# Explorium AgentSource vs RocketReach API

> RocketReach scores 51.2 (D) to Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-rocketreach
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-rocketreach.md (~2,750 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-rocketreach.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-rocketreach.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: 2026-10-09

RocketReach API scores 51.2 (D) on agent readiness against Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Explorium AgentSource leads on payments & pricing. Both do lead search.

- Explorium AgentSource: grade D, 48.1/100, rank #821 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/explorium-agentsource.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/explorium-agentsource.json
- RocketReach API: grade D, 51.2/100, rank #755 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rocketreach.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rocketreach.json
- Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/lead-data/index.md
- All 120 leads comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lead-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Explorium AgentSource (D)

Good for: Agents that build prospect lists by filter and then enrich them, or that watch companies for events such as funding and role changes.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 10

Watch for: No status page was found, and no SLA is published

### RocketReach API (D)

Good for: Teams that already hold a RocketReach plan and want an agent to search people and companies, reveal emails and phones, and verify single addresses over MCP.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 64 against 42
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 63

Watch for: The pricing page is drawn by script and was not read, and the docs tell users without a paid plan to email for an API plan


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Explorium AgentSource | RocketReach API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 64 | RocketReach API +22 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 72 | Explorium AgentSource +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 72 | RocketReach API +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 37 | 34 | Explorium AgentSource +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 10 | Explorium AgentSource +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 28 | 31 | RocketReach API +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 58 | Explorium AgentSource +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **48.1 · D** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Explorium AgentSource | RocketReach API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Explorium Ltd. | RocketReach, LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.explorium.ai` | `https://api.rocketreach.co/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Explorium Terms of Use. The `mcp-explorium` repository of connection files is MIT | Proprietary service under RocketReach's Terms of Service. The Python SDK on GitHub is MIT |
| Tools exposed | 11 | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-02 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-14 | 2024-01-31 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-28 | 2026-09-30 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |

## Verdicts

**Explorium AgentSource.** AgentSource v2 has a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, Markdown docs, a 200 queries a minute limit with `Retry-After`, public credit prices and a 100-credit trial. No status page or published SLA was found, each company shares one API key with no scopes, and the vendor's two published price tables disagree.

**RocketReach API.** The hosted MCP server has nine documented tools, OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration and machine-readable error codes, and searches cost no credits. Plan prices were not readable, the docs send API plan requests to email, the terms require a human account holder, and the `account` tool returns the account's API key to the model.

## Before you call either

### Explorium AgentSource

1. Send the key in the `api_key` header to `https://api.explorium.ai` and use `/v2` paths. v1 is deprecated
2. Point MCP clients at `https://mcp-v2.explorium.ai/mcp`. The site's agent files still name the v1 server at `mcp.explorium.ai`
3. Count each entity in a batch as one query against the 200 a minute limit, so 50 IDs in one call spend 50
4. Call the statistics endpoint first to size an audience for free. Fetch costs 1 credit a result, or 2 with the Bombora intent filter
5. Call `/v2/autocomplete` before filtering on category, tech stack or job title, and never mix two category types in one request

### RocketReach API

1. Search first with `person_search` or `company_search`, which cost no credits, then look up only the profile IDs needed
2. Treat `status: "pending"` as normal. Poll `check_person_status` after at least 3 seconds, and polling is free
3. Do not echo the `account` tool's output to users or logs. It includes the account's API key
4. Send the key in the `Api-Key` header. The `api_key` query parameter is deprecated
5. Bulk lookup takes 1 to 100 queries and needs a webhook. Results arrive at the webhook, signed in `X-RocketReach-Signature`
6. Do not loop on `unknown` from `email_verify`, or on `lookup_failed` and `not_found`. The last two are terminal

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Explorium AgentSource or RocketReach API?

RocketReach API scores 51.2 (D) on agent readiness against Explorium AgentSource's 48.1 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Explorium AgentSource leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Explorium AgentSource and RocketReach API need an API key?

Explorium AgentSource needs an API key. RocketReach API takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Explorium AgentSource and RocketReach API without installing anything?

Yes. Explorium AgentSource has a hosted endpoint at https://api.explorium.ai and RocketReach API at https://api.rocketreach.co/api/v2.


## For agents

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

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