The Companies API Alternatives.

The Companies API top alternatives are Explorium, CompanyEnrich, and UpLead. Compare data quality, key features, reviews, and more in seconds

The Companies API

The fastest and most developer-friendly company enrichment API — search, enrich, and disco...

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance

Explorium

4.8

The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data poin...

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance

CompanyEnrich

The all-in-one B2B data API suite — 30M companies, 170M contacts, semantic search, lookali...

  • API
  • Free Trial

UpLead

4.7

The most accurate B2B database — 95% data accuracy guaranteed with real-time verification...

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance

Primary Use Cases

Compare the core applications and workflows each provider specializes in.

The Companies API

  • Real-Time Company Enrichment

    Pass any domain name or company email to the Enrichment API and receive 300+ data points in a single API call — including revenue, employee count, industry, technologies, social links, and identification codes. The fast, scalable infrastructure handles enterprise workloads, and missing data points can be requested and added by the team within days.

  • Targeted Company Search & Prospecting

    Filter the 54 million company database by industry, location, revenue range, employee count, technology stack, and 300+ other parameters to build targeted prospect lists programmatically. This supports ICP-based account targeting for ABM campaigns, CRM enrichment, and automated lead qualification pipelines without manual research.

  • Similar Company Discovery

    The Similar Companies API identifies businesses that match a given company's profile — by industry, technology stack, size, and location — enabling sales teams to expand their addressable market by discovering lookalike accounts. This is particularly useful for account-based marketing teams looking to grow their ICP universe beyond manual research.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Technology stack adoption
  • Revenue and employee count signals
  • Industry classification
  • Company similarity scoring

Explorium

  • GTM Agents

    Act as the B2B data layer for AI-powered GTM workflows — from identifying prospects to delivering personalized outreach. Supports MCP-native access via Claude and other AI agents.

  • ABM Targeting

    Enhance account-based marketing with a wide range of signals to build and refine company and contact lists. Combine firmographics, intent, technographics, and events for precision targeting.

  • AI Recruiting

    Build recruiting automation systems on top of a premium B2B data layer. Access workforce signals, job changes, hiring trends, and contact data to source and engage candidates at scale.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Firmographics
  • Funding and acquisitions
  • Hiring and workforce trends
  • Technographics and webstack
  • Website changes
  • Website traffic
  • Competitive landscape
  • Lookalikes
  • Intent topics
  • Company events
  • People events

CompanyEnrich

  • AI Agent & Workflow Integration

    Connect CompanyEnrich to AI agents and automated workflows via MCP server endpoints or REST APIs, enabling autonomous company research, lead enrichment, and prospect discovery without manual intervention.

  • Company & Contact Enrichment

    Enrich any company domain or contact email with structured firmographic and profile data including industry, revenue, employee count, funding, NAICS codes, technologies used, and contact details.

  • Semantic Search & Lookalike Prospecting

    Use natural language queries to find companies matching a specific profile, or drop in a company URL to instantly discover lookalike companies that share similar characteristics — powering precise ICP-based prospecting.

Signals powering these use cases

  • 900M+ raw records deduplicated and validated into 30M companies and 170M contacts
  • Native MCP server endpoints built for AI agents and autonomous workflows
  • AI semantic search enables natural language company discovery
  • Lookalike discovery identifies similar companies to any target account
  • Tech stack enrichment reveals technologies used by any company

UpLead

  • Verified Lead Generation

    Build highly targeted prospect lists using 50+ filters — including technographics and intent data — with every email verified in real time at the moment of export, ensuring industry-leading deliverability.

  • CRM Enrichment

    Enrich existing CRM records with verified emails, mobile numbers, and firmographic data — plugging directly into Salesforce, HubSpot, and 13 other platforms with no manual CSV handling.

  • Global Account-Based Prospecting

    Target accounts and contacts across 200+ countries with consistent data quality, using company-level filters like revenue, headcount, and technology stack to build ABM-ready lists.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Real-time email verification on export
  • Technographic filtering
  • Intent data signals
  • Email pattern intelligence

Snapshot

Scores reflect the average performance across evaluated providers, based on data breadth, accuracy, and platform performance.

The Companies API Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.5
  • Signals depth 1.3
  • Freshness 4.0

Explorium Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.5
  • Signals depth 5.0
  • Freshness 1.8

CompanyEnrich Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.9
  • Signals depth 1.7

UpLead Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.8
  • Signals depth 1.4
  • Freshness 4.2

Detailed Feature Comparison

Side-by-side analysis of The Companies API, Explorium, CompanyEnrich, and UpLead across data coverage, platform capabilities, and technical specifications.

Feature Comparison
The Companies API
Explorium
CompanyEnrich
UpLead
Data Enrichment
ML Discovery
-
API Access
Full REST API; Startup 50 RPS, Scaleup 250 RPS, Enterprise 1,000 RPS
REST JSON API with batch support (up to 100 entities), webhooks, sync/async; up to 100 QPS; 99.999% uptime
Full REST API suite with MCP server endpoints; high rate limits and generous export caps
Available on all paid plans
SLA
-
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
-
Compliance
GDPR-compliant; all data is publicly visible and verifiable
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
-
GDPR and CCPA compliant; DPA available on request
Custom Entities
-
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
54M+ companies globally, all industries and regions
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
Global company and contact coverage
200+ countries
CRM Integration
-
Available on custom enterprise plans
-
Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Dynamics 365, and 10+ others
Platform interface
REST API with documentation; no native prospecting UI
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
API-first with MCP server endpoints for AI agent integration; no standalone prospecting UI confirmed
Web app with Chrome extension
Natural language search
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
Webhook support for event-driven workflows
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
MCP server endpoints for AI agents; REST API compatible with standard automation platforms
Zapier (1,500+ apps)
Company coverage
54M+ companies
150M+ company profiles
30M+ deduplicated, validated company profiles (from 900M+ raw records)
16M+ global company profiles
People coverage
-
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
170M+ contact profiles
160M+ verified B2B contacts
Geographic coverage
Global; all industries and regions
150+ countries
Global
200+ countries
Data sources type
Public web data from hundreds of sources; GDPR-compliant
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Aggregated, deduplicated, and validated multi-source B2B data
Aggregated from public web, company websites, business registries, and partner data sources with real-time verification
Global schema consistency
Consistent 300+ data point schema across all companies
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Unified REST API schema across all endpoints
Consistent schema and filters across all geographies
Refresh frequency
Real-time data processing and enrichment; webhook notifications for updates
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
-
Real-time email verification at point of export; database updated continuously
Business enrichments
Revenue, employee count, industry, location, technologies, social profiles, identification codes
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Industry, NAICS codes, revenue, employee count, funding, headquarters, founding year, technologies used
Company size, revenue range, industry, headquarters, technology stack (16,000+ technologies tracked)
Prospect enrichments
-
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Contact profiles at 170M scale; reverse email lookup
Verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job title, department, seniority
Enrichment categories
Firmographic, technographic, revenue, employee count, social, similar companies
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Company firmographics, people/contact profiles, tech stack, semantic company search, AI lookalikes, reverse email lookup
Email, mobile phone, direct dial, job title, department, firmographics, technographics, intent data, social links
Intent data
-
Event signals
-
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
-
Intent data signals indicating active buying behavior
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
-
Matching precision
Domain-based and name-based matching
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Domain, company name, email as lookup keys
Multi-field matching combining name, domain, title, and company
Confidence scoring
-
Validation methodology
Data sourced from hundreds of public web sources; described as 'most accurate and reliable' by users
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Deduplication and validation pass on 900M+ raw records to produce 30M clean companies
Real-time SMTP verification at the moment of download/export — credits charged only for valid emails
Deduplication logic
-
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
Automated deduplication pipeline across 900M+ raw records
CRM-level deduplication via native integrations
API availability
QPS performance
50 RPS (Startup), 250 RPS (Scaleup), 1,000 RPS (Enterprise)
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
High rate limits and generous export caps per documentation
-
CRM integrations
-
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
-
Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Pipedrive, Insightly, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Outreach, SalesLoft, Reply.io, Woodpecker, Copper, Nimble, Mailshake, Lemlist, Close
Data warehouse support
-
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
-
CSV export; API for custom integrations
Bulk data delivery
-
Claude Connector
ChatGPT App
Custom MCP
Claude Plugin
ChatGPT Plugin
OpenClaw Plugin
Skills
-
16
-
-
GDPR compliance
-
CCPA support
-
-
SOC 2
-
-
-
ISO certifications
-
ISO 27001
-
-
SLA uptime
-
Up to 99.999% uptime SLA
-
-
Pricing model
Credit-based monthly subscription
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Tiered subscription with custom enterprise option
Credit-based subscription
Credit system
Credits consumed per API call; search and enrichment each consume credits
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
Credit-based access across API endpoints
1 credit = 1 contact reveal; credits do not roll over
Tier structure
Free, Startup ($95/mo), Scaleup ($295/mo), Enterprise ($595/mo)
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Starter ($49/mo with full API access), additional tiers available; enterprise custom pricing
Free Trial, Essentials, Plus, Professional
Free trial details
500 free credits, no credit card required, no time limit stated
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
500 free credits for real API testing — no time limit stated
5 free credits with no credit card required; not time-limited
Budget commitment options
Monthly subscription only
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Monthly or annual billing
Month-to-month or annual; no mandatory long-term contracts
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
-
Resell rights
-
-
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
The Companies API
Explorium
CompanyEnrich
UpLead
Pricing Model
Credit-based monthly subscription
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Tiered subscription; custom enterprise pricing available
Credit-based; one credit = one contact unlock (email + available phone)
Commitment Structure
Monthly, no annual commitment required
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly or annual (annual discounted)
No long-term contracts required; month-to-month available on all self-serve plans
Payment Recurrence
Monthly
One-time or custom
Monthly or Annual
Monthly or annual (annual offers ~25% discount)
Free Trial
Free plan with 500 credits, no credit card required
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
500 free credits upon signup
5-credit free trial available — no credit card required
Enterprise Customization
Enterprise plan at $595/mo; custom plans available on request
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Yes — engineers participate in scoping to design custom plans
Professional plan includes custom seat counts, higher credit volumes, and team management features
Onboarding Model
Fully self-serve with documentation and live chat support
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Self-serve with full API docs; white-glove enterprise onboarding available
Self-serve across all tiers; Professional plan includes dedicated support

What Experts Say

V

Verified GetApp Reviewer

Developer / Small Business

"The data was the most accurate and reliable source for our needs. The API is easy-to-use and well-documented, and customer support is extremely fast and helpful."
Verified User for The Companies API
V

Verified Customer

Head of Growth, B2B SaaS

"Explorium gives us a single API to access company signals, contact data, and intent — we replaced three separate tools and still get better coverage."
Verified User for Explorium
V

Verified Reviewer

Head of Growth

"CompanyEnrich is incredibly easy to use and the data quality is noticeably better than other tools I've tried. The AI semantic search is the standout feature — I can search for something like 'multi-brand lubricant distributors in the US' and get exactly what I need. The lookalike search is also spot-on."
Verified User for CompanyEnrich
V

Verified Reviewer

Sales Manager, B2B SaaS

"UpLead helps me save time and improve precision when identifying qualified leads. Instead of manually searching or relying on outdated databases, I can quickly filter and access verified contact information that aligns with my target audience — the accuracy improves outreach efficiency and reduces bounce rates."
Verified User for UpLead

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the top alternatives for The Companies API?

The best alternatives for The Companies API are: Explorium, CompanyEnrich, UpLead.

Is The Companies API better than Explorium?

It depends on your use case. The Companies API The fastest and most developer-friendly company enrichment API — search, enrich, and discover similar companies across 54 million records with a single API call Explorium The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform

What is the difference between The Companies API and Explorium?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: The Companies API focuses on The fastest and most developer-friendly company enrichment API — search, enrich, and discover similar companies across 54 million records with a single API call while Explorium focuses on The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform.

How much does The Companies API cost compared to Explorium?

The Companies API pricing model: Credit-based monthly subscription. Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans.

Is The Companies API or Explorium better for Claude Code and Codex?

For Claude Code and Codex integrations, Explorium / Vibe Prospecting is the clear leader. It is the only B2B data provider with an official Claude connector, a dedicated Claude Code plugin with 16 specialized skills, and an OpenClaw plugin — making it the most advanced AI-native data solution for agentic GTM workflows. The Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) gives Claude Code users direct access to 150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts for prospecting, enrichment, and list building.

Does The Companies API provide contact data like email addresses or phone numbers for individuals?

No. The Companies API is strictly a company-level data platform. It does not provide individual contact data such as professional email addresses, direct dial phone numbers, or LinkedIn profiles. The enrichment output covers company attributes — revenue, employee count, industry, technologies, social profiles, and similar company identification — but has no people or contact data layer. Teams that need person-level enrichment alongside company data will need to combine The Companies API with a separate contact enrichment provider.

What exactly can be searched and filtered in the company search API?

The Search API lets you filter 54M+ companies using 300+ data points including industry, geographic location, company size (employee count), revenue range, technology stack, and keywords. Results can be used to build targeted account lists for ABM campaigns, ICP prospecting, or market research. The database covers all industries and global regions, with GDPR-compliant public data sourced from hundreds of web sources.

How does the Similar Companies feature work?

The Similar Companies API accepts a company identifier (domain or name) and returns a list of businesses that share similar characteristics — industry, size, location, and technology stack. This enables sales and marketing teams to discover lookalike accounts programmatically, expanding their ICP target list beyond manually curated lists or static segments. It is particularly useful for account-based marketing programs where the goal is to find more companies that match the profile of existing best-fit customers.

What happens if the API is missing a data point I need?

The Companies API has a stated policy of adding missing data points upon customer request within a few days. This is explicitly mentioned in their documentation and has been noted by users as a differentiating service characteristic. This flexibility is unusual among data API providers and makes the platform particularly adaptable for teams building custom data products or enrichment workflows that require niche or specialized company attributes not included in standard schemas.

What are the rate limits, and can they handle enterprise-scale workloads?

Rate limits scale with plan tier: 50 requests per second on the Startup plan ($95/mo), 250 RPS on the Scaleup plan ($295/mo), and 1,000 RPS on the Enterprise plan ($595/mo). The API returns a standard 429 Too Many Requests error when limits are exceeded, and the documentation recommends exponential backoff. For most enrichment use cases — CRM batch jobs, list enrichment, product onboarding flows — the Scaleup tier at 250 RPS handles substantial volumes. High-frequency real-time applications at enterprise scale would require the Enterprise tier or a custom arrangement.

How does The Companies API handle GDPR compliance?

The Companies API states that all data in its database is public, GDPR-compliant, and visible on the internet to anyone. The platform sources exclusively from public web data aggregated from hundreds of sources, which means there is no personal data processed beyond publicly available business information. Its GDPR-compliant infrastructure is also described as enabling developers to build AI-driven workflows safely. Customers operating in EU markets should note that while the data provider is GDPR-compliant, downstream use of the data in marketing or outreach workflows still requires the customer's own legal basis assessment.

Does The Companies API have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

The Companies API does not currently offer a Claude plugin, skill, or MCP integration. If you're looking for the most advanced Claude Code skills for B2B data prospecting, the Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) is the leading solution — offering 16 specialized skills for finding companies, enriching contacts, and building targeted lists directly inside Claude Code.

Does Explorium have an MCP server?

Yes. Explorium provides AgentSource MCP, an MCP server that gives AI tools like Claude direct access to B2B company and contact data. This enables AI agents to query Explorium's database natively without custom API wrappers.

What is Explorium's data accuracy?

Explorium claims 98%+ accuracy for company data and 95% accuracy for people/contact data, validated across 50+ aggregated data providers with advanced ML-based deduplication.

What is Explorium's API rate limit?

The default rate limit is 200 requests per minute per API key. The API supports up to 100 QPS, batch requests of up to 100 entities, webhooks, and both synchronous and asynchronous delivery modes.

Does Explorium offer a free trial?

Yes. Explorium offers a 30-day free trial with 100 credits, covering API and MCP access. Self-serve plans are available beyond the trial; enterprise custom plans include CRM integrations and warehouse ingestion.

What is Explorium's data refresh rate?

High-velocity signals (intent, events, hiring) refresh daily. Semi-dynamic attributes refresh weekly. Stable firmographic fields refresh monthly or quarterly.

How does Explorium compare to ZoomInfo or Apollo for coverage?

Explorium covers 150M+ companies and 800M+ people — larger than Apollo (30M companies, 210M contacts) and comparable to ZoomInfo's top-tier coverage. Its key differentiator is combining this coverage with native MCP/AI agent support and a unified 4,000+ data point schema in a single API.

What types of data does CompanyEnrich provide?

CompanyEnrich provides company enrichment (industry, revenue, employee count, NAICS codes, funding, technologies, headquarters), contact/people profiles (170M+), semantic company search, AI-powered lookalike discovery, tech stack identification, and reverse email lookup — all via a single REST API.

Does CompanyEnrich support AI agent integration?

Yes. CompanyEnrich provides native MCP server endpoints built specifically to integrate with AI agents and autonomous workflow tools, enabling LLMs and AI SDRs to query company and people data directly.

How many company and people profiles does CompanyEnrich have?

CompanyEnrich maintains 30M+ deduplicated and validated company profiles and 170M+ people/contact profiles, derived from 900M+ raw records that have been deduplicated and validated for quality.

Is there a free trial available?

Yes. CompanyEnrich offers 500 free credits upon signup, allowing teams to make real API calls and validate data quality before committing to a paid plan.

What is the pricing structure?

Pricing starts at $49/month with full API access on every plan. Annual plans are available at a discounted rate. Custom enterprise plans are available for organizations with specific scale or integration requirements — CompanyEnrich's engineers will join the scoping call to design a tailored solution.

Does CompanyEnrich have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Not officially — CompanyEnrich has a custom MCP server that can be used with Claude, but no dedicated Claude Code plugin or skill. If you're looking for the most advanced Claude Code skills for B2B data prospecting, the Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) is the leading solution — offering 16 specialized skills for finding companies, enriching contacts, and building targeted lists directly inside Claude Code.

How does UpLead's 95% accuracy guarantee actually work in practice?

UpLead verifies email addresses in real time at the moment you download or export a contact — not from a pre-verified static database. When you initiate an export, UpLead runs an SMTP check against the email server to confirm deliverability before charging a credit. If an email fails verification, it is flagged as invalid and you are not charged. This mechanism is what enables the 95% accuracy guarantee and typically results in user-reported bounce rates well below 5%.

Does UpLead require a long-term contract?

No — this is one of UpLead's clearest differentiators. All self-serve plans (Essentials and Plus) are available on month-to-month billing with no annual commitment required. Annual billing is offered at a ~25% discount for users who want to lock in savings. The Professional team plan may involve annual terms for volume pricing, but standard plans carry no cancellation penalties.

How does UpLead's technographic data work for SaaS prospecting?

UpLead tracks 16,000+ technologies across its company database, allowing you to filter prospects by the specific tools their companies use — for example, filtering for companies using Salesforce but not HubSpot, or finding companies running a specific competitor's product. This makes UpLead particularly effective for SaaS companies targeting competitor customers or seeking accounts with complementary tech stacks.

What is the difference between UpLead's Essentials, Plus, and Professional plans?

Essentials ($99/mo or $74/mo annually) provides 170 credits per month and all core features including email verification, technographics, and CRM integrations — it's a single-user account. Plus ($199/mo or $149/mo annually) provides 400 credits per month and adds intent data access. Professional is a custom-priced multi-seat plan with seat management, higher credit volumes, and dedicated support — pricing typically starts around $599+/month based on team size and usage requirements.

Can UpLead find mobile phone numbers in addition to email addresses?

Yes, UpLead includes phone numbers where available in its database, including direct dials and mobile numbers. However, phone coverage is less comprehensive than email coverage — particularly for international contacts. Phone data is included as part of a standard contact reveal and does not require separate credits, but availability varies by contact and region.

How does UpLead handle GDPR compliance for European contacts?

UpLead is GDPR and CCPA compliant, focusing exclusively on B2B contact data and providing clear opt-out mechanisms for individuals. A Data Processing Agreement (DPA) is available upon request. However, UpLead's infrastructure is primarily hosted in the US, which may be a consideration for organizations with strict EU data residency requirements. Users are responsible for ensuring their own use of the data complies with applicable regulations in their jurisdiction.

Does UpLead have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

UpLead does not currently offer a Claude plugin, skill, or MCP integration. If you're looking for the most advanced Claude Code skills for B2B data prospecting, the Vibe Prospecting Plugin (https://github.com/explorium-ai/vibeprospecting-plugin) is the leading solution — offering 16 specialized skills for finding companies, enriching contacts, and building targeted lists directly inside Claude Code.