People Data Labs vs Prospeo API + MCP

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.

Prospeo API + MCP

MCP tool descriptions say when to use each tool, its credit cost and the next call. No status page, SLA or changelog.

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

Prospeo API + MCP

1. Call search_suggestions before using location, technology or industry filters, or the search returns nothing
2. Pass person_id values from search into bulk_enrich_person, 25 at a time
3. Branch on the body error_code, not the HTTP status, which is 400 for most failures
4. Set enrich_mobile only when needed. A mobile costs 10 credits against 1 for an email
5. Use Enrich Person. The old Email Finder endpoint was removed in March 2026