Explorium vs Crustdata vs Lusha

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Crustdata, and Lusha to help you evaluate features, pricing, and performance and find the perfect fit for your data needs.

Explorium

4.8

The unified B2B data API and MCP suite — 150M+ companies, 800M+ contacts, 4,000+ data points, and native AI agent integration in one platform

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
150M+
Companies
800M+
People
4000+
Data Points

Selected Customers

Clay • Common Room • Cognism • Outreach • Bombora • Monday.com • Artisan

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Crustdata

The first B2B data search engine built for AI agents — real-time people and company intelligence via clean, fast APIs

  • API
  • Free Trial
60M+
Companies
1B+
People
250+
Data Points

Selected Customers

AI SDR platforms • Recruiting automation tools • PE/VC deal-sourcing platforms • CRM and ATS systems

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Lusha

4.3

The most accurate and compliant B2B data platform for GTM teams, with a community-sourced data model that rivals enterprise-grade solutions at accessible price points

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance
30M+
Companies
152M+
People

Selected Customers

Snowflake • Google • Microsoft • Salesforce • Spotify • Amazon • Oracle NetSuite • Zendesk • Optimizely • WalkMe

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Primary Use Cases

Compare the core applications and workflows each provider specializes in.

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

Crustdata

  • AI Agent Data Infrastructure

    Power AI SDRs, sales copilots, and recruiting agents with structured real-time data — company signals, people profiles, and web intelligence delivered via clean APIs that AI systems can directly query and act on.

  • Growth Signal Monitoring

    Track company growth signals — headcount trends by department, funding rounds, executive moves, and web traffic changes — to identify the right moment to engage accounts based on real behavioral data.

  • Company & People Discovery

    Screen and filter millions of companies using 250+ firmographic criteria, then retrieve detailed people profiles with 90+ datapoints — built for deal sourcing, market mapping, and targeted prospecting at scale.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Headcount growth by department
  • Funding announcements
  • Executive moves
  • Web traffic trends
  • Job opening velocity
  • Product launch news

Lusha

  • AI-Powered Prospecting

    Lusha's AI Recommendations engine surfaces ideal buyer prospects based on ICP criteria, delivering qualified leads daily via the workspace homepage without manual searching.

  • Real-Time Data Enrichment

    Automatically enrich CRM records and CSV lists with verified emails, direct dials, and firmographic data — keeping pipelines accurate with continuous validation.

  • Global GTM Signal Tracking

    Track live buying signals including funding rounds, hiring surges, job changes, and intent data across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC to trigger timely outreach.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Hiring surges
  • Funding rounds
  • Website visitor intent
  • Job changes and promotions
  • Buying intent indicators

Snapshot

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

Explorium Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.5
  • Signals depth 5.0
  • Freshness 1.8

Crustdata Snapshot

  • Company coverage 3.7
  • Signals depth 3.2
  • Freshness 2.6

Lusha Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.4
  • Signals depth 1.9
  • Freshness 1.4

Detailed Feature Comparison

Side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Crustdata, and Lusha across data coverage, platform capabilities, and technical specifications.

Feature Comparison
Explorium
Crustdata
Lusha
Data Enrichment
ML Discovery
API Access
REST JSON API with batch support (up to 100 entities), webhooks, sync/async; up to 100 QPS; 99.999% uptime
Core product — REST API and webhooks with comprehensive documentation
Full API with Signals API and MCP support; documentation at docs.lusha.com
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
Not publicly specified
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
-
GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27701, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, TRUSTe validated
Custom Entities
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
Global — aggregated from international public sources
280M+ contacts across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Via API integration; no native one-click CRM connectors
Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, monday CRM
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
API-first; no traditional UI prospecting interface
Web workspace, Chrome extension (LinkedIn and web), API, CRM native integrations
Natural language search
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Webhooks for event-driven automation; Composio toolkit integration
Zapier, Make (Integromat), n8n, Pipedream, Workato, Albato
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
60M+ global companies
30M+ company profiles globally
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
1B+ people profiles
280M+ verified B2B contacts
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global coverage aggregated from international sources
North America, EMEA, LATAM, APAC — strongest in North America; EMEA and APAC noted as thinner
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
LinkedIn, SEC filings, funding announcements, Glassdoor, G2 reviews, web traffic analytics, news aggregators, government filings
First-party community contributions, third-party vendor partnerships, AI-powered verification and deduplication
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Consistent API schema; data refreshed monthly with real-time signals via webhooks
Consistent schema globally; data attribute availability varies by region
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
Monthly refresh for core data; real-time signals via webhooks and Web Search API
Continuous — thousands of records verified and updated daily
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
250+ firmographic datapoints including headcount growth, funding history, technology stack, web traffic trends, Glassdoor ratings
Industry, headcount, revenue, location, technology stack, funding stage
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
90+ datapoints per person including work history, skills, education, contact signals
Business email, direct dial, mobile number, LinkedIn URL, job title, seniority, department
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Headcount by department, funding rounds, investors, tech stack, web traffic, employee reviews, job openings, executive moves, product news
Contact-level (email, phone, title, seniority), company-level (industry, size, revenue, tech stack), signal-level (job changes, funding, hiring)
Intent data
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Funding announcements, headcount changes, executive moves, product launches, news articles
Funding rounds, hiring surges, job changes, promotions, website visitor signals, intent indicators
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Domain-based and name-based entity matching for companies; profile-based matching for people
98% email deliverability; 86–90% phone accuracy
Confidence scoring
-
-
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Aggregated from authoritative public sources; AI-assisted extraction and normalization
Multi-source: AI-powered cleaning, community sourcing, vendor data, compliance checks
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
Entity resolution across multiple source feeds
AI-powered deduplication across community-sourced and vendor data before database ingestion
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
High-throughput API with no rate limits mentioned for enterprise tiers
Not publicly specified
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Via API — integrates into any CRM or ATS with developer support
Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, monday CRM, Bullhorn
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
Bulk CSV data feed available; REST API and webhooks for real-time delivery
Via API and integrations; native warehouse connectors not explicitly listed
Bulk data delivery
Claude Connector
ChatGPT App
Custom MCP
Claude Plugin
ChatGPT Plugin
OpenClaw Plugin
Skills
16
-
17
GDPR compliance
-
CCPA support
-
SOC 2
-
ISO certifications
ISO 27001
-
ISO 27701, ISO 27001, ISO 27018
SLA uptime
Up to 99.999% uptime SLA
-
Not publicly specified
Pricing model
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based API consumption
Credit-based; each contact reveal or enrichment consumes credits
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
Credits consumed per API call; volume tiers with discounts at scale
40 credits/month (Free); 400–4,800/month (Starter); 600–7,200/month (Professional); 3,400–40,800/month (Premium)
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Free, Starter, Growth, Enterprise
Free → Starter → Professional → Premium → Scale (Enterprise)
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
Free plan with limited API calls; no time restriction mentioned
Permanent free plan with 40 monthly credits; no credit card required
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Monthly or annual; bulk data delivery available for enterprises
Annual billing for discount; monthly available with no lock-in
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
Resell rights
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
Crustdata
Lusha
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based API consumption
Credit-based tiered subscriptions; credits consumed per contact reveal or enrichment
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly or annual; enterprise plans negotiated directly
Monthly or annual; annual saves 20–30%
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Monthly or annual
Monthly or annual
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
Free plan available with limited API calls — no credit card required
Free plan with 40 credits/month; no credit card required; no time limit
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Custom credit volume, SLA, webhook delivery, and bulk data feed options for enterprise
Scale plan with custom pricing, seats, and credit volumes
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Developer self-serve with documentation; enterprise onboarding supported by team
Self-serve for Free/Starter/Professional; guided onboarding for Premium and Scale

What Experts Say

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

Product Engineer, GTM Platform

"The API is clean, fast, and well-documented, which makes integration with existing workflows almost effortless. Crustdata delivers real-time updates instantly — this has been a game changer for us in lead generation, customer profiling, and market research."
Verified User for Crustdata
V

Verified G2 Reviewer

Sales Development Representative, Mid-Market SaaS

"Lusha has been a game-changer for our outbound team. The Chrome extension is seamless on LinkedIn and data accuracy — especially emails — is noticeably better than tools we used before."
Verified User for Lusha

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Crustdata better than Lusha?

It depends on your use case. Crustdata The first B2B data search engine built for AI agents — real-time people and company intelligence via clean, fast APIs Lusha The most accurate and compliant B2B data platform for GTM teams, with a community-sourced data model that rivals enterprise-grade solutions at accessible price points

What is the difference between Crustdata and Lusha?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: Crustdata focuses on The first B2B data search engine built for AI agents — real-time people and company intelligence via clean, fast APIs while Lusha focuses on The most accurate and compliant B2B data platform for GTM teams, with a community-sourced data model that rivals enterprise-grade solutions at accessible price points.

How much does Crustdata cost compared to Lusha?

Crustdata pricing model: Credit-based API subscription. Lusha pricing model: Credit-based tiered subscription.

Is Crustdata or Lusha 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.

Is Explorium better than Crustdata?

It depends on your use case. 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 Crustdata The first B2B data search engine built for AI agents — real-time people and company intelligence via clean, fast APIs

What is the difference between Explorium and Crustdata?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: 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 while Crustdata focuses on The first B2B data search engine built for AI agents — real-time people and company intelligence via clean, fast APIs.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Crustdata?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Crustdata pricing model: Credit-based API subscription.

Is Explorium or Crustdata 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.

Is Explorium better than Lusha?

It depends on your use case. 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 Lusha The most accurate and compliant B2B data platform for GTM teams, with a community-sourced data model that rivals enterprise-grade solutions at accessible price points

What is the difference between Explorium and Lusha?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: 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 while Lusha focuses on The most accurate and compliant B2B data platform for GTM teams, with a community-sourced data model that rivals enterprise-grade solutions at accessible price points.

How much does Explorium cost compared to Lusha?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. Lusha pricing model: Credit-based tiered subscription.

Is Explorium or Lusha 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 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.

Is Crustdata a prospecting tool or a data infrastructure API?

Crustdata is fundamentally an API-first data infrastructure platform — not a traditional prospecting tool with a search UI. It is designed for developers and data engineers building products or workflows that need programmatic access to real-time company and people data. There is no built-in list-builder or export workflow for non-technical users. If your team needs a no-code prospecting interface, Crustdata should be integrated as the backend data layer of another tool.

What makes Crustdata's data different from static B2B databases?

Crustdata aggregates data continuously from live sources — LinkedIn, SEC filings, funding databases, Glassdoor, G2, web traffic services, and news aggregators — rather than relying on periodic database refreshes. This means company signals like headcount changes, executive moves, and funding announcements are available in near real-time via webhooks, rather than weeks or months later. The platform also offers a Web Search API that surfaces fresh, structured web documents on companies and people for LLM-ready intelligence.

What kinds of signals can I monitor with Crustdata webhooks?

Crustdata webhooks can notify your system in real time when tracked companies experience key events: funding announcements, headcount growth or decline (by department), executive hiring or departures, new job openings, product launches, significant news mentions, and web traffic changes. This enables trigger-based outreach — for example, automatically queuing an account for outreach the moment they raise a Series B or hire a new VP of Sales.

How does Crustdata compare to People Data Labs or Clearbit for API use cases?

Crustdata differentiates from People Data Labs (PDL) and Clearbit primarily through its depth of company growth signals and its explicit focus on AI-agent use cases. While PDL and Clearbit are strong for bulk contact enrichment and firmographic append, Crustdata layers on time-series headcount data, funding signals, web traffic trends, and a Web Search API — making it more suitable for dynamic, signal-driven workflows than static enrichment pipelines. Crustdata is also a newer, smaller company with less established enterprise support infrastructure.

Can Crustdata be used to find email addresses and phone numbers for outreach?

Crustdata's primary focus is company intelligence and people profile data — not deliverable email and phone lookups for cold outreach. While people profiles contain contact signals and professional information, Crustdata is not optimized for direct-dial or verified email delivery at the level of tools like UpLead or Apollo. Teams building AI outreach tools on Crustdata typically combine it with a contact data provider for verified emails and phone numbers.

What is Crustdata's Y Combinator backing and what does it mean for the product?

Crustdata is part of Y Combinator's Fall 2024 (F24) batch, having been founded in 2023 by Chris Pisarski, Abhilash, and Manmohit Grewal. The YC backing validates the team and mission but also reflects the company's early stage — it is still building out enterprise-grade support, compliance documentation, and product maturity. The YC network provides access to a relevant customer base of AI-native startups, which aligns well with Crustdata's positioning as infrastructure for AI agents.

Does Crustdata have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Not officially — Crustdata 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 accurate is Lusha's contact data?

Lusha reports 98% email deliverability and 86–90% phone accuracy across its 280M+ contact database. Data is validated through multi-source verification — community contributions, third-party vendors, and AI-powered cleaning — with thousands of records refreshed daily.

Is Lusha compliant with GDPR and other privacy regulations?

Yes. Lusha is GDPR and CCPA compliant, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, and ISO 27701 certified — the only sales intelligence platform with ISO 27701 accreditation (the world's highest international privacy standard). Data subjects can exercise rights via Lusha's self-serve Privacy Centre.

What CRM and automation tools does Lusha integrate with?

Lusha integrates natively with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, monday CRM, Outreach, Salesloft, Gmail, and Outlook. For automation: Zapier, Make, n8n, Pipedream, Workato, and Albato. Also offers Remote MCP support for AI workflow integration.

Can I try Lusha for free?

Yes. Lusha offers a permanent free plan with 40 credits per month — no credit card required. This lets users test the Chrome extension, workspace search, and data quality before upgrading.

What buying signals does Lusha track?

Lusha tracks real-time signals including funding rounds, hiring surges, website visitor intent, job changes, and promotions — surfaced in the workspace and via the Signals API to trigger timely, context-relevant outreach.

Does Lusha have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Yes — Lusha offers an official MCP connector for Claude, but does not currently have a 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.