Instant Expert vs People Data Labs: records for your software or a call with a person
Choose People Data Labs when an application needs structured person records. Choose Instant Expert when you need a paid call or reply from a person.
In Instant Expert vs People Data Labs, choose People Data Labs if your software needs person records. Choose Instant Expert if you need to talk to a person. If the conversation is the goal, you may not need to build a data integration first.
People Data Labs has two API jobs, and neither one talks back
People Data Labs' Person Enrichment API matches supplied information to a person record. Your application starts with a known identity and requests the available employment and profile fields. Person Enrichment API
Person Search works the other way around: you specify criteria using fields in the person schema and get matching profiles back. Person Search API
Neither response is a new answer from the person. For an account-research screen, records may be exactly what you need. For an operations leader explaining how a process works, you need an invitation.
The free plan hides contact data
People Data Labs' person-data pricing, checked in the public browser page on September 26, 2026, lists up to 100 monthly credits free, with contact data obscured. Pro starts at $98 per month for 350 monthly credits and includes contact data. Enterprise uses custom pricing and annual contracts. Person-data pricing
Use the free plan to assess the data structure and matching, not as a source of emails or phone numbers. For production, price the fields and volume your application needs.
Instant Expert shows the price of each call or reply request in the draft.
Example: finding someone who has fixed a mismatch between systems
Here is a made-up example. You are researching how operations teams resolve discrepancies between systems, so you need someone who has handled those cases. An operations title cannot promise that.
Search for that background in Instant Expert, or import a known email address, LinkedIn URL or name plus company. The invitation could say:
Would you take a paid 30-minute research call about a discrepancy between business systems that you helped resolve? I'd like to understand how it was noticed and what happened next, without confidential customer details.
Open the call by establishing what they personally did. For one focused question, choose a reply; the recipient answers in text or voice.
If your application needs both, keep them apart
Store the person record and the invitation status separately. Finding a profile does not mean the person is free for a call.
Instant Expert's MCP connection can search or import people and prepare a request, and it can send once paid sending is enabled, a saved card is selected and you approve the order. This is a separate request workflow, not a native People Data Labs connector. Start with a paid invitation if the conversation is what you need.