PhantomBuster Phantom "not working" is often just spent execution time or full slots

TL;DR: PhantomBuster - Docs (PhantomBuster help center): the free trial gives 2 hours of execution time total and 5 Phantom slots for 14 days; the ongoing free plan gives 30 minutes per month and 1 slot, with result files capped at 10 rows. ## The fix When Phantoms stop launching or sit idle, check plan limits before debugging anything else: 1.

PhantomBuster Phantom "not working" is often just spent execution time or full slots

Fix

1. PhantomBuster - Docs (PhantomBuster help center): the free trial gives 2 hours of execution time total and 5 Phantom slots for 14 days; the ongoing free plan gives 30 minutes per month and 1 slot, with result files capped at 10 rows. ## The fix When Phantoms stop launching or sit idle, check plan limits before debugging anything else: 1. Expected: this specific failure stops.

Details

Open the PhantomBuster dashboard and look at the usage meters: remaining monthly execution time and active slots. 2. If execution time is burned through, everything halts until the plan resets; either wait or upgrade the plan. 3. If all slots are busy with other automations, the new Phantom is queued, not broken. Stagger launches throughout the day instead of firing everything at once. 4. Keep inputs clean: a Phantom chewing through 1,000 junk profiles burns execution time that should go to real leads. Clean inputs plus staggered scheduling usually buys back a lot of headroom. Thread: docs:phantombuster-free-trial-limits

When to use

You hit exactly this: PhantomBuster Phantom "not working" is often just spent execution time or full slots.

When not to use

A different error, or the same symptom in a different tool. This page only covers the failure above.

Compatibility

the tool named in the title.

Root cause

Constantly hitting the ceiling means you have outgrown the plan, not that the tool is flaky.

In docs:phantombuster-free-trial-limits (https://support.phantombuster.com/hc/en-us/articles/26283273736466-How-to-Make-the-Most-of-Your-PhantomBuster-Free-Trial), the issue reported: Docs (PhantomBuster help center): the free trial gives 2 hours of execution time total and 5 Phantom slots for 14 days; the ongoing free plan gives 30 minutes per month and 1 slot, with result files capped at 10 rows. Phantoms often look broken when they have simply burned through execution time mid-cycle or all slots are occupied, so new launches queue and appear stuck. The fix: check the Usage page (coin icon in the workspace) for execution time and slot consumption, stagger launches through the day, keep inputs small on free/trial, and upgrade when the meters are the bottleneck rather than debugging the Phantom. The verified answer: When Phantoms stop launching or sit idle, check plan limits before debugging anything else:

1. Open the PhantomBuster dashboard and look at the usage meters: remaining monthly execution time and active slots.
2. If execution time is burned through, everything halts until the plan resets; either wait or upgrade the plan.
3. If all slots are busy with other automations, the new Phantom is queued, not broken. Stagger launches throughout the day instead of firing everything at once.
4. Keep inputs clean: a Phantom chewing through 1,000 junk profiles burns execution time that should go to real leads.

Constantly hitting the ceiling means you have outgrown the plan, not that the tool is flaky. Clean inputs plus staggered scheduling usually buys back a lot of headroom.