:
- You're managing numerous LinkedIn accounts (5+)
- High-volume outreach is your primary goal
- You need robust team collaboration features
- You want built-in A/B testing capabilities
- LinkedIn is your primary or only outreach channel
Try HeyReach free for 30 days
Use SalesRobot if:
- LinkedIn account safety is a top priority
- You need dedicated IP addresses for your accounts
- You want LinkedIn and email capabilities in one platform
- You prefer smart throttling that adapts to LinkedIn's responses
- You're looking for done-for-you campaign services
Try SalesRobot free for 14 days
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