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Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Apollo API + MCP vs People Data Labs

People Data Labs and Apollo API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.2 (B) and 63.3 (B). Apollo API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do lead search.

Apollo API + MCPApollo.io · HTTP API B63.3/100#361 of 841 People Data LabsPeople Data Labs, Inc. · HTTP API B64.2/100#326 of 841

Which one, for what

Apollo API + MCP B

Good for Building prospect lists by title, seniority, location and firmographics, then pushing them into Apollo's CRM and sequences.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 70
  • Security & auth, 60 against 43
  • Transparency & trust, 72 against 67

Watch for

Headless MCP use needs a master key that reaches every endpoint

People Data Labs B

Good for Products and pipelines that enrich or search person and company records at volume and can write Elasticsearch or SQL queries.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 78 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 77 against 65
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 58

Watch for

No OpenAPI file was found. The machine-readable material is a Postman collection and Elasticsearch mappings

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runApollo API + MCPPeople Data LabsEdge
Reliability16%206578People Data Labs +13
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28770Apollo API + MCP +17
Agent ergonomics13%16.26577People Data Labs +12
Security & auth14%17.56043Apollo API + MCP +17
Payments & pricing10%12.53035People Data Labs +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85879People Data Labs +21
Transparency & trust7%8.87267Apollo API + MCP +5
Negative events≤1500
Total63.3 · B64.2 · B

Facts side by side

FactApollo API + MCPPeople Data Labs
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorApollo.ioPeople Data Labs, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.apollo.io/api/v1https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary service under the Services Subscription Agreement. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are MIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.github.apolloio/apollo-mcpnot listed
Last releasenone2026-09-16
Terms last updated2026-08-10couldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-10couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingyescouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textcouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waiveryescouldn't be read
Popularity25 stars40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

Apollo API + MCP

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.

People Data Labs

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.

Before you call either

Apollo API + MCP

  1. Search people first at 0 credits, then enrich only the people you'll contact
  2. Branch on error_details.code and wait retry_after_seconds from the suggestions after a 429
  3. Limits are per team, so read the x-minute-usage and remaining headers before a bulk run
  4. Use a scoped key with only the endpoints the job needs. A master key reaches everything
  5. Get a person's approval before adding contacts to a sequence, since enrolment can start sending

People Data Labs

  1. Send the key in the X-Api-Key header. The api_key query parameter puts the secret in URLs and logs
  2. Build and test queries against https://sandbox.api.peopledatalabs.com/v5/... first. It costs no credits and allows five calls a minute
  3. Set size deliberately on search. Every record returned costs one credit, and responses over 1 MB fail
  4. Treat 404 on enrichment as no match, not an error, and 402 as credits exhausted. Neither is worth a retry
  5. On 429, wait until the x-ratelimit-reset time. Limits are fixed-window per key and per endpoint

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Apollo API + MCP or People Data Labs?

People Data Labs and Apollo API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.2 (B) and 63.3 (B). Apollo API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and transparency & trust.

Do Apollo API + MCP and People Data Labs need an API key?

Apollo API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. People Data Labs needs an API key.

Can an agent call Apollo API + MCP and People Data Labs without installing anything?

Yes. Apollo API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.apollo.io/api/v1 and People Data Labs at https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5.

Other comparisons with Apollo API + MCP or People Data Labs

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