Explorium vs Lusha vs The Companies API

Objective, side-by-side analysis of Explorium, Lusha, 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
150M+
Companies
800M+
People
4000+
Data Points

Selected Customers

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

View Provider Sign up for free

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

View Provider

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
54M+
Companies
300+
Data Points

Selected Customers

Palo Alto Networks • Crisp • TrustedSite • Grok • Perigon • Forestreet • Varos • HappyScribe • PlaymakerML • Scribe Mail

View Provider

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

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

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

Lusha Snapshot

  • Company coverage 2.4
  • Signals depth 1.9
  • Freshness 1.4

The Companies API Snapshot

  • Company coverage 1.5
  • Signals depth 1.3
  • Freshness 4.0

Detailed Feature Comparison

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

Feature Comparison
Explorium
Lusha
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 API with Signals API and MCP support; documentation at docs.lusha.com
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
Not publicly specified
-
Compliance
GDPR, SOC 2, CCPA, ISO 27001
GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27701, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, TRUSTe validated
GDPR-compliant; all data is publicly visible and verifiable
Custom Entities
-
Real-time Lookups
Global Coverage
150M+ companies and 800M+ contacts across 150+ countries
280M+ contacts across North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC
54M+ companies globally, all industries and regions
CRM Integration
Available on custom enterprise plans
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
Web workspace, Chrome extension (LinkedIn and web), API, CRM native integrations
REST API with documentation; no native prospecting UI
Natural language search
-
-
Workflow automation
Automation integrations
n8n, Claude, custom webhook integrations
Zapier, Make (Integromat), n8n, Pipedream, Workato, Albato
Webhook support for event-driven workflows
Company coverage
150M+ company profiles
30M+ company profiles globally
54M+ companies
People coverage
800M+ people profiles (767M+ verified contacts)
280M+ verified B2B contacts
-
Geographic coverage
150+ countries
North America, EMEA, LATAM, APAC — strongest in North America; EMEA and APAC noted as thinner
Global; all industries and regions
Data sources type
50+ data providers; proprietary ML enrichment; real-time web signals
First-party community contributions, third-party vendor partnerships, AI-powered verification and deduplication
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 globally; data attribute availability varies by region
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
Continuous — thousands of records verified and updated daily
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
Industry, headcount, revenue, location, technology stack, funding stage
Revenue, employee count, industry, location, technologies, social profiles, identification codes
Prospect enrichments
Job title, seniority, verified email, phone, LinkedIn URL, job history, people events
Business email, direct dial, mobile number, LinkedIn URL, job title, seniority, department
-
Enrichment categories
Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, events, contact, website signals, lookalikes
Contact-level (email, phone, title, seniority), company-level (industry, size, revenue, tech stack), signal-level (job changes, funding, hiring)
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
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
98% email deliverability; 86–90% phone accuracy
Domain-based and name-based matching
Confidence scoring
-
-
Validation methodology
Advanced ML-based deduplication; 98%+ company accuracy; 95% people accuracy
Multi-source: AI-powered cleaning, community sourcing, vendor data, compliance checks
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
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
Not publicly specified
50 RPS (Startup), 250 RPS (Scaleup), 1,000 RPS (Enterprise)
CRM integrations
Custom plan — CRM integrations available
Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, monday CRM, Bullhorn
-
Data warehouse support
Custom plan — warehouse ingestion available
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; each contact reveal or enrichment consumes credits
Credit-based monthly subscription
Credit system
Credit-based; 100 credits on free trial; self-serve and custom plans scale with volume
40 credits/month (Free); 400–4,800/month (Starter); 600–7,200/month (Professional); 3,400–40,800/month (Premium)
Credits consumed per API call; search and enrichment each consume credits
Tier structure
Free trial, Self-serve, Custom Enterprise
Free → Starter → Professional → Premium → Scale (Enterprise)
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
Permanent free plan with 40 monthly credits; no credit card required
500 free credits, no credit card required, no time limit stated
Budget commitment options
Custom enterprise plans with volume negotiation
Annual billing for discount; monthly available with no lock-in
Monthly subscription only
Custom plans available
Bulk deals support
-
Resell rights
-
-

Pricing

Compare pricing models, flexibility, and commitment structure.

Pricing Dimension
Explorium
Lusha
The Companies API
Pricing Model
Usage-based with custom enterprise plans
Credit-based tiered subscriptions; credits consumed per contact reveal or enrichment
Credit-based monthly subscription
Commitment Structure
One-time or custom; no mandatory annual lock-in on self-serve
Monthly or annual; annual saves 20–30%
Monthly, no annual commitment required
Payment Recurrence
One-time or custom
Monthly or annual
Monthly
Free Trial
30-day free trial with 100 credits; no credit card required
Free plan with 40 credits/month; no credit card required; no time limit
Free plan with 500 credits, no credit card required
Enterprise Customization
Yes — custom plans include CRM integrations, warehouse ingestion, resell rights, and dedicated support
Scale plan with custom pricing, seats, and credit volumes
Enterprise plan at $595/mo; custom plans available on request
Onboarding Model
Self-serve for API and MCP; dedicated onboarding for enterprise custom plans
Self-serve for Free/Starter/Professional; guided onboarding for Premium and Scale
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 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
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 Lusha better than The Companies API?

It depends on your use case. 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 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 Lusha and The Companies API?

See the feature-by-feature comparison above. In short: 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 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 Lusha cost compared to The Companies API?

Lusha pricing model: Credit-based tiered subscription. The Companies API pricing model: Credit-based monthly subscription.

Is Lusha 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 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.

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 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.

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.