> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spherescout.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Get started with SphereScout in minutes

> Sign up for free, run your first search, export contacts to CSV, and import them into your CRM — no credit card required to get started.

SphereScout is designed to get you from zero to a usable lead list quickly. This guide walks you through the full flow: creating an account, searching the database, exporting a CSV, and importing it into your outreach tool. Your free account includes 100 leads with no credit card required.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a free account">
    Go to [spherescout.io](https://www.spherescout.io) and click **Get 100 Free Leads**. You can sign up with your email address and a password, or use **Continue with Google** for one-click access.

    After signing up with email, you will be redirected to your dashboard. No email verification step is required before you can start searching.

    <Tip>
      If you already have an account, go to the login page and enter your credentials or sign in with Google.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Search the database">
    From your dashboard, use the search panel to filter the database:

    * **Business category** — choose an industry such as Restaurants, Dentists, Lawyers, or Contractors. You can select multiple categories.
    * **Country** — required to narrow results to a specific country.
    * **State/Region** — optional, narrows results within the selected country.
    * **City** — optional, for city-level targeting.
    * **Postal code** — optional, for the most granular geographic targeting.

    Once you select a category and country, the table below populates with a preview of matching contacts. The preview shows the first results; the full count is displayed above the table.

    <Note>
      Free accounts can preview results immediately. Your 100 free credits are deducted when you export, not when you search.
    </Note>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Apply contact filters">
    Use the filter panel to include only contacts that have specific data fields:

    * **Email** — only include contacts with an email address
    * **Phone** — only include contacts with a phone number
    * **Website** — only include contacts with a website
    * **LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X** — filter by social media presence
    * **Google Maps rating** — filter by minimum star rating

    Combining filters narrows the result set to contacts that match all selected criteria. For cold email campaigns, enabling the **Email** filter ensures every exported row has a deliverable address.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Export to CSV">
    When your filters are set and the result count looks right, click **Export** (or **Download all contacts**) to download a CSV file instantly.

    The exported file contains one row per contact with the following columns:

    ```csv theme={null}
    name,email,phone,city,level2_location,zipcode,country,website,linkedin,twitter,instagram,facebook,first_seen,last_seen
    "Acme Dental Clinic","contact@acmedental.com","+1-555-0123","Austin","Texas","78701","US","https://acmedental.com","https://linkedin.com/company/acmedental","","https://instagram.com/acmedental","https://facebook.com/acmedental","2024-01-10","2025-03-15"
    "City Law Group","info@citylawgroup.com","+1-555-0456","Austin","Texas","78702","US","https://citylawgroup.com","","","","https://facebook.com/citylawgroup","2023-11-05","2025-04-01"
    ```

    Fields that are unavailable for a given contact are left blank — the column is still present in every row so your CRM import mapping stays consistent.

    <Tip>
      The `level2_location` column contains the state or region name. Use it alongside `city` and `zipcode` for territory segmentation in your CRM.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Import into your CRM or outreach tool">
    Open your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.) or email sequencer and use its CSV import feature. Map the columns from the SphereScout export to the corresponding fields in your tool:

    | SphereScout column | Typical CRM field |
    | ------------------ | ----------------- |
    | `name`             | Company name      |
    | `email`            | Email address     |
    | `phone`            | Phone number      |
    | `city`             | City              |
    | `level2_location`  | State / Region    |
    | `country`          | Country           |
    | `website`          | Website           |
    | `linkedin`         | LinkedIn URL      |

    Most CRM tools accept CSV imports directly from your downloads folder. No transformation or cleaning is needed before importing.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What happens after your free credits are used

Once you have exported 100 leads, your free credits are exhausted. You can upgrade to a subscription plan to continue:

* **Starter** — paid access for light prospecting and small teams
* **Growth** — for recurring prospecting workflows
* **Pro** — for teams scaling outbound campaigns
* **Scale** — for high-volume sales teams and agencies

You can also make a one-time purchase without subscribing if you need a specific dataset for a single campaign.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Compare plans" icon="credit-card" href="/billing/plans">
    See monthly credit amounts and pricing for each subscription tier.
  </Card>

  <Card title="One-time purchase" icon="cart-shopping" href="/billing/one-time-purchase">
    Buy a specific lead list once, with no recurring fee.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>