In short
- 1"Proxycurl shut down 4 July 2025 after LinkedIn sued over fake accounts and resale of non-public member data"
- 2"For bulk enrichment, Coresignal (895M+ employee records, from $49/mo) and People Data Labs (100 free lookups/mo) compile data from many public sources rather than live LinkedIn lookups"
- 3"Real-time LinkedIn API clones like ScrapIn and Scrapingdog run the same on-demand collection and resale model Proxycurl did"
- 4"An outreach tool that builds the prospect list, drafts a message per person, and puts a human in charge of every send solves a different job than a raw data API"
If you had a Proxycurl API key wired into your enrichment pipeline, it stopped returning data on 4 July 2025. Proxycurl (Nubela) shut down permanently that day rather than fight the lawsuit LinkedIn filed against it in January 2025, which alleged the company created fake accounts to collect millions of profiles, including non-public data, and resold that data through its API. As part of winding down, the team deboarded its existing customers and shut off all API access (source: Nubela's own "Goodbye Proxycurl" post, 2025).
That leaves two practical questions, and they have different answers. If you used Proxycurl to buy bulk people and company data, you need a licensed data provider. If you used it to power outreach, you need a system that finds people, qualifies them, drafts messages, and puts a human in charge of every send. This guide walks through eight replacements, grouped by which of those two jobs each one actually does.
The 8 Proxycurl alternatives at a glance
The short answer: for pure data, move to a licensed aggregator that compiles from public, business-only sources rather than live LinkedIn lookups (Coresignal, People Data Labs). For large one-off datasets, Bright Data. For actual outreach, an agent that builds the list from public data, says who is worth reaching, and drafts messages for a human to approve. For a literal drop-in of Proxycurl's exact request shape, the real-time LinkedIn API clones are the closest match.
Sources: each vendor's public pricing and product pages, checked 25 July 2026. People Data Labs paid pricing is credit-based; figures above are cross-checked against public pricing trackers, July 2026. The section below goes through each one in the order shown here, from pure data through to full outreach.
Why Proxycurl shut down, and why it decides your next vendor
Proxycurl did not close because of a bad quarter. LinkedIn sued in January 2025, and Proxycurl reached roughly 10M USD in revenue before shutting down on 4 July 2025 rather than litigate (source: Nubela blog, 2025). The complaint's core was not "scraping" in the abstract, it was fake accounts and the resale of member data, including non-public fields.
That distinction is the whole guide. Some vendors run real-time LinkedIn data APIs that log in, pull profiles on demand, and resell them, the same play Proxycurl ran. Others do one of two things instead: they compile public business data from many sources without ever logging into LinkedIn, which is what a licensed aggregator does, or they never resell anyone's data at all and only act through your own connected account, which is what an outreach tool does instead of a raw data API.
Before you pick a replacement, be honest about what you actually used Proxycurl for. The answer routes you to a completely different shortlist.
The 8 Proxycurl alternatives, one by one
The list below goes in the same order as the table above: pure data providers first, then the outreach agent, then the hosted API, then the on-demand collection tools closest to Proxycurl's own shape. Match the number to the "what you used it for" table above, not to which one is objectively best.
1. Coresignal: licensed public business data
Coresignal is the cleanest pure-data swap. It sells employee, company, and jobs data compiled from publicly available, business-only sources, and it states plainly that it does not collect private data or scrape behind login-secured areas (source: Coresignal pricing and data pages, checked 25 July 2026). It is certified by the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative.
Coverage is large: over 895M employee records, over 70M company records, and over 468M job postings per its site. Pricing runs from a seven-day free trial (2,000 credits) through Mini at 49 USD/mo, Starter at 199 USD/mo, Pro at 499 USD/mo, Growth at 1,000 USD/mo, Premium at 1,500 USD/mo, and on up to Elite at 5,000 USD/mo, plus separately priced bulk datasets on top. It also ships an Agentic Search API aimed at AI agents, which is why the table lists it as agent-ready rather than a full agent. If you used Proxycurl for enrichment at volume, this is the first place to look.
2. People Data Labs: person and company enrichment
People Data Labs (PDL) is the other licensed-aggregation pick, and the closest in spirit to how many teams used Proxycurl for enrichment: send an identifier, get back a resolved person or company record. Its data is compiled from many sources rather than pulled live from a LinkedIn login, so there is no on-demand scraping in the request path.
PDL offers a free tier of roughly 100 lookups per month for testing, with credit-based paid plans above that (per public pricing trackers, July 2026). It does not ship an outreach agent, it is a data API. If your Proxycurl usage was "enrich the leads already in my CRM," PDL and Coresignal are the two to trial side by side.
3. Bright Data: large one-off datasets
Bright Data is the odd one out here because it collects at web scale, but it holds the strongest formal certifications of the collection vendors. Its LinkedIn datasets (over 897M records per its site) are sold as structured, pre-collected data from publicly available sources, and the company holds SOC 2 and ISO 27001 and states GDPR and CCPA alignment plus its own code of ethics (source: Bright Data product pages, 2026). Dataset pricing starts around 250 USD for 100K records, roughly 0.0025 USD per record, with subscription discounts.
Bright Data does not touch your LinkedIn account and is a fair pick for a one-time dataset or a research project. The honest caveat: a certification is a claim the vendor makes about its own process, not an independent audit of every dataset it sells.
4. BeReach: for outreach, not just data
If you were using Proxycurl to feed an outreach motion (find people, personalize, send), a raw data API is only a third of what you actually need. BeReach is an AI agent that finds and qualifies prospects, says who is worth your time and why, and drafts a first message per person that you approve before anything sends.
The find, qualify, and draft steps run on public web data. Every message is human-approved before it goes out. There is one included AI model rather than a separate token bill, and the same agent runs inside Claude through a 27-tool connector at mcp.bereach.ai. Try it first on the pull a profile's recent posts tool, or read the developer surface on the BeReach API page. Unlike the aggregators above, BeReach also reads public profile data to find and qualify people, and it does not resell anyone's data. Pricing starts with a free tier of 200 monthly credits; see current plans.
5. Unipile: a hosted API on your own account
Unipile is a different shape again. It is a hosted API that connects LinkedIn, email, and other channels, and it acts through your own connected account rather than reselling scraped third-party data.
Pricing is per connected account: 49 EUR/mo covers up to 10 accounts, then 5 EUR per additional account, with volume pricing above 50 (source: Unipile pricing, checked 25 July 2026). It is infrastructure, not a finished outreach product, so you build the app, the sequencing, the AI, and the pacing on top. We break the real total down in Unipile LinkedIn API pricing.
6. Apify: on-demand collection actors
Apify is a marketplace of collection "actors," several of which target LinkedIn profiles, company pages, employees, and posts. Pricing is pay per result, and the DEV community's 2026 comparison put roughly 10K profiles at 50 to 100 USD with no monthly commitment, which is why it is popular for ad hoc jobs. Many LinkedIn actors run without connecting your own account because they use the platform's own proxies, and Apify has an AI beta, though it is not a finished outreach agent.
The tradeoff is consistency. Apify's LinkedIn actors collect public LinkedIn data on demand, the same category of activity Proxycurl ran, and results vary actor by actor. It is flexible and cheap for one-off collection, but it is not a single, uniform product.
7. Scrapingdog: real-time profile and company API
Scrapingdog offers a LinkedIn API that returns structured JSON for profiles and companies in real time, and it explicitly does not use your account or anyone's account, collecting only public data from its own infrastructure (source: Scrapingdog LinkedIn API page, checked 25 July 2026). Pricing on its 2025 plans ran roughly 40 to 350 USD/mo, with each profile request costing 50 credits (100 for protected profiles). No AI agent.
For a developer who wants a near drop-in for the Proxycurl request shape, Scrapingdog is one of the closest matches: the same real-time, per-request API model.
8. ScrapIn: the closest drop-in
ScrapIn markets itself as a real-time LinkedIn data API for teams building AI products, positioned almost exactly where Proxycurl sat. Its site lists a 7-day trial at 30 USD, pay-as-you-go from 500 USD, and custom enterprise pricing (source: ScrapIn pricing, checked 25 July 2026). No AI agent, and its public pages do not detail a data-sourcing framework the way the licensed aggregators do.
It is the most literal Proxycurl replacement on this list: the same real-time request shape, built to drop in directly. If continuity of that exact API shape is your only requirement, it fits. If you would rather source data from licensed, multi-source aggregation instead of live, on-demand collection, Coresignal or People Data Labs are the ones to trial.
How to choose your replacement
Work backward from what you actually did with Proxycurl. Buying bulk data points you at a licensed aggregator like Coresignal or People Data Labs. Powering outreach points you at an agent that finds people, drafts to them, and gives you final approval on every send. Wanting a literal drop-in points you at a real-time API with the same request shape Proxycurl had.
- You bought bulk data. Start with Coresignal and People Data Labs. They source from licensed public business data compiled from many sources rather than live LinkedIn lookups, and run GDPR and CCPA processes. Use Bright Data when you need a large one-off dataset priced per record.
- You powered outreach. A data API alone will not find people, draft to them, or send anything. Move to a tool that does all three, and puts a human in charge of every message before it sends. That is the BeReach model.
- You want a literal drop-in real-time API. Scrapingdog, ScrapIn, and Apify are the closest match to Proxycurl's exact request shape and business model. Fine if that exact shape is what your integration needs today.
- You control the accounts. If you only ever operated your own connected accounts, a hosted API like Unipile keeps you out of the third-party data-resale category entirely, and you build the sequencing, AI, and pacing yourself on top of it.
One more reframe worth doing: many teams reached for Proxycurl because they assumed the official route was impossible or unaffordable. That is worth re-checking now. See what the real options are in is the LinkedIn API free, and if the phrase you actually searched was unofficial LinkedIn API, that route is documented end to end.
Every viral post is 100+ warm conversations waiting.
Tell your agent who you want to reach. It finds them, says which ones are worth your time, writes the first line, and follows up.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Proxycurl shut down?
Proxycurl shut down permanently on 4 July 2025. LinkedIn sued the company in January 2025, alleging it created fake accounts to collect millions of profiles, including non-public data, and resold that data through its API. Rather than litigate against Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, the founder chose to close, delete the collected data, and move the team to a new venture (source: Nubela blog, 2025).
What is the best Proxycurl alternative?
It depends on what you used Proxycurl for. For bulk people and company data, Coresignal and People Data Labs are the cleanest swaps because they license public business data and never log into LinkedIn. For large one-off datasets, Bright Data. For powering outreach rather than just buying data, an agent that builds the list, drafts messages from public data, and lets you approve every send.
Do real-time LinkedIn data APIs work the same way Proxycurl did?
Yes, for the ones built as an on-demand relay. Vendors like ScrapIn, Scrapingdog, and Apify actors collect LinkedIn data on demand and resell it through an API, the same pattern LinkedIn's action against Proxycurl was about. They can work as a short-term drop-in; Coresignal and People Data Labs are the licensed-aggregation alternative if you would rather source from many compiled public sources instead.
Do Proxycurl alternatives need my LinkedIn login?
Most pure data providers do not. Coresignal, People Data Labs, Bright Data, and Scrapingdog collect from their own infrastructure or licensed sources, with no LinkedIn login involved. Apify depends on the actor: some read only public pages, others ask for your own LinkedIn login. Unipile always acts through your own connected account. An outreach agent like BeReach builds the prospect list and drafts messages from public data, and a human approves every message before it sends.
Is buying LinkedIn data legal now that Proxycurl is gone?
Licensed aggregators that compile publicly available business data from many sources, without logging into LinkedIn, and that run GDPR and CCPA processes are the lower-friction path. Reselling data collected via fake accounts, which is what LinkedIn alleged against Proxycurl, is the activity that drew the lawsuit.
Reading this in an AI assistant? Hand it the page and let it summarize, so you can ask follow-up questions against the whole argument rather than the part you have read so far.
