Head to head · Lead enrichment · October 2026 research run

People Data Labs vs ZeroBounce

ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against People Data Labs's 58.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. People Data Labs leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and maintenance & community. Both do lead enrichment.

Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents · All 231 leads comparisons

Which one, for what

People Data Labs C

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

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 70 against 54
  • Agent ergonomics, 77 against 69
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 70

Watch for

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

ZeroBounce B

Best for Email verification before outreach, the verification-first listing in lead-data.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 65 against 43
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 25

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine
  • No incidents deducted, where People Data Labs loses 3 points for them

Watch for

Every documented example sends the key as an api_key query parameter

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Security & auth ZeroBounce +22

People Data Labs 43

One revocable API key type with no scopes, with 1, 3 or 5 active keys by plan (20), less 10 because the docs show the key as api_key in the URL query string (10 of 30). The data endpoints only read, and there is no restricted or per-endpoint key (12 of 20). Records come from public and third-party sources and include free-text fields, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (2 of 15). The dashboard Usage tab and per-call credit headers give the operator visibility, with no audit log found (7 of 15). The security page states SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 compliance and quarterly external penetration tests. No security.txt, bug bounty or disclosure policy was found (12 of 20).

ZeroBounce 65

Several named keys besides a Master key, regeneration, deactivation and IP whitelists (25), less 10 because the documented calls carry the key in the api_key query string (15 of 30). Validation only reads, though file and list endpoints can delete uploads (12 of 20). Results are structured status codes with little free text (10 of 15). API usage and dashboard statistics endpoints (10 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, continuous testing with Intigriti and penetration testing with BitSentinel; no public disclosure policy found (18 of 20). 15+12+10+10+18 = 65.

Schema & documentation People Data Labs +16

People Data Labs 70

No OpenAPI file was found at the docs root or in the docs index, re-checked on 2 November. A public Postman collection and Elasticsearch mappings for each dataset stand in (8 of 25). llms.txt on the docs site and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Each API has overview, reference, input, output, examples and FAQ pages that state purpose and billing (15 of 20). Enrichment inputs are typed with canonical value lists, while search takes an Elasticsearch 7.7 query or an SQL string, both free-form (9 of 15). Examples in five languages and a six-row error table with sample bodies (13 of 15). A v5 path, numbered dataset versions and monthly release notes back to 2019, the latest v36.0 on 20 October 2026 (15).

ZeroBounce 54

No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract found; a Postman collection is linked (5 of 25). llms.txt lists marketing pages, and the docs have no Markdown twins (5 of 10). Endpoint pages explain timing, credits and when to use batch or file APIs (14 of 20). Parameter tables and listed status and sub-status values, including the ai_agent_mailbox sub-status added in July 2026 (10 of 15). Examples per endpoint, a sandbox and an error-code page (12 of 15). v2 paths, an API migration page and dated maintenance notices on the status page, with no API changelog (8 of 15). 5+5+14+10+12+8 = 54.

Payments & pricing ZeroBounce +10

People Data Labs 25

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan entry prices and the credit rule are public, $98 a month for 350 person records and $100 for 1,000 company records, one credit per match. The volume ladder and field-bundle prices sit in the dashboard (15 of 20). A free plan of 100 records a month with contact fields obfuscated, but neither the pricing pages nor the account docs say whether signup needs a card, so half the line, as cronofy and laminar with an unstated card rule (10 of 20, was 20). A person signs up in a browser to get a key (0). 0+15+10+0 = 25.

ZeroBounce 35

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-credit prices public, from $39 for 2,000 validations (20). Freemium of 100 validations a month for business or premium domains; a card requirement isn't stated, and free webmail addresses don't qualify (15 of 20). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+20+15+0 = 35.

Maintenance & community People Data Labs +9

People Data Labs 79

The October 2026 release notes (v36.0) are dated 20 October and the JavaScript SDK 14.7.0 and Go SDK 6.10.0 followed on 23 October (30). In the 90 days from 4 August, release notes on 18 August, 15 September and 20 October, plus JavaScript SDK releases on 11 and 16 September and 23 October (20). Public release notes, a Canny board for bugs and requests and a support address. We did not test support (11 of 15). Five official SDKs. JavaScript and Go are current, while the Python package's newest tag is 6.4.13 from 12 January 2026 and the repository's April job posting commit is in no release (11 of 15). Both SDK repositories have test and publish workflows and dependency updates (7 of 10). 30+20+11+11+7 = 79.

ZeroBounce 70

Closed service. The JavaScript SDK 3.0.0 was published on 25 October 2026 (30). No API changelog; the dated changes found in 90 days are that release and status-page notices, fewer than three releases (10 of 20). Support by email and 24/7 chat per the docs, a public status page; replies not tested (10 of 15). Official SDKs in many languages and an MCP server (15). Package health not checked (5 of 10). 30+10+10+15+5 = 70.

Agent ergonomics People Data Labs +8

People Data Labs 77

data_include selects or excludes fields, size caps records at 1 to 100, gzip is supported and a 1 MB response limit is documented (20 of 25). Search pages with scroll_token and filters on any mapped field, with dataset to narrow the source (18 of 20). Errors carry a status, a type and a short message across six documented codes, with 404 meaning no match (13 of 20). The API is read-only and charges only on a 200, so a repeat is safe, though no retry guidance or idempotency key was found (12 of 20). Enrichment needs one identifier, defaults are sensible, and SDKs exist for Python, JavaScript, Ruby, Go and Rust (14 of 15).

ZeroBounce 69

A compact JSON result per address, batch validation and a file API for lists (18 of 25). Little to paginate; file status and results by file id (10 of 20). Status and sub-status codes say why an address failed, and the error page explains 400, 404 and 429 (14 of 20). Unknown results are free and safe to retry; repeated validations are charged again (12 of 20). Many official SDK wrappers and an MCP server, with few required parameters (15). 18+10+14+12+15 = 69.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runPeople Data LabsZeroBounceEdge
Reliability16%207375ZeroBounce +2
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27054People Data Labs +16
Agent ergonomics13%16.27769People Data Labs +8
Security & auth14%17.54365ZeroBounce +22
Payments & pricing10%12.52535ZeroBounce +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87970People Data Labs +9
Transparency & trust7%8.86663People Data Labs +3
Negative events≤15-30
TotalC 58.8/100B 62.4/100

Facts side by side

FactPeople Data LabsZeroBounce
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorPeople Data Labs, Inc.Hertza L.L.C. (ZeroBounce)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5https://api.zerobounce.net/v2
TransportsHTTPHTTP, stdio
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Services Subscription Agreement. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are MITProprietary service under ZeroBounce's terms of use; SDKs and the MCP server are open source
Tools exposednone0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-232026-10-25
Terms last updatedcouldn't be read2026-05-05
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read2026-06-30
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readyes
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readyes
Popularity40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews3.8/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

People Data Labs

Monthly dated release notes with four months' notice of field removals, a free sandbox with synthetic data, credit and rate-limit headers on every response, and a free plan of 100 records a month. No OpenAPI file was found, keys carry no scopes and may travel in the URL, and the legal documents can only be read through a script.

ZeroBounce

ZeroBounce's v2 API verifies emails with detailed status and sub-status codes, publishes per-endpoint limits, a Statuspage with short incidents only in the last 90 days, SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001, and $0.0195 per email at the smallest pack. The documented key travels in the query string, and there is no OpenAPI contract.

Before you call either

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

ZeroBounce

  1. Use the regional host (api-us or api-eu) that matches the data, and test with the sandbox addresses, which spend no credits
  2. Set timeout (3 to 60 seconds); slow mail servers return unknown, which is free to retry later
  3. Stay under 80,000 validations per 10 seconds and avoid repeated bad requests, which block the key for an hour
  4. Use the bulk file API for large lists instead of looping on /v2/validate
  5. Keep the key out of logs; the API takes it only as api_key in the URL

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, People Data Labs or ZeroBounce?

ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) on agent readiness against People Data Labs's 58.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. People Data Labs leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and maintenance & community.

Do People Data Labs and ZeroBounce need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call People Data Labs and ZeroBounce without installing anything?

Yes. People Data Labs has a hosted endpoint at https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5 and ZeroBounce at https://api.zerobounce.net/v2.

Other comparisons with People Data Labs or ZeroBounce

Machine-readable

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