Thirdwatch Google Maps vs Compass crawler-google-places
Both actors scrape Google Maps from search queries and return business names, phones, websites, ratings, and coordinates. Compass has been on the Apify Store the longest (350K users) and is the de-facto category leader. Thirdwatch's version was rebuilt in 2026 on the internal SSR Maps endpoint, which is materially cheaper but covers a slightly smaller surface area.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Thirdwatch Google Maps Scraper | Compass Crawler (Google Places) |
|---|---|---|
| Price per result | $0.001–$0.002 (FREE→GOLD) Thirdwatch is 2–4× cheaper at scale. | $0.004 flat |
| Free tier | $5 free credits on Apify signup → ≈3,000–5,000 results | Same Apify free tier → ≈1,250 results |
| Fields per business | name, address, phone, website, rating, categories, lat/lng, place_id, opening_hours, photos Compass returns reviews; Thirdwatch doesn't (yet). | Same field set + reviews (Compass crawls /reviews tab separately) |
| Success rate (last 30d, Apify run history) | ~98% | ~99% |
| Throughput | ~100 results / query / 12s, parallelizable | ~120 results / query / 15s, parallelizable |
| Bypass strategy | Internal SSR endpoint (`search?tbm=map`) — no browser, no proxy | Headless Chrome + residential proxy — robust to UI changes but heavier |
| Userbase (Apify Store) | Newer listing, smaller userbase | 350,000+ users — category leader |
| Pricing model | Pay-per-result with 4 volume tiers (FREE/BRONZE/SILVER/GOLD) | Flat pay-per-result |
Pick Thirdwatch if…
- You want the cheapest cost per record at any volume
- You don't need review text (just rating + count)
- You're building a lead-gen / prospect-list pipeline where margin matters
- You want the volume-tiered pricing model (cheaper as you scale)
Pick Compass Crawler (Google Places) if…
- You need full review text scraped from each business page
- You're risk-averse and want the most battle-tested option
- You're already integrated with Compass and switching cost outweighs the savings
Notes
Our cost advantage comes from skipping headless Chrome entirely — we hit Google's internal SSR endpoint that powers the embedded Maps results, and that endpoint returns JSON with all the structured fields. Compass uses a stealth-browser approach which is more robust to Google's frontend changes (their selectors can break overnight) but pays for proxy bandwidth on every run.
If you're scraping 1M+ records/month, the 2–4× price differential becomes the dominant factor. For one-off prospect lists under 10K records, either actor will work and the choice comes down to whether you need review text.
Try the Google Maps Scraper for free
Sign in to Apify, run a test query, see the data yourself. Free credits cover ~100 results.