Lusha vs UpLead (2026): Data, Pricing and API Compared

Lusha is the better pick for most teams. It publishes a credit ladder, gives every plan an API key and runs an MCP server. UpLead is the stricter pick for verified emails, but its API sits on a custom-quote plan. Neither publishes a price at 1M records. This page compares them on data, API, MCP and cost, with the arithmetic shown.

Verdict

• Pick Lusha if you want API and MCP access without a sales call, or phone numbers and buying signals beside the email. Every plan gets an API key, Free included, and a phone costs 5 credits (Lusha API guide, September 2026).
• Pick UpLead if reps prospect in its app and you want to pay only for emails that come back Valid or Accept All. It states a 95% accuracy guarantee and refunds bounces (UpLead data page, September 2026).
• Pick neither if the job is bulk volume through an API at a fixed bill. Both meter by credit, and neither publishes a 1M price. LeadOcean is built for that case. See the last section.

Side by side

Data and coverage

Lusha claims 525M+ contacts. UpLead claims 200M+ contacts with email addresses. Both are vendor numbers, and only Lusha splits its count into 165M+ emails and 117M+ direct dials.

The two sell different things. Lusha adds 26 buying signals refreshed weekly, such as job changes and funding (Lusha, September 2026). UpLead tracks 27K+ technologies and adds buyer intent on Professional (UpLead data page, September 2026; UpLead pricing, September 2026).

Quality works differently too. UpLead returns an email_status on each contact and deducts a credit only for Valid or Accept All. An unmatched enrichment row is refunded, and the same record is never charged twice (UpLead API docs, September 2026). Lusha charges per revealed field and publishes no per-record accuracy grade.

Size is not reach. A fair test takes an afternoon. Pull 500 contacts you already know are good, across regions, seniority levels and company sizes. Run the same list through both and count how many return an email, how many of those bounce, and how many return a phone. Check the credit meter after each run to get the real cost per match.

API and developer experience

Lusha is the easier one to start with. You get a key on any plan, send it in an api_key header, and read published limits. UpLead's docs are tidy, but full API access needs Professional, so you talk to sales before you send a request.

Lusha's search-and-enrich call, from its docs (Lusha docs, September 2026):

curl -X POST "https://api.lusha.com/v3/contacts/search-and-enrich" \
  -H "api_key: $LUSHA_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"contacts":[{"linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe"}],"reveal":["emails"]}'

It takes a batch of contacts and bills each revealed field. An email is 1 credit and a phone is 5. One contact with both costs 7 through one API request: 5 for the phone, 1 for the email and 1 for the request (Lusha API guide, September 2026).

UpLead's person lookup, from its docs (UpLead API docs, September 2026):

curl "https://api.uplead.com/v2/person-search?email=jane@acme.com" \
  -H "Authorization: $UPLEAD_API_KEY"

This is a GET with the key in an Authorization header. It returns the person, the email_status and your remaining credits. The Prospector, Prospector Pro, Quick Search, Industries and Lists APIs are for Professional, Elite and Enterprise plans only.

On MCP, only Lusha has a first-party server. It has 50 tools and spends the same credits as the REST API. If you want an agent to look people up, UpLead gives you no official route.

Pricing

Lusha prices credits inside plans. UpLead prices a plan with a credit grant and charges a per-credit rate past it. The examples below count one work-email lookup as one record.

Lusha list prices, monthly billing first and billed-yearly after (Lusha pricing, September 2026):

• Starter: $49.90 a month for 400 credits. $37.45 a month billed yearly.
• Pro: $69.90 a month for 600 credits. $52.45 a month billed yearly.
• Premium: $399.90 a month for 3,400 credits. $299.95 a month billed yearly.
• Scale: custom, through sales.

UpLead list prices (UpLead pricing, September 2026):

• Essentials: $99 a month for 170 credits. $74 a month billed yearly. Extra credits $0.60.
• Plus: $199 a month for 400 credits. $149 a month billed yearly. Extra credits $0.50.
• Professional: custom quote, annual billing only.

Lusha at 10,000 records a month

Through the bulk API, 10,000 emails cost 10,000 credits plus 10,000 / 25 = 400 request credits. That is 10,400 credits.

The top published step is 10,000 credits a month. It costs $977.40 on monthly billing, or $9,539.10 a year billed yearly, about $794.93 a month. That covers 10,000 / 1.04 = 9,615 emails by API. A full 10,000-email month sits just above the largest public step, so it needs Scale, which is a custom quote.

Lusha at 1M records a month

No public 1M price. A million work emails by bulk API need 1,000,000 + 40,000 = 1,040,000 credits. The top public step holds 10,000 credits a month, so 1M is 104 times the largest listed plan. Scale is custom, with 50%+ off price per credit and no published rate.

UpLead at 10,000 records a month

Plus is $199 for 400 credits. The other 10,000 - 400 = 9,600 credits at $0.50 cost $4,800, so the month is $199 + $4,800 = $4,999. On Essentials it is $99 + (9,830 x $0.60 = $5,898) = $5,997.

Extra purchases are capped at $2,000 a day, so the $4,800 above takes at least three days (UpLead help center, September 2026). Plus and Essentials do not include the API, so this is an in-app route. The extra-credit rate on annual billing is not printed on the pricing page.

UpLead at 1M records a month

No public 1M price. The cap decides it. $2,000 / $0.50 = 4,000 extra credits a day x 31 days = 124,000, plus 400 included, about 124,400 credits for $62,199 in the month. That is an eighth of 1M. Professional is a custom quote with custom credits, so ask UpLead.

What a miss costs

UpLead refunds unmatched enrichment rows and charges only Valid or Accept All emails. Lusha's docs disagree on misses. The API guide says a request costs at least 1 credit even with no result. The V3 billing FAQ says nothing is deducted for no match (Lusha API guide, September 2026; Lusha billing FAQ, September 2026). Budget for the 1 credit until Lusha settles it.

Where Lusha wins

• API and MCP on every plan. You can test both before paying. UpLead's API needs a custom quote.
• A price ladder you can read. Plan prices, credit steps and credit cost per action are published, so you can do the arithmetic yourself.
• Cheaper to start. Starter is $49.90 a month on monthly billing, against $99 for UpLead Essentials.
• Phone numbers at a stated size. 117M+ direct dials and a 5-credit price per phone, against no published phone count at UpLead.
• Signals and tooling. 26 buying signals refreshed weekly, plus a Chrome extension and an MCP server (Lusha, September 2026).

Where UpLead wins

• Pay only for usable emails. A credit is charged only for Valid or Accept All, and unmatched rows are refunded (UpLead API docs, September 2026).
• An accuracy guarantee. UpLead states 95% and refunds bounces and poor data (UpLead data page, September 2026).
• Higher request limit. 500 requests a minute on its API, which sits on Professional, against 50 on Lusha Pro and 300 on Premium.
• Technology data. 27K+ technologies tracked, useful for tech-based account lists.

If you need volume through an API

Both tools meter by credit and neither publishes a price at 1M records a month. LeadOcean is a data API with one flat price. Pro is $499 a month with no credits, and the Free plan gives 1,000 records, one-off, with no card. You get 693M people and 63M companies over REST and a 12-tool MCP server on every plan, at 100 requests per second per key. Bulk export is POST /v1/exports at 50,000 rows per request, up to 500,000 rows a day, so a 1M-row pull takes two days (LeadOcean docs, September 2026). See pricing.

If you are also weighing other contact finders, we compared UpLead against Seamless.AI and RocketReach, and Lusha against SalesIntel. If Lusha is your current tool, read the Lusha alternative page and Lusha alternatives compared.

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