ContactOut vs Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) (2026): Data, Pricing and API Compared

ContactOut wins for a rep or recruiter who needs an email or phone number from a LinkedIn profile today. Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) wins for a HubSpot team that wants records filled in without code. At 1M records a month, neither publishes a price.

Verdict

• Pick ContactOut if you work from LinkedIn in a browser and need emails and phones for named people. It has a Chrome extension, a free tier of 5 emails a day and plans from $49 a month (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).
• Pick Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) if your contacts and companies already live in HubSpot and you want them enriched automatically (HubSpot docs, September 2026).
• Pick neither if you pull people and company data in code at volume. ContactOut has no public API price, and Clearbit's API docs sit behind a sign-in. LeadOcean is one option, covered below.

Side by side

ContactOut figures were checked in September 2026. Clearbit and HubSpot figures were checked in September 2026 too. Both vendors change plans often, so confirm before you buy.

Data and coverage

ContactOut is a database of people you search by LinkedIn profile, and Clearbit fills in records you already hold. That gap matters more than any count. ContactOut finds a stranger's email. Clearbit does not search for strangers.

ContactOut states three different sizes, so read them with care (ContactOut data, September 2026). The data page says 800M profiles, the homepage headline says 350M professionals and the MCP page says 600M+. Ask which number your plan reaches. The data page also claims 150M personal emails, 200M work emails and 100M direct dials, and 40M company profiles.

Clearbit publishes no count at all. HubSpot's docs say contact enrichment starts from a first name, last name and work email, and company enrichment starts from a domain (HubSpot docs, September 2026). Gmail and Yahoo addresses are skipped (HubSpot docs, September 2026).

Where Clearbit is richer is company data. Its homepage lists 6-digit NAICS, GICS and SIC codes, parent and subsidiary mapping, and normalized role and seniority (Clearbit, September 2026). That is firmographics, not a list of people to contact.

API and developer experience

ContactOut has a documented REST API, but you cannot get a key without a sales call. Clearbit has an API too, but you cannot read the docs without an account. Neither lets you build a prototype on a Tuesday afternoon.

ContactOut, get a profile from a LinkedIn URL. The key goes in a token header (ContactOut API docs, September 2026). The URL below is a placeholder.

curl "https://api.contactout.com/v1/linkedin/enrich?profile=https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --header "Accept: application/json" \
  --header "token: $CONTACTOUT_API_TOKEN"

The call consumes 1 email credit if an email is found and 1 phone credit if a phone is found. Rate limits are 60 requests a minute on People Search and 1,000 a minute on most other endpoints. That suits a person clicking, not a worker queue.

Clearbit, no public request. Its API docs redirect to a sign-in page, so we show no sample here (Clearbit docs, September 2026). Since December 2023, new sign-ups need a HubSpot account (Clearbit release notes, September 2026). Inside HubSpot, a Super Admin switches on automatic enrichment, and it is off by default.

On MCP, ContactOut has a hosted server with 15 tools for Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity (ContactOut MCP, September 2026). HubSpot's MCP server reads and writes CRM records such as contacts and deals. We found no MCP server for enrichment itself (HubSpot MCP, September 2026).

Pricing

ContactOut bills monthly per account, with the monthly price first and the billed-yearly price after it. Clearbit bills nothing of its own, because enrichment sits inside a HubSpot plan.

ContactOut self-serve plans (ContactOut pricing, September 2026):

• Email: $49 a month, or $39 a month billed yearly ($468 a year). Unlimited emails, no phones, 300 exports a month.
• Email + Phone: $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly ($948 a year). Unlimited emails and phones, 600 exports a month.
• Team / API: Contact Us, with no price.

Every self-serve plan lists a one user per company limit. "Unlimited" is also capped. Paid plans follow a fair use policy of 2,000 email credits and 1,000 phone credits per account per month (ContactOut terms, September 2026).

At 10,000 work emails a month

• ContactOut: 10,000 / 2,000 emails per account = 5 account-months. 5 x $49 = $245 a month, or 5 x $39 = $195 billed yearly. That is arithmetic only, not a public path, because self-serve allows one user per company. Real volume means Team / API, priced on request.
• Clearbit: no per-record price. You pay the HubSpot plan, and enrichment does not consume HubSpot Credits (HubSpot docs, September 2026). An index page enriches 100 records at a time, so 10,000 is 100 batches. Imports and workflows take larger jobs.

At 10,000, Clearbit has no price to compare and ContactOut's price is a workaround. If you already pay for HubSpot, enrichment adds nothing per record.

At 1M work emails a month

• ContactOut: No public 1M price. The API has no published price, and 1,000,000 / 2,000 = 500 account-months of self-serve capacity, which one user per company rules out. Get a Team / API quote.
• Clearbit: No public 1M price. HubSpot publishes no per-record rate and no monthly volume ceiling for enrichment. The cost is your HubSpot plan, at the tier and seats you need (HubSpot pricing, September 2026).

Phone numbers change the ContactOut sums. The fair use line is 1,000 phone credits per account per month, so 10,000 phones is 10 account-months before any plan limit.

Where ContactOut wins

• A people database you can search, with 800M profiles claimed and 150M personal emails. The source is the ContactOut data page, September 2026.
• A Chrome extension and search portal, so reps and recruiters work where they already are.
• Phone numbers. The Email + Phone plan returns direct dials, and Clearbit publishes no phone count.
• A free tier of 5 emails, 5 phones and 5 exports a day, and an MCP server with 600+ free credits.
• Prices you can read for self-serve plans, with the monthly and yearly figures side by side.

Where Clearbit (Breeze Intelligence) wins

• Enrichment inside HubSpot. Automatic enrichment fills new records without anyone writing code.
• Richer company data: 6-digit NAICS, GICS and SIC codes and parent and subsidiary mapping (Clearbit, September 2026).
• Form shortening, so a form shows only the fields it cannot enrich (Clearbit, September 2026).
• No separate bill when you already own a HubSpot plan that includes enrichment.

If you need volume through an API

LeadOcean is a data API and MCP server with no seats, no credits and no CRM in front of it. Pro costs $499 a month flat, with unlimited searches, enrichments and lookups, and the Free plan gives 1,000 records one-off with no card (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026). Both plans get the same REST API and 12-tool MCP server. POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows per request (LeadOcean exports docs, September 2026). It has no Chrome extension or CRM, so reps still need a sending tool. Compare it on a list you know, then read the ContactOut alternative and pricing.

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