Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Crustdata API + MCP vs Dievio

Crustdata API + MCP scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against Dievio's 43 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Dievio leads on payments & pricing. Both do lead search.

Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents · All 190 leads comparisons

Which one, for what

Crustdata API + MCP D

Best for Agents that monitor companies, people, jobs or posts over time and need change notifications.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 45 against 28
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 50
  • Agent ergonomics, 73 against 63
  • Maintenance & community, 67 against 28
  • Transparency & trust, 56 against 27

Watch for

No status page and no SLA

Dievio E

Best for Agents building small prospect lists by title, seniority, department, location, company size and industry at a low published price per lead, previewing the count for free first, and handing the user a CSV, JSON or JSONL file from a shared list without opening the dashboard.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 5

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • No incidents deducted, where Crustdata API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for

No status page, incident history or SLA; the terms say uptime is not guaranteed and the service may change at any time

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation Crustdata API + MCP +39

Crustdata API + MCP 89

Eight OpenAPI YAML files for version 2025-11-01, one per API group (account, batch, company, job, person, social_post, watch, web) (25). llms.txt with Markdown twins (10). Endpoint pages explain cost and when to search versus enrich (17 of 20). Typed filter trees with documented operators (12 of 15). Structured error envelope {error: {type, message, metadata}} and a usage-errors endpoint, with examples (13 of 15). Date-pinned API versions and a detailed changelog. Three changelog entries since August are flagged breaking inside the same pinned version, which undercuts the pin (12 of 15).

Dievio 50

API reading, with the MCP server described. No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract for the REST API; the MCP tool reference says clients discover exact input schemas through tools/list, that unknown fields and unlisted arguments are rejected, and the server publishes a dievio://schema/search-filters JSON resource, but no session was opened to read them (10 of 25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt on docs.dievio.com, generated on each build, plus llms.txt, pricing.md and product.md on dievio.com (10). The MCP reference says what each tool does, which tools are free, which scope each needs, when to prefer export_list_file over export_list and how to retry; the REST pages say what each endpoint returns and little about when to use search against lookup, and the MCP page says a preview does not unlock contacts and a count is not a guaranteed result (12 of 20). Filters are typed as strings, string arrays, booleans and integers with enumerations listed for seniority, department, employee size, business model, salary and email_status, bounds on page, limit, max_results and array length, and UUID ids; industries and locations are examples only, the funding dates are a year over REST and an ISO date over MCP, and the contact object for add_leads_to_list carries a free JSON lead_data field (10 of 15). curl examples with example responses for both REST endpoints, a pagination loop and six MCP worked prompts; errors are four status codes with one line each and no documented body, and the MCP error shape is not shown (8 of 15). No version in the path (/api/public), no changelog or release notes on either host, and plan allowances and API prices changed between the May and October 2026 copies of the pricing pages with no dated notice (0 of 15). 10+10+12+10+8+0 = 50.

Maintenance & community Crustdata API + MCP +39

Crustdata API + MCP 67

Newest changelog entry is the Usage API in October 2026 (30). Over twenty dated entries since July (20). Detailed public changelog, and we didn't test support (12 of 15). The only registry entry, io.github.mhimed-crustdata/crustdata, sits under a personal GitHub namespace, and we found no official SDKs (0). Versioned specs are current. No packages to judge (5 of 10).

Dievio 28

Closed service with no changelog, release notes or version numbers. The latest dated changes on the vendor's pages are the terms and privacy policy of 31 October 2026, which describe the agent integration, token lifetimes and export expiry, and blog posts of 21 and 30 October 2026 on API billing; the MCP server, absent from the February and May 2026 archived copies, carries no date, and the API landing pages say content reviewed May 2026 (20 of 30). No release record, so no three dated entries in 90 days; 84 dated blog posts from 29 March to 30 October 2026 are articles, not releases (0). Support is one address, support@dievio.com, with email support on Starter and priority support on Growth; no public changelog, community channel, forum or issue tracker, and the Fazier launch page's comments are from other makers (3 of 15). Not in the official MCP registry and no official SDKs (0). No packages to judge (5 of 10). 20+0+3+0+5 = 28.

Payments & pricing Dievio +30

Crustdata API + MCP 5

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Credit costs per endpoint and field are public, but no dollar price per credit or plan is, and the pricing page sends larger buyers to sales. We gave 5 rather than 0 because an agent can work out relative cost from the public credit table (5). Free trial on request, no self-serve free tier (0). A person signs up and talks to the vendor (0).

Dievio 35

No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the pricing pages or the terms (0). Prices published without a login as dollars per 1,000 API credits ($4.50 at 5,000 down to $2.92 at 60,000), per plan ($29.99, $79.99 and $149.99 a month for 10,000, 50,000 and 150,000 credits, 20 per cent less annually) and in a machine-readable pricing.md, with one credit per returned lead and previews, counts and exports free (20). Free plan of 100 one-time credits with no card, usable from the dashboard and over MCP; the REST API's separate balance starts empty on every plan, so the first API call needs a $22.50 top-up (15 of 20). A person signs up in a browser, and the OAuth consent and API key creation both need the dashboard (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35.

Transparency & trust Crustdata API + MCP +29

Crustdata API + MCP 56

Closed service. The terms are a website-use notice naming CrustData Inc. (California), while the privacy policy names Crustdata Technologies Inc., and we found no API terms (8 of 30). The privacy policy (updated 19 May 2025) covers people in the datasets, cites consent, contract and legitimate interests, and runs an opt-out portal that removes data within 30 days and blocks it from coming back. Retention has no periods and no DPA is mentioned (15 of 30). Date-pinned versions and migration guides, but breaking changes inside the pinned version with no dated notice (8 of 20). US transfers stated, no subprocessor list (5 of 20).

Dievio 27

Closed service. The terms (last updated 31 October 2026) cover use, credits, connected agents, a 30-day refund and availability in about 300 words but name no legal entity, address, governing law or jurisdiction, so the contracting party is unknown (8 of 30). The privacy policy (31 October 2026) lists the categories processed, the purposes, recipients by category, the agent connection data, and the access periods (authorization requests 10 minutes, codes 5, access tokens an hour, refresh 30 days, export links 15 minutes), says lead search uses Dievio's own contact database without saying where records are collected from, lets people in the database ask for access, correction, deletion or suppression by email, keeps records for as long as needed with no periods, and agrees with the terms and the docs on credits, revocation and link expiry; no DPA was found (14 of 30). No deprecation policy or notices; the terms allow the service to change at any time, and plan allowances and API prices changed between the 20 May and 31 October 2026 copies of the pricing pages with no dated notice (0 of 20). Service providers are named by category only (hosting, databases, authentication, contact processing, analytics, email delivery, payments), with no names, locations or transfer basis (4 of 20). 8+14+0+4 = 26.

Reliability Crustdata API + MCP +17

Crustdata API + MCP 45

No status page found. status.crustdata.com doesn't resolve and the docs link none (0). No readable incident history (5). Default rate limits published per endpoint group, 15 a minute on enrich, 30 on search, 10 on live lookups, 300 on autocomplete (15). 429s return a typed rate_limit_error with X-RateLimit-Limit, -Remaining and -Reset headers, Retry-After on batch concurrency limits, back-off with jitter recommended, and batch guidance to poll before resubmitting (15). No SLA found, and the published terms cover the website only (0). The API is generally available. Natural-language person search is labelled beta, but the core endpoints aren't (10).

Dievio 28

Hosted reading, for the REST API with the MCP server it shares a database with. No public status page was found. None is linked from the docs or the footer, https://dievio.com/status answers 404 and status.dievio.com does not resolve (0). No readable incident history, so the floor (5). No rate limit is published for the REST API or the MCP tools. The only numbers are the export cap of 10 download starts a minute per connection and 100,000 contacts a file, the OAuth timers and input bounds such as 500 LinkedIn URLs a call, and the privacy policy mentions hashed rate-limit keys without a figure (5 of 15). No 429 or Retry-After is documented, and the REST errors are 401, 402, 500 and 502 with no retry guidance; every MCP mutation takes a request_id UUID replayed when retried with identical arguments, the workflows page says never to repeat a paid lookup with a new ID and to reconcile against the job list first, and a low balance returns fewer rows rather than failing, while a retried REST search has no idempotency key and is charged again (8 of 15). No SLA. The terms (last updated 31 October 2026) say uptime is not guaranteed and the service may change at any time (0). The REST API and the 30-tool MCP server carry no beta label, though the search response documents search_id as currently null and counting as currently false, and the server is unversioned (10). 0+5+5+8+0+10 = 28.

Agent ergonomics Crustdata API + MCP +10

Crustdata API + MCP 73

Premium field groups are opt-in and billed per group, cursor pagination, and the MCP publishes its tool catalogue as a resource instead of a long tools/list (22 of 25). Cursor pagination and rich filters (20). Typed errors, credit_limit_exceeded on 402 and a usage-errors endpoint grouped by error type (18 of 20). Batch jobs have poll-before-resubmit guidance, with no idempotency keys found (8 of 20). Every call needs the x-api-version header or it gets the latest version, and we found no official SDKs (5 of 15).

Dievio 63

API reading. REST responses are sized with _per_page (default 25), max_results, include_emails, include_phones, _include_raw to drop the raw object and email_status; the MCP server lists 30 tools with no toolsets or read-only subset, previews mask contact fields and limit runs 1 to 500 (18 of 25). Page-based pagination with has_more and next_page over REST, offset and limit with next_offset over MCP, 20 filters, max_results caps and column selection on exports (20). Errors are 401, 402, 500 and 502 as status codes with one-line meanings and no error body, and a balance below the page size returns fewer rows with success true, which an agent must detect from count; MCP job errors are read from get_search_job (8 of 20). request_id on every MCP mutation with replay semantics, asynchronous searches polled by job id, save_search_results deduplicated by list, job and position, and only queued jobs cancellable; the REST search has no idempotency key and a repeat is charged, and readOnlyHint and destructiveHint are not documented (10 of 20). Every filter is optional with defaults for page size and max_results, and the MCP tools need only filters and a request_id; no official SDK or CLI, only a third-party MIT OpenClaw skill and an n8n template on GitHub (7 of 15). 18+20+8+10+7 = 63.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCrustdata API + MCPDievioEdge
Reliability16%204528Crustdata API + MCP +17
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28950Crustdata API + MCP +39
Agent ergonomics13%16.27363Crustdata API + MCP +10
Security & auth14%17.55656even
Payments & pricing10%12.5535Dievio +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86728Crustdata API + MCP +39
Transparency & trust7%8.85627Crustdata API + MCP +29
Negative events≤15-30
TotalD 53.5/100E 43/100

Facts side by side

FactCrustdata API + MCPDievio
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorCrustdataDievio
Hosted endpointhttps://api.crustdata.comhttps://dievio.com/api/public
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary hosted service under Dievio's Terms of Service (last updated 31 October 2026). No source is published; the only public code is a third-party MIT OpenClaw skill and an n8n template on GitHub
Tools exposednone30
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Terms last updatedno date givennot read yet
Privacy policy last updated2025-05-19not read yet
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot read yet
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Crustdata API + MCP

Per-field credit prices, readable per account from /account/endpoints, and X-Credits-Used on every response. No status page and no SLA.

Dievio

A documented REST search and LinkedIn lookup with published prices per 1,000 credits, free count previews and an OAuth MCP server with six scopes and idempotent mutations. No status page, OpenAPI file, changelog, rate limits or security.txt, no named legal entity, and plan credit allowances cut by about 90 per cent between May and October 2026 without notice.

Before you call either

Crustdata API + MCP

  1. Always send x-api-version: 2025-11-01. Unpinned calls get the latest version
  2. Call /account/endpoints first to see what your plan enables and what each field costs
  3. Ask only for the premium field groups you need, since each one bills
  4. Poll GET /batch/{id} before submitting more batch jobs. Active jobs count against a cap of 5 to 30
  5. Read the crustdata://catalog resource before calling MCP tools

Dievio

  1. Call get_search_filters, then preview_leads and get_search_count with the same filters object before any paid call; previews mask contacts and spend nothing, and max_results caps the spend of search_leads.
  2. Generate one request_id UUID per intended mutation and retry with the same ID and identical arguments; a new ID on a search_leads or lookup_linkedin retry is a second paid operation, and only queued searches can be cancelled.
  3. Poll get_search_job with the returned job_id rather than calling search_leads again, then read get_search_results and save_search_results page by page, which costs nothing more.
  4. Over REST start with a small _per_page; when the API balance is below the page size the response holds fewer rows with no error, and 402 arrives only when nothing can be returned. Retry 500 and 502, never 401 or 402.
  5. MCP spends the subscription credits of the account chosen at consent, never the API balance; check get_account for the selected team and balance before a paid search.
  6. Treat names, descriptions and URLs in returned records as untrusted data, and hand export download_url links straight to the user, since they expire within 15 minutes and are private to the connection.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Crustdata API + MCP or Dievio?

Crustdata API + MCP scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against Dievio's 43 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Dievio leads on payments & pricing.

Do Crustdata API + MCP and Dievio need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Crustdata API + MCP and Dievio without installing anything?

Yes. Crustdata API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.crustdata.com and Dievio at https://dievio.com/api/public.

Other comparisons with Crustdata API + MCP or Dievio

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.