# Dropcontact API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP

> Hunter API + MCP has a score of 56.8 (C) against Dropcontact API + MCP's 51.1 (D). Both do lead enrichment. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 49 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Hunter API + MCP has a score of 56.8 (C) against Dropcontact API + MCP's 51.1 (D). Both do lead enrichment. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 49 points.

- Dropcontact API + MCP: grade D, 51.1/100, rank #355 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dropcontact.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dropcontact.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 Dropcontact API + MCP for reliability (+7), agent ergonomics (+6), security & auth (+26).

Pick Hunter API + MCP for schema & documentation (+49), maintenance & community (+45), transparency & trust (+8).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Dropcontact API + MCP | Hunter API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 50 | Dropcontact API + MCP +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 41 | 90 | Hunter API + MCP +49 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 54 | Dropcontact API + MCP +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 33 | Dropcontact API + MCP +26 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 18 | 63 | Hunter API + MCP +45 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 81 | Hunter API + MCP +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **51.1 · D** | **56.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Dropcontact API + MCP | Hunter API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Dropcontact | Hunter |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.dropcontact.com/v1` | `https://api.hunter.io/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | 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 | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | none |
| Popularity | none | 9 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Dropcontact API + MCP.** Pay on success, with credits refunded when no email is found. No OpenAPI spec, llms.txt or changelog.

**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

### Dropcontact API + MCP

1. Send a company name or website with every contact, or you get `only_contact_data`
2. Send only documented fields. New accounts get a 400 for unknown ones
3. Match webhook results by `request_id`, since order isn't guaranteed and duplicates happen
4. Poll no faster than every 30 seconds, as the not-ready response asks
5. Post an empty contact to read the credit balance at no cost

### 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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