A B2B data provider for startups sells people and company records that a small team can query by app, API or agent. Founders, first sales hires and growth engineers buy one to build a first prospect list, enrich sign-ups and feed outbound.
Startups have small teams, uneven months and tight cash. Per-seat plans grow with every hire, and credit plans punish a spike in volume. So the price model matters as much as the data.
This page ranks seven providers on volume, price model, API and seats. Most have their own comparison: Apollo, Hunter, Clay, Prospeo, People Data Labs and Lusha. See also best B2B databases, best B2B databases for Israel and best B2B data providers in the UK.
TL;DR
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Cost at 1M records a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo | Founders who want data and sequences in one app | Free with 75 credits a month. Basic $65 per seat a month ($49 billed yearly) | $24,750 a month at list on monthly billing, $19,600 billed yearly |
| LeadOcean | Engineering-led startups pulling data in code or with an agent | Free (1,000 records, one-off). Solo $97 a month | $497 a month on Agency. Fair use applies |
| Hunter | Cheap email finding by domain | Free with 50 credits a month. Starter $49 a month ($34 billed yearly) | $6,900, bought once on Data Platform and valid 12 months |
| Clay | No-code workflows across many sources | Free with 100 Data Credits a month. Launch $185 a month ($167 billed yearly) | No public 1M price. Top public tier is $2,975 a month |
| Prospeo | A founder or first rep who works in a Chrome extension | Free with 100 credits a month. Starter $49 per user a month ($37 billed yearly) | $14,456 a month on monthly billing: 44 Pro seats plus the largest add-on |
| People Data Labs | Licensed data and per-match enrichment inside a product | Free with 100 credits a month. Pro $98 a month for 350 credits ($78 billed yearly) | No public 1M price. Self-serve stops near 100,000 profiles |
| Lusha | A small team that wants a self-serve extension | Free with 40 credits a month. Starter $49.90 a month ($37.45 billed yearly) | No public 1M price. Top public tier is 10,000 credits for $977.40 a month |
"1M records" means 1M work-email lookups that return a result, at list price. Where a vendor publishes no price at that size, we say so and do not multiply a small-plan rate.
What we evaluated
- Volume: how many records a month the self-serve plans cover, and what a startup does when it outgrows them.
- Price model: free tier, flat, credits, seats or quote, and what 1M records a month costs.
- API: which endpoints return people and companies, and whether the free plan gets a key.
- Seats: whether the price grows with each person on the team, or one plan covers everyone.
- MCP and rate limit: whether an agent can search and enrich through a hosted server, and the default throughput.
We ran no accuracy test, so we quote no match rates. Every figure comes from a vendor page or doc linked in its section.
1. Apollo: best for founders who want data and sequences in one app
Apollo suits a startup's first outbound. It is a prospecting app with a database behind it, and the free plan gives 75 credits a month (Apollo pricing, September 2026). One login covers search, enrichment and email sequences, so a founder does not need a second tool to send.
Plans bill per seat. Basic is $65 a seat a month with 2,500 credits, Professional is $99 with 4,000 and Organization is $149 with 6,000 and a three-seat minimum. Billed yearly they are $49, $79 and $119 (Apollo pricing, September 2026). Credits are pooled across the team and expire at the end of each cycle.
An email costs 1 credit and a phone number 8 (Apollo API pricing, September 2026). Every plan includes API access, and paid plans allow 1,000 enrichment requests a minute (Apollo developer FAQ, September 2026; Apollo rate limits, September 2026). The official MCP server works on any plan (Apollo MCP docs, September 2026).
Pros
- Data, sequences and a free plan in one app, which keeps a first outbound motion cheap.
- API and an official MCP server on the free plan.
- Enrichment limit of 1,000 requests a minute on paid plans.
Cons
- Each hire is another seat, and seats set the credit pool.
- 1M work emails is 250 Professional seats, which is $24,750 a month at list.
- Credits do not roll over, and Apollo prints no price per extra credit on the pages we could read.
- The free plan's 75 credits run out in an afternoon of list building.
Best for: founders and first sales hires who want to search, enrich and send from one tool.
Pricing: Free, then $65, $99 and $149 per seat a month, or $49, $79 and $119 billed yearly (Apollo pricing, September 2026).
2. LeadOcean: best for engineering-led startups that pull data in code or with an agent
LeadOcean is a data API with an MCP server. It is the right pick once volume or automation arrives. Solo is $97 a month for one person, with 10k enrichments every 5 hours and 50 requests a second. Agency is $497 a month for teams, with 1M enrichments a day, 200 requests a second per account and 5 API keys. There is no per-seat price and no credit meter, so a launch month costs what a quiet month costs.
The data is 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 67M companies. You search with 50 people filters and 34 company filters. Enrichment is POST /v1/people/enrich, and it returns career history (past roles, education, certifications) when held. Phones are GET /v2/people/phone, and POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows a request.
Sizing is free. On 30 September 2026, the count for VPs in Sales & Business Development in Canada was 5,066 mailable people (jobLevel VP, jobFunction Sales & Business Development, country CA). A count with an email filter is not a verified list, so read email_status before you send.
Be honest about the price. A team that needs a few hundred contacts can stay on Free, which gives 1,000 records, one-off, with the same API and MCP server as the paid plans. Move to Solo when one person pulls every week. Move to Agency when a team pulls in bulk or puts an agent in a loop. The app also has an Exports page with a filter builder, a column picker and a Download button, for the teammate who prefers a CSV.
Pros
- Flat $97 on Solo and $497 on Agency, with no credit meter and no seat count.
- REST and MCP on every plan, including Free. The MCP server at
https://api.leadocean.io/mcpsigns in with OAuth 2.1 and exposes 13 tools. - Free counts, so you can size an audience before you spend a record.
- An
email_statuson every record, with 13 values fromverifiedtospam_trap.
Cons
- Bulk CSV export is not on Free, and Solo at $97 costs more than a $49 plan at low volume.
- No rep workspace, sequencer, dialer, CRM or Chrome extension. You export to the tool that sends.
- No name plus domain lookup. Search by domain first, then enrich by
person_id. - No refund for bounced emails.
Best for: engineering-led startups that build lists in code, in an agent or through exports and want a fixed bill.
Pricing: Free is 1,000 records, one-off, no card. Solo is $97, Agency $497 and Platform $1,997 a month, flat (LeadOcean pricing, October 2026).
3. Hunter: best for cheap email finding by domain
Hunter finds work emails by domain. It has the cheapest paid entry on this list. Free gives 50 credits a month. Starter is $49 a month for 2,000 credits, or $34 billed yearly (Hunter pricing, September 2026). Team members are unlimited and share one credit pool.
One credit is one email found, and nothing is charged when nothing is found (Hunter help center, September 2026). Growth is $149 for 10,000 credits and Scale is $299 for 25,000. For larger pulls, the Data Platform sells 1,000,000 Search credits for $6,900, paid once and valid 12 months (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026).
Email Finder and Domain Search allow 15 requests a second and 500 a minute. The REST API is on every plan, and an official MCP server at mcp.hunter.io/mcp is included in all plans (Hunter API docs, September 2026; Hunter MCP, September 2026).
Pros
- Unlimited team members, so headcount does not move the bill.
- Low entry price, and a miss costs no credit.
- REST API and MCP server on every plan, including Free.
Cons
- Lookups start at a domain, so building a list by title across a market is slow.
- Monthly credits do not carry over on monthly plans.
- It is an email index, not a full people and company database with filters.
Best for: founders who already know the target companies and need their emails.
Pricing: Free, then $49, $149 and $299 a month, or $34, $104 and $209 billed yearly (Hunter pricing, September 2026).
4. Clay: best for no-code workflows across many sources
Clay is a workflow spreadsheet that resells 150+ data providers on credits. The Free plan has 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, unlimited seats and 200 rows per table, with no phone enrichment (Clay pricing, September 2026). That suits a founder who wants a table that finds a person, then a company, then an email.
Clay meters twice. Actions pay for the work, and Data Credits pay for the data. Launch starts at $185 a month ($167 billed yearly) and Growth at $495 ($446 billed yearly). Data Credits start at $0.05 each (Clay pricing, September 2026).
Clay says a fully enriched record typically costs 6 to 20 Data Credits, plus one Action per enrichment (Clay docs, September 2026). The Public API and CLI are on every plan, Free included (Clay docs, September 2026). The API has a per-workspace rate limit with no published number (Clay developer docs, September 2026). There is an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT (Clay MCP guide, September 2026).
Pros
- Unlimited seats on every plan, so hires do not raise the price.
- Waterfalls across 150+ providers and Claygent research columns in one table.
- An enrichment that finds nothing costs no credits and no Actions.
Cons
- Two meters make a monthly bill hard to predict.
- The largest self-serve tiers are 200,000 Actions and 50,000 Data Credits a month. Above that is an Enterprise quote.
- The HTTP API column starts on Growth at $495 a month, or $446 billed yearly.
- No published API rate limit.
Best for: startups whose ops or growth people build outbound workflows in a table without code.
Pricing: Free, then Launch from $185 a month ($167 billed yearly) and Growth from $495 a month ($446 billed yearly) (Clay pricing, September 2026).
5. Prospeo: best for a founder or first rep who works in a Chrome extension
Prospeo is an email and mobile finder sold per user. It has a REST API, an MCP server and a Chrome extension. Starter is $49 a user a month, Growth is $99 and Pro is $249, with 2,000, 5,000 and 15,000 credits. Billed yearly they are $37, $74 and $187 (Prospeo pricing, September 2026).
Plan credits from every seat go into one shared team pool, and add-on credits are shared too (Prospeo help center, September 2026). A verified email costs 1 credit and a mobile 10. A lookup with no result costs nothing.
Add-ons stop at 350,000 credits a month for $3,500 on the public slider (Prospeo help center, September 2026). Enrichment runs at 5 requests a second on Starter and Growth and 30 on Pro (Prospeo rate limits, September 2026). The hosted MCP server has 8 tools (Prospeo MCP docs, September 2026).
Pros
- Cheap per credit for a small team, with the lowest plan rate at $0.0125 on yearly Pro.
- Pooled credits mean one busy seat can spend what a quiet seat leaves.
- Chrome extension for reps who work in the browser.
Cons
- Every paid plan is priced per user, so a bigger team costs more.
- A mobile is 10 credits, so a phone-heavy list burns credits ten times faster.
- Credits do not roll over, and no tier reaches 1M without add-ons.
Best for: a founder and one or two reps with low monthly volume and an extension workflow.
Pricing: Free, then $49, $99 and $249 per user a month, or $37, $74 and $187 billed yearly (Prospeo pricing, September 2026).
6. People Data Labs: best for licensed data and per-match enrichment inside a product
People Data Labs (PDL) is a data API with bulk licences. It fits startups that put data inside their own product. Its person dataset holds about 2.47 billion profiles, and 592 million of them have an email (PDL docs, September 2026).
Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits, which is $0.28 each. Billed yearly it is $940, or $78 a month. Free gives 100 credits a month with contact data obscured (PDL pricing, September 2026). One credit buys one match, and a 404 is free (PDL docs, September 2026).
Self-serve is meant for volumes near 100,000 profiles, and above that PDL quotes Enterprise (PDL blog, September 2026). Enrichment allows 1,000 requests a minute on paid plans, and Person Search allows 10 (PDL docs, September 2026). PDL's docs list no official MCP server (PDL docs, September 2026).
Pros
- The largest stated dataset on this list, with licences for your own warehouse.
- Pay per match, and no charge for a 404.
- Enrichment at 1,000 requests a minute.
Cons
- $0.28 a record at the entry rate, and no public price at 1M.
- No official MCP server.
- Person Search defaults to 10 requests a minute.
- No app for a sales hire to work in.
Best for: startups that enrich one match at a time inside their own product or license data into a warehouse.
Pricing: Free up to 100 credits a month. Pro from $98 a month for 350 credits (PDL pricing, September 2026).
7. Lusha: best for a small team that wants a self-serve extension
Lusha sells contact data on self-serve credit plans, with a browser extension and an API. Free and Starter include 1 seat. Pro includes 2 seats and can grow to 10, and Premium includes 5 and can grow to 25 (Lusha docs, September 2026).
Starter is $49.90 a month for 400 credits, or $37.45 billed yearly. Pro is $69.90 for 600 credits and Premium is $399.90 for 3,400, or $52.45 and $299.95 billed yearly (Lusha pricing, September 2026). Scale is custom.
An email costs 1 credit and a phone 5, and email plus phone through one API request is 7. Free and Starter allow 40 requests a minute and 100 a day, and Premium allows 300 a minute (Lusha API guide, September 2026). The MCP server has 50 tools on the REST credit pool (Lusha MCP docs, September 2026).
Pros
- Seats are explicit: 1, 2 and 5 on the first plans, with room to add more.
- Every plan, Free included, gets an API key.
- A 50-tool MCP server on the same credit pool.
Cons
- The top public tier is 10,000 credits a month. 1M is 100 times that.
- Free and Starter cap API use at 100 requests a day.
- Yearly credits reset at the end of the cycle.
Best for: a two-to-five person team that wants a self-serve extension and a light API, and will add seats over time.
Pricing: Free, then $49.90, $69.90 and $399.90 a month, or $37.45, $52.45 and $299.95 billed yearly (Lusha pricing, September 2026).
Comparison table
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Cost at 1M records a month | API | MCP | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo | Data plus sequences in one app | Free. Basic $65 per seat a month ($49 yearly) | $24,750 a month monthly, $19,600 yearly | REST on every plan | Yes. Official, any plan | 1,000 a minute enrichment, 200 search |
| LeadOcean | Code and agent buyers | Free. Solo $97 a month | $497 on Agency. Fair use applies | REST on every plan | Yes. OAuth 2.1, 13 tools | 5 a second on Free, 50 on Solo, 200 on Agency, per account |
| Hunter | Cheap email finding | Free. Starter $49 a month ($34 yearly) | $6,900 once on Data Platform, valid 12 months | REST on every plan | Yes. Official, every plan | 15 a second, 500 a minute on Email Finder |
| Clay | No-code workflows | Free. Launch $185 a month ($167 yearly) | No public 1M price. Top public tier $2,975 a month | Public API on every plan | Yes | Per workspace, no number published |
| Prospeo | Extension workflow | Free. Starter $49 per user a month ($37 yearly) | $14,456 a month on monthly billing | REST, rate limits by plan | Yes. 8 tools | 5 to 30 a second enrichment |
| People Data Labs | Licensed data, in-product enrichment | Free. Pro $98 a month ($78 yearly) | No public 1M price. Self-serve stops near 100,000 profiles | REST on every plan | No official server | 1,000 a minute enrichment, 10 search |
| Lusha | Self-serve extension | Free. Starter $49.90 a month ($37.45 yearly) | No public 1M price. Top public tier $977.40 a month | REST on every plan | Yes. 50 tools | 40 to 300 a minute by plan |
How to choose
- A founder doing first outbound with no budget: Apollo. The free plan, sequences and an API in one login.
- Lists built in code, in an agent or through exports, with a fixed bill: LeadOcean, starting on the free plan.
- You know the companies and need their emails: Hunter, at the lowest paid entry on this list.
- No-code workflows and a growing team: Clay, since seats are unlimited.
- One founder and a rep who live in the browser: Prospeo.
- Data inside your own product, or a warehouse licence: People Data Labs.
- A small team that adds seats over time: Lusha.
Verdict
Apollo wins for most startups on day one: the free plan covers data and sequences, and no other tool here does both. LeadOcean wins once a startup pulls data in code, with an agent or at volume. Solo at $97 and Agency at $497 are flat, with no seat count. Hunter wins on cheap email finding, and Clay on no-code workflows with unlimited seats. Prospeo and Lusha fit a small team that lives in a browser extension, and People Data Labs fits data that ships inside your product. Start on the free plan and run one list through two of them.
FAQ
What is the best B2B data provider for a startup?
For a first outbound motion with no budget, Apollo. For a team that pulls data in code or with an agent, LeadOcean has the flat price and no seat count. For cheap email lookups by domain, Hunter.
Which providers have a free plan?
All seven do. Apollo gives 75 credits a month, Hunter 50, Clay 100 Data Credits, Prospeo 100, People Data Labs 100 and Lusha 40. LeadOcean gives 1,000 records, one-off, with no card.
What does 1M records a month cost for a startup?
At list price, LeadOcean is $497 flat on Agency. Apollo is $24,750 a month on monthly billing, or $19,600 billed yearly. Prospeo is $14,456 a month. Hunter sells 1,000,000 Search credits once for $6,900. The other three publish no price at 1M, so ask each for a quote.
Are credits, seats or a flat fee better for a startup?
Credits and seats suit a team with steady, small pulls. A flat fee suits uneven months and a growing team, because the bill does not move with headcount or a spike. Below a few thousand records a month, a free plan costs less than any flat fee.
Which of these have an MCP server that returns data?
Six do: Apollo, LeadOcean, Hunter, Clay, Prospeo and Lusha. PDL's docs list no official server. Apollo and Lusha spend the same credits through MCP as through the API, so check the credit rules before you let an agent loop.
Do I need a credit card to try LeadOcean?
No. The free plan needs a work email and no card. It gives you 1,000 records, one-off, with the same API and MCP server as the paid plans.
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