Comparison

AI Ark vs Explorium: which B2B data API fits your agents and lists?

Both price data in credits and run official MCP servers. Explorium sells prepaid packs from $29.99 for 500 credits, valid 12 months, with intent, funding and event signals, and an email costs 2 credits. AI Ark is a $49 monthly plan for 5,000 credits that roll over, with verified emails at 1 credit and exports of up to 10,000 people.

Verified 25 Oct 2026

Pick AI Ark if

  • You want a monthly plan whose unused credits roll over (up to 2x the allowance)
  • Most of your spend is on emails: 1 credit per verified email found, against 2 at Explorium

Pick Explorium if

  • You want to buy credits once, without a subscription, in packs from $29.99 that last 12 months
  • You need Bombora intent, funding, hierarchy or web traffic data in the same API

AI Ark

Sourcing, Enrichment

Explorium

Sourcing, Enrichment

At a glance

AI Ark

From
$49/momonthly, $470/yr annual
Free plan
Yes$0, 100 credits/mo, no card
Cost per unit
1 credit/email, 5/mobile, 0 if none
MCP server
Official

Explorium

From
$29.99Prepaid packs from for 500 credits
Free plan
YesFree trial: 100 credits for 90 days
Cost per unit
Email 2 credits, email plus phone 5
MCP server
Official

Where they differ

16 points side by side. Open a value for the full detail.

WhatAI ArkExplorium
Credit-based B2B data APIA credit-based B2B data API over 400M+ people and 70M+ companies: people and company search (including lookalike), a low-cost preview, single-row email and mobile finders, and async export with verified emails.B2B data API for agentsA B2B data API for agents: match and fetch businesses and prospects, then enrich them with bundles such as firmographics, technographics, Bombora intent, funding, hierarchy, contacts and AI research.
$49/mo monthly, $470/yr annualUsage-Based: $49 a month billed monthly for 5,000 credits, or $470 a year billed annually for 60,000 credits ($39.17 a month). Larger packages are priced in its credit calculator. Verified 2026-10-25.Prepaid packs from $29.99 for 500 creditsPrepaid packages, not subscriptions: Lite $29.99 for 500 credits, Starter $149.99 for 5,000, Growth $749.99 for 30,000, Scale $7,499.99 for 500,000. Verified 2026-10-25.
Credits per account, roll over up to 2xCredits per account, with seats by tier (up to 3 seats up to 30K credits a month). Unused credits roll over up to 2x the monthly allowance. Annual billing saves 20% and grants all credits on day one. Above 30K credits a month its FAQ quotes $2 to $4 per 1,000 credits.Prepaid packs, $0.06 to $0.015 a creditPrepaid packs, not subscriptions: $0.06 a credit on Lite down to $0.015 on Scale. Credits are valid for 12 months and cannot be rolled over once expired. Packs are non-refundable and do not renew automatically.
1 credit/email, 5/mobile, 0 if none1 credit per valid email (0.5 profile plus 0.5 verified email) on the single-row and trackId finders, and 0 when no valid email is found. Bulk export charges 0.5 per person plus 0.5 per email found. A mobile costs 5 credits, 0 if none.Email 2 credits, email plus phone 5A separate contact enrichment: email only 2 credits, email plus phone 5 credits, waterfall phone from external providers 15 credits; nothing found costs 0. Prospect fetch returns only a hashed email.
0.5 credit/result, 10,000 per searchPeople Preview costs 1 credit per page of up to 100, with last names masked. People Search costs 0.5 credit per result and returns no emails. Company Search costs 0.1 per result. Up to 100 per page and 10,000 records per search through paging.1 credit per result, 2 with intentFetching businesses or prospects costs 1 credit per returned result, 2 when the Bombora intent filter is used. Matching and statistics calls are free.
$0, 100 credits/mo, no card$0 with 100 credits a month and no card. The app selects up to 25 records at a time, and unused credits roll over.Free trial: 100 credits for 90 daysFree trial: 100 credits, valid for 90 days, no card.
Every plan, full APIAn API key is available right after signup. Its FAQ says every plan includes the complete API with no features held back; higher tiers add rate limits and seats.Every package, including the free trial
X-TOKEN headerX-TOKEN header with no Bearer prefix. Keys are created in the API Management dashboard.api_key headerAPI key in a header named api_key. The same key works for the MCP server.
5 requests/sec per key5 requests a second per API key by default, then 429. Async jobs: up to 500 in flight per service, 10 processed at a time. Accounts using 450,000+ credits a month can ask for custom limits.200 queries/min per key200 queries a minute per API key on a 60-second sliding window, counted per entity: a 50-row batch uses 50 queries. Enterprise can buy more.
10,000 per async job, webhookExport People with Email takes up to 10,000 people per async job, delivered to a webhook or by polling. Webhooks retry up to 3 times, and a charged job that is not delivered is refunded within up to 10 hours.50 IDs sync, 10,000 async, event webhooksSync enrichment takes up to 50 IDs per call; async jobs take up to 10,000 records from an uploaded dataset. Event feeds such as funding and job changes arrive by webhook; events cost 1 credit.
YesOfficial hosted server at api.ai-ark.com/v1/mcp for API calls and documentation search. It takes the API key in the URL (?token=), so keep the config file private.YesOfficial AgentSource MCP v2 at mcp-v2.explorium.ai/mcp, with your API key.
Firmographics, verified emails, mobiles, personality profilesPerson profiles with company data (firmographics, technographics, funding, headcount by department), emails verified by BounceBan including catch-all, mobiles and DISC or OCEAN personality profiles. Its docs give a 30-day refresh cycle.Firmographics, technographics, intent, funding, contactsBusiness and prospect data: firmographics, technographics, financials, funding, Bombora intent, web traffic, hierarchy, workforce trends, events and contacts.
Zapier, Make, n8n, ClayClay-compatible v2 endpoints that return HTTP 200 on misses. Its pricing FAQ lists Zapier, Make, n8n and Clay, and CRMs and sequencers by CSV or API; native CRM connectors are on its roadmap.n8n, Zapier, Base44n8n, Zapier and Base44.
GDPR policy, no SOC 2 namedPublishes a GDPR policy, and its terms include data processing terms for EEA and UK personal data. No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report is named on its pricing, docs or legal pages.SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27701SOC 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certified, per its privacy policy.
Internal use only, no resaleExported data is licensed for your internal sales, marketing, recruiting and outreach. No resale or redistribution, and no use to build, train or improve a competing database or tool. Its FAQ says agencies may use it for client work.Resell rights only with EnterpriseResell rights come only with Enterprise.
Market sizing and bulk verified-email exportSizing a market for 1 credit per preview page, then exporting up to 10,000 people with verified emails in one job, or enriching row by row and paying only when an email is found.Agent workflows needing data and signalsAgent workflows that need company and prospect data, intent and event signals in one API, paid as you go from prepaid packs.

Pricing, plan by plan

US dollars as each vendor's page showed them on 25 Oct 2026. One panel per tool; switch each between monthly and annual billing (an annual price is the monthly rate when you pay for the year up front).

AI Ark

4 plans · API review

Free

$0

Free

100 credits a month (1,200 a year), no card.

API included
Plan details

The app selects up to 25 records at a time. Unused credits roll over.

Usage-Based (entry package)

$49/mo

billed monthly

$39.17/mo

billed annually

5,000 credits a month billed monthly, or $470 a year billed annually for 60,000 credits, all granted on day one.

API included
Plan details

Selects 10,000 records at a time. Rollover up to 2x the monthly allowance.

Larger credit packages

Usage-based

Priced in the credit calculator.

API included
Plan details

FAQ tiers: Starter up to 30K credits a month (up to 3 seats), Builder 60K to 300K (up to 5 seats), Scale 450K+ (10 seats); $2 to $4 per 1,000 credits above 30K a month.

Agency & Enterprise

Custom quote

Custom: partner program, enterprise back-office, white-label, multi-user management and a dedicated account manager.

API included
Plan details

Price on request.

Explorium

6 plans · API review

Free Trial

$0

Free

100 credits, valid for 90 days, no card.

API included

Lite

One-off package: $29.99 for 500 credits ($0.06 per credit), valid 12 months, not auto-renewed.

API included

Starter

One-off package: $149.99 for 5,000 credits ($0.03 per credit), valid 12 months.

API included

Growth

One-off package: $749.99 for 30,000 credits ($0.025 per credit), valid 12 months.

API included
Show all 6 plansShow fewer plans

Scale

One-off package: $7,499.99 for 500,000 credits ($0.015 per credit), valid 12 months.

API included

Enterprise

Custom quote

Custom: volume discounts, extra queries per minute, resell rights, CRM integrations.

API included

Which one to pick

Choose AI Ark if

  • You want a monthly plan whose unused credits roll over (up to 2x the allowance).
  • Most of your spend is on emails: 1 credit per verified email found, against 2 at Explorium.
  • You export lists of up to 10,000 people with verified emails in one job.
  • You want a low-cost preview to size a market before paying per person.

Choose Explorium if

  • You want to buy credits once, without a subscription, in packs from $29.99 that last 12 months.
  • You need Bombora intent, funding, hierarchy or web traffic data in the same API.
  • You want event feeds such as funding and job changes delivered by webhook.
  • You need SOC 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certification.

If neither fits: If you already hold a list and only need verified work emails, a pay-per-result email finder may be enough. The guide below compares every way to do it.

How to find a person's work email address

Want us to build it for you?

Choosing between AI Ark and Explorium, or moving from one to the other? Tell us your setup. We will show you how we would run it, and what we would check first.

Questions people ask

How much do AI Ark and Explorium cost?

Explorium sells prepaid packs: $29.99 for 500 credits up to $7,499.99 for 500,000, valid 12 months. AI Ark's Usage-Based plan starts at $49 a month for 5,000 credits, or $470 a year for 60,000. Both have free tiers: 100 trial credits for 90 days at Explorium, 100 credits a month at AI Ark. Prices verified 2026-10-25.

Do the credits expire?

Explorium credits are valid for 12 months and cannot be carried over once expired, and trial credits last 90 days. AI Ark credits roll over month to month up to 2x the monthly allowance, and annual plans grant all credits on day one.

What does an email cost?

Explorium: 2 credits for an email, 5 for email plus phone, 15 for a waterfall phone from external providers. AI Ark: 1 credit per valid email found on its single-row finders and 5 per mobile, 0 when nothing is found.

Do AI Ark and Explorium have MCP servers?

Yes. Explorium's AgentSource MCP v2 is at mcp-v2.explorium.ai/mcp with your API key. AI Ark's is at api.ai-ark.com/v1/mcp, with the key in the URL.

Read from ai-ark.com/pricing, explorium.ai/pricing and each tool's API docs. Verified 25 Oct 2026.