API review

Crunchbase API review

Private-company intelligence API (v4, read-only): organizations, people, funding rounds, investors, acquisitions, IPOs, plus licensed Insights (growth, market, investor, valuation) and Predictions (funding, acquisition, IPO, layoff, closure, growth), with daily NDJSON/CSV exports and a hosted OAuth MCP. Best for funding, investor and M&A history for account research and trigger lists.

Verified 25 Oct 2026 · 11 endpoints listed · Official MCP server

See pricing

Crunchbase API docs

What a call costs

The actions you pay for, as Crunchbase prices them.

Action	Cost	Per
MCP search / profile / name match	10 data tokens	per non-empty basic field value returned
MCP Expert question / build search / resolve entity	data used + processing + returned values	per call
MCP tool reference, balance check, list read/create/update	0 data tokens	per call

Pricing, plan by plan

US dollars, as Crunchbase's pricing page shows them on 25 Oct 2026. Monthly and annual billing are shown apart.

Free tier Free account: company profiles (welcome mail: up to 10 profiles per month), 5 rows per search, contacts masked, funding hidden until the email is verified, Crunchbase Scout AI chat, and its own Crunchbase MCP data-token allowance that resets on the 1st of each month. No free REST API (Basic API discontinued).

Pro (individual)

$99/mo

billed monthly

$49/mo

billed annually

$49/month billed annually, shown against a struck $79.00 with 'Save 38% on Annual first Year' (discount applies to the first year); $99/month billed monthly; 1 seat; 2,000 export rows/month (exports start only when the paid subscription begins, not during the trial); up to 1,000 results per search; lists and saved searches up to 100 each; base MCP, Scout and full-profile usage; 7-day free trial

No API

Business (team)

$199/mo

annual billing only

$199/mo

billed annually

Starting at $199/month billed annually (sales-led); 2+ seats; 5,000 export rows/month; unlimited lists and saved searches; more MCP, Scout and profile usage; Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier, Outreach integrations; SSO and contract/security review by agreement

No API

Custom Data Solutions (API / data licensing)

One-off pack

Custom pricing; scaled API access, enterprise MCP, Snowflake/Databricks or cloud storage delivery, historical signals; packages Fundamentals (Firmographics, Core Financials, Advanced Financials), Insights, Predictions

API included

Rate limits

Enterprise REST API: 200 requests per minute per key AND 3 concurrent in-flight requests per key, enforced independently; 429 can also occur under platform load.

Limit	Enterprise / licensed API key	Pro (web + MCP)	Business	Custom Data Solutions
Limit	200 requests/minute, 3 concurrent	Exports 2,000 rows/month; search up to 1,000 results per search; base MCP usage	Exports 5,000 rows/month; up to 1,000 results per search; more MCP usage	Bulk delivery, configured MCP allowance, scaled API

How to get an API key

Crunchbase uses API key. The steps below follow Crunchbase's own docs.

Create a Crunchbase account. API access starts on the Custom Data Solutions (API / data licensing) plan.
Sales-provisioned only. Existing licensees: Crunchbase > Account Settings > Integrations > Crunchbase API > Show Key (crunchbase.com/account/integrations/crunchbase-api)
Send it with every request: header X-cb-user-key (recommended) or user_key query parameter. MCP uses OAuth sign-in with your own Crunchbase account.
Make a first call: Resolve partial names to entity UUID/permalink. Keep the key in an environment variable, never in the command.
```
curl -X GET "https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/autocompletes" \
  -H "X-cb-user-key: $CRUNCHBASE_API_KEY"
```

Where the docs live

What	Where
Documentation	data.crunchbase.com/docs/welcome-to-crunchbase-data.md
API reference	data.crunchbase.com/docs/api-packages-overview.md
OpenAPI spec	api.crunchbase.com/v4/md/applications/crunchbase/openapi.json
llms.txt	data.crunchbase.com/llms.txt
Base URL	`https://api.crunchbase.com`
MCP server	`https://mcp.crunchbase.com`

Strengths and limits

Where it fits

Funding, investor and M&A history for account research and trigger lists
Firmographic enrichment by permalink/UUID after resolving names with Autocomplete
Funding / acquisition / IPO / layoff predictions and growth insights (Predictions & Insights packages)
Competitor and similar-company graphs (org_similarities)
Agent research via the MCP on a Pro or Business seat, without an API contract

Where it falls short

Verified work-email or direct-dial finding through the API: the specs carry contact_email and phone_number (organization contact fields) but no email-finder, verification or phone-reveal endpoint. The web app's Contacts search does show an email and phone per person on Pro (masked on free).
Same-day funding alerts: our internal call notes say Crunchbase lags news by a couple of days
Self-serve API access: new REST API keys are sales-only, Basic API keys are discontinued
Republishing data: license forbids distributing data to third parties unless the order form allows it

Worth knowing

Each data.crunchbase.com reference page exists up to six times (x, x-1... x-5). These are package variants, not API versions: base = Firmographics, -1 Core Financials, -2 Advanced Financials, -3 Predictions & Insights, -4 Insights Only, -5 Predictions Only. All are v4 (spec version 1.1.0). Use the one matching your licensed package.
URL change: current data endpoints are /v4/data/... and metadata /v4/md/...; legacy keys used /api/v4/... (e.g. /api/v4/searches/organizations). Do not put /data/ into metadata URLs.
Two independent limits: 200 req/min AND 3 concurrent per key. Ten parallel requests can 429 seven of them even well under 200/min.
Cards return at most 100 items; paginate with the single-card endpoint and after_id.
Search limit is 1 to 1,000 per page (default 100); paginate with after_id = last UUID; never combine after_id and before_id.

6 moreShow fewer

organization.updated_at does not move when a funding round is added; track funding_rounds updated_at for incremental sync.
Unknown or unlicensed fields can be silently omitted (MCP) and 401/403 means license scope, not just a bad key.
Attribution: shared data must carry a visible, followable hyperlink to the Crunchbase entity.
MCP access, two docs: the pricing page says MCP is included in Free (with limits), Pro and Business; 'Managing MCP Access' says a team workspace buys MCP seats separately and each MCP user needs the Crunchbase Business base product. Live app (2026-10-25): a free individual account shows its own MCP data-token allowance, so the seat rule applies to team workspaces. MCP quota is separate from API quota.
MCP calls can charge data tokens even if the client disconnects; a retry can charge again.
Free accounts see funding amounts only after verifying the email address; growth insights stay masked.

Who should use it

Use Crunchbase for: Funding, investor and M&A history for account research and trigger lists
Look elsewhere for: Verified work-email or direct-dial finding through the API: the specs carry contact_email and phone_number (organization contact fields) but no email-finder, verification or phone-reveal endpoint. The web app's Contacts search does show an email and phone per person on Pro (masked on free).

If Crunchbase is not the answer

Other Data platforms tools in this directory, each with its own review.

Clay

Data platforms

Free planOfficial MCP

Best for multi-provider waterfalls without building your own fallback logic.

Clay API review

Before you build

Four things to settle first, each read off Crunchbase's own pages.

Confirm the API is on your planAPI access starts on the Custom Data Solutions (API / data licensing) plan. Free tier: Free account: company profiles (welcome mail: up to 10 profiles per month), 5 rows per search, contacts masked, funding hidden until the….
Keep the key out of your codeAPI key. It is sent as: header X-cb-user-key (recommended) or user_key query parameter. MCP uses OAuth sign-in with your own Crunchbase account..
Design around the rate limitEnterprise REST API: 200 requests per minute per key AND 3 concurrent in-flight requests per key, enforced independently; 429 can also occur under platform load.
Know the catch before you scaleEach data.crunchbase.com reference page exists up to six times (x, x-1... x-5). These are package variants, not API versions: base = Firmographics, -1 Core Financials, -2 Advanced Financials, -3 Predictions & Insights, -4 Insights Only, -5 Predictions Only. All are v4 (spec version 1.1.0). Use the one matching your licensed package.

Want us to build it for you?

Tell us what you want Crunchbase to do in your stack. We will show you how we would wire it into your data, outbound or CRM, and what we would check first.

Book a call

See case studies

Read from crunchbase.com/buy/select-product, data.crunchbase.com/docs/api-packages-overview.md and data.crunchbase.com/docs/api-essentials.md. Verified 25 Oct 2026.

All 11 endpointsFor developers: method, path, what it does and what it costs.

Base URL: api.crunchbase.com

Bulk and async: Static exports: daily NDJSON (recommended) or flat CSV zips per collection at /v4/data/static_exports/ for contracted customers; Custom plans add Snowflake/Databricks delivery. Search pages up to 1,000 rows. Source: data.crunchbase.com/docs/legacy-exports.md

Webhooks: No

Filter endpoints

11 endpoints

Method	Path	What it does	Cost
GET	`/v4/data/autocompletes`	Resolve partial names to entity UUID/permalink	Within license; no per-call price published
GET	`/v4/data/entities/organizations/{permalink_or_uuid}`	Organization lookup with chosen fields and relationship cards	Within license
GET	`/v4/data/entities/organizations/{id}/cards/{card_id}`	Paginate a single relationship card	Within license
GET	`/v4/data/entities/{collection}/{id} (+ /cards/{card_id})`	Lookup for people, funding_rounds, acquisitions, investments, funds, ipos, events, jobs, ownerships, principals, press_references, categories, locations, degrees, addresses, diversity_spotlights; package-gated	Within license
POST	`/v4/data/searches/organizations`	Filtered company search	Within license
POST	`/v4/data/searches/{collection}`	Search people, funding_rounds, acquisitions, investments, funds, ipos, events, jobs, principals, categories, locations, ownerships and more (package-gated)	Within license
GET/POST	`/v4/data/entities\|searches/{funding,acquisition,ipo,layoff,closure,growth,remain_private}_predictions`	Predictions package: forecasts with scores and timing	Predictions package license
GET/POST	`/v4/data/entities\|searches/{growth_insights, investor_insights, market_insights, research_insights, org_similarities, product_similarities, investor_matches, current_valuation_estimates, current_valuation_comparables, key_employee_changes, layoffs, legal_proceedings, product_launches, partnership_announcements, growth_events, products, micro_categories, awards}`	Insights package: growth, market, investor and valuation analyses, similar companies, event signals	Insights package license
GET	`/v4/data/deleted_entities and /v4/data/deleted_entities/{collection_id}`	Identifiers removed from Crunchbase, for syncing your copy	Within license
GET	`/v4/data/static_exports/<collection>.ndjson.zip (or .zip for CSV)`	Full-collection snapshot exports, regenerated each morning (organizations, people, funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs, org_similarities...)	Contractual (legacy agreements / bulk delivery)
GET	`/v4/md/applications/crunchbase/fields, /openapi.json, /openapi.yaml`	Field metadata and OpenAPI spec for your key's package	Within license