# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

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 + MCP: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #331 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crustdata.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crustdata.json
- Hunter API + MCP: grade C, 56.8/100, rank #299 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hunter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hunter.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Crustdata API + MCP | Hunter API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 50 | Hunter API + MCP +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 90 | Hunter API + MCP +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 54 | Crustdata API + MCP +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 33 | Crustdata API + MCP +23 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 5 | 40 | Hunter API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 63 | Crustdata API + MCP +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 81 | Hunter API + MCP +25 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.5 · D** | **56.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crustdata API + MCP | Hunter API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Crustdata | Hunter |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.crustdata.com` | `https://api.hunter.io/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 107 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | none |
| Popularity | none | 9 stars |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (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

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