# People Data Labs vs ZeroBounce

> ZeroBounce scores 62.4 (B) to People Data Labs's 58.8 (C) for lead enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-zerobounce
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-zerobounce.md (~4,550 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

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.

- People Data Labs: grade C, 58.8/100, rank #726 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/people-data-labs.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/people-data-labs.json
- ZeroBounce: grade B, 62.4/100, rank #561 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zerobounce.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zerobounce.json
- Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/lead-data/index.md
- All 231 leads comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lead-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### People Data Labs (C)

Good 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)

Good 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

### 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

| Category | Weight | People Data Labs | ZeroBounce | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 73 | 75 | ZeroBounce +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 54 | People Data Labs +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 69 | People Data Labs +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 65 | ZeroBounce +22 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 35 | ZeroBounce +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 70 | People Data Labs +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 63 | People Data Labs +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58.8 · C** | **62.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | People Data Labs | ZeroBounce |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | People Data Labs, Inc. | Hertza L.L.C. (ZeroBounce) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5` | `https://api.zerobounce.net/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Services Subscription Agreement. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are MIT | Proprietary service under ZeroBounce's terms of use; SDKs and the MCP server are open source |
| Tools exposed | none | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-25 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-05-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-06-30 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 40 stars, 133k npm/wk, 30k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.8/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### People Data Labs

- -5.5 on 2 November 2026 (B to C): correction, negative event
- +0.1 on 28 October 2026: new evidence

### ZeroBounce

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with People Data Labs or ZeroBounce

- [Apollo API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Clay vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Coresignal API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coresignal-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Crustdata API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Dievio vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dievio-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Enrich Layer API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enrich-layer-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Explorium AgentSource vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [FullEnrich API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullenrich-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Fuse MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fuse-mcp-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Gojiberry vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gojiberry-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs.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 RocketReach API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-rocketreach.md)
- [People Data Labs vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/people-data-labs-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [Apollo API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Clay vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Clearbit vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clearbit-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Clearbit vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clearbit-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Coresignal API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coresignal-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Crustdata API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Databar vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/databar-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Databar vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/databar-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Dievio vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dievio-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Dropcontact API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Dropcontact API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Enrich Layer API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enrich-layer-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Explorium AgentSource vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [FullContact vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullcontact-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [FullContact vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullcontact-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [FullEnrich API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullenrich-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Gojiberry vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gojiberry-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Lusha API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lusha-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Prospeo API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prospeo-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [ZeroBounce vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/zerobounce-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [Fuse MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fuse-mcp-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [LeadMagic API + MCP vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leadmagic-vs-zerobounce.md)
- [RocketReach API vs ZeroBounce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rocketreach-vs-zerobounce.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp