People Data Labs (PDL) is a large person and company dataset sold by API. Datagma is a mobile and email finder that works from a name and a company. Pick PDL for scale and search in code. Pick Datagma for direct mobiles on a list you already have.
Verdict
- Pick People Data Labs if developers need person and company records in code, a big schema to search, or licensed dataset files for a warehouse. Budget for a sales call above about 100,000 person profiles a year, and know that Free hides contact data.
- Pick Datagma if a sales or recruiting team needs direct mobiles and verified emails for a known list at a small monthly volume. Plans start at $49 a month, and you pay only when it finds something.
- Pick neither if you need millions of records a month, search by filters or an MCP server for agents. Neither vendor publishes a price at 1M records. LeadOcean is one option: flat $499 a month, no credits.
Side by side
Figures come from each vendor's own pages, linked in the cells, checked in September 2026.
| People Data Labs | Datagma | |
|---|---|---|
| Data size | 2,466,510,427 person profiles and 76,606,079 companies (PDL datasets, PDL company stats) | Not published. Datagma describes real-time lookups and gives no dataset size (Datagma API) |
| Email coverage | 592,376,573 profiles with at least one email (PDL datasets) | No count published. Claims up to 93% email accuracy (Datagma pricing) |
| Phone coverage | 470,338,967 mobile and 763,983,403 with any phone (PDL datasets) | No count published. Claims top 3 EU phone coverage (Datagma pricing) |
| API | REST API v5: person enrichment, bulk enrichment, search (PDL docs) | REST, all GET, key in the URL: enrich, find email, search phone, job change detect (Datagma API) |
| MCP | No official server. Community servers only (PDL llms.txt) | No first-party server found. A Zapier-run server lists five actions (Zapier) |
| Rate limit | Enrichment 100 a minute on Free, 1,000 a minute on paid. Person Search 10 a minute (PDL docs) | Not published (Datagma API docs) |
| Bulk export | Bulk enrichment takes 100 people per request. Dataset files by annual licence (PDL docs, PDL docs) | File upload of up to 50,000 rows per batch (Datagma file upload) |
| Price model | Credits, one per successful match (PDL docs) | Monthly plan with separate email and phone allowances. Pay only for a find (Datagma pricing) |
| Entry price | Free $0, contact data obscured. Pro $98 a month, $78 billed yearly (PDL pricing) | Free $0 (90 emails, 3 phones). Regular $49 a month, about $39 billed yearly (Datagma pricing) |
| Cost at 1M records | No public 1M price | No public 1M price |
Data and coverage
PDL wins on published scale. Its full person dataset holds 2,466,510,427 profiles, and 592,376,573 of them carry an email. The full dataset includes thin records with few fields filled, so the headline count overstates what you can mail (PDL datasets, September 2026).
Phone is where the two meet. PDL lists 470,338,967 mobile numbers and 763,983,403 profiles with any phone. Datagma publishes no count, only the claim of top 3 EU phone coverage (Datagma pricing, September 2026).
Datagma points to Clay's public data tests from 2025 for its mobile and email claims (Datagma llms.txt, September 2026). That is a vendor-chosen citation, and we did not rerun it.
The practical difference is auditability. With PDL you can quote a dataset size and test a match rate on a sample. With Datagma you test your own list, because no coverage figure exists to compare.
Datagma verifies every email. Catch-all addresses it cannot verify come back as "most probable" and are not billed (Datagma API docs, September 2026). PDL returns what it holds and bills a match.
API and developer experience
PDL is the more conventional API. One GET call enriches a person, and a 404 is not billed (PDL docs, September 2026).
curl -G "https://api.peopledatalabs.com/v5/person/enrich" \
--data-urlencode "profile=linkedin.com/in/jane-doe" \
-H "X-Api-Key: $PDL_API_KEY"The key can sit in a header or in the URL (PDL docs, September 2026). Bulk enrichment sends up to 100 people per request (PDL docs, September 2026). Person Search is a separate endpoint with its own 10 a minute default.
Datagma is a smaller surface. Every endpoint is a GET, and the key goes in the URL as apiId (Datagma API, September 2026).
curl "https://gateway.datagma.net/api/ingress/v2/full?apiId=$DATAGMA_API_ID&data=https%3A%2F%2Flinkedin.com%2Fin%2Fjane-doe&companyPremium=true"A person match on /v2/full costs 2 credits. Input can be a profile URL, an email, or a full name plus a company (Datagma API docs, September 2026). The docs say a profile URL gets an almost 100% response, name plus company about 90%, and an email about 60%. Those are Datagma's own figures.
Datagma's /v1/search finds a mobile from a profile URL or an email, with an optional WhatsApp check. Its Find People endpoint lists up to 10 people at a company for 10 credits (Datagma API docs, September 2026). There is no filter search across a whole database.
On agents, neither ships an official MCP server. Datagma has a Zapier-run server with five actions, including find email and find mobile (Zapier, September 2026). PDL has community servers only.
Pricing
Both vendors price per match, so cost rises with volume. Neither publishes a price at 1M records a month.
At 10,000 records a month
PDL Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits, which is $0.28 a credit (PDL pricing, September 2026). PDL says Pro profiles cost about $0.20 to $0.28 each depending on volume (PDL blog, September 2026).
- 10,000 x $0.28 = $2,800 a month at the entry rate.
- 10,000 x $0.20 = $2,000 a month at the low end of PDL's range.
That is arithmetic on published rates, not a quote. Ten thousand a month is 120,000 a year, above the roughly 100,000 profiles PDL steers to Enterprise (PDL blog, September 2026).
Datagma sells allowances, not a per-record rate. Popular ($99 a month) covers 7,500 emails, so 10,000 emails means Expert at $249 a month, or about $199 billed yearly (20% off). Expert includes 22,500 emails and 750 phones (Datagma pricing, September 2026).
- 10,000 emails on Expert: $249 a month, about $0.011 an email if you use the full 22,500.
- 10,000 phones: not possible on self-serve. Expert stops at 750 phones, and above that Datagma says Enterprise.
- At Expert's own ratio, a phone works out near $0.33 ($249 / 750).
The two are not like for like. A PDL credit buys a full person profile, and many profiles carry no email. A Datagma email allowance buys one verified address. Datagma's API docs bill in credits, 2 per person match on /v2/full, while the pricing page sells email and phone allowances. Neither page maps one to the other, so confirm with Datagma how API calls draw down a plan (Datagma API docs, September 2026).
Both at 1M records a month
No public 1M price for either, and we will not multiply a rate out to fake one. Each has a structural reason.
- PDL: Self-serve stops near 100,000 person profiles. Above that PDL quotes Enterprise only (PDL blog, September 2026).
- Datagma: The largest listed plan tops out at 22,500 emails and 750 phones a month. Beyond that the page says Enterprise, with custom limits through sales (Datagma pricing, September 2026).
Both charge nothing for a lookup that finds nothing. PDL does not bill a 404, and Datagma says no match means no credit used (Datagma pricing, September 2026).
Where People Data Labs wins
- Published scale. 2.47 billion profiles and 76.6 million companies, with counts you can quote.
- Search across a schema. You query the whole dataset, not just one company at a time.
- Bulk dataset files. PDL licenses its data as files for your own warehouse (PDL docs, September 2026).
- Documented limits. Enrichment runs at 1,000 a minute on paid plans, and the number is on the docs page.
- A match score. Enrichment returns a likelihood score, so you can set a floor on match quality (PDL docs, September 2026).
Where Datagma wins
- Mobiles from a name and a company. No profile URL is needed, and it checks WhatsApp at the same time (Datagma, September 2026).
- Low entry cost. $49 a month covers 100 phones and 3,000 emails, and every plan includes API access (Datagma pricing, September 2026).
- No code needed. It has a Chrome extension and a file upload of up to 50,000 rows per batch (Datagma file upload, September 2026).
- Real contact data on Free. Free gives 90 emails and 3 phones a month with no card. PDL Free obscures contact data.
- Job change detection. A dedicated endpoint tells you when a contact moves (Datagma API docs, September 2026).
- An EU base. Datagma is Paris-based and describes EU processing (Datagma llms.txt, September 2026).
If you need volume through an API
PDL and Datagma both meter every match, and both send you to sales long before 1M a month. LeadOcean is built for that case: Free is 1,000 records one-off, no card, and Pro is $499 a month flat, with no credits and no overage invoice. The same data is open over REST and a hosted MCP server with 12 tools. POST /v1/exports returns up to 50,000 rows per request (LeadOcean docs, September 2026). It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone, so test coverage on your own list. Past the fair-usage line a very large month is paced down, and one email to support raises the headroom.
FAQ
Is People Data Labs or Datagma cheaper?
Datagma, at small volume. For 10,000 emails a month Expert is $249 against $2,000 to $2,800 for 10,000 PDL profiles. The gap is partly a unit difference: a PDL credit is a full profile, a Datagma email allowance is one verified address.
Does either have an MCP server?
Not an official one, as of September 2026. PDL's llms.txt lists SDKs and OpenAPI specs only, and Datagma's docs index mentions no MCP. Zapier runs a Datagma MCP server with five actions (PDL docs, September 2026; Zapier, September 2026).
Which has the bigger database?
PDL, by a published count: 2,466,510,427 person profiles and 76,606,079 companies. Datagma publishes no dataset size, so the two cannot be compared by size (PDL datasets, September 2026).
Which finds more mobile numbers?
Neither publishes a verified head-to-head. PDL lists 470,338,967 mobile numbers, and Datagma claims top 3 EU phone coverage from Clay's 2025 tests. Run both on a 500-row sample of your own list and compare the hit rate.
Do they charge for lookups that find nothing?
No. PDL does not bill a 404, and Datagma charges only for a verified email or phone (PDL docs, September 2026; Datagma pricing, September 2026).
Where can I read more PDL comparisons?
See PDL vs Wiza, PDL vs Snov.io and PDL vs Kaspr. For other sources of the same data, read PDL alternatives and the People Data Labs alternative page.
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