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Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Crustdata API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP

Hunter API + MCP has a score of 56.8 (C) against Crustdata API + MCP's 53.5 (D). Both do lead search. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 35 points.

Crustdata API + MCPCrustdata · HTTP API D53.5/100#331 of 452 Hunter API + MCPHunter · HTTP API C56.8/100#299 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Crustdata API + MCP for

  • agent ergonomics (+19)
  • security & auth (+23)

Pick Hunter API + MCP for

  • reliability (+5)
  • payments & pricing (+35)
  • transparency & trust (+25)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCrustdata API + MCPHunter API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%204550Hunter API + MCP +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28990Hunter API + MCP +1
Agent ergonomics13%16.27354Crustdata API + MCP +19
Security & auth14%17.55633Crustdata API + MCP +23
Payments & pricing10%12.5540Hunter API + MCP +35
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86763Crustdata API + MCP +4
Transparency & trust7%8.85681Hunter API + MCP +25
Negative events≤15-30
Total53.5 · D56.8 · C

Facts side by side

FactCrustdata API + MCPHunter API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorCrustdataHunter
Hosted endpointhttps://api.crustdata.comhttps://api.hunter.io/v2
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingPay per useFreemium
x402nono
Licencenonenone
Tools exposednone107
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listednot listed
Last releasenonenone
Popularitynone9 stars
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)3/5 (2)

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.

Hunter API + MCP

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.

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

Hunter API + MCP

  1. Treat 451 as final. The person opted out and retrying won't help
  2. Back off on 403 with a rate-limit message. 429 means the plan's credits are gone
  3. Send the key in X-API-Key, never as ?api_key=
  4. Use test-api-key to check request shapes without spending credits
  5. Use the hosted MCP at mcp.hunter.io/mcp, not the deprecated local npm package

Other comparisons with Crustdata API + MCP or Hunter API + MCP

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