The short version
Apify's Google Maps Scraper is a developer tool: cheap per place, billed per event, with contact and lead enrichment as paid add-ons and one location per run. loclay is a web app that searches many cities at once and returns enriched leads with the source of every contact.
We make loclay, so we've stuck to what each company publishes, and listed where Apify is the better choice.
| loclay | Apify |
|---|---|
| Data | |
| Live, every search | Live |
| Emails from the website | |
| Included | Paid add-on (company contacts) |
| Owner / decision maker | |
| Included, only when their own site names them | Paid add-on (business leads enrichment) |
| Source shown for each contact | |
| Yes, with the pages the AI read | Not stated |
| Many cities in one search | |
| Yes | One location per run (an orchestrator chains several) |
| Reviews and photos | |
| Rating, review count and photo | Yes, billed per review |
| Setup | |
| Web app, nothing to configure | Configure each run on Apify's platform |
| API | |
| No, CSV export | Yes, plus Apify integrations |
| Try it free | |
| 50 leads, no card | Not stated |
| Starting price | |
| $29/mo · 5,000 leads | From $1.50 per 1,000 places + add-ons |
What Apify's Google Maps Scraper is best at
It's a configurable scraper on Apify's platform, built for people who code. It shines when you want:
- The lowest cost per place, billed only for the events you use
- Reviews, photos and many listing fields, each available as an option
- An API, scheduling and Apify's integrations to feed your own systems
- Separate add-ons for contacts, leads, social profiles and email verification
What 5,000 leads cost
One month, 5,000 leads with emails, at each company's published prices:
- loclay
- $29 (Starter, everything included)
- Apify
- $7.50 for 5,000 places, plus contact enrichment per place and lead enrichment per lead
Apify's add-on rates depend on your Apify plan (higher plans get discounts), so the full figure depends on which add-ons you switch on.
A scraper you configure vs a search you run
On Apify you set up the run, choose which paid events to switch on, and handle one location per run unless you add the orchestrator actor. That control is the point for a developer.
loclay is built for the person doing outreach: pick a business type and every city you want, and the leads come back in one table with emails, phones, socials and the decision maker when named.
Knowing which contacts are real
loclay shows where each contact was found and which pages were read, and only names a person when their own site does. Apify's actor page doesn't say whether enriched contacts carry their source.
Choose Apify if
You're a developer who wants raw Maps data, reviews or photos through an API, at the lowest cost per place, inside a workflow you control.
Choose loclay if
You don't want to configure runs or chain locations: you want one search across several cities that comes back ready for outreach, with each contact's source shown.
Bottom line
Apify is the cheapest way for a developer to pull Google Maps data. loclay is for the person who has to send the email.
Try loclay next to Apify
Pick a business type and cities. Your first 50 leads are free, no card.
Questions
Can Apify's Google Maps Scraper search several cities at once?
Its actor page says it supports a single location query per run; an orchestrator actor chains several runs. loclay searches as many cities as you pick in one search.
Do I need to code to use loclay?
No. loclay is a web app: pick a business type and cities, run the search, and export the leads to CSV.
Is Apify cheaper than loclay?
For raw places, yes: from $1.50 per 1,000. Once you add contact and lead enrichment, the total depends on which add-ons you use and your Apify plan; loclay's $29 for 5,000 leads includes all of it.
Sources: apify.com/compass/crawler-google-places. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.