7 Best Leads Scraper Tools for B2B Prospecting in 2026 (Compared)

A leads scraper pulls contact and company records into a list from filters. Growth teams, agencies and engineers building outbound pipelines need one that works in code, not only in a browser tab.

Most tools in this category hit a wall on volume. Apollo bills per seat and resets credits each cycle. Clay runs two meters, Actions and Data Credits. Lusha charges 5 credits for a phone. Prospeo needs dozens of seats to reach 1M. Crustdata publishes credits but no dollar price. Hunter starts from a domain you already know.

We compared seven tools on filters, API, MCP server, rate limits and cost at 1M records a month. We did not run a find-rate test, so no hit rates appear below. The only count in this article is a LeadOcean count with its date. Every competitor figure links to its source, checked in September 2026.

TL;DR

Prices are USD, monthly list price first, billed-yearly figure after it. LeadOcean prices are on leadocean.io/pricing.

What we evaluated

• Search by audience. Can you filter by title, seniority, industry and country, or do you need a domain or a name first?
• API and MCP. Is there a public REST API on self-serve plans, and a hosted MCP server an agent can call?
• Rate limits. How many requests a second, minute or day can one key send before it stalls?
• Price at volume. What does 1M records a month cost at public list prices? If no public price reaches 1M, we say so and do not multiply a rate out.
• Cost of a miss and of a bounce. Do you pay when nothing is found? Is there a refund for a bad address?

1. LeadOcean: best for engineers, agents and volume

LeadOcean is a people and company data API with a hosted MCP server. You search 693M people and 67M companies with 50 people filters and 34 company filters, then enrich or export the matches. 366M people have an email and 166M have a phone number.

The first step is a count, and counts are free. On 2026-09-30 a count of VPs in Sales & Business Development in Canada returned 5,066 mailable people. That count used emailStatus defaults (verified, catch_all_valid and catch_all), so it is a mailable count, not a verified-only one.

curl -X POST "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/search?count=true" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"limit":1,"jobLevel":["VP"],"jobFunction":["Sales & Business Development"],"country":["CA"]}'

You then export the list with POST /v1/exports, up to 50,000 rows a request, or ask an agent to do it through the MCP server at https://api.leadocean.io/mcp. The server has 13 tools, signs in with OAuth and never asks you to paste a key into a chat. One search pages to 10,000 rows, so narrow the filters instead of walking the index.

LeadOcean is not a rep workspace. The app at app.leadocean.io has an Exports page with a filter builder, a column picker, the record price before you start and a CSV download. That is the only interface.

Pros

• Search by audience, not by domain: 50 people filters, 34 company filters, 254 countries, 534 industries.
• Flat pricing. No credits, no per-record price, no overage invoice. Paid plans have a fair-use pace.
• Free sizing calls, so you know the size of a pull before you spend a record.
• API and MCP on every plan including Free. Rate limit scales by plan: 5 requests a second on Free, 50 on Solo, 200 on Agency.

Cons

• No Chrome extension, no sequencer, no dialer and no CRM. Export to the tool you send from.
• No bounce refund or credit-back. Read email_status before sending.
• Bulk CSV export is not on Free.
• The v2 contact endpoints cost one record per call, even on a miss.

Best for: engineers, RevOps teams and agents that build lists from filters at volume.

Pricing: Free $0 (1,000 records, one-off, no card), Solo $97 a month, Agency $497 a month, Platform $1,997 a month. See LeadOcean pricing, checked October 2026.

2. Hunter: best for domain-first email finding

Hunter finds and verifies emails, one credit per email found. Email Finder and Domain Search take a domain, or a name plus a domain, and return the address. Verification costs half a credit (Hunter pricing, September 2026). See our Hunter alternative page.

It has a REST API on every plan and an official MCP server at mcp.hunter.io/mcp, included in all plans and using your plan credits (Hunter MCP, September 2026). Limits are per endpoint: 15 requests a second on Email Finder and Domain Search, 5 a second on Discover (Hunter API docs, September 2026).

Hunter is the cheapest public per-record path to 1M here. Data Platform sells 1,000,000 Search credits for $6,900, paid once and valid 12 months (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026). The catch is the shape of the work: you still need the list of domains first.

Pros

• The lowest per-record price at 1M in this list.
• No credit is used when nothing is found.
• Official MCP server on every plan.
• Per-endpoint limits are documented and generous for a sequence.

Cons

• It starts from a domain. Building a list by title across a market means paging domains one at a time.
• Credits on all-in-one plans do not roll over each month.

Best for: teams that already hold a target-account list and need verified emails for it.

Pricing: Free $0 (50 credits a month), Starter $49 a month ($34 billed yearly), Growth $149, Scale $299. See Hunter pricing, September 2026.

3. Prospeo: best for reps who want an extension and an API

Prospeo sells emails and mobiles on credits, per user. A verified email costs 1 credit, and a lookup that returns nothing costs 0 (Prospeo help center, September 2026). See our Prospeo alternative page.

There is a REST API and a hosted MCP server at mcp.prospeo.io with 8 tools, using OAuth 2.0 or an API key (Prospeo MCP docs, September 2026). Enrich limits are 5 requests a second on Starter and Growth, and 30 on Pro. Search limits are 1, 2 and 5 a second (Prospeo API docs, September 2026).

Volume is the problem. No single plan reaches 1M credits. The cheapest public path is 44 Pro seats plus the 350,000-credit add-on. Paying once for the year, it is 3 Pro seats plus the yearly add-on (Prospeo pricing, September 2026).

Pros

• Per-credit price falls on higher plans ($0.0245 on Starter, $0.0166 on Pro).
• Hosted MCP server with 8 tools.
• Free lookups when nothing is found.

Cons

• Per-seat billing, with credits that follow the cycle.
• Search is slow by default: 1 request a second on Starter.
• First-party sources disagree on whether the Free plan includes API access.

Best for: reps who want a browser extension and an API from one vendor.

Pricing: Free $0 (100 credits a month), Starter $49 per user a month ($37 billed yearly), Growth $99 ($74), Pro $249 ($187). See Prospeo pricing, September 2026.

4. Apollo: best for teams that want data and sequencing in one seat

Apollo is a sales platform: a contact database, sequences, a dialer and a rep workspace. It lists 240 million contacts and 30 million companies (Apollo pricing, September 2026). See our Apollo alternative page.

An email costs 1 credit and a phone number costs 8. Every plan includes API access, and enrichment endpoints allow 1,000 requests a minute on paid plans. General endpoints allow 200 a minute on Basic and Professional (Apollo rate limits, September 2026). The official MCP server at mcp.apollo.io/mcp works on any plan and spends the same credits (Apollo MCP docs, September 2026).

Price at volume follows seats. 1M work emails need 250 Professional seats at $99, which is $24,750 a month at monthly list price. On yearly billing the cheapest path is 400 Basic seats at $49, or $19,600 a month. Add-on credit prices are not public, so a cheaper mix cannot be priced.

Pros

• Data, sequences and a dialer in one product.
• API and MCP on every plan, including Free.
• Large enrichment rate limit on paid plans.

Cons

• Per seat, and credits expire at the end of each cycle.
• Phones cost 8 credits each.
• Search and enrichment endpoints are capped per minute, hour and day.

Best for: sales teams whose reps live in the product all day.

Pricing: Free $0, Basic $65 per seat a month ($49 billed yearly), Professional $99 ($79), Organization $149 ($119, three seats minimum). See Apollo pricing, September 2026.

5. Clay: best for operators who build enrichment workflows

Clay is a workflow spreadsheet that routes lookups through many data providers. It has no dataset of its own. See our Clay alternative page.

It bills two meters. 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), the plan that adds the HTTP API column (Clay pricing, September 2026). The Public API and CLI are on every plan including Free (Clay docs, September 2026). There is an MCP server (Clay MCP guide, September 2026).

At 1M there is no public price. One enrichment uses one Action, Actions cannot be topped up, and the largest public tier is 200,000 a month (Clay pricing, September 2026). The Public API has a per-workspace rate limit with no published number (Clay developer docs, September 2026).

Pros

• Waterfalls across many providers in one table.
• Public API and CLI on every plan.
• Free plan to test a workflow.

Cons

• Two meters make a monthly bill hard to forecast.
• The HTTP API column starts at Growth.
• No published API rate limit.
• No public price at 1M.

Best for: growth operators who build custom enrichment and routing in tables.

Pricing: Free $0, Launch $185 a month ($167 billed yearly), Growth $495 ($446), Enterprise custom. See Clay pricing, September 2026.

6. Lusha: best for reps who work in a browser extension

Lusha is a contact data platform with a Chrome extension, a REST API and an MCP server, sold on credits. An email costs 1 credit and a phone costs 5 (Lusha pricing, September 2026). See our Lusha alternative page.

Every user gets an API key, Free included. Limits per key are small on low plans. Free and Starter allow 40 requests a minute and 100 a day. Premium allows 300 a minute and 18,000 a day (Lusha API guide, September 2026). The MCP server has 50 tools and shares the REST credit pool (Lusha MCP docs, September 2026).

No public price reaches 1M. The top public tier is Premium at 10,000 credits a month, $977.40 billed monthly. Scale is custom.

Pros

• Chrome extension for reps, plus API and MCP.
• Free plan with an API key.
• Published rate limits per plan.

Cons

• Small credit tiers: the top public plan holds 10,000 credits a month.
• Lusha's docs disagree on whether a no-match request costs a credit.
• Bulk calls take at most 100 contacts a request.

Best for: reps who prospect inside the browser and use the API occasionally.

Pricing: Free $0 (40 credits a month), Starter $49.90 a month ($37.45 billed yearly), Pro $69.90 ($52.45), Premium $399.90 ($299.95). See Lusha pricing, September 2026.

7. Crustdata: best for live web data and change alerts

Crustdata is a data API with its own index of people, companies, jobs and posts, sold on credits. It does things a static database does not, such as live endpoints and change alerts. See our Crustdata alternative page.

Search costs 0.03 credits a result. Person enrich costs 1 to 7 credits, so 1M work-email lookups need 2,000,000 credits on /person/enrich (Crustdata pricing docs, September 2026). The pricing page lists no dollar price per credit. A Crustdata blog post reports a lowest tier of $95 a month (Crustdata blog, September 2026).

Default limits are low: 15 requests a minute on person enrich and 30 on search (Crustdata rate limits, September 2026). A hosted MCP server at install.crustdata.com/mcp takes OAuth or an API key (Crustdata MCP docs, September 2026).

Pros

• Live web and job data beyond a static database.
• Hosted MCP server with OAuth.
• Batch enrich takes up to 10,000 identifiers a job.

Cons

• No public dollar price, so you cannot forecast before talking to sales.
• Low default rate limits.
• Contact enrich is enterprise only.

Best for: teams that need signals and live data more than a flat list.

Pricing: No public plan list. Credits are priced per call; confirm the dollar value in the dashboard. See Crustdata pricing docs, September 2026.

Comparison table

How to choose

• You pull lists by filter through code or an agent. Pick LeadOcean. Size the list free, then export.
• You already have a list of domains and need emails. Pick Hunter. At 1M, Data Platform is the cheapest per-record price here.
• Reps need an extension and a few thousand records a month. Pick Prospeo or Lusha. Check the credit cost of phones first.
• Reps need sequences and a dialer in the same seat. Pick Apollo. Budget for seats, not records.
• You build custom enrichment workflows. Pick Clay. Expect two meters.
• You need live web data or job signals. Pick Crustdata, and ask for the dollar price before you commit.

Verdict

LeadOcean wins for anyone who builds lists by filter at volume. It is the only tool here with a flat monthly price at 1M and a free count before you spend a record. Hunter wins when you start from domains. Apollo wins when reps need sequencing in the same seat. Prospeo and Lusha win when a browser extension matters. Clay wins for table workflows, and Crustdata for live web data. If you use more than one, put a free count first and spend credits after.

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