# 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. Category scores…

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

- Lusha API + MCP: grade B, 62.3/100, rank #393 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lusha.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lusha.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

### 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

| Category | Weight | Lusha API + MCP | People Data Labs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 78 | People Data Labs +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 70 | Lusha API + MCP +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 77 | People Data Labs +26 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 43 | Lusha API + MCP +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 35 | Lusha API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 79 | Lusha API + MCP +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 67 | Lusha API + MCP +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.3 · B** | **64.2 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Lusha API + MCP | People Data Labs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Lusha | People Data Labs, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.lusha.com` | `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 | 50 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.lusha.mcp/mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-23 | 2026-09-16 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | 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 | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (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.


## For agents

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

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