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Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents
The 10 highest-scoring of 16 lead, contact and company data APIs on the Anchor benchmark, with a pick for each need and where each one falls short. Scores come from public evidence, re-checked as vendors change.
- 16 ranked
- 1 agent-ready
- 16 hosted endpoints
- Updated 9 October 2026
Top three
Picks by need
Worked out from the scores, prices and facts, so they change when the research does.
Schema & documentation
93/100 on schema & documentation, against 84 for the overall leader.
Maintenance & community
82/100 on maintenance & community, against 76 for the overall leader.
Transparency & trust
80/100 on transparency & trust, against 75 for the overall leader.
The shortlist
| # | Tool | Grade | Best for | Price | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZoomInfo API + MCP ZoomInfo Technologies LLC |
BB 72.2 | Sales and marketing agents that need company, contact, intent and business-event data from one vendor, with free search before paid enrichment. | $0.38 / credit | hosted |
| 2 | People Data Labs People Data Labs, Inc. |
B 64.2 | Products and pipelines that enrich or search person and company records at volume and can write Elasticsearch or SQL queries. | $98 / mo | hosted |
| 3 | Apollo API + MCP Apollo.io |
B 63.3 | Building prospect lists by title, seniority, location and firmographics, then pushing them into Apollo's CRM and sequences. | $49 / seat-mo | hosted |
| 4 | Coresignal API + MCP Coresignal |
B 62.9 | Company and workforce research, headcount history and hiring signals at volume, and for pipelines that want raw records. | $49 / mo | hosted |
| 5 | Lusha API + MCP Lusha |
B 62.3 | Sales teams that want contact and company enrichment, signals and prospecting from one vendor, with a free plan to start. | $49.90 / mo | hosted |
| 6 | LeadMagic API + MCP LeadMagic |
C 60.2 | Verification and email or mobile finding in automated pipelines, especially at volume on the plans with credit-free search. | $99 / mo | hosted |
| 7 | FullEnrich API + MCP FullEnrich |
C 59.6 | Maximising find rate on known contacts, especially mobiles, without a long-term contract. | $55 / mo | hosted |
| 8 | Hunter API + MCP Hunter |
C 56.5 | Finding and verifying work emails from a domain or a name, where GDPR handling of the people looked up matters. | $49 / mo | hosted |
| 9 | Enrich Layer API + MCP Enrich Layer |
C 55.8 | Teams migrating Proxycurl code or doing per-profile lookups at low unit cost without a subscription. | $0.10 / credit | hosted and local |
| 10 | Crustdata API + MCP Crustdata |
D 53.4 | Agents that monitor companies, people, jobs or posts over time and need change notifications. | Pay per use | hosted |
6 more are ranked in the full table.
How to choose
- Search, enrichment or verificationCheck which of search, enrichment or email verification each endpoint performs, because they are scored separately and an agent needs the right one for each step.
- Match rate and field completenessTest match rate and field completeness on your own domains and names, since headline coverage may not hold for the companies your agent will target.
- Email validity and stale recordsCheck how emails are verified and how often records are refreshed, since stale addresses bounce and waste the outreach an agent sends.
- Data reuse and retentionRead the data reuse and retention terms, since some services limit whether an agent may store, share or train on the records it returns.
How the benchmark tests this category. The same 50 company domains and 50 named prospects through every provider. We measure match rate, field completeness, email validity, stale records, latency and cost per usable record, and score search, enrichment and email verification separately.
Each one in detail
ZoomInfo API + MCP
BB 72.2/100ZoomInfo sells B2B company, contact and buying-signal data. Agents search and enrich records through a REST API with OAuth 2.0, a hosted MCP server and the GTM CLI, all drawing on one credit pool.
Verdict Search, lookup and similar-record calls cost no credits, and a free account with 1,000 data and 1,000 AI credits needs no card. OAuth carries 20 scopes and limits are published per package. The Licence Terms and Conditions bar disclosing benchmark results, and the two documentation sites disagree on batch sizes and rate-limit headers.
Choose it for Sales and marketing agents that need company, contact, intent and business-event data from one vendor, with free search before paid enrichment.
Strengths
- Free account with 1,000 data credits and 1,000 AI credits, no card, covering the API, MCP server and CLI
- Search, Lookup, Find Similar and Find Recommended Contacts consume no credits. Credits apply to enrichment and AI research
- OAuth 2.0 with PKCE or client credentials and 20 scopes, with read and manage scopes separated
Weaknesses
- The Licence Terms and Conditions bar disclosing benchmark results and automated access outside ZoomInfo's own tools without written approval
- The documentation disagrees with itself. One page says rate-limit headers are not returned, another lists them. Enrichment batches are 25 on one site and 10 on the other
- No idempotency keys found, and ZoomInfo shows no cost preview before a paid MCP call
Price $0.38 / creditAuth OAuthx402 nohosted
People Data Labs
B 64.2/100People Data Labs sells person, company and job posting data through a REST API. Agents enrich a known person or company, resolve an identity, or search the datasets with Elasticsearch or SQL queries, using an API key.
Verdict Monthly dated release notes, a free sandbox with synthetic data, response headers that report credits and rate limits, and a free plan of 100 records a month make the API easy to start with. No OpenAPI file was found, keys carry no scopes and may travel in the URL, and the agreement allows changes without notice.
Choose it for Products and pipelines that enrich or search person and company records at volume and can write Elasticsearch or SQL queries.
Strengths
- Credits are charged only on a match (a
200), and each response reports credits spent and remaining in headers - Seven sandbox endpoints at
sandbox.api.peopledatalabs.comreturn synthetic records at no charge on every plan - Release notes are dated monthly, the latest on 15 September 2026 (dataset v35.2), with schema changes labelled
Weaknesses
- No OpenAPI file was found. The machine-readable material is a Postman collection and Elasticsearch mappings
- API keys have no scopes, and the docs show the key passed as
api_keyin the URL query string - The Services Subscription Agreement says data and services may be modified without prior notice
Price $98 / moAuth API keyx402 nohosted
Apollo API + MCP
B 63.3/100People and company search over Apollo's database of about 240 million contacts and 30 million companies, person and company enrichment with email and mobile reveal, and the Apollo CRM and sequence objects.
Verdict People search costs 0 credits, up to 100 records a page and 50,000 a query. Headless MCP use needs a master key that reaches every endpoint.
Choose it for Building prospect lists by title, seniority, location and firmographics, then pushing them into Apollo's CRM and sequences.
Strengths
- People search costs 0 credits, up to 100 records a page and 50,000 a query
error_detailscarries a stable code, ordered fix suggestions andretry_after_seconds- Scoped API keys limited to chosen endpoints, with regenerate and delete
Weaknesses
- Headless MCP use needs a master key that reaches every endpoint
- MCP write actions include sending email, sequence enrolment and buying domains, with no read-only mode
- Status page has no API or MCP component, and logged background-job downtimes of 1 h 16 min and 2 h 49 min in the last 90 days
Price $49 / seat-moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
Coresignal API + MCP
B 62.9/100Company, employee and job posting data collected from the public web, queried with filters or Elasticsearch DSL and pulled by ID, with a real-time employee lookup, profile-change webhooks and a natural-language Agentic Search API.
Verdict Search is free, and credits are only taken on collect or enrich calls that return 200. Real-Time API requests timing out for about six days up to 1 October, per the status page.
Choose it for Company and workforce research, headcount history and hiring signals at volume, and for pipelines that want raw records.
Strengths
- Search is free, and credits are only taken on collect or enrich calls that return 200
- Every plan price and per-endpoint credit cost is public
- Hosted MCP with 5 tools, OAuth 2.1 and a confirmation step before large pulls
Weaknesses
- Real-Time API requests timing out for about six days up to 1 October, per the status page
- Main search takes Elasticsearch DSL, a free-form JSON body
- 7-day trial with a card per the 30 September check, and no free tier
Price $49 / moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
Lusha API + MCP
B 62.3/100Contact and company enrichment, filter-based prospecting, lookalikes, job-change and company signals, and webhooks over a versioned REST API with OpenAPI files.
Verdict API key on every plan, including Free with 40 credits a month. At least 1 credit per request even when nothing matches.
Choose it for Sales teams that want contact and company enrichment, signals and prospecting from one vendor, with a free plan to start.
Strengths
- API key on every plan, including Free with 40 credits a month
- Admins can cap each key's monthly credits
- Ten dated releases since 8 June 2026
Weaknesses
- At least 1 credit per request even when nothing matches
- Decision Makers API removed 88 days after launch, and Contact Lookalikes changed incompatibly, both in minor versions
- 50 MCP tools with no toolsets or read-only mode, including table writes and CRM export
Price $49.90 / moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
LeadMagic API + MCP
C 60.2/100Email validation, email and mobile finders, people and company search, company intelligence, job postings and ad data over one REST API with a published OpenAPI file.
Verdict RFC 9457 problem-details errors with request_id, and Retry-After on 429. No free tier or trial credits, plans from $99 a month.
Choose it for Verification and email or mobile finding in automated pipelines, especially at volume on the plans with credit-free search.
Strengths
- RFC 9457 problem-details errors with
request_id, and Retry-After on 429 X-Credits-CostandX-Credits-Remainingon every response- Email validation bills 0.25 credit only for a definite answer
Weaknesses
- No free tier or trial credits, plans from $99 a month
- The service-level policy disclaims any uptime guarantee
- Status page has no incident history
Price $99 / moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
FullEnrich API + MCP
C 59.6/100Waterfall contact enrichment that queries 20+ data providers for work emails, personal emails and mobile numbers, plus people and company search and reverse email lookup.
Verdict Credits only spent on found data, and identical re-runs within 3 months are free. Enrichment sources are third-party providers the vendor doesn't name.
Choose it for Maximising find rate on known contacts, especially mobiles, without a long-term contract.
Strengths
- Credits only spent on found data, and identical re-runs within 3 months are free
- 50 trial credits with no card, API and MCP included
- Hosted MCP with OAuth and 13 tools, listed in the official registry under io.github.FullEnrich
Weaknesses
- Enrichment sources are third-party providers the vendor doesn't name
- Status page covers the web app only, not the API or MCP
- No 429 or error reference found in the docs
Price $55 / moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
Hunter API + MCP
C 56.5/100Email finder, email verifier, domain search, company discovery and person and company enrichment over a REST API, plus a hosted MCP server that also drives Hunter's leads, lists and cold-email sequences.
Verdict Returns 451 for people who asked not to be processed. Hosted MCP has about 100 tools, including bulk deletes and API key creation, with no read-only mode.
Choose it for Finding and verifying work emails from a domain or a name, where GDPR handling of the people looked up matters.
Strengths
- Returns 451 for people who asked not to be processed
- Privacy policy names its sources, cites a legitimate interest assessment and DPIA, and hosts in Belgium
- Free plan with API and MCP access, no card
Weaknesses
- Hosted MCP has about 100 tools, including bulk deletes and API key creation, with no read-only mode
- API key accepted in the
api_keyquery string - Rate limits answer 403 and quota exhaustion answers 429
Price $49 / moAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
Enrich Layer API + MCP
C 55.8/100Professional profile, company, job, school and contact lookups with person and company search, built on the old Proxycurl endpoint set after Proxycurl shut down in July 2025.
Verdict Pay-as-you-go credits from $10, non-expiring unless idle for 18 months. Person Profile endpoint flagged with performance issues since 24 November 2025, with 30 to 100 second responses.
Choose it for Teams migrating Proxycurl code or doing per-profile lookups at low unit cost without a subscription.
Strengths
- Pay-as-you-go credits from $10, non-expiring unless idle for 18 months
- 500 free credits with no card, per the 30 September check
- OpenAPI 3.0 spec, and MCP tool schemas checked against it in CI
Weaknesses
- Person Profile endpoint flagged with performance issues since 24 November 2025, with 30 to 100 second responses
- Trial accounts limited to 2 requests a minute until the first top-up
- No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification
Price $0.10 / creditAuth API keyx402 nohosted and local
Crustdata API + MCP
D 53.4/100Company, person, job, web and social post search and enrichment, with live web lookups, batch jobs and watchers that push changes to a webhook.
Verdict Per-field credit prices, readable per account from /account/endpoints, and X-Credits-Used on every response. No status page and no SLA.
Choose it for Agents that monitor companies, people, jobs or posts over time and need change notifications.
Strengths
- Per-field credit prices, readable per account from
/account/endpoints, andX-Credits-Usedon every response - Per-key endpoint restrictions and monthly credit caps
- Eight OpenAPI files, llms.txt and a detailed dated changelog
Weaknesses
- No status page and no SLA
- No public dollar price per credit, and the free trial is on request
- Breaking changes shipped inside the pinned version 2025-11-01
Price Pay per useAuth OAuth or keyx402 nohosted
Head to head
- People Data Labs vs ZoomInfo API + MCP B 64.2 vs BB 72.2
- Apollo API + MCP vs ZoomInfo API + MCP B 63.3 vs BB 72.2
- Coresignal API + MCP vs ZoomInfo API + MCP B 62.9 vs BB 72.2
- Lusha API + MCP vs ZoomInfo API + MCP B 62.3 vs BB 72.2
- Apollo API + MCP vs People Data Labs B 63.3 vs B 64.2
- Coresignal API + MCP vs People Data Labs B 62.9 vs B 64.2
- Lusha API + MCP vs People Data Labs B 62.3 vs B 64.2
- Apollo API + MCP vs Coresignal API + MCP B 63.3 vs B 62.9
- Apollo API + MCP vs Lusha API + MCP B 63.3 vs B 62.3
- Coresignal API + MCP vs Lusha API + MCP B 62.9 vs B 62.3
Questions
What are the highest-rated lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents?
ZoomInfo API + MCP has the highest benchmark score of the 16 ranked lead, contact and company data APIs, 72.2 (BB). People Data Labs is second with 64.2 (B).
How many lead, contact and company data APIs are agent-ready?
1 of the 16 ranked here grade BB or better, the bar for agent-ready on the Anchor benchmark.
Which lead, contact and company data APIs accept x402 payments?
None of the ranked listings here accepts x402 for its main call yet.
How is this list ranked?
By the Anchor benchmark score out of 100, a weighted mean of the scored categories minus deductions for negative events, from public evidence re-checked as vendors change. Listings cannot pay for a place. The latest assessment behind this page is from 9 October 2026.
How this list is made
The order is the Anchor benchmark score, the same number as on each listing and in the top list. Each listing is graded from public evidence against the benchmark checklist, and the picks above are worked out from those grades, prices and facts. No listing pays for its place, and paid audits or listing help never change a score.
Full ranked table · 120 head-to-head comparisons · Best tools in every category