Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run
Crustdata API + MCP vs Lusha API + MCP
Lusha API + MCP has a score of 62.6 (B) against Crustdata API + MCP's 53.5 (D). Both do lead search. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 35 points.
Which one, for what
Pick Crustdata API + MCP for
- schema & documentation (+6)
- agent ergonomics (+22)
Pick Lusha API + MCP for
- reliability (+30)
- payments & pricing (+35)
- maintenance & community (+15)
- transparency & trust (+28)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Crustdata API + MCP | Lusha API + MCP | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 45 | 75 | Lusha API + MCP +30 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 89 | 83 | Crustdata API + MCP +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 73 | 51 | Crustdata API + MCP +22 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 56 | 59 | Lusha API + MCP +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 5 | 40 | Lusha API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 67 | 82 | Lusha API + MCP +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 56 | 84 | Lusha API + MCP +28 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -4 | |
| Total | 53.5 · D | 62.6 · B |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Crustdata API + MCP | Lusha API + MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Crustdata | Lusha |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.crustdata.com | https://api.lusha.com |
| 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 | 50 |
| 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 | com.lusha.mcp/mcp |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-23 |
| Popularity | none | none |
| 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.
Lusha API + MCP
API key on every plan, including Free with 40 credits a month. At least 1 credit per request even when nothing matches.
Before you call either
Crustdata API + MCP
- Always send
x-api-version: 2025-11-01. Unpinned calls get the latest version - Call
/account/endpointsfirst to see what your plan enables and what each field costs - Ask only for the premium field groups you need, since each one bills
- Poll
GET /batch/{id}before submitting more batch jobs. Active jobs count against a cap of 5 to 30 - Read the
crustdata://catalogresource before calling MCP tools
Lusha API + MCP
- Batch up to 25 contacts a request. A single bulk request costs 1 credit, not 1 per contact
- Ask for phones only when needed. A phone is 5 credits against 1 for an email
- Use the Buying Group endpoint. Decision Makers was retired on 2026-09-04
- Use
/v3/lookalike/contactsfor contact lookalikes - Back off exponentially on 429. Free keys stop at 100 requests a day
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Machine-readable
/api/v1/tools/crustdata.json·/api/v1/tools/lusha.json- This page as Markdown,
/compare/crustdata-vs-lusha.md