The best People Data Labs alternative for real-time B2B data
Agent-native access
Crustdata ships a native MCP server, a Claude Code plugin and a CLI, so real-time people and company data plugs straight into Claude and the agents you're building.
vs PDL: API only no official MCP
Watcher API
Webhook alerts on job changes, funding and hiring.
vs PDL: no real-time triggers
Usage-based pricing
Self-serve, free trial, no seat or platform fees.
vs PDL: credit tiers, sales-led enterprise
Data coverage
| Feature | Crustdata | PDL |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time search APIs | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| People profiles | 1B+ | 1.5B+ |
| Company profiles | 60M+ | 71M+ |
| Post data | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Post reactor data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Website traffic | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Technographic data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Job posting data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Product review data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Employee review data | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| News data & Historical data | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Agent-native access (MCP, CLI) | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
Crustdata is the best fit for real-time, API-first B2B data; People Data Labs suits large-scale static bulk enrichment.
Crustdata refreshes every profile in real time and pushes webhook alerts the moment something changes;
People Data Labs refreshes on a monthly cycle.
| Feature | Crustdata | PDL |
|---|---|---|
| Update frequency | Real-time (all profiles) | Monthly |
| Real-time monitoring webhooks | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Custom event tracking | ✅ Yes | Unspecified |
User support
| Feature | Crustdata | PDL |
|---|---|---|
| Support | Email or dedicated Slack channels with dedicated engineers for each account | Unspecified |
Pricing
Crustdata uses usage-based, credit pricing you can start self-serve, with a free trial and no per-seat licences or platform fees you pay for the enrichments and searches you actually make. People Data Labs also prices on usage: a free tier, a paid Pro plan, and custom Enterprise pricing billed on credits.
| Feature | Crustdata | PDL |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Usage-based credits, self-serve | Credit-based tiers |
| Getting started | Free trial | Free tier + paid plans |
| Commitments | No seat or platform fees | Enterprise = custom / sales-led |
Crustdata is trusted by teams building AI agents, GTM, recruiting and deal sourcing platforms that rely on accuracy and signal tracking. While PDL is a strong choice for large-scale static enrichment, Crustdata is built for real-time data needs with support for job change detection, social post data, and webhook-triggered workflows that help your product respond to change as it happens.
Real-time monitoring to know what’s happening to profiles that are important
Crustdata offers webhooks that track people, companies and events that notify your product when a tracked profile changes. Whether it’s a job change, a skill update, or a new post, you just plug in a webhook and get alerted instantly.
Multisource company data
Crustdata pulls from 15+ sources to provide a broader understanding of each company including web traffic trends, news mentions, employee reviews, social posts, product mentions, and more. This gives you context that goes beyond basic firmographics.
Build auto updating lists with realtime data and unlimited coverage
Use Crustdata’s real-time search to create lists that update automatically as new matches are surfaced. Whether you’re targeting companies hiring in a specific region or tracking executives posting about a certain topic, your list will always be updated and never miss a person or company who fits your criteria.
Complete in-depth profiles with 350+ datapoints
All our company and people profiles are enriched with more than 350+ datapoints including granular data such as start and end date of jobs, education and job descriptions of a person’s work history.
Social media monitoring
Crustdata has a post API that lets you find all the posts made by a founder or a company on their social media. We also offer webhooks that let you track keywords across social media posts or get notified the instant a founder or company has posted.
| Feature | Crustdata | PDL |
|---|---|---|
| Post data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Post reactor data | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
So which should you choose?
If your product runs on current data Al agents, automated SDRs, deal sourcing or recruiting - Crustdata is the stronger fit, because it indexes and monitors in real time and pushes changes to you through webhooks.
People Data Labs is a reasonable option for large, static bulk enrichment where month-old data is acceptable.
See our realtime enrichment
APIs in action
FAQ
