Why it comes up: Live people and company data API with its own MCP from $39/mo, if you only want profiles and not a scraping stack.
Stands out: Data is fetched from the live profile at the moment you ask rather than from a stored snapshot, and the credit price per call is published endpoint by endpoint, down to 1 credit for a basic person or company profile. The MCP server is unusually complete for a data vendor: 17 tools, OAuth sign in so no key is pasted into the AI app, and every tool states its credit cost before it runs.
Watch out: This is an API, not an app: there is no search interface or sourcing workflow, so someone has to build on it or use it through Clay, n8n or an AI assistant. Rate limits are low on self serve plans (10 to 30 requests a minute), and the richer calls such as post engagement, activity and ICP search pages cost 10 credits each, so a search heavy month burns credits ten times faster than plain enrichment. Emails and phone numbers come back only where they are publicly available, and the vendor does not describe a deliverability check.
Best for
- Recruiting tech teams building sourcing or enrichment into their own product or ATS
- Ops people running Clay or n8n workflows that need current titles, job changes and contact details
- Recruiters who want to query profiles and ICP searches from inside Claude or ChatGPT
Read the Datamagnet write-up · Firecrawl vs Datamagnet
Why it comes up: Actor store if you want scrapers as apps, not one scrape API.
Stands out: Hosted MCP at mcp.apify.com plus a Store of ready-made Actors, on a prepaid usage meter with overage billed on paid plans.
Watch out: Unused prepaid usage expires each cycle. Usage beyond Starter's $19 is billed on the next invoice, and residential proxy costs extra per GB.
Best for
- Builders running scrapers and agents in the cloud
- GTM teams buying ready-made Store Actors
- Desks that want MCP to search and run Actors
4.8 on Capterra from 538 reviews
Read the Apify write-up · Firecrawl vs Apify
$4/1k searches Free tier MCP API
Why it comes up: Search-first web API if crawl-and-markdown is not the job.
Stands out: Hosted MCP server on the free plan, with people and company indexes alongside the web index.
Watch out: Pay-as-you-go has no monthly floor, but Deep Search, Agent runs and phone lookups are billed separately. Free is a small monthly credit, not unlimited.
Best for
- Builders putting web search inside coding or research agents
- GTM teams enriching people and companies through an API
- Teams that want search inside Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT
Read the Exa write-up · Firecrawl vs Exa
$185/mo Free tier 14 day free trial MCP API
Why it comes up: Spreadsheet GTM if the scrape feeds enrichment columns.
Stands out: 150+ provider waterfall plus Claygent on every row, with MCP and API.
Watch out: Not a sender. Paid plans start at $185/mo on Launch, CRM sync needs Growth from $495/mo, and credit burn adds up.
Best for
- Sourcers building enriched spreadsheets
- Teams chaining many data vendors
- Desks that want Claygent research columns
Read the Clay write-up · Firecrawl vs Clay
