Head to head · Lead enrichment · October 2026 research run

Databar vs Enrich Layer API + MCP

Enrich Layer API + MCP scores 58.7 (C) on agent readiness against Databar's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Databar leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community. Both do lead enrichment.

Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents · All 231 leads comparisons

Which one, for what

Databar D

Best for Waterfall enrichment across many providers for GTM agents, close to clay and fullenrich.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 84 against 79
  • Security & auth, 47 against 40
  • Maintenance & community, 73 against 26

Watch for

API access needs a paid plan; the free plan's 150 credits don't include it

Enrich Layer API + MCP C

Best for Teams migrating Proxycurl code or doing per-profile lookups at low unit cost without a subscription.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 77 against 28
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

Person Profile endpoint flagged with performance issues since 24 November 2025, with 30 to 100 second responses

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability Enrich Layer API + MCP +49

Databar 28

Hosted lines. No status page linked from the site or docs (0). No incident history to read (5). The 20 August changelog says rate limits return 429, but no numbers were found in the docs read (5 of 15). The SDK backs off on 429 per the 28 September entry, tasks can be cancelled with a refund, and no Retry-After or idempotency key is documented (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). The MCP server left beta on 15 July 2026 and the API is generally available (10). 0+5+5+8+0+10 = 28.

Enrich Layer API + MCP 77

Cachet status page at status.enrichlayer.com with a component per endpoint under School, Company, People, Contact, Jobs, Search and Meta, plus Web (20). Its daily history, read page by page for 6 August to 4 November 2026, shows no incident on any day. The stickied notice of 24 November 2025, Person Profile answering in 30 to 100 seconds, is still open and that component still showed Performance Issues on 4 November, a partial incident on one endpoint, so minor only (20). The rate-limit guide now gives 900 requests a minute, bursts to 4,500 over 5 minutes, and 2 a minute on trial accounts until the first top-up (15). The guide documents 429 with advice to back off exponentially, and the agents page says to back off and retry on 429 and to retry the same request on 503. That is safe-retry guidance with no Retry-After or idempotency key, on an API where every call is a read (12 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available, with a v3 preview for two endpoints alongside (10).

Maintenance & community Databar +47

Databar 73

Closed service. Python SDK 2.9.0 on 30 October 2026, 7 days before this check (30). SDK 2.7.0 and 2.8.0 on 6 October and changelog entries on 23, 24, 27, 28, 29 and 30 September and 1 October (20). A public changelog, roadmap and feedback portal, an email address, and a Slack channel on Scale (10 of 15). An official Python SDK and CLI, no other languages (10 of 15). Package health not checked (3 of 10). 30+20+10+10+3 = 73.

Enrich Layer API + MCP 26

Newest MCP release 0.3.0, tagged on 12 June and published to npm on 19 June 2026 per the 1 October check, 138 days before this check (10). The last commits, on 10 and 11 August 2026, haven't been released. No release or dated changelog entry found from 6 August to 4 November (0). Release dates of the enrichlayer-cli npm package couldn't be read. Four merged pull requests since March 2026 and no public changelog. We couldn't see issue replies from git (8 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry and no official SDKs found (0). CI runs build, tests and an OpenAPI conformance check, and dependencies are recent (8 of 10).

Security & auth Databar +7

Databar 47

A workspace API key in a header, never in the URL, and OAuth on the MCP with a Connected apps page to revoke access. No scopes found (20 of 30). No read-only key; MCP balance checks and confirmation above 50 credits, a 30-day trash for workbooks and tables, but row, column and table deletes through the tools (12 of 20). Enrichment results include web-scraped and AI researcher text, with no prompt-injection guidance (3 of 15). Credit usage charts, transaction logs and per-request data logs (12 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification found (0 of 20). 20+12+3+12+0 = 47.

Enrich Layer API + MCP 40

One secret key per user, sent as a bearer token. We found no scopes or key rotation docs. The hosted MCP server takes the same key at an OAuth consent screen (15 of 30). The API only reads, and the MCP marks all 25 tools read-only (18 of 20). Profiles carry free text written by the people they describe, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (2 of 15). A free credit-balance endpoint and nothing more for per-call visibility (5 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification. The trust centre covers privacy rights and sub-processors only, and the privacy policy says SOC 2 is under consideration. OSV lists no advisory (0 of 20).

Schema & documentation Databar +5

Databar 84

Each API reference page embeds its OpenAPI 3.1 operation (spec version 0.1.2), with no downloadable file found (20 of 25). llms.txt with 79 API entries and Markdown twins (10). Descriptions say when to use each endpoint, such as headless runs against table runs, and what a delete leaves behind (16 of 20). Typed request bodies with required fields (12 of 15). An error envelope with stable codes and examples for 400, 406 and 422 (14 of 15). v1 paths and a dated changelog, though the API's own versioning isn't described (12 of 15). 20+10+16+12+14+12 = 84.

Enrich Layer API + MCP 79

OpenAPI 3.0 file at enrichlayer.com/docs/api/v2/openapi.yaml, with a JSON twin and x-credits per operation. The MCP repo vendors a 408 kB copy and its CI fails any tool that drifts from it (25). llms.txt and an agents page in Markdown (10). MCP tool descriptions state what each returns, which identifier to pass and the credit cost, but not when to pick one tool over another (14 of 20). Zod schemas with enums for include and exclude flags and cache modes (13 of 15). Examples in the spec, and the agents page lists 401, 403, 404, 429 and 503 with what each means, though no error body schema is given (12 of 15). /api/v2 paths and a v3 preview, no public changelog, MCP versions 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 tagged (5 of 15).

Payments & pricing Enrich Layer API + MCP +5

Databar 35

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and credits are public, and each connector's credit cost is shown before a run and in the enrichment's pricing field; credits aren't sold per call outside a plan (15 of 20). A 14-day premium trial with no card, per the pricing FAQ (20). A person signs up in a browser, and API access needs a paid plan (0). 0+15+20+0 = 35.

Enrich Layer API + MCP 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Pack prices ($10 for 100 credits to $1,000 for 46,297), annual plans and per-endpoint credit costs are public (20). 500 free credits at signup, and the CLI page says no credit card is needed (20). A person signs up in a browser (0).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDatabarEnrich Layer API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%202877Enrich Layer API + MCP +49
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28479Databar +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.26668Enrich Layer API + MCP +2
Security & auth14%17.54740Databar +7
Payments & pricing10%12.53540Enrich Layer API + MCP +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87326Databar +47
Transparency & trust7%8.85559Enrich Layer API + MCP +4
Negative events≤1500
TotalD 53.8/100C 58.7/100

Facts side by side

FactDatabarEnrich Layer API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorDatabar, Inc.Enrich Layer
Hosted endpointhttps://mcp.databar.ai/mcphttps://enrichlayer.com/api/v2
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy)HTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPaidPay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary, under Databar, Inc.'s terms of serviceMIT
Tools exposed6925
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-302026-06-19
Terms last updated2026-10-012025-06-09
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-012025-06-09
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularitynone0 stars, 26 npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (2)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Databar

Databar puts 100+ enrichment providers, waterfalls and tables behind one REST API, a Python SDK, a CLI and a hosted MCP server with spending confirmation above 50 credits and stable error codes. API access needs a paid plan or trial, rate limits aren't published as numbers, and no status page or security programme was found.

Enrich Layer API + MCP

Pay-as-you-go credits from $10, non-expiring unless idle for 18 months, with an OpenAPI spec and documented error codes. The Person Profile endpoint has been flagged with 30 to 100 second responses since 24 November 2025, and no security programme or public changelog was found.

Before you call either

Databar

  1. Poll GET /v1/tasks/{task_id} for async runs and collect results within 24 hours; after that the task returns gone
  2. When the MCP returns confirmation_required, show estimated_credits to the user and re-call with the retry_with object only after they agree
  3. Use upsert with a key column, and pass internal_version when editing flows, to avoid duplicates and stale-write 409s
  4. Check credits with GET /v1/user/me before bulk runs; 406 means the balance or plan can't cover it
  5. Treat AI researcher and scraped outputs as untrusted text

Enrich Layer API + MCP

  1. Top up once before testing. Trial keys run at 2 requests a minute
  2. Set the person profile timeout to at least 100 seconds
  3. Stop on a 403, which means the account is out of credits, and retry a 503 as is
  4. Ask for extra, personal emails or phone numbers only when needed, since each adds credits
  5. Use callback_url on slow lookups such as work email instead of holding the connection

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Databar or Enrich Layer API + MCP?

Enrich Layer API + MCP scores 58.7 (C) on agent readiness against Databar's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Databar leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community.

Do Databar and Enrich Layer API + MCP need an API key?

Databar takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Enrich Layer API + MCP needs an API key.

Can an agent call Databar and Enrich Layer API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Databar has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.databar.ai/mcp and Enrich Layer API + MCP at https://enrichlayer.com/api/v2.

Other comparisons with Databar or Enrich Layer API + MCP

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