# Crustdata API + MCP vs Explorium AgentSource

> Crustdata scores 53.4 (D) to Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Crustdata API + MCP scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Explorium AgentSource leads on payments & pricing. Both do lead search.

- Crustdata API + MCP: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #708 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crustdata.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crustdata.json
- Explorium AgentSource: grade D, 48.1/100, rank #821 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/explorium-agentsource.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/explorium-agentsource.json
- Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/lead-data/index.md
- All 120 leads comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lead-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Crustdata API + MCP (D)

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

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 76
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 63
- Security & auth, 56 against 37
- Maintenance & community, 67 against 28

Watch for: No status page and no SLA

### Explorium AgentSource (D)

Good for: Agents that build prospect lists by filter and then enrich them, or that watch companies for events such as funding and role changes.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 5

Watch for: No status page was found, and no SLA is published


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Crustdata API + MCP | Explorium AgentSource | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 42 | Crustdata API + MCP +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 76 | Crustdata API + MCP +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 63 | Crustdata API + MCP +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 37 | Crustdata API + MCP +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 5 | 40 | Explorium AgentSource +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 28 | Crustdata API + MCP +39 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 59 | Explorium AgentSource +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **53.4 · D** | **48.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crustdata API + MCP | Explorium AgentSource |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Crustdata | Explorium Ltd. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.crustdata.com` | `https://api.explorium.ai` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Explorium Terms of Use. The `mcp-explorium` repository of connection files is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 11 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-02 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-06-14 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-05-19 | 2026-06-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**Explorium AgentSource.** AgentSource v2 has a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, Markdown docs, a 200 queries a minute limit with `Retry-After`, public credit prices and a 100-credit trial. No status page or published SLA was found, each company shares one API key with no scopes, and the vendor's two published price tables disagree.

## 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

### Explorium AgentSource

1. Send the key in the `api_key` header to `https://api.explorium.ai` and use `/v2` paths. v1 is deprecated
2. Point MCP clients at `https://mcp-v2.explorium.ai/mcp`. The site's agent files still name the v1 server at `mcp.explorium.ai`
3. Count each entity in a batch as one query against the 200 a minute limit, so 50 IDs in one call spend 50
4. Call the statistics endpoint first to size an audience for free. Fetch costs 1 credit a result, or 2 with the Bombora intent filter
5. Call `/v2/autocomplete` before filtering on category, tech stack or job title, and never mix two category types in one request

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Crustdata API + MCP or Explorium AgentSource?

Crustdata API + MCP scores 53.4 (D) on agent readiness against Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Explorium AgentSource leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Crustdata API + MCP and Explorium AgentSource need an API key?

Crustdata API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Explorium AgentSource needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Crustdata API + MCP and Explorium AgentSource without installing anything?

Yes. Crustdata API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.crustdata.com and Explorium AgentSource at https://api.explorium.ai.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-explorium-agentsource.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "crustdata", "b": "explorium-agentsource"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare crustdata explorium-agentsource`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crustdata.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/explorium-agentsource.json

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