The "Email discovery temporarily unavailable" error means the third-party email provider PhantomBuster relies on for email discovery is briefly unavailable. It isn't caused by your setup, input file, or session, and no configuration changes are needed. In most cases, relaunching the Phantom after a short wait is enough. Once the provider is back online, the run will complete normally.
This is different from "No remaining email discovery credits", which means your account has hit a credit limit. See How to Fix Plan Credit and Export Limit Errors if your issue is credit-related rather than a provider outage.
Why you’re seeing this
You might see this message:
“Email discovery temporarily unavailable”
Common causes:
- The third-party email provider PhantomBuster uses is briefly unavailable.
- This is a temporary connection issue and isn’t caused by your setup or input file.
How to fix it
Relaunch the Phantom
In most cases, restarting the Phantom is enough. Once the provider is back online, the run will complete normally.
No changes needed
You don't need to edit your input file, Phantom settings, or session. The error is on the provider side, not in your configuration.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Email discovery temporarily unavailable" mean?
It means the third-party email provider PhantomBuster uses for email discovery is briefly unavailable. It's a short outage or connection issue on the provider side, not a problem with your account, input, or setup.
Is this error caused by my setup or input file?
No. This error is triggered by a temporary issue with the email provider, not by anything in your Phantom configuration, session, or input file. You don't need to change your setup to fix it.
Does this affect Hunter.io, Dropcontact, and Snov.io too?
This specific error refers to PhantomBuster's built-in email discovery provider. If you're using Hunter.io, Dropcontact, or Snov.io and those providers are experiencing an outage, you'll usually see an error message coming directly from that provider instead. Check the provider's status page for more details.
How long does the outage usually last?
Outages are typically short, from a few minutes to a few hours. If the error persists across multiple relaunches over a longer period, get in touch with our Customer Care Team.
Do I need to relaunch manually or will the Phantom retry automatically?
If you have scheduled or automatic launches enabled, the next scheduled run will retry once the provider is back online. For one-off runs, you'll need to relaunch manually.
If the error keeps showing up
If the error persists across multiple relaunches or lasts for an extended period, get in touch with our Customer Care Team. We'll investigate and follow up with our email provider if needed. Please include:
- The Phantom name and a link to the run
- The exact error message from the console
- The time the error last appeared
- Which email discovery provider you selected in your Phantom setup