ContactOut vs Icypeas (2026): Data, Pricing and API Compared

ContactOut is a LinkedIn email and phone finder with a browser extension, and its API has no public price. Icypeas is an email finder and verifier that sells credits, one per email it finds. ContactOut fits people who work in a browser. Icypeas fits people who call an API with a name and a domain.

All prices and limits below were checked in September 2026, each with its source link. Where a vendor publishes nothing, the page says so.

Verdict

• Pick ContactOut if your team works from LinkedIn in a browser, you want personal emails and direct dials, and you stay under 2,000 emails a month. Email is $49 a month, or $39 a month billed yearly.
• Pick Icypeas if you call an API from code with a name and a company domain, and want a price you can read at every volume. Basic is $19 a month for 1,000 credits, and 1M credits is a published tier.
• Pick neither if you need to find people by filter, not by name, and want volume on one flat plan. ContactOut's API has no public price and Icypeas bills per found email. LeadOcean is one option.

Side by side

All figures checked September 2026. Both vendors change plans and promotional prices, so check before you buy.

Data and coverage

The counts are not like for like, so test both on your own list. ContactOut lists 800 million people profiles and 40M companies (ContactOut data, September 2026). Icypeas lists 575M business professionals and 62M company profiles (Icypeas features, September 2026).

ContactOut disagrees with itself on size. Its homepage headline says 350M professionals, and its MCP page says 600M+ (ContactOut homepage, September 2026; ContactOut MCP, September 2026). Ask which number your plan reaches.

Email and phone differ in kind. ContactOut counts 200M work emails, 150M personal emails and 100M direct dials. It claims 99% confidence with no test method (ContactOut data, September 2026). Icypeas quotes 1.8B emails and 280M phone numbers (Icypeas features, September 2026).

Read the Icypeas phone figure with care. Its credit table lists Phone Finder as coming soon, so the 280M may not be on sale as a lookup yet (Icypeas docs, September 2026). ContactOut sells direct dials today, on the Email + Phone plan.

Both sets are vendor claims, and neither vendor publishes a find rate. The only fair test is 500 of your own contacts through both, counting the emails that verify and the phones you can dial.

API and developer experience

ContactOut's API is synchronous and takes a LinkedIn URL. It charges 1 email credit if an email is found and 1 phone credit if a phone is found (ContactOut API docs, September 2026). You cannot test it first, because keys come from booking a meeting.

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

Icypeas takes a first name, a last name and a domain or company, not a LinkedIn URL. The call is asynchronous. The first request returns an _id, and you read the result a few seconds later with a second call (Icypeas docs, September 2026).

curl -X POST "https://app.icypeas.com/api/email-search" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: $ICYPEAS_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"firstname":"Jane","lastname":"Doe","domainOrCompany":"acme.com"}'

The docs warn against this single route for many searches. For volume, use bulk search: up to 5,000 rows per call, at 1 call a second (Icypeas docs, September 2026). ContactOut's v2 bulk lookup is also a background job, with a job_id you poll or a callback URL (ContactOut API docs, September 2026).

Rate limits cut differently. ContactOut allows 1,000 requests a minute on most endpoints but only 60 a minute on People Search. Icypeas allows 10 calls a second on email search, which is 600 a minute, and its docs say limits can change at any time (Icypeas docs, September 2026).

For agents, both ship an MCP server. ContactOut's has 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding. Icypeas has 21 tools and signs in with your API key, not OAuth (Icypeas guide, September 2026).

Pricing

ContactOut charges per account with a monthly ceiling. Icypeas charges per found email. To compare them, use work emails found, because both sell that.

At 10,000 records a month. Icypeas Advanced is $89 a month for 10,000 credits, or $74.17 a month billed yearly ($890 for 120,000 credits). That assumes every lookup finds an email. A search that finds nothing costs no credit, so a lower find rate uses fewer (Icypeas pricing, September 2026; credit costs). Prices are plus VAT.

ContactOut has no public price at 10,000. Paid "unlimited" plans cap at 2,000 email credits and 1,000 phone credits per account per month (ContactOut terms, September 2026). 10,000 / 2,000 is 5 accounts. 5 x $49 is $245, but that is arithmetic only, because every self-serve plan has a one-user-per-company limit (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).

At 1M records a month. Icypeas publishes the tier. 1,000,000 credits cost $3,992 a month ($0.003992 a credit), or $3,326.67 a month billed yearly ($39,920 for 12M credits). That assumes 1M lookups that each find an email, plus VAT (Icypeas pricing, September 2026).

ContactOut has no public 1M price. 1,000,000 / 2,000 is 500 account-months of capacity, and the one-user limit blocks that route. The API docs state credit use but no dollar price per credit (ContactOut API docs, September 2026). We will not multiply a seat rate out to a number nobody can buy.

Three details change a small bill. Icypeas credits roll over with no expiry, even after a downgrade or cancellation (Icypeas pricing, September 2026). ContactOut shows $49 for Email against a struck-through $99, with no end date on the page. Its refund and renewal terms sit in a Subscription Agreement that is not public (ContactOut terms, September 2026).

Where ContactOut wins

• Browser workflow. A Chrome extension, a search portal and a free tier of 5 emails a day, where recruiters and reps already work (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).
• Personal emails and direct dials. 150M personal emails and 100M direct dials, sold today. Icypeas lists Phone Finder as coming soon.
• Cheap at small volume. Email at $49 a month covers up to 2,000 emails with no credit math. Regional coverage outside the US is $25 a month (ContactOut pricing, September 2026).
• LinkedIn input. You send a profile URL and get contacts back in one call. Icypeas needs a name and a domain.

Where Icypeas wins

• A price you can read. Every tier is on the pricing page, from $19 for 1,000 credits to $3,992 for 1M. ContactOut's API price is a meeting (Icypeas pricing, September 2026).
• Pay for hits only. A search with no email found costs no credit, and unused credits roll over with no expiry.
• Open API from day one. Sign up, copy a key and send the request. No sales call stands between you and a test.
• Verification. It sells a separate verifier at 0.1 credit and checks catch-all domains, which suits a list you already hold (Icypeas docs, September 2026; pricing).

If you need volume through an API

If you pull people by filter instead of by name, LeadOcean is built for that. It holds 693M people (366M with an email, 166M with a phone number) and 63M companies behind REST and a 12-tool hosted MCP server. Pro is $499 a month flat, with no credits and no per-record price. Free gives you 1,000 records, one-off, with no card. Bulk pulls go through POST /v1/exports at 50,000 rows per request, and the app has an Exports page with a filter builder and CSV download. LeadOcean has no Chrome extension and no name plus domain lookup, so Icypeas is the more direct tool for that job (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026).

FAQ