# Hunter API + MCP vs People Data Labs

> People Data Labs scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Hunter API + MCP's 56.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Hunter API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do lead search. Category scores, facts, verdicts…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs.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

People Data Labs scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Hunter API + MCP's 56.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Hunter API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do lead search.

- Hunter API + MCP: grade C, 56.5/100, rank #569 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hunter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hunter.json
- People Data Labs: grade B, 64.2/100, rank #326 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/people-data-labs.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/people-data-labs.json

## Which one, for what

### Hunter API + MCP (C)

Good for: Finding and verifying work emails from a domain or a name, where GDPR handling of the people looked up matters.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 70
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 67

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Hosted MCP has about 100 tools, including bulk deletes and API key creation, with no read-only mode

### People Data Labs (B)

Good for: Products and pipelines that enrich or search person and company records at volume and can write Elasticsearch or SQL queries.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 78 against 50
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 54
- Security & auth, 43 against 33
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 63

Watch for: No OpenAPI file was found. The machine-readable material is a Postman collection and Elasticsearch mappings


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Hunter API + MCP | People Data Labs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 78 | People Data Labs +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 70 | Hunter API + MCP +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 54 | 77 | People Data Labs +23 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 33 | 43 | People Data Labs +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 35 | Hunter API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 79 | People Data Labs +16 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 67 | Hunter API + MCP +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **56.5 · C** | **64.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Hunter API + MCP | People Data Labs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Hunter | People Data Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.hunter.io/v2` | `https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Services Subscription Agreement. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 107 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-16 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 9 stars | 40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**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.

**People Data Labs.** Monthly dated release notes, a free sandbox with synthetic data, response headers that report credits and rate limits, and a free plan of 100 records a month make the API easy to start with. No OpenAPI file was found, keys carry no scopes and may travel in the URL, and the agreement allows changes without notice.

## Before you call either

### 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

### People Data Labs

1. Send the key in the `X-Api-Key` header. The `api_key` query parameter puts the secret in URLs and logs
2. Build and test queries against `https://sandbox.api.peopledatalabs.com/v5/...` first. It costs no credits and allows five calls a minute
3. Set `size` deliberately on search. Every record returned costs one credit, and responses over 1 MB fail
4. Treat `404` on enrichment as no match, not an error, and `402` as credits exhausted. Neither is worth a retry
5. On `429`, wait until the `x-ratelimit-reset` time. Limits are fixed-window per key and per endpoint

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Hunter API + MCP or People Data Labs?

People Data Labs scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Hunter API + MCP's 56.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Hunter API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Do Hunter API + MCP and People Data Labs need an API key?

Hunter API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. People Data Labs needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Hunter API + MCP and People Data Labs without installing anything?

Yes. Hunter API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.hunter.io/v2 and People Data Labs at https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Hunter API + MCP or People Data Labs

- [Apollo API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-hunter.md)
- [Apollo API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Coresignal API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coresignal-vs-hunter.md)
- [Coresignal API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coresignal-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Crustdata API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-hunter.md)
- [Crustdata API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Enrich Layer API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enrich-layer-vs-hunter.md)
- [Enrich Layer API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enrich-layer-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [FullEnrich API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullenrich-vs-hunter.md)
- [FullEnrich API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullenrich-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Fuse MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fuse-mcp-vs-hunter.md)
- [Fuse MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fuse-mcp-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Gojiberry vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gojiberry-vs-hunter.md)
- [Gojiberry vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gojiberry-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [LeadMagic API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leadmagic-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Lusha API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lusha-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [People Data Labs vs Prospeo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-prospeo.md)
- [People Data Labs vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [Dropcontact API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter.md)
- [Dropcontact API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs LeadMagic API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-leadmagic.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs Lusha API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-lusha.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs Prospeo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-prospeo.md)