# Crustdata API + MCP vs ZeroBounce

> ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) to Crustdata's 52 (D) for lead enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-zerobounce
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-zerobounce.md (~4,750 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Crustdata API + MCP's 52 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Crustdata API + MCP leads on schema & documentation. Both do lead enrichment.

- Crustdata API + MCP: grade D, 52/100, rank #997 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crustdata.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crustdata.json
- ZeroBounce: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #559 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zerobounce.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zerobounce.json
- Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/lead-data/index.md
- All 231 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 54

Watch for: No status page and no SLA

### ZeroBounce (B)

Good for: Email verification before outreach, the verification-first listing in lead-data.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 42
- Security & auth, 65 against 56
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 5
- Maintenance & community, 70 against 57
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Crustdata API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for: Every documented example sends the key as an `api_key` query parameter


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Crustdata API + MCP +35

- 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).
- ZeroBounce (54): No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found; a Postman collection is linked (5 of 25). llms.txt lists marketing pages, and the docs have no Markdown twins (5 of 10). Endpoint pages explain timing, credits and when to use batch or file APIs (14 of 20). Parameter tables and listed status and sub-status values, including the ai_agent_mailbox sub-status added in July 2026 (10 of 15). Examples per endpoint, a sandbox and an error-code page (12 of 15). v2 paths, an API migration page and dated maintenance notices on the status page, with no API changelog (8 of 15). 5+5+14+10+12+8 = 54.

### Reliability: ZeroBounce +33

- Crustdata API + MCP (42): No status page found. status.crustdata.com still doesn't answer and the docs link none (0). No readable incident history (5). Default rate limits published per endpoint, 15 a minute on enrich, 30 on search, 10 on live lookups and watch management, 60 on the usage endpoints, 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. No idempotency keys, so safe-retry guidance without keys (12). 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). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.
- ZeroBounce (75): Hosted lines. Statuspage at status.zerobounce.net with API, API-US, API-EU, Bulk API, website and Cloudflare components (20). The incident feed for 8 August to 6 November shows a 6-minute members platform disruption on 9 September, about 3 minutes of reduced EU API availability on 1 October, and a file upload issue on 26 October resolved within 6 minutes, all minor (20). Limits published per endpoint group with numbers and block lengths (15). 429 is documented with advice to throttle, but no Retry-After, and a block can last an hour or a day (10 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20+20+15+10+0+10 = 75.

### Payments & pricing: ZeroBounce +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 is, and enterprise plans start at "four figures a month" through sales. We gave 5 rather than 0 because an agent can work out relative cost from the public credit table (5). Every new self-serve account now starts with $20 in free credits, but no page we read says whether signing up needs a card, so the line isn't met on the evidence (0). A person signs up in the dashboard (0).
- ZeroBounce (35): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-credit prices public, from $39 for 2,000 validations (20). Freemium of 100 validations a month for business or premium domains; a card requirement isn't stated, and free webmail addresses don't qualify (15 of 20). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35.

### Maintenance & community: ZeroBounce +13

- Crustdata API + MCP (57): The changelog labels every entry by month only, newest "October 2026" (NAICS and SIC on company search, `geo_polygon`, research profiles, the Usage API), with no exact dates or feed, and Crustdata publishes no SDK, MCP package or other dated source of its own. Read as the Zoho listings read month-only entries, dated to the month, all of October lies 4 to 34 days back, within 90 days but not shown within 30 (20). Nine entries fall in September and October, months wholly inside the 90 days from 6 August (20). Detailed public changelog, and we didn't test support (12 of 15). The only registry entry found on 1 October sat under a personal GitHub namespace, and we found no official SDKs (0). Versioned specs are current. No packages to judge (5 of 10). 20 + 20 + 12 + 0 + 5 = 57.
- ZeroBounce (70): Closed service. The JavaScript SDK 3.0.0 was published on 25 October 2026 (30). No API changelog; the dated changes found in 90 days are that release and status-page notices, fewer than three releases (10 of 20). Support by email and 24/7 chat per the docs, a public status page; replies not tested (10 of 15). Official SDKs in many languages and an MCP server (15). Package health not checked (5 of 10). 30+10+10+15+5 = 70.

### Security & auth: ZeroBounce +9

- Crustdata API + MCP (56): Bearer keys, several named keys per account with active, inactive and deleted states, per-key endpoint restrictions and monthly credit caps since July 2026. OAuth for the MCP (28 of 30). Per-key endpoint limits give least privilege. Watchers create standing jobs, and the MCP docs don't separate read and write tools or ask for confirmation (12 of 20). Live web fetch, web search and social posts return untrusted text, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (2 of 15). Usage and logs filterable by key, a usage events API from October 2026, and `X-Credits-Used` on every response (14 of 15). No security.txt, bug bounty, disclosure policy or certification found (0 of 20).
- ZeroBounce (65): Several named keys besides a Master key, regeneration, deactivation and IP whitelists (25), less 10 because the documented calls carry the key in the `api_key` query string (15 of 30). Validation only reads, though file and list endpoints can delete uploads (12 of 20). Results are structured status codes with little free text (10 of 15). API usage and dashboard statistics endpoints (10 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, continuous testing with Intigriti and penetration testing with BitSentinel; no public disclosure policy found (18 of 20). 15+12+10+10+18 = 65.

### Transparency & trust: ZeroBounce +7

- 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).
- ZeroBounce (63): Closed service under terms naming Hertza L.L.C. (ZeroBounce) of Nevada; SDKs and MCP server open source (15 of 30). The data protection page says uploaded data is never kept more than 30 days, the privacy policy of 30 June 2026 keeps account data 'as long as needed', and EU and UK DPAs are published (22 of 30). An API migration page, with no dated deprecation policy (6 of 20). A sub-processor list naming each provider and the data exchanged (16 of 20). 15+22+6+16 = 59.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Crustdata API + MCP | ZeroBounce | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 75 | ZeroBounce +33 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 54 | Crustdata API + MCP +35 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 69 | Crustdata API + MCP +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 65 | ZeroBounce +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 5 | 35 | ZeroBounce +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 70 | ZeroBounce +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 63 | ZeroBounce +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52 · D** | **62.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crustdata API + MCP | ZeroBounce |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Crustdata | Hertza L.L.C. (ZeroBounce) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.crustdata.com` | `https://api.zerobounce.net/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under ZeroBounce's terms of use; SDKs and the MCP server are open source |
| Tools exposed | none | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-25 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-05-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-05-19 | 2026-06-30 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Crustdata API + MCP

- -1.5 on 4 November 2026: correction, time
- +0.1 on 28 October 2026: checklist
- -0.1 on 8 October 2026: checklist

### ZeroBounce

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Crustdata API + MCP.** Per-field credit prices readable per account, `X-Credits-Used` on every response, per-key caps and $20 in free credits for new self-serve accounts. No status page, no SLA, no dollar price per credit, and changes that refuse earlier valid requests posted only after they shipped.

**ZeroBounce.** ZeroBounce's v2 API verifies emails with detailed status and sub-status codes, publishes per-endpoint limits, a Statuspage with short incidents only in the last 90 days, SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, and $0.0195 per email at the smallest pack. The documented key travels in the query string, and there is no OpenAPI contract.

## 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

### ZeroBounce

1. Use the regional host (api-us or api-eu) that matches the data, and test with the sandbox addresses, which spend no credits
2. Set `timeout` (3 to 60 seconds); slow mail servers return unknown, which is free to retry later
3. Stay under 80,000 validations per 10 seconds and avoid repeated bad requests, which block the key for an hour
4. Use the bulk file API for large lists instead of looping on /v2/validate
5. Keep the key out of logs; the API takes it only as `api_key` in the URL

## Questions

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

ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against Crustdata API + MCP's 52 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Crustdata API + MCP leads on schema & documentation.

### Do Crustdata API + MCP and ZeroBounce need an API key?

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

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

Yes. Crustdata API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.crustdata.com and ZeroBounce at https://api.zerobounce.net/v2.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Crustdata API + MCP or ZeroBounce

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp