The best people search APIs for recruiting in 2026 are People Data Labs (1.5B+ profiles, from $98/mo), Apollo.io (combined enrichment and outreach, from $49/mo), and Coresignal (792M+ workforce records, from $49/mo). If you're a recruiter who'd rather skip API integration entirely, Pin gives you access to 850M+ profiles with built-in outreach and scheduling - no code required.
Why does this matter right now? B2B contact data decays at roughly 2% per month - that's nearly one in four records going stale every year. HubSpot's research confirms that 25% of email addresses go invalid annually. For recruiters and HR tech developers, that means your candidate pipeline needs continuously refreshed data sources or it falls apart.
This guide covers 10 verified APIs with current pricing, database sizes, and compliance details. We also cover two major market shifts every developer needs to know: the Proxycurl shutdown after LinkedIn's lawsuit, and Clearbit's absorption into HubSpot's ecosystem.
TL;DR: People Data Labs leads with 1.5B+ profiles across 180+ countries starting at $98/mo. For budget-friendly options, Snov.io starts at $29.25/mo. Recruiters who want enrichment without building anything should look at Pin - 850M+ profiles with outreach automation included, starting at $100/mo. All pricing verified March 2026.
Why People Search APIs Matter for Recruiting
The HR tech market reached $47.51B in 2026 and is projected to hit $77.74B by 2031 at a 10.35% CAGR, according to Mordor Intelligence (2026). A growing slice of that spending goes toward data enrichment tools that keep candidate pipelines accurate and current.
Here's the core problem: your candidate database is rotting. Every month, roughly 2% of your B2B contact records become outdated as people change jobs, switch email providers, or update phone numbers. Over a year, that compounds to nearly one in four contacts going dark. For a recruiter managing a pipeline of 5,000 candidates, that's over 1,000 dead records by year's end.
People search APIs solve this by providing programmatic access to continuously refreshed profile data. Developers building recruiting tools integrate these APIs to auto-enrich ATS records, verify contact information before outreach, and source passive candidates by searching across skills, titles, and employment history. Nearly half of large businesses have already adopted agentic AI for tasks like candidate search and screening, according to ADP (2025).
The use cases for recruiting teams break down into four categories:
- Contact lookup - Find email addresses and phone numbers from a name and company
- ATS/CRM enrichment - Auto-fill missing fields like current title, skills, and social profiles
- Passive candidate sourcing - Search by skills, tenure, company size, and location to find candidates who aren't actively job hunting
- Outreach automation - Feed verified contacts directly into email and SMS sequences
If you're evaluating contact finder tools as an end user rather than building your own integration, several of these providers also offer browser extensions and dashboards alongside their APIs.
Two Market Shifts Developers Must Know
Before picking an API, you need to understand two events from 2025 that reshaped this market.
Proxycurl Is Gone
LinkedIn filed a federal lawsuit against Proxycurl in January 2025, according to LinkedIn's newsroom. By July 4, 2025, Proxycurl shut down permanently - despite running at roughly $10M in annual recurring revenue, according to a farewell post by Nubela's founder.
The lesson? Any API that relies primarily on scraping LinkedIn profiles carries real legal risk. If you're building recruiting software, make sure your data provider has defensible data sourcing practices - partnerships, public data aggregation, or opt-in data collection - rather than depending on scraped social media profiles.
Clearbit No Longer Exists as a Standalone API
HubSpot completed its acquisition of Clearbit in December 2024, according to HubSpot's IR filing. The product was rebranded as Breeze Intelligence, and the legacy Clearbit API was deprecated in December 2025. Developers who built on Clearbit's enrichment endpoints now need a HubSpot subscription (starting at $30/mo for Starter, plus $45/mo for 100 Breeze Intelligence credits) just to access similar functionality.
If your recruiting tool previously depended on Clearbit, you'll need a replacement. The APIs below are all independent, standalone services.
5 Best Full-Platform People Search APIs
The five strongest full-platform people search APIs in 2026 are People Data Labs, Apollo.io, Coresignal, ContactOut, and RocketReach - covering databases from 700M to 1.5B+ profiles with entry pricing from $33/mo to $98/mo. These provide broad profile databases, multiple data points per record, and flexible query options suited for developers building recruiting platforms, ATS integrations, or workforce analytics tools.
1. People Data Labs (PDL)
People Data Labs offers the largest database on this list: 1.5B+ person profiles spanning 180+ countries. The API returns structured data including work history, education, skills, social profiles, and contact information. PDL's strength is coverage depth - you're unlikely to hit dead ends even for candidates in smaller European or Asian markets.
Pricing: Free tier includes 100 obfuscated records per month. Pro starts at $98/mo for 350 full records. Custom enterprise plans run from approximately $5,000/mo.
Best for: Developers who need global coverage and high-volume enrichment for recruiting platforms or candidate database search tools.
Limitation: The free tier only returns obfuscated data, which limits testing. You'll need to commit to a paid plan to evaluate real data quality.
2. Apollo.io
Apollo combines a people search API with built-in sales intelligence and outreach tools. The API provides contact data, company data, and intent signals in a single call. For recruiting teams that also handle business development, Apollo's dual-purpose design can consolidate two tools into one.
Pricing: Free tier with 50 credits. Basic plan starts at $49/mo. Professional tier at $99/mo adds advanced filters and higher limits.
Best for: Teams that need both recruiting enrichment and sales prospecting in a single API.
Limitation: Database size is undisclosed, and search accuracy can vary for non-tech roles outside the US.
3. Coresignal
Coresignal focuses on workforce analytics with 792M+ employee records and 103M company records. What sets it apart is the refresh rate - 695M+ records refreshed monthly, according to Coresignal's pricing page. The API is built for developers who need bulk data for talent mapping, market intelligence, or competitive hiring analysis.
Pricing: 200/400 free credits on a 14-day trial. Starter at $49/mo. Pro at $800/mo for 10,000-20,000 credits. Per-record cost ranges from $0.005 to $0.196 depending on volume.
Best for: Workforce analytics platforms, competitive intelligence tools, and developers who need bulk data at scale.
Limitation: Pricing jumps significantly from Starter ($49/mo) to Pro ($800/mo) with no mid-range plan.
4. ContactOut
ContactOut is built specifically for recruiters, with 700M+ profiles and a Chrome extension alongside its API. The API returns personal and work email addresses, phone numbers, and social profiles. It integrates directly with most major ATS platforms.
Pricing: Free tier gives 5 emails and 5 phone numbers per day. Paid plans start at $49/mo for unlimited emails and 300 exports. The $99/mo tier adds phone numbers and 600 exports.
Best for: Recruiting-specific integrations where you need verified personal emails alongside work addresses.
Limitation: API access requires a Team plan with custom pricing - the lower tiers are limited to the browser extension and manual exports.
5. RocketReach
RocketReach claims 700M+ professional profiles with email and phone lookup. The API supports bulk enrichment and integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and major ATS tools. It's well-established in the recruiting space with a straightforward query-response model.
Pricing: 5 free lookups to start. Essentials at $399/year (~$33/mo) for 1,200 lookups. Pro at $899/year (~$75/mo) for 3,600 lookups with phone numbers. Ultimate at $2,099/year for 10,000 lookups.
Best for: Mid-size recruiting teams that need a proven, reliable contact lookup API without complex setup.
Limitation: Full API access is only available on the Ultimate tier ($2,099/year). Lower tiers restrict you to browser-based lookups.
5 Best Specialized People Search APIs
Hunter.io, Snov.io, SignalHire, Nymeria, and Dropcontact each target a specific niche - from email-only lookup to GitHub developer profiles to GDPR-native European compliance. Entry pricing ranges from $29.25/mo to $49/mo, making these lighter-weight options for teams with focused requirements.
6. Hunter.io
Hunter specializes in email finding and verification. The API lets you search by domain (find all emails at a company) or by name and company (find a specific person's email). It also includes an email verification endpoint to clean your lists before sending.
Pricing: 50 free credits per month. Starter at $49/mo for 2,000 credits. Growth at $149/mo for 10,000 credits.
Best for: Developers who only need email addresses - not full profile enrichment. If you're building an email finder tool or outreach sequence, Hunter's domain search is hard to beat.
Limitation: Email-only - no phone numbers, social profiles, or employment history in the standard API.
7. Snov.io
Snov.io combines email finding with built-in outreach sequence tools. The API provides email lookup, verification, and technology stack detection. It's the most affordable option on this list for startups and solo developers building recruiting MVPs.
Pricing: 50 free credits per month (renewable). Starter at $29.25/mo (annual billing) for 1,000 credits. Pro at $74.25/mo for 5,000 credits. API access and webhooks are included on all paid plans.
Best for: Budget-conscious developers who need email lookup plus basic outreach automation in one package.
Limitation: Smaller database than PDL or Coresignal. Email accuracy can be inconsistent for smaller companies.
8. SignalHire
SignalHire focuses on the recruiting market with 800M+ profiles and real-time verification. The API returns verified emails and phone numbers with a confidence score for each result. It's recruiter-oriented, with pre-built filters for job title, location, skills, and industry.
Pricing: 5-10 free credits to start. Email-only plan at $49/mo for 350 credits. Combined email and phone plan at $139/mo for 900 credits. API access is available on all paid tiers.
Best for: Recruiting tool developers who need real-time verification and confidence scoring alongside contact data.
Limitation: Credit costs add up quickly - phone number lookups consume credits at a higher rate than email lookups.
9. Nymeria
Nymeria specializes in enriching GitHub and LinkedIn profiles with verified contact data. It's purpose-built for technical recruiting - if you're sourcing developers, Nymeria can match GitHub usernames to professional profiles and return email addresses and social links. A nice detail: you're not charged for failed lookups.
Pricing: 5 free credits per month. Nano at $39/mo (or $390/year). Micro at $79/mo. Kilo at $159/mo. API access on all plans.
Best for: Technical recruiting platforms that source candidates from GitHub, Stack Overflow, and developer communities.
Limitation: Narrow focus on developer profiles means it's not useful for non-technical recruiting roles.
10. Dropcontact
Dropcontact is a French company that's fully GDPR-native - it generates and verifies email addresses algorithmically without storing personal data. This is the only API on this list that doesn't maintain a profile database at all. Instead, it finds and verifies emails in real-time using public domain records and algorithmic matching.
Pricing: 50 credits on signup. Starter at EUR 29/mo (~$32) for 500 credits. Growth at EUR 79/mo (~$87) for 4,000 credits. API access on all plans, including a dedicated MCP server integration.
Best for: Developers building recruiting tools for the European market where GDPR compliance is non-negotiable. Also useful for teams who need a pay-on-success model - you only consume credits when a lookup succeeds.
Limitation: Email-only (no phone numbers or profile enrichment). Smaller coverage than US-based providers for North American candidates.
Consolidated Pricing Comparison
All pricing verified from provider websites in March 2026. Annual billing rates shown where available.
| API Provider | Free Tier | Starting Price | Database Size | API on All Plans? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People Data Labs | 100 records/mo (obfuscated) | $98/mo | 1.5B+ profiles | Yes (Pro+) |
| Apollo.io | 50 credits | $49/mo | Not disclosed | Yes |
| Coresignal | 200 credits (14-day trial) | $49/mo | 792M+ records | Yes |
| ContactOut | 5 emails + 5 phones/day | $49/mo | 700M+ | Team plan only |
| RocketReach | 5 lookups | $33/mo (annual) | 700M+ | Ultimate only ($2,099/yr) |
| Hunter.io | 50 credits/mo | $49/mo | N/A (email-focused) | Yes |
| Snov.io | 50 credits/mo | $29.25/mo | N/A | Yes |
| SignalHire | 5-10 credits | $49/mo | 800M+ | Yes |
| Nymeria | 5 credits/mo | $39/mo | N/A (GitHub/LinkedIn) | Yes |
| Dropcontact | 50 credits on signup | ~$32/mo (EUR 29) | N/A (algorithmic) | Yes |
Do You Actually Need an API? The Recruiter Alternative
APIs make sense if you're a developer building recruiting software. But if you're a recruiter who just needs to find candidates and reach out to them, integrating a raw people search API is overkill. You'd still need to build the search interface, outreach sequences, scheduling workflows, and compliance handling on top of the data.
Pin eliminates that entire stack. It searches 850M+ candidate profiles - comparable coverage to People Data Labs - but wraps it in a ready-to-use recruiting workflow. You get AI-powered sourcing, multi-channel outreach (email, LinkedIn, SMS), team inbox, and interview scheduling in one platform. Pin's automated outreach hits a 48% response rate, and roughly 70% of candidates Pin recommends are accepted into hiring pipelines.
As Rich Rosen, Executive Recruiter at Cornerstone Search, puts it: "Absolutely Money maker for Recruiters... in 6 months I can directly attribute over $250k in revenue to Pin."
Pricing starts at $100/mo for the Starter plan, with a free tier that requires no credit card. Compare that to the total cost of a people search API subscription ($29-$98/mo) plus the engineering time to build everything around it.
Try AI recruiting with Pin - no API needed
How to Pick the Right People Search API
Not every API fits every use case. Here's a framework for narrowing your options based on what you're building.
Match API to Use Case
- Building a full recruiting platform? Start with PDL or Coresignal for broad coverage and structured data. Their APIs return enough data points per profile to power search, filtering, and enrichment features.
- Adding contact lookup to an existing ATS? ContactOut or SignalHire provide recruiter-specific data with pre-built ATS integrations. You'll get verified emails and phones without building the verification layer yourself.
- Need email-only enrichment? Hunter.io or Snov.io offer focused email APIs at lower price points. Skip the full profile data if you don't need it.
- Sourcing technical candidates from GitHub? Nymeria is the only API on this list that specializes in matching developer profiles to professional contact data.
- Selling into European markets? Dropcontact's GDPR-native approach - no data storage, algorithmic email generation, pay-on-success - removes compliance headaches.
Watch Your Per-Record Costs
Monthly pricing is just the starting point. Track your cost per successful lookup. Some providers charge credits even for failed lookups (no result returned), while others like Nymeria and Dropcontact only consume credits on success. At scale, this difference compounds fast - a 70% hit rate on a charge-per-query API means you're paying for 30% dead queries.
Test Data Accuracy Before Committing
Every provider claims high accuracy, but real-world results vary by geography, industry, and role seniority. Before committing to an annual plan, run a controlled test: send 100 known-good candidate profiles through the API and measure how many return accurate, current contact data. If the hit rate is below 60%, look elsewhere.
Compliance: What Developers Can't Ignore
Three compliance frameworks directly affect recruiting API usage: GDPR for EU candidates, CCPA for California applicants, and the EU AI Act for AI-assisted candidate ranking. GDPR enforcement alone has generated billions in cumulative fines since 2018. And as of 2025, 21 US states have enacted comprehensive consumer data privacy laws - up from just five states in 2023.
For developers building recruiting tools, three compliance considerations shape your API choice:
- GDPR data processing - If your candidates include EU residents, you need a lawful basis for processing their personal data. APIs that store and sell profile databases require a legitimate interest assessment. Dropcontact's no-storage model sidesteps this by generating data algorithmically rather than maintaining a database.
- CCPA employment data - California's employment data exemption expired on January 1, 2023. Job applicants in California now have full CCPA rights, including the right to know what data you've collected and request deletion. This applies to any people search API data you store about California-based candidates.
- EU AI Act classification - The EU AI Act classifies AI-assisted recruiting tools as "high-risk," which means stricter requirements for transparency, data governance, and human oversight. If your product uses AI to rank or filter candidates based on people search API data, you'll need to meet these requirements.
Build compliance into your architecture from day one. Retrofitting privacy controls after launch is significantly harder and more expensive than designing them in upfront.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best people search API for recruiting?
People Data Labs offers the largest database at 1.5B+ profiles across 180+ countries, starting at $98/mo. For budget-friendly options, Snov.io starts at $29.25/mo with email finding and outreach included. If you're a recruiter who doesn't want to build an integration, Pin provides 850M+ profiles with built-in outreach at $100/mo.
Is it legal to use people search APIs for recruiting?
Yes, but compliance requirements vary by jurisdiction. GDPR requires a lawful basis for processing EU residents' data, and CCPA now covers California job applicants after the employment exemption expired in January 2023. The EU AI Act also classifies AI-assisted recruiting as "high-risk." Choose providers with transparent data sourcing and build privacy controls into your workflow.
What happened to Proxycurl and Clearbit?
Proxycurl shut down on July 4, 2025 after LinkedIn filed a federal lawsuit against it. Clearbit was acquired by HubSpot in December 2024, rebranded as Breeze Intelligence, and the standalone API was deprecated in December 2025. Developers who relied on either service need alternative providers.
How much do people search APIs cost?
Entry-level plans range from $29.25/mo (Snov.io) to $98/mo (People Data Labs). Most providers offer free tiers with 5-100 credits for testing. Enterprise pricing for high-volume access typically starts at $5,000/mo. Per-record costs at scale vary widely - Coresignal's bulk rate drops to $0.005/record, while most providers charge $0.10-$0.50 per successful lookup.
How do people search APIs handle data accuracy?
B2B contact data decays at roughly 2% per month - nearly 25% annually, according to HubSpot's database research. Each provider handles freshness differently: Coresignal refreshes 695M+ records monthly, Dropcontact generates emails algorithmically in real-time, and most others update on varying schedules. Always test accuracy with a sample batch before committing to a paid plan.
Bottom Line
The people search API market has consolidated in 2025 and 2026. Proxycurl is gone, Clearbit is locked behind HubSpot's paywall, and compliance requirements are expanding across both sides of the Atlantic. What remains is a clear set of options based on your needs:
- Maximum coverage: People Data Labs (1.5B+ profiles)
- Lowest entry cost: Snov.io ($29.25/mo with outreach included)
- Recruiter-specific: ContactOut or SignalHire
- Developer profiles: Nymeria (GitHub + LinkedIn)
- GDPR compliance: Dropcontact (no data stored)
- Skip the API entirely: Pin (850M+ profiles with full recruiting workflow, from $100/mo)
Test two or three providers with real candidate data before committing to an annual contract. Data accuracy varies by geography and role type more than any marketing page will tell you.
