Explorium vs LeadMagic vs The Companies API

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, LeadMagic, and The Companies API 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

LeadMagic

5.0

The B2B data API built for AI agents and GTM engineers — pay only for valid results, no seats, no contracts, accessible via API, CLI, and MCP

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance

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

  • API
  • Free Trial
  • GDPR Compliance

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

LeadMagic

  • AI Agent & GTM Engineering Stack

    LeadMagic provides 20+ enrichment endpoints accessible via REST API, CLI, and MCP — including native support for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and Claude.ai. This makes it the data layer of choice for teams building AI prospecting agents, automated enrichment workflows, and conversational data lookups without leaving their development environment.

  • Website Visitor Identification

    LeadMagic's visitor identification product reveals the companies behind anonymous website traffic, enabling revenue teams to prioritize accounts showing active buying intent. It surfaces company name, industry, headcount, and contact data for visitors — turning website analytics into an actionable outbound signal.

  • Pay-Per-Result Data Enrichment

    With credits starting at $0.008 and charges only when valid data is returned, LeadMagic is purpose-built for teams running high-volume enrichment workflows where cost predictability matters. Credits never expire on paid plans and no failed lookup is ever charged — making it a transparent alternative to subscription-based enrichment tools.

Signals powering these use cases

  • Website visitor identification — reveals companies visiting your site in real time
  • Job change detection endpoint for monitoring contact movement
  • Catch-all email verification with risk scoring
  • MCP integration for conversational enrichment via Claude and other AI tools
  • Real-time SMTP + risk-score verification on every email (under 2% bounce rate)

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

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

LeadMagic Snapshot

  • Signals depth 2.8
  • Freshness 4.9

The Companies API Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.5
  • Signals depth 1.3
  • Freshness 4.0

Detailed Feature Comparison

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

Feature Comparison
Explorium
LeadMagic
The Companies API
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
Full REST API with 20+ endpoints; also accessible via CLI and MCP
Full REST API; Startup 50 RPS, Scaleup 250 RPS, Enterprise 1,000 RPS
SLA
Up to 99.999% uptime; rate limit 200 requests/min per key
-
-
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
GDPR compliant
GDPR-compliant; all data is publicly visible and verifiable
Custom Entities
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
Global; strongest in US and Europe
54M+ companies globally, all industries and regions
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
Clay (top-rated); API-based integration with any CRM or automation tool
-
Platform interface
REST JSON API, MCP server (AgentSource MCP), batch support up to 100 entities, webhooks, sync and async modes
REST API, CLI, MCP (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Claude.ai), web app dashboard
REST API with documentation; no native prospecting UI
Natural language search
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Clay, Zapier, n8n, Make; integrates into any stack via REST API
Webhook support for event-driven workflows
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
Global company data including headcount, competitor intelligence, and firmographic enrichment
54M+ companies
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
Real-time email finding and mobile phone enrichment; 97% stated email accuracy with SMTP verification
-
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
Global; 75–85% accuracy stated for US and European contacts
Global; all industries and regions
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
Proprietary real-time verification infrastructure; REST API aggregation; no single static database disclosed
Public web data from hundreds of sources; GDPR-compliant
Global schema consistency
Unified schema across 4,000+ data points globally; consistent API response structure
Consistent schema across 20+ endpoints: email, phone, company, jobs, ads data
Consistent 300+ data point schema across all companies
Refresh frequency
Daily for high-velocity signals; weekly for semi-dynamic attributes; monthly/quarterly for stable firmographics
Real-time on each API call
Real-time data processing and enrichment; webhook notifications for updates
Business enrichments
Company size, revenue, industry, tech stack, funding stage, headcount trends, competitive landscape, website traffic
Company name, website, headcount, competitor intelligence, industry, LinkedIn company page
Revenue, employee count, industry, location, technologies, social profiles, identification codes
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Verified email, mobile phone, job title, LinkedIn profile, job change signal
-
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Email finding, email verification, mobile phone, company enrichment, website visitor identification, job change detection, catch-all verification, competitor data, headcount
Firmographic, technographic, revenue, employee count, social, similar companies
Intent data
-
Event signals
Company events (20+ types), people events (5+ types), funding rounds, acquisitions, hiring surges
Job change detection endpoint; website visitor identification (company-level intent signal)
-
Technographics
Hiring and growth signals
-
Matching precision
98% company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
97% stated email accuracy; 75–85% for US and European contacts in independent assessments
Domain-based and name-based matching
Confidence scoring
-
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Syntax, DNS, SMTP, mailbox validation, and risk scoring on every email; bounce rate under 2%
Data sourced from hundreds of public web sources; described as 'most accurate and reliable' by users
Deduplication logic
Advanced ML-based deduplication across 50+ data providers
-
-
API availability
QPS performance
Up to 100 QPS; 200 requests/min per API key
-
50 RPS (Startup), 250 RPS (Scaleup), 1,000 RPS (Enterprise)
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Clay (top-rated provider in Clay marketplace), Apollo; no native direct CRM integrations
-
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
-
-
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
Usage-based API credits with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based subscription, pay per valid result
Credit-based monthly subscription
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
Credits start at $0.008; email finding = 1 credit; email validation = 0.25 credits; mobile phone = 5 credits; not-found results always free; credits never expire on Essential+ plans
Credits consumed per API call; search and enrichment each consume credits
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Basic ($59.99/mo, 2,500 credits), Essential ($99.99/mo, 10,000 credits + rollover), Growth ($179.99/mo, 20,000 credits), Pro ($399.99/mo, 50,000 credits), Ultimate ($799.99/mo, 100,000 credits)
Free, Startup ($95/mo), Scaleup ($295/mo), Enterprise ($595/mo)
Free trial details
30-day free trial with 100 credits; covers API and MCP access
100 free credits on signup; no credit card required; usable across all 20+ API endpoints
500 free credits, no credit card required, no time limit stated
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Monthly billing only; no annual lock-in; credit rollover on Essential+ plans; no per-seat fees
Monthly subscription only
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
-
Resell rights
-
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
LeadMagic
The Companies API
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based subscription, pay only for valid results — no per-seat fees
Credit-based monthly subscription
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly billing; no annual commitment required on any plan
Monthly, no annual commitment required
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Monthly
Monthly
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
100 free credits on signup; no credit card required; works across all enrichment endpoints
Free plan with 500 credits, no credit card required
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Custom volume arrangements available for high-throughput teams
Enterprise plan at $595/mo; custom plans available on request
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Developer-first self-serve; comprehensive API documentation; MCP and CLI setup guides available
Fully self-serve with documentation and live chat support

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 G2 Reviewer

Sales Director, B2B Technology Company

"LeadMagic has the best price of the market and the quality is very good. The most accurate contact data I have found — and we have used them all: Leadfeeder, Lusha, ZoomInfo, Slintel to mention a few. Quality of data is amazing; within minutes I can find and call people and it's exactly what I need."
Verified User for LeadMagic
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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is LeadMagic better than The Companies API?

It depends on your use case. LeadMagic The B2B data API built for AI agents and GTM engineers — pay only for valid results, no seats, no contracts, accessible via API, CLI, and MCP 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

What is the difference between LeadMagic and The Companies API?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: LeadMagic focuses on The B2B data API built for AI agents and GTM engineers — pay only for valid results, no seats, no contracts, accessible via API, CLI, and MCP while 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.

How much does LeadMagic cost compared to The Companies API?

LeadMagic pricing model: Credit-based subscription, pay only for valid results. The Companies API pricing model: Credit-based monthly subscription.

Is LeadMagic or The Companies API 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 LeadMagic?

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 LeadMagic The B2B data API built for AI agents and GTM engineers — pay only for valid results, no seats, no contracts, accessible via API, CLI, and MCP

What is the difference between Explorium and LeadMagic?

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 LeadMagic focuses on The B2B data API built for AI agents and GTM engineers — pay only for valid results, no seats, no contracts, accessible via API, CLI, and MCP.

How much does Explorium cost compared to LeadMagic?

Explorium pricing model: Usage-based with custom plans. LeadMagic pricing model: Credit-based subscription, pay only for valid results.

Is Explorium or LeadMagic 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 The Companies API?

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 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

What is the difference between Explorium and The Companies API?

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 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.

How much does Explorium cost compared to The Companies API?

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

Is Explorium or The Companies API 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.

How does LeadMagic's MCP integration work with Claude and other AI tools?

LeadMagic provides 16 MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools that connect its enrichment endpoints directly to AI environments including Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Claude.ai, and Cursor. Once configured with your LeadMagic API key, you can ask the AI assistant to look up a contact's email, enrich a company record, or identify website visitors in natural language — and the AI will call the appropriate LeadMagic API endpoint, return the result, and incorporate it into the conversation. This enables conversational B2B data enrichment without writing code or switching to a separate interface.

What is the difference between LeadMagic's Basic and Essential plans regarding credit rollover?

On the Basic plan ($59.99/month, 2,500 credits), unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle. On the Essential plan ($99.99/month, 10,000 credits) and all higher tiers, unused credits roll over indefinitely with no expiration date. For teams with variable enrichment volume — such as those running large campaigns in some months and minimal enrichment in others — the Essential plan's rollover policy can provide significantly better value despite its higher nominal price.

How does LeadMagic's Clay integration work, and why is it the top-rated provider in Clay's marketplace?

LeadMagic is accessible as a native data provider within Clay, where it powers email finding, phone enrichment, company data, and visitor identification directly within Clay table workflows. When accessed via Clay's managed integration, enrichment costs 6 credits per enriched cell (reflecting Clay's coordination layer). LeadMagic is rated as the top enrichment provider in Clay's marketplace based on community reviews, primarily due to its accuracy-to-cost ratio — teams using LeadMagic via Clay report finding valid data at a significantly lower cost per result compared to other providers in the same marketplace.

How accurate is LeadMagic's email verification, and what validation steps does it perform?

LeadMagic states 97% email accuracy and a under-2% bounce rate, achieved through a five-step verification pipeline: syntax check (format validation), DNS validation (domain exists and has valid MX records), SMTP handshake (mailserver accepts the email), mailbox validation (address-level existence check), and risk scoring (spam trap and disposable email detection). Every email that passes this pipeline is returned as verified; any email that fails any step is returned as invalid and no credit is charged. The stated 75–85% accuracy range for US and European contacts in independent assessments reflects the real-world find rate, not the accuracy of emails that are returned.

What does LeadMagic's website visitor identification product actually reveal?

LeadMagic's visitor identification product de-anonymizes company-level website traffic — it reveals which companies are visiting your website, not individual visitor identities. For each identified visit, it surfaces company name, industry, headcount, company website, and a link to matching contacts in LeadMagic's enrichment database so you can identify decision-makers to contact. It does not identify individual visitors by name or personal data. The signal is most useful for account-based sales and marketing teams that want to prioritize outreach to companies already showing active interest in their product.

Does LeadMagic have a Claude Code Skill or Claude Plugin?

Not officially — LeadMagic 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.

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.