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

ContactOut is a LinkedIn email and phone finder with a browser extension, and its API is priced on request. LeadMagic is an enrichment API that charges per valid result and publishes every plan. ContactOut fits people who work in a browser. LeadMagic fits teams that call an API and want a price they can read.

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 need personal emails, or you buy fewer than 2,000 emails a month. Email is $49 a month, and its MCP server returns records.
• Pick LeadMagic if you call an API from code, want pay-on-success pricing and a public price ladder, and stay under 100,000 credits a month. Growth is $249 a month for 20,000 credits, and a failed email lookup is free.
• Pick neither if you want volume through an API on one flat plan. ContactOut's API has no public price, and LeadMagic's plans stop at 100,000 credits. LeadOcean is one option.

Side by side

All figures checked September 2026. Both vendors change plans and promotional prices often, 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 company profiles (ContactOut data, September 2026). LeadMagic lists 400M+ people and 25M+ companies (LeadMagic, 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's data page claims 99% confidence and publishes no test method (ContactOut data, September 2026). It counts 200M work emails, 150M personal emails and 100M direct dials. LeadMagic publishes no email or phone count. It validates every email it returns, so a result is billed only when the address checks out (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).

Two things only one tool has. ContactOut holds personal emails and sells a regional plan for coverage outside the US (ContactOut pricing, September 2026). LeadMagic adds 46M+ job posts, which suits a "company is hiring" trigger (LeadMagic, September 2026).

API and developer experience

Both are plain REST, with different inputs. ContactOut's profile call takes a LinkedIn URL and returns work_email, personal_email and phone arrays plus profile fields. It charges a credit when an email or phone is found (ContactOut API docs, September 2026).

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"

LeadMagic's email finder takes a name and a domain, or a profile URL. It costs 1 credit per valid email and nothing when no email is found (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).

curl -X POST "https://api.leadmagic.io/v1/people/email-finder" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $LEADMAGIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"first_name":"Jane","last_name":"Doe","domain":"acme.com"}'

The difference is access. You can open a LeadMagic account, buy Essential and send that request today. ContactOut asks you to book a meeting to get an API key, so you cannot test the API before a sales conversation (ContactOut API docs, September 2026).

Rate limits are per minute on both. At 600 requests a minute, 10,000 email lookups take about 17 minutes. At ContactOut's 1,000 a minute they take 10 minutes, and People Search drops to 60 a minute. At 1M lookups the same arithmetic gives about 28 hours for LeadMagic and about 17 hours for ContactOut, but ContactOut's credit ceilings bind first.

For agents, both ship an MCP server. ContactOut's has 15 tools and 600+ free credits at onboarding. LeadMagic's uses OAuth only and states 43 tools, though its docs tool reference gives no count (LeadMagic MCP, September 2026).

Pricing

ContactOut charges per account with a monthly credit ceiling. LeadMagic charges per valid result from a credit pool. To compare them, use work emails found, because both sell that.

At 10,000 records a month. LeadMagic Growth is $249 a month for 20,000 credits, and 10,000 valid emails use 10,000 credits. $249 / 10,000 is about $0.025 per email, and a miss costs nothing (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026). Billed yearly, Growth is $208 a month.

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). So 10,000 / 2,000 is 5 accounts, and every self-serve plan lists a one-user-per-company limit. Volume means the Team / API plan, priced on request.

At 1M records a month. LeadMagic has no public 1M price. Ultimate is the top public tier at $849 a month for 100,000 credits, which is $0.00849 a credit. 1,000,000 / 100,000 is 10 times the biggest plan, and no public plan or top-up price covers it. Enterprise starts at $2,490 a quarter, paid upfront, with custom volume pricing (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).

ContactOut has no public 1M price either. 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 price out to a number nobody can buy. Get a quote from both.

One more cost, on the LeadMagic side. Searching in the app spends no credits on any paid plan. Over the API, search is zero-credit only on Professional and Ultimate, and on Essential and Growth it bills about 1 credit per returned person (LeadMagic People Search docs, 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 phones. 150M personal emails and 100M direct dials, with a regional plan for coverage outside the US.
• Cheap at small volume. Email at $49 a month covers up to 2,000 emails, and there is a free tier. LeadMagic has no free plan and starts at $99.
• A free tier for agents. 600+ free MCP credits at onboarding.

ContactOut's weak points are the API and the ceilings. There is no public API price, and "unlimited" stops at 2,000 emails per account. Refund and renewal terms sit in a Subscription Agreement that is not public (ContactOut terms, September 2026).

Where LeadMagic wins

• A key you can test today. Self-serve, a public price ladder and a 14-day money-back guarantee on the first payment (LeadMagic help, September 2026).
• Pay on success. One credit per valid email, free on a miss, with every email validated before it is returned.
• More than contacts. 46M+ job posts and company search (LeadMagic, September 2026).
• A public plan in the middle. At 10,000 to 20,000 emails a month, Growth is $249. ContactOut sells no public plan above 2,000 emails per account.

LeadMagic's weak points are the ceiling and the meter. Self-serve stops at 100,000 credits a month, credits do not roll over on annual plans, and a mobile number costs 5 credits (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).

If you need volume through an API

We build LeadOcean, so weigh this section accordingly. It has a free plan with 1,000 records, one-off, no card. Pro is $499 a month, flat, with unlimited searches, enrichments and lookups, and no credits or per-record price (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026).

It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 63M companies. The same REST API and a hosted MCP server with 12 tools run on every plan, at 100 requests per second per key (LeadOcean MCP docs, September 2026).

For bulk pulls, POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows per request, or you can use the Exports page in the app. 1M rows is 20 requests over two days (LeadOcean exports docs, September 2026). See pricing for the detail, or the ContactOut alternative page and ContactOut alternatives.

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