Coresignal alternative: profiles by URL, live, at the provider's price
Coresignal sells public web data on companies, employees and job postings: APIs paid in monthly credits, from $49 a month, and whole datasets as files. An employee record by profile URL costs 20 credits from its database, or 12 credits scraped on demand by its Real-time Employee API, which comes with the $1,000-a-month plan and up.
If what you need is the LinkedIn profile behind a URL, as it is today, there's a cheaper way. Right now we have 2 live LinkedIn profile APIs that we trust: Up2Data and HarvestAPI. You send the provider's own request to api.datacircle.dev, with your Datacircle key. That's the only change. Up2Data costs $1.25 per 1,000 profiles found, and a profile it can't find is free. No plan: a balance from $5, and a $5 credit at signup.
What it costs, next to Coresignal
Per 1,000 profiles, each price read from the vendor's own page in October 2026; Coresignal's from its pricing page and its docs' pricing page.
| API | Per 1,000, smallest purchase | Per 1,000, lowest without sales | Not found | Free to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Datacirclethrough Up2DataFunds never expire | $1.25, from a $5 balance | $1.25, no plan | free | $5 at signup (4,000 profiles) |
| CoresignalReal-time Employee API12 credits a profile, scraped when its cached copy is older than the max_age you send | $80 on the $1,000/month plan, the smallest that has it | $6 on the $5,000/month plan | free (a missing or private profile isn't charged) | on request in the 7-day trial |
| CoresignalMulti-source employee API20 credits a profile, from its database | $392 on the $49/month plan | $10 on the $5,000/month plan | free (only 200s are billed) | 2,000 credits (100 profiles) |
Coresignal's price per profile depends on the plan: its credits cost less the more you commit to each month. Each plan, worked out to 1,000 profiles (20 credits each through the Employee API, 12 through the Real-time one):
| Plan | A month | Credits | Employee API, per 1,000 | Real-time, per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini | $49 | 2,500 | $392.00 | not in the plan |
| Starter | $199 | 12,000 | $331.67 | not in the plan |
| Pro | $499 | 35,000 | $285.14 | not in the plan |
| Growth | $1,000 | 150,000 | $133.33 | $80.00 |
| Premium | $1,500 | 1,000,000 | $30.00 | $18.00 |
| Scale | $3,000 | 4,000,000 | $15.00 | $9.00 |
| Elite | $5,000 | 10,000,000 | $10.00 | $6.00 |
| Datacircle, through Up2Data | any amount from $5 | a balance | $1.25 | $1.25 |
Billed yearly, Coresignal takes 10% off from the Starter plan up. Its monthly credits reset each month, or roll over for up to 3 months from Premium up; Datacircle's funds never expire.
The same lookup, through Datacircle
A profile scraped on demand, as Coresignal documents it in its Real-time Employee API:
curl -X 'POST' \
'https://api.coresignal.com/rtapi/v2/employee/scrape' \
-H 'accept: application/json' \
-H 'apikey: {API Key}' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"url": "https://www.professional-network.com/john-doe",
"max_age": 72
}'Through Datacircle with Up2Data, the same shape, a LinkedIn URL in a JSON body, and the X-Data-Provider header names the provider:
curl -X POST "https://api.datacircle.dev/v1/profiles/enrich" \
-H "Authorization: Token $DATACIRCLE_API_KEY" \
-H "X-Data-Provider: up2data" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella"}'No max_age: every request goes to the provider. Up2Data answers its own JSON, the profile under data: name, headline, location, current company, the full job history, education and skills. Every field: LinkedIn Profile API in the docs. The same call for a whole CSV: get LinkedIn profile data with Python.
What Coresignal does that Datacircle doesn't
- Company, job posting and post data, next to employees (its APIs).
- Search: by filters or Elasticsearch queries (the search free, each record paid), and an agentic search API.
- Webhooks when a profile you follow changes.
- Whole datasets delivered as files, with history.
If you need those, Coresignal is built for them. If you have LinkedIn URLs and want each profile as it is today, at the provider's own price, from any amount, that's Datacircle.
What's different
Live. Each request goes to the provider and gets the profile as it is today. Every answer carries datacircle_meta: the provider that answered, what the call cost and your balance after it. A call that fails is not charged. Or send the same URL to HarvestAPI, at $3.70 per 1,000, with X-Data-Provider: harvestapi; HarvestAPI also bills a profile it can't find ($0.0023).
Free: 10M+ U.S. B2B leads, as a flat file. Download it at datacircle.dev. Add $50 to your account: you get $50 of API PLUS the flat file. Or invite 3 people who sign up. What's in it: the B2B data co-op. Every other API's price: LinkedIn profile API pricing compared.
Questions
What is a cheaper alternative to Coresignal for employee profiles?
For a profile you have the LinkedIn URL of: Datacircle, $1.25 per 1,000 profiles found through Up2Data, from a $5 balance with no plan. Coresignal's Employee API costs $392.00 per 1,000 records on its $49 Mini plan, down to $10.00 on its $5,000 Elite plan; its Real-time Employee API $80.00 per 1,000 on the $1,000 Growth plan, the smallest that has it, down to $6.00 on Elite. From its pricing pages, October 2026.
Is Coresignal's data live?
Two APIs. Its Employee API answers the record Coresignal holds. Its Real-time Employee API scrapes the profile when its cached copy is older than the max_age you send (0 for current data), in up to 30 seconds. On Datacircle: Live. Each request goes to the provider and gets the profile as it is today.
Do Coresignal credits expire?
Its pricing docs say: on monthly plans, unused credits reset each month (Premium, Scale and Elite roll them over for up to 3 months); yearly credits last 12 months; trial credits 7 days. On Datacircle: No. You add funds to your balance and pay per call; funds never expire.
Is there a free Coresignal alternative?
Coresignal's trial lasts 7 days with 2,000 credits (100 employee records), once per company email domain. Sign up at datacircle.dev with your work email: a $5 credit, that's 4,000 LinkedIn profiles at $1.25 per 1,000. Free: 10M+ U.S. B2B leads, as a flat file. Download it at datacircle.dev.
Does Datacircle have Coresignal's company, jobs and search APIs?
No. Right now we have 2 live LinkedIn profile APIs that we trust: Up2Data and HarvestAPI. Each takes a LinkedIn profile URL. Coresignal also sells company, job posting and post data, search by filters or Elasticsearch queries, webhooks on profile changes and whole datasets as files; Datacircle does none of that.
Sign up at datacircle.dev with your work email: a $5 credit, that's 4,000 LinkedIn profiles at $1.25 per 1,000. Free: 10M+ U.S. B2B leads, as a flat file. Download it at datacircle.dev.
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