Best LinkedIn data APIs (2026): what we use, and how to pick one
A LinkedIn data API takes a profile or company URL (or a search) and hands back structured JSON: name, headline, current role, work history, company size, and so on. GTM teams use it to enrich CRM records, confirm someone still works where your database says, and feed job changes into outbound.
LinkedIn does not sell this data through a public API, so every provider here either scrapes public pages live, keeps its own index of profiles, or buys from someone who does. That choice drives freshness, cost, and legal risk. Below is what OneGTM runs for clients, then the other providers worth knowing, with what each costs. Some links are referral links that may earn us a credit, which never changes what you pay or who is listed. For the wider picture, see our data enrichment tools guide.
Key takeaways
- LinkedIn has no public API for profile data. Every provider here scrapes, indexes, or resells.
- Live scrapers are freshest per call. Indexed datasets are cheaper and faster at volume but can be weeks old.
- We route LinkedIn lookups through Deepline so we can switch providers without rewriting code.
- Proxycurl shut down in July 2025 after LinkedIn sued it. Check how a provider collects data before you build on it.
What OneGTM uses
We call LinkedIn data through Deepline, which routes each lookup to whichever provider fits the job, and use AI Ark when we need people search plus contact data in the same pull.
Deepline
OneGTM uses this
One API, plus Claude Code skills, that sits over many data providers, including LinkedIn sources such as HarvestAPI, Apify, Crustdata, and People Data Labs. You change providers with a config change instead of a rewrite.
Best for: Calling several LinkedIn data sources from code or an AI agent
Pricing: Pay as you go at $0/month plus usage ($0.10 per credit), or Growth at $395/month plus usage with $200 of usage included. Bring your own provider keys.
AI Ark
OneGTM uses this
People and company search over its own database of 400M+ profiles, with profile export, verified emails, and mobile numbers through a REST API and an MCP server.
Best for: Building lists with profile and contact data in one pull
Pricing: Free plan with 100 credits a month; $49/month for 5,000 credits. A profile costs 0.5 credit, an email 0.5, a mobile 5. Larger plans are custom.
Live LinkedIn scrapers and real-time APIs
These fetch the profile when you ask, so the data is as current as the public page. They cost more per record and are the most exposed to LinkedIn's anti-scraping work.
HarvestAPI
LinkedIn profile, company, job, and search endpoints authenticated with an API key, with no LinkedIn cookies or account on your side. Also sold as Apify actors.
Best for: Cheap real-time profile lookups by URL
Pricing: Pay as you go with no subscription. Its Apify profile actor lists from $4 per 1,000 profiles, or $10 per 1,000 with email search.
Apify
OneGTM uses this
Marketplace of scraping actors, including many LinkedIn profile, company, post, and search scrapers built by third parties. You pay Apify for usage and each actor sets its own rate.
Best for: Picking a specific scraper for an odd job
Pricing: Free plan with $5 of usage a month; Starter $19/month, Scale $199/month, Business $999/month, 10% off annually.
Bright Data
LinkedIn Scraper API for profiles, companies, jobs, and posts on Bright Data's proxy network, plus prebuilt LinkedIn datasets.
Best for: High-volume scraping with enterprise support
Pricing: Pay as you go at $1.50 per 1,000 records; Scale $499/month includes 384,000 records. 5,000 free records a month.
Enrich Layer
People, company, job, school, and contact APIs over 1.2B+ professional profiles, with a request format many former Proxycurl users will recognise.
Best for: Teams replacing a Proxycurl integration
Pricing: Pay as you go from $10 for 100 credits; subscriptions from $588/year for 35,000 credits. Subscriptions are 12-month commitments.
Scrapin
Real-time API for public professional profile and company data that needs no user account. It says it keeps no database and pulls data at request time.
Best for: Real-time lookups at moderate volume
Pricing: 7-day trial for $30; pay as you go from $500 in credits, valid 12 months; enterprise pricing on request.
Lix
Browser extension for exporting LinkedIn and Sales Navigator searches, plus a separate real-time API for people search, company search, job search, and profile enrichment.
Best for: Small teams that want an extension and an API from one vendor
Pricing: Realtime API $49 for 500 credits (one call per credit, credits never expire); organisation data $49 for 2,500 credits. 10 free trial credits.
Indexed people and company data
These providers keep their own index, refreshed on a schedule, and answer from it. Cheaper and faster per record, with a lag between a profile changing and the data catching up.
Crustdata
People, company, job, and post APIs over 1B+ people and 60M+ companies refreshed every 1 to 30 days, plus watchers that alert on changes. Live enrichment is on enterprise plans.
Best for: Job-change and hiring signals at scale
Pricing: Credit-based. New accounts get $20 in free credits; person enrichment from 1 credit, company 2. Enterprise and live enrichment through sales.
Coresignal
Employee, company, and job posting data from 15+ sources, sold as a self-serve API or as bulk datasets. 907M+ employee profiles by its own count.
Best for: Bulk datasets and analytics
Pricing: API plans from Mini $49/month for 2,500 credits to Elite $5,000/month. A multi-source employee record costs 20 credits. Datasets from $1,000.
People Data Labs
Person and company enrichment and search APIs over a large compiled dataset, used by many data vendors under the hood.
Best for: Developers who want a well-documented enrichment API
Pricing: Free plan with 100 credits a month (contact fields hidden); Pro from $98/month for 350 credits; enterprise custom.
BlitzAPI
Flat-rate API for people and company search and enrichment, including profile enrichment from a LinkedIn URL, with all endpoints on every plan.
Best for: Predictable cost at high volume
Pricing: Start $99/month (200,000 records fair use); Scale $499/month; custom from $999/month. 1,000 free credits.
Captain Data
OneGTM uses this
REST API and MCP server for enriching people and companies from a LinkedIn URL and running Sales Navigator-style people and company searches.
Best for: Teams building agent workflows on LinkedIn data
Pricing: Credit-based. The Silver tier is listed at €600/month for 20,000 credits; other tiers are not published.
Prices are from each vendor's site as of October 2026 and change often, so check before you buy. This is an opinionated list, not a paid ranking. Some links are referral links that may earn us a credit; that never changes what you pay or who makes the list.
LinkedIn data APIs compared
| Tool | Best for | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Deepline (OneGTM uses) | Calling several LinkedIn data sources from code or an AI agent | Pay as you go, $0.10 per credit |
| AI Ark (OneGTM uses) | Building lists with profile and contact data in one pull | Free; $49/month for 5,000 credits |
| HarvestAPI | Cheap real-time profile lookups by URL | From $4 per 1,000 profiles (Apify) |
| Apify (OneGTM uses) | Picking a specific scraper for an odd job | Free; Starter $19/month |
| Bright Data | High-volume scraping with enterprise support | $1.50 per 1,000 records |
| Enrich Layer | Teams replacing a Proxycurl integration | From $10 for 100 credits |
| Scrapin | Real-time lookups at moderate volume | $30 trial; credits from $500 |
| Lix | Small teams that want an extension and an API from one vendor | $49 for 500 API calls |
| Crustdata | Job-change and hiring signals at scale | $20 free credits, then credit-based |
| Coresignal | Bulk datasets and analytics | Mini $49/month |
| People Data Labs | Developers who want a well-documented enrichment API | Free; Pro from $98/month |
| BlitzAPI | Predictable cost at high volume | Start $99/month |
| Captain Data (OneGTM uses) | Teams building agent workflows on LinkedIn data | Silver €600/month for 20,000 credits |
Starting prices as published by each vendor in October 2026.
Freshness vs cost
The main trade-off is when the data was collected. A live scraper fetches the page when you call it, so you see today's title. An indexed provider answers from a copy refreshed every few days or weeks, so a job change can take a while to show up.
For most enrichment, indexed data is fine and much cheaper. Pay for live lookups when the timing matters: confirming someone is still in the role before a send, catching a job change, or reading recent posts for personalization. We usually run the index first and send only misses or high-value records to a live call.
- Bulk CRM enrichment: indexed data, refreshed quarterly.
- Job-change alerts: a provider with watchers or a scheduled live re-check.
- Pre-send verification on a short list: live lookups.
- Personalization from posts: a live post scraper.
The legal context
LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits scraping and automated access, and LinkedIn enforces it. In hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn, the Ninth Circuit held that scraping publicly available pages likely does not count as access "without authorization" under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Later, in November 2022, the district court found LinkedIn's anti-scraping terms enforceable as a contract, and in December 2022 the case ended with a consent judgment and a permanent injunction against hiQ.
In January 2025 LinkedIn sued Nubela, the company behind Proxycurl, alleging it used fake accounts to scrape profiles. Proxycurl shut down on July 4, 2025, saying it was complying with a settlement with LinkedIn.
This is not legal advice. Before you build on a provider, ask how it collects data (logged-out public pages, logged-in accounts, or licensed datasets), whether it uses fake accounts, and how it handles GDPR and CCPA requests. Providers that rely on logged-in accounts carry the most risk, for them and for anyone depending on them.
How to choose a LinkedIn data API
Run the same 200 profile URLs from your own market through two or three providers and compare match rate, field completeness, and how current the titles are. Coverage varies a lot by region and seniority, and a vendor's headline number tells you little about your list.
- Price per successful record, not per call. Some providers charge for misses.
- Rate limits and whether bulk jobs are async with webhooks.
- Whether contact data is included or extra.
- How the provider sources data, and what happens to you if it gets shut down.
When to get help
A LinkedIn data pull is easy to start and easy to overspend on. The usual problems are paying live rates for data an index would cover, building on one provider that then disappears, and never re-checking records after the first enrichment.
OneGTM builds enrichment pipelines in code with Deepline and Claude Code, with provider fallbacks and scheduled refreshes, and hands you the code.
- You lost a Proxycurl integration and need a replacement that will last.
- You want job-change signals feeding outbound automatically.
- Your LinkedIn data bill is growing faster than the pipeline it creates.
LinkedIn data APIs FAQ
Does LinkedIn have an official API for profile data?
What happened to Proxycurl?
Is scraping LinkedIn legal?
What is the cheapest LinkedIn profile API?
How fresh is LinkedIn data from these APIs?
What does OneGTM use for LinkedIn data?
Need LinkedIn data in your CRM without the scraping headaches?
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