Lusha vs Hunter.io (2026): Data, Pricing and API Compared

Lusha is the better pick when you need phone numbers, buying signals and a Chrome extension. Hunter is the cheaper way to find work emails by API, and it publishes a 1M price ($6,900) where Lusha does not.

Verdict

• Pick Lusha if your reps need direct dials, signals and a browser extension, and you accept paying 5 credits for a phone number (Lusha pricing, September 2026).
• Pick Hunter if you mainly need verified work emails by domain or name, by API or in bulk, at a price per credit you can read (Hunter pricing, September 2026).
• Pick neither if you pull people and company data by API at volume and want one flat monthly bill. LeadOcean is one option, covered below.

Side by side

All figures were checked in September 2026. Both vendors change plans often, so confirm on their pages before you buy.

Data and coverage

Lusha is the bigger and wider dataset. Its homepage claims 525M+ contacts, 29M+ companies, 165M+ emails and 117M+ direct dials, plus 26 buying signals refreshed weekly (Lusha, September 2026). Those are Lusha's own figures, not an independent test.

Hunter is an email index, not a contact database. Its homepage shows 150,430,313 email addresses verified (Hunter, September 2026). It does not publish a count of people, companies or phone numbers.

That difference decides most purchases. Lusha starts from a person or a company and returns profile fields, emails and phones. Hunter starts from a domain or a name and returns an address with a confidence score.

On phones, Lusha is the clear choice. It claims 117M+ direct dials. Hunter's Domain Search can return a phone_number, but the field is null in its own docs example (Hunter API docs, September 2026).

On email, the gap is harder to read. Lusha claims 165M+ emails, and Hunter publishes no email count. Lusha's figure is a vendor claim, so test a sample of your own contacts before you commit.

API and developer experience

Both tools have a REST API and an official MCP server. Both use a plain key, with no OAuth token step for REST. Lusha takes a batch of contacts in a POST body. Hunter answers a GET. Placeholders below stand in for real people.

Lusha, search for a contact (from its API overview):

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.lusha.com/v3/contacts/search \
  --header "api_key: $LUSHA_API_KEY" \
  --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
  --data '{
    "contacts": [
      { "clientReferenceId": "my-ref-1", "firstName": "Jane", "lastName": "Doe", "companyDomain": "acme.com" }
    ],
    "options": { "includePartialProfiles": true }
  }'

Search returns matches. A second call, Enrich Contacts, reveals the email or phone, and that step spends credits (Lusha API overview, September 2026).

Hunter, find an email (from its API docs):

curl -G "https://api.hunter.io/v2/email-finder" \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $HUNTER_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "domain=acme.com" \
  --data-urlencode "first_name=Jane" \
  --data-urlencode "last_name=Doe"

One call returns the address. A miss costs no credit (Hunter help, September 2026). One quirk: Hunter returns 403 when you hit the rate limit and 429 when you run out of credits or plan quota.

Hunter is faster to start, with one GET and an answer in the same call. Lusha takes two steps but covers more: company lookups, phones and a 50-tool MCP server. Lusha's docs also disagree on whether a no-match request costs a credit. The API guide says at least 1 credit, and the billing FAQ says none (Lusha billing FAQ, September 2026). Budget for the 1 credit until Lusha settles it.

Lusha's limits are tight on small plans: 40 requests a minute on Free and 50 on Pro, with a daily cap of 100 on Free and 1,500 on Pro. Premium allows 300 a minute and 18,000 a day (Lusha API guide, September 2026). Hunter allows 15 a second and 500 a minute on Email Finder, set per endpoint rather than per plan.

Pricing

Both tools sell credits. Lusha prices a phone at 5 credits and an email at 1. Hunter prices an email found at 1 credit and a verification at 0.5. The worked examples below use work emails only, at the lowest published list price.

Lusha plans, monthly list price first, billed-yearly figure after it: Free $0 for 40 credits, Starter $49.90 ($37.45 yearly) and Pro $69.90 ($52.45). Premium is $399.90 ($299.95) for 3,400 credits a month. The credit ladder on the pricing page tops out at 10,000 credits a month for $977.40 on Premium. Scale is custom (Lusha pricing, September 2026).

Hunter plans, monthly first: Starter $49 for 2,000 credits, Growth $149 for 10,000 and Scale $299 for 25,000. Billed yearly, those are $34, $104 and $209 a month (Hunter pricing, September 2026). Its Data Platform sells Search credits one-off, valid 12 months (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026).

At 10,000 records a month

• Lusha: a bulk API call charges 1 credit per 25 results on top of the data credits (Lusha credit rules, September 2026). So 10,000 work emails is 10,000 + 10,000 / 25 = 10,400 credits. The top monthly step is 10,000 credits for $977.40, about $0.0977 a credit, so the job sits just over the largest published step.
• Hunter: Growth includes 10,000 credits for $149 a month, or $104 a month billed yearly. On the Data Platform, 10,000 Search credits are a one-off $209.

At this size Hunter costs a fraction of Lusha, and the unit is the same: one work email. What differs is the extra. Lusha also sells phones, at 5 credits each. 10,000 contacts with email and phone is 6 credits each in the platform, or 60,000 credits.

At 1M records a month

• Lusha: no public 1M price. 1,000,000 work emails by bulk API is 1,000,000 + 40,000 request credits = 1,040,000 credits. The largest listed plan holds 10,000 credits a month, so 1M is 104 times that. Scale is custom (Lusha pricing, September 2026).
• Hunter: 1,000,000 Search credits cost $6,900, paid once and valid 12 months ($0.0069 a credit) (Hunter Data Platform, September 2026).

Do not use Hunter's all-in-one plans at 1M. Scale is $299 a month for 25,000 credits, and credit packs cap at 180,000 per purchase. Two caveats on the Data Platform price. Its ladder is not smooth: 5,000 credits is $250 and 10,000 is $209. And the $6,900 buys emails only, since separate verification credits start at $11 per 1,000.

Where Lusha wins

• A larger dataset: 525M+ contacts and 29M+ companies claimed, against an email index at Hunter.
• Direct dials: a claimed 117M+, against no published phone count at Hunter.
• 26 buying signals refreshed weekly, plus company data, in one platform.
• A Chrome extension and native CRM apps, so reps work inside the tools they already use.
• Higher published rate limits on Premium: 300 requests a minute and 18,000 a day.

Where Hunter wins

• A far lower published price: $6,900 for 1M credits, and a price ladder anyone can read.
• No charge when nothing is found, and a clear credit rule per call.
• A faster start: one key, one GET, and an answer in the same call.
• Bulk Email Finder takes up to 50,000 rows per file, against 100 per request on Lusha's bulk API.
• Limits documented per endpoint, and an MCP server included in every plan.

If you need volume through an API

LeadOcean is a data API and MCP server with no credits and no seats. It has no buying signals and no browser extension. 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. 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). Compare it on a list you already know, then read Lusha alternatives and pricing.

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