Best LinkedIn Data APIs in 2026: An Honest Comparison
If you need LinkedIn data in your product — company firmographics, job postings, or public profile basics — the market you're shopping in looks very different than it did a year ago. The tool many teams quietly hard-coded, Proxycurl, shut down in July 2025, and a wave of buyers has been re-evaluating the whole category since.
This is a neutral, current comparison of the best LinkedIn data APIs in 2026. We list list-price numbers, what each provider actually covers, what you can test for free, and how the data is delivered — then a use-case guide so you can pick by your workload rather than a headline rate. We build one of these APIs, so we'll be explicit about where our own LinkedIn API is a good fit and where it isn't.
TL;DR: There is no single "best" — it splits by workload. Live per-request scraping: Apify, ScrapingDog, Piloterr, ScrapIn and Serpent API. Bulk enrichment against a large historical database: Coresignal, People Data Labs, and Bright Data datasets. Simple flat per-call pricing with no subscription: Serpent API, strongest for company firmographics and jobs. Whatever you choose, wrap it in a thin adapter so the next vendor change is a config value, not a rewrite.
Why the LinkedIn API market changed in 2026
For years, a handful of vendors made pulling LinkedIn data feel like a solved problem. That changed when Proxycurl (operated by Nubela) wound down in July 2025 after LinkedIn sued it in the Northern District of California. The company chose to shut down rather than keep litigating, and its team moved on to a separate project that does not scrape LinkedIn. The original API is gone and is not coming back.
The fallout reshaped buyer behavior. "Proxycurl alternative" became the category's dominant search overnight, and every remaining vendor now competes on two anxieties the shutdown exposed: compliance (is this provider going to be here next quarter?) and lock-in (how painful is it to switch again?). Those two questions — more than any single feature — should drive your choice.
What to look for in a LinkedIn data API
Before the table, the criteria that actually matter when you compare options:
- Coverage that matches your need. "LinkedIn data" is three different products: company firmographics, job postings, and person profiles. Very few tools are equally strong at all three. Decide which you truly depend on before optimizing on price.
- Live scrape vs. aggregated dataset. Scraper APIs fetch a page on demand (fresh, but slower and page-dependent). Dataset providers match your query against a large pre-collected store (fast and bulk-friendly, but freshness varies per record). They are different products, not just different prices.
- Pricing model, not headline rate. Per-call, per-record, and per-credit models produce wildly different bills at your volume. A "cheap per record" vendor with a $500 minimum is expensive if you make 5,000 calls a month.
- A real free tier. You should be able to evaluate coverage on your own inputs before paying. Most reputable options give free credits with no card.
- No login or OAuth required. Never hand a data vendor your LinkedIn credentials. Reputable providers work from public data.
- Switching cost. After Proxycurl, assume any vendor could change. The cheapest insurance is a thin adapter layer in your own code (more on that below).
The comparison at a glance
List prices and free tiers below were checked against each vendor's public pages in mid-2026. Treat them as starting points — most vendors tier pricing by volume, and a few publish credit costs rather than per-record rates, so your effective price depends on your call mix.
| Provider | Best for | LinkedIn coverage | List pricing (2026) | Free to test | Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serpent API | Simple per-call company & jobs data | Company, jobs, public profile basics | $3/1K company; $0.50/1K profile, job search, job detail; $100→10x off, $500→20x off | 10 free calls, no card | Sync REST, one key |
| Bright Data | Enterprise-scale scraping & datasets | Profile, company, jobs, posts | ~$1.50/1K scraper API; datasets from ~$2.50/1K; Scale plan $499/mo | 5,000 records/mo, no card | Sync + async batch, datasets |
| Apify (harvestapi) | Flexible, actor-based scraping | Profile, company, jobs, posts | ~$4/1K profiles; ~$1/1K jobs; plans free–$999/mo | $5/mo credit, no card | Sync run + async, webhooks |
| ScrapingDog | Low-cost per-request scraping | Profile, company, jobs, posts | Credit plans; ~$2.9–$10/1K profiles by tier | 200 credits, no card | Sync REST, optional webhook |
| Piloterr | Simple credit-based scraping | Profile, company, jobs, posts | 1 credit/request ≈ $2.3–$2.7/1K; plans $49–$249/mo | 500 credits, no card | Sync REST + async jobs |
| ScrapIn | Real-time profile & email lookup | Profile, company, email→profile | 1 credit/lookup; $30 trial, PAYG from $500 (per-1K not published) | None ($30 trial) | Real-time sync REST |
| Nimble | Generic web-scraping platform | Profile, company (via generic web API) | ~$3/1K pages; managed plans from $2,500/mo | 5,000 pages | REST sync + batch + async |
| Coresignal | Large aggregated professional dataset | Profiles, companies, jobs (aggregated) | Plans $49–$1,500/mo; ~$0.005–$0.20/record; datasets from $1,000 | 200+400 credits, 7-day | API + bulk datasets + feeds |
| People Data Labs | Person & company enrichment at scale | Aggregated identity data (not live scrape) | Pro $98/mo (~$0.28/person credit); enterprise custom | 100 credits/mo | Enrichment REST + bulk files |
A note on freshness: Coresignal and People Data Labs are aggregated dataset providers — they match your query against a large pre-built store, which is excellent for bulk enrichment but means an individual record can be older than a live scrape. Bright Data offers both a live scraper API and datasets. The rest are primarily live, per-request scrapers.
Provider by provider
A short, neutral read on each, grouped by how they work.
Live, per-request scraper APIs
Bright Data is the enterprise heavyweight: broad coverage across profiles, companies, jobs and posts, a scraper API around $1.50 per 1,000 plus separately priced datasets, strong compliance posture (GDPR/CCPA/ISO 27001/SOC 2) and a generous 5,000-records-per-month free tier. It's powerful and correspondingly more complex to adopt.
Apify is a marketplace of community-built "actors," including well-regarded LinkedIn scrapers. You get flexibility and a rich no-login field set at roughly $4 per 1,000 profiles (jobs are cheaper), with a $5 monthly free credit. Reliability and field depth vary by which actor you choose, so test the specific one you plan to use.
ScrapingDog is a lower-cost, per-request LinkedIn scraper with a credit model that works out to roughly $2.9–$10 per 1,000 profiles depending on tier, separate endpoints for profiles, companies, jobs and posts, and 200 free credits to start. It doesn't charge for failed requests.
Piloterr is a smaller, independent option with a clean 1-credit-per-request model (about $2.3–$2.7 per 1,000), coverage across all four LinkedIn data types, billing only on success, and 500 free signup credits.
ScrapIn (now part of Reverse Contact) focuses on real-time profile and email-to-profile lookups with a sub-2-second, no-cache pitch. It has no free tier — a $30 seven-day trial is the cheapest entry — and it doesn't publish a clear per-1,000 price, so model your cost from the credit-per-lookup rate.
Nimble repositioned in 2026 as a general "web search agent" platform rather than a dedicated LinkedIn product; LinkedIn is one target of its generic web API at around $3 per 1,000 pages, with 5,000 free pages. It suits teams that want one scraping layer for many sites, not a purpose-built LinkedIn schema.
Aggregated dataset providers
Coresignal serves a very large aggregated store of professional, company and job records through APIs and bulk datasets, with plans from $49 to $1,500 per month and per-record economics that get cheap at scale. It's framed as public-web data rather than a branded LinkedIn scraper, which is the right mental model: great for breadth and bulk, less about live single-record freshness.
People Data Labs is an enrichment provider — you send an identifier and get a matched record from its aggregated dataset of billions of profiles. Pro starts at $98/month (~$0.28 per person credit) with 100 free credits monthly. It's ideal for enriching a CRM at scale, but it's a dataset match, not a live LinkedIn fetch, and it doesn't return posts.
How to choose by use case
- Enrich a CRM of companies with firmographics: if you want simple, transparent per-call pricing and don't need a huge historical lake, a per-request API like Serpent's company endpoint is a strong, cheap fit. For very large bulk backfills, a dataset provider (Coresignal, People Data Labs, Bright Data datasets) can be more economical per record.
- Build a hiring-intelligence or jobs feed: you want a live jobs endpoint with pagination. Serpent, Bright Data and Apify all handle LinkedIn jobs well; compare on price at your daily volume.
- Deep per-person profiles (full resumes): this is the hardest and most sensitive category. Dedicated profile products (Bright Data, Apify's profile actors, ScrapingDog, ScrapIn) or an aggregated enrichment provider (People Data Labs) go deepest. Per-field completeness varies everywhere — test on your own inputs.
- One scraping layer for many sites, LinkedIn included: a generalist platform like Nimble or Bright Data fits better than a LinkedIn-specific API.
- Lowest possible switching cost: whichever you pick, put a thin adapter between your app and the provider so the vendor is a config value. That's the real lesson of the Proxycurl shutdown — and the same resilience mindset we apply to SERP scraping pipelines that face selector churn.
Where Serpent API fits (honestly)
We'll be straight about our own tool. Serpent's LinkedIn API is the simple, per-call option: one REST key, no subscription, and flat pricing — $3.00 per 1,000 company lookups and $0.50 per 1,000 profile, job-search or job-detail calls on the Default tier, with a $100 deposit unlocking 10x off and $500 unlocking 20x off. The same key also covers our SERP and AI ranking APIs, and new accounts get 10 free calls to evaluate.
Where we're strongest: company firmographics and job data, with transparent pricing that stays cheap at low-to-mid volume where per-record vendors and monthly minimums hurt. Where we're not the right pick: if you need deep, guaranteed per-person profile fields (skills, recommendations, certifications) or a billion-record historical lake, an aggregated dataset provider or a dedicated profile product will serve you better. Our profile endpoint returns publicly visible basics and its depth varies by profile — we'd rather tell you that up front than have you discover it in production. Full numbers and response shapes are on the pricing page and in the API docs.
Try a simple, per-call LinkedIn API
Serpent's LinkedIn API gives you company firmographics, public job search and detail, and best-effort public profile basics through one REST endpoint — from $0.50 per 1,000 calls, no subscription, with 10 free calls to evaluate. Strongest for company and jobs data; honest about profile scope.
Get Your Free API KeyExplore: LinkedIn API · Pricing · Documentation
FAQ
What is the best LinkedIn data API in 2026?
There is no single winner — it depends on what you pull and at what volume. For live, per-request LinkedIn scraping, Apify, ScrapingDog, Piloterr and Serpent API are common picks. For bulk enrichment against a large historical database, Coresignal, People Data Labs and Bright Data datasets fit better. Serpent API is the simple per-call option, strongest for company firmographics and jobs, with best-effort public profile basics.
What is the cheapest LinkedIn API?
Cheapest depends on the data type and volume. Per-request scraper APIs cluster around $2–$4 per 1,000 profiles at list price, with Bright Data's scraper API around $1.50 per 1,000. Aggregated dataset providers price per matched record and can be lower in bulk but carry subscription minimums. Serpent API uses flat per-call pricing — $3.00 per 1,000 company lookups and $0.50 per 1,000 profile, job-search or job-detail calls on the Default tier, with volume discounts at $100 and $500 deposits.
What happened to Proxycurl?
Proxycurl (operated by Nubela) wound down in July 2025 after LinkedIn sued it in the Northern District of California. The company chose to shut down rather than keep litigating, and its team moved on to a separate project that does not scrape LinkedIn. See our dedicated Proxycurl alternative guide for a migration path.
Do these APIs need a LinkedIn login or OAuth?
The reputable options here work with publicly available data and do not ask for your LinkedIn credentials or an OAuth grant. Serpent API's LinkedIn endpoints require neither — you call a REST endpoint with your Serpent key. Aggregated providers like People Data Labs and Coresignal serve from their own datasets rather than a live login at all.
Is it legal to use a LinkedIn data API?
The law around scraping public web data is unsettled and fact-specific, and this article is not legal advice. The Proxycurl case turned in part on conduct like creating accounts to reach non-public data. Working only with public data and a reputable provider lowers risk, but you remain responsible for using any data lawfully and within the terms that apply to you. Consult counsel for your specific use case.
