People Data Labs (PDL) Pricing, Features, and Alternatives in 2025

After checking dozens of B2B data providers over the past few years, I've seen how the wrong choice can drain budgets while delivering stale information that kills outreach campaigns. People Data Labs has built a massive dataset, but their monthly update cycles and complex pricing create real problems for teams who need current data. When you're comparing people data labs alternatives, the differences in data freshness and cost structure become important factors. In this guide, I'll walk you through PDL's pricing structure, key limitations, and the best alternatives that solve these data freshness issues.

TLDR:

• PDL starts at $98/month with monthly data updates that leave information weeks old

• Key limitations include outdated information and restrictive rate limits on searches

• PDL's rate limits and outdated data create problems for AI SDRs and automated workflows

• People Data Labs offers 3+ billion person profiles but updates data monthly, creating freshness issues

• Real-time alternatives like Crustdata provide live data crawling and multi-source integration

What is People Data Labs (PDL)?

People Data Labs builds people data and uses a dataset of 1.5 billion unique person profiles to build products, enrich person profiles, power predictive modeling, AI applications, analysis, and more.

PDL is a B2B data provider that supplies rich, structured datasets about individuals and companies, having grown into a powerful data infrastructure provider with coverage of over 3 billion person profiles and 60 million companies. Their core business lies in buying and combining a myriad of datasets from data vendors, packaging them up in an API and upselling the data.

The service targets businesses that need complete B2B data for enrichment, lead generation, and analysis purposes. The service supports use cases across HR, marketing, investment research, and academic research. Unlike real-time scrapers, PDL operates by maintaining pre-compiled datasets that are updated through scheduled refreshes.

This approach creates a fundamental trade-off between data breadth and data freshness. While PDL offers extensive coverage, users often work with information that could be weeks or months old.

People Data Labs Features

PDL offers data through multiple APIs designed for different use cases. Person Enrichment API enriches individual data by allowing access to all fields in person datasets, Person Search APIs search datasets for individuals that match your query, Person Identify API searches through the dataset to find profiles that best match your query, Company Enrichment API enriches company data by allowing access to all fields in the company Schema, Company Search API searches datasets for companies that match your query, and IP Enrichment API searches IP location and returns location, company, and other data associated with it.

The service provides access to person and company data through a credit-based system. Credits are consumed per successful match from the API, with the Person, Company, and IP Enrichment APIs typically consuming one credit per API request if the response is successful.

The Person and Company Search APIs consume one credit per successful profile received from the API. Users can control the maximum number of credits consumed per call.

PDL includes data points covering employment history, contact information, and company details. They provide everything from name, location, contact information, social media links, though they split one data point into many granular forms. For example, job location gets split into 10 different fields including job_company_location_name, job_company_location_locality, job_company_location_metro, and job_company_location_region.

This granular approach gives developers flexibility but can complicate integration and increase the learning curve for new users. The people enrichment process becomes more complex when dealing with dozens of individual fields rather than consolidated data points.

People Data Labs Key Limitations and Gaps

PDL faces several limitations that impact data quality and user experience. Most data can be outdated, as you are querying a database of pre-crawled cached data when you call People Data Labs API.

People Data Labs update their datasets monthly by default, but there are a lot of reviews stating some data fields are not as recent. Some users have reported inconsistencies, including outdated or incomplete information, largely attributed to its dependence on sources such as social media, which can occasionally compromise data reliability.

The monthly update cycle means users may work with information that could be weeks old, creating challenges for time-sensitive outreach and lead qualification.

Along with the fixed cadence of data refresh, PeopleDataLabs does not provide social media data such as posts and webhooks that can monitor for data changes and update instantly. This affects AI SDR workflows that require fresh, accurate data for personalized outreach campaigns.

Best People Data Labs Alternatives

Crustdata stands out as the superior alternative to People Data Labs, offering real-time data features that tackle PDL's core limitations. Unlike PDL's monthly update cycle, Crustdata provides live data with real-time crawling at the moment of request, giving you the most current and accurate information.

The product combines data from 10+ sources through a unified API architecture, delivering superior data coverage and accuracy compared to PDL's limited source integration. Crustdata's Watcher API provides webhooks for multiple datapoints and signals across companies and people, while most competitors only offer webhooks for job changes.

Here are other alternatives in the B2B data space:

• Apollo.io: All-in-one sales intelligence with built-in outreach tools

• ZoomInfo: Enterprise-focused B2B database with subscription access

• Clearbit: Real-time data enrichment APIs for developers

• UpLead: Verified B2B contact data with real-time email validation

• Coresignal: Professional data through APIs and bulk datasets

• Lead411: B2B prospecting focused on decision-makers and buying signals

• Lusha: Chrome extension for quick contact discovery from social platforms

• Cognism: GDPR-compliant B2B data with phone-verified contacts

Each alternative tackles different aspects of PDL's limitations, but few match the real-time features and complete data integration that modern businesses require.

People Data Labs Pricing Structure

People Data Labs offers a variety of pricing tiers, starting with a Free Plan at $0 for basic access, the Pro Plan begins at $98 per month designed for more intensive usage, while the Enterprise Plan, customized for extensive business needs, varies in pricing based on custom requirements.

The Free Plan provides access to up to 100 monthly records for both person and company data with ISO & SOC 2 Type 2 compliance, while the Enterprise Plan offers custom pricing for both person and company data, customized for large-scale needs with premium fields, dedicated support, and advanced security features.

The final price for People Data Labs services is influenced by several factors. Annual contracts offer a 20% discount providing major savings over month-to-month billing, higher volumes of data records come with custom pricing especially under the Enterprise plan, and access to premium fields and specific API features can affect pricing particularly for Enterprise customers.

The pricing structure uses a credit-based system where different APIs consume varying amounts of credits per request. This complexity can make it hard for users to predict costs accurately, especially when using multiple APIs or handling variable query volumes.

PDL Feature Comparison Table

This comparison shows the key differentiators between PDL and its alternatives. The real-time data updates and multiple signal webhooks offer major advantages for businesses that need current information for their operations.

When evaluating vendors, access to accurate B2B data is essential for organizations running automated workflows

Why Crustdata is the Better B2B Data Solution

Crustdata tackles the core limitations that make People Data Labs problematic for businesses. Where PDL relies on monthly updates that leave users with stale information, Crustdata delivers real-time data through live crawling at the moment of request.

This eliminates the data freshness issues that consistently frustrate PDL users and makes sure your team always works with current information. Real-time data doesn't just apply to enrichment of people and companies. It also applies to people and company search which means users can find all relevant entities that fit their criteria at the moment of request. The real-time advantage extends beyond just fresher data.

Crustdata's unified API pulls from 10+ sources simultaneously, providing deeper data coverage than PDL's limited integration approach. With advanced webhook features across multiple data points and specialized features for AI SDRs and automated workflows, Crustdata delivers the complete, up-to-date intelligence that sales, recruiting and investment teams require to stay competitive.

Crustdata also provides social media integration that captures posts and engagement data, important for personalized outreach that PDL simply cannot match with its static dataset approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ

How often does People Data Labs update their data compared to alternatives?

People Data Labs updates their datasets monthly, which means you could be working with information that's weeks old. Real-time alternatives like Crustdata provide live data crawling at the moment of request, so you always have the most current information available.

What should I expect to pay for People Data Labs services?

PDL pricing starts at $98/month for the Pro Plan for 350 records per month with a complex credit-based system where each API call consumes a fixed number of credits depending on the endpoint. The cost per profile averages $0.28. For any startup or business looking to purchase data, the realistic plan would be the Enterprise plan where you will need to talk to their sales team for pricing.

When should I consider switching from People Data Labs to an alternative?

Consider switching if you're experiencing data freshness issues, finding the credit system too complex to predict costs, or need real-time webhooks beyond just job changes. Teams running AI SDRs or time-sensitive outreach campaigns particularly benefit from real-time data providers.

Can I get social media data and advanced webhooks with PDL alternatives?

Yes, alternatives like Crustdata provide complete social media data integration and advanced webhook features across multiple data points with updates delivered in real-time, while PDL only offers basic webhooks that deliver updates monthly. This makes alternatives better suited for personalized outreach and automated workflows.

Final thoughts on People Data Labs and B2B data alternatives

While People Data Labs offers extensive coverage, their monthly updates create real challenges for teams that need current information. The weeks-old data simply don't work for modern sales operations. Crustdata solves these core issues with real-time crawling and transparent pricing that scales with your needs. Your outreach campaigns deserve fresh data that helps you connect with prospects when intent is highest.