CrawlRover vs MapsLeads
MapsLeads (mapsscraper.net) has 100,000+ installs in the Chrome Web Store. But the CWS extension only scrapes Bing Maps. Their Google Maps scraper is a separate side-load package. Here is an honest comparison.
Understanding the MapsLeads ecosystem
MapsLeads runs two separate products: a free Bing Maps extension in the Chrome Web Store (the one with 100K installs), and a paid Google Maps scraper available only as a manual install from their website. They are not the same product.
Map coverage and data
| Criteria | CrawlRover | MapsLeads (CWS) | MapsLeads (side-load) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maps supported | ✓ Google + Apple + Yandex + 2GIS | ~ Bing Maps only | ~ Google Maps only |
| Available in Chrome Web Store | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ manual install from website |
| Cross-map (one business on multiple maps) | ✓ one row — 4 sources | ✗ | ✗ |
| Data fields per listing | ✓ 200+ columns (4 maps + enrichment) | ~ 12–15 fields | ~ 20 free / 28 with subscription |
| Free plan limit | ✓ 300 businesses | ~ not documented | ~ 30 results per scan |
How data is collected
| Criteria | CrawlRover | MapsLeads ecosystem |
|---|---|---|
| Data processing | ✓ Local — data stays in your browser | ✗ Raw map API responses sent to their server for parsing |
| Enrichment (email, socials) | ✓ Client-local (visits company websites in your browser) | ~ Server-side (your data goes through their backend) |
| Area / zone scanning | ✓ Grid-based geo scanning | ✗ scroll-based only |
| Competitor monitoring | ✓ Email alerts, change history, zone monitoring | ~ Basic "new/deleted" notifications (paid) |
| Website scraping (catalogues, lists) | ✓ Any website, 9+ pagination types | ✗ Maps only |
| Collection strategy | ✓ Cascade of 9 strategies (API replay, page-state, virtual...) | ~ XHR interception → server-side protobuf parsing |
| Export | ✓ Google Sheets, Excel, CSV, JSON | ~ Excel, CSV only |
| Recipes (save and re-run) | ✓ Local recipes with fingerprint fallback | ✗ |
The key difference: local vs server-dependent
MapsLeads' Google Maps scraper intercepts raw API responses from Google Maps and sends them to their server for parsing. The server extracts fields from Google's protobuf format and returns structured JSON. Email enrichment also runs server-side — your data passes through their backend.
CrawlRover processes everything locally in your browser. Map data is parsed client-side. Enrichment visits company websites from your browser. No raw data leaves your machine. This matters for privacy and for resilience — if their server goes down, their extension stops working.
Why 4 maps matter more than one
MapsLeads covers Google Maps (via side-load) or Bing Maps (via CWS). Each is a single view of the world. Many businesses appear on one map but not another, or have different data on each.
CrawlRover collects from Google, Apple, Yandex and 2GIS in a single run. Cross-map view merges one business across all sources into one row — you see which map has the most complete data, compare ratings, and fill gaps automatically.
Apple Maps is particularly valuable: it bridges to TripAdvisor, Yelp, Booking.com, Zomato, Foursquare and other services — multi-source ratings in one record that no Google-only scraper can provide.
When MapsLeads is sufficient
If you need Google Maps data only, don't mind installing an extension manually (outside the Chrome Web Store), and server-side processing is acceptable — MapsLeads' Google scraper does the job. The 100K-install Bing extension is genuinely useful for Bing Maps coverage.
But if you need multiple map sources, local processing, monitoring, website scraping, or Google Sheets export — CrawlRover covers all of that in one CWS-listed tool.