Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Lusha API + MCP vs People Data Labs

People Data Labs scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Lusha API + MCP's 62.3 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Lusha API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do lead search.

Which one, for what

Lusha API + MCP B

Good for Sales teams that want contact and company enrichment, signals and prospecting from one vendor, with a free plan to start.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 83 against 70
  • Security & auth, 59 against 43
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
  • Transparency & trust, 80 against 67

Watch for

At least 1 credit per request even when nothing matches

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

  • Agent ergonomics, 77 against 51

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Lusha API + MCP loses 4 points for them

Watch for

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

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runLusha API + MCPPeople Data LabsEdge
Reliability16%207578People Data Labs +3
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28370Lusha API + MCP +13
Agent ergonomics13%16.25177People Data Labs +26
Security & auth14%17.55943Lusha API + MCP +16
Payments & pricing10%12.54035Lusha API + MCP +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88279Lusha API + MCP +3
Transparency & trust7%8.88067Lusha API + MCP +13
Negative events≤15-40
Total62.3 · B64.2 · B

Facts side by side

FactLusha API + MCPPeople Data Labs
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorLushaPeople Data Labs, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.lusha.comhttps://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicencenoneProprietary service under the Services Subscription Agreement. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are MIT
Tools exposed50none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrycom.lusha.mcp/mcpnot listed
Last release2026-09-232026-09-16
Terms last updatedno date givencouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-01couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outcouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessyescouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingyescouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticeyescouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waiveryescouldn't be read
Popularitynone40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3/5 (2)none

Verdicts

Lusha API + MCP

API key on every plan, including Free with 40 credits a month. At least 1 credit per request even when nothing matches.

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

Lusha API + MCP

  1. Batch up to 25 contacts a request. A single bulk request costs 1 credit, not 1 per contact
  2. Ask for phones only when needed. A phone is 5 credits against 1 for an email
  3. Use the Buying Group endpoint. Decision Makers was retired on 2026-09-04
  4. Use /v3/lookalike/contacts for contact lookalikes
  5. Back off exponentially on 429. Free keys stop at 100 requests a day

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, Lusha API + MCP or People Data Labs?

People Data Labs scores 64.2 (B) on agent readiness against Lusha API + MCP's 62.3 (B), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Lusha API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

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

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

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

Yes. Lusha API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.lusha.com and People Data Labs at https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5.

Other comparisons with Lusha API + MCP or People Data Labs

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.