All terms
API & Integration
Business Data API
A business data API is a web service that returns structured information about companies and business locations - such as names, addresses, contact details, categories, and firmographics - in a machine-readable format like JSON, so applications can request and consume that data programmatically.
Also known ascompany data APIfirmographic API
In depth
What Business Data API means.
A business data API exposes business information through a defined set of endpoints and a stable response schema. Instead of downloading a file or scraping pages, a developer sends a request - often a search by location, name, or category - and receives structured records back. Because the contract is explicit, the data can flow directly into CRMs, enrichment pipelines, agents, and analytics tools without manual cleanup.
These APIs differ along several axes: the data they cover (firmographics, contact details, local listings, reviews), whether responses are synchronous or asynchronous, how they authenticate (typically an API key or OAuth), how they price (per request, per record, or per credit), and whether they are documented with a machine-readable specification such as OpenAPI. A well-designed business data API keeps its schema stable so integrations do not break as the service evolves.
When evaluating one, the questions that matter are data freshness and provenance, schema stability, rate limits, error semantics, and compliance posture - in particular whether the data is sourced and offered in line with applicable privacy law and the source's terms.
How biz collect relates
Business Data API in biz collect.
biz collect is a business data API built around an async REST model: you POST a city and keywords to /v1/search, receive a job id, and poll GET /v1/jobs/:id until the enriched results are ready (a synchronous wait:true mode is also available for smaller jobs). Every response follows a stable JSON schema, and the whole surface is described by an OpenAPI 3.1 specification.
It is designed to be consumed by software and agents as much as by people: it ships llms.txt and llms-full.txt, supports idempotency keys and signed webhooks, and offers a free tier (200 signup credits plus 20 per day, no card) so a developer can integrate before paying. Paid plans are Pro at $19/mo and Business at $76/mo.
Go deeper
Where this concept shows up across biz collect:
Business Data API
Frequently asked questions.
What is the difference between a business data API and a scraper?
A scraper extracts data from web pages, often producing brittle, unstructured output that breaks when a site changes. A business data API exposes a maintained, documented endpoint with a stable schema, so consumers get predictable structured records.
How are business data APIs usually priced?
Common models are per request, per returned record, or per credit, sometimes with tiered subscription plans. biz collect uses a credit model with a free tier and Pro and Business subscriptions.
Is a company data API the same as a business data API?
They overlap but signal a different starting point. A company data API is firmographic-first: you begin with a known company and enrich it with attributes like industry, size, and revenue. A business data API is discovery-first and location-aware: you begin with a city, keyword, and radius and get back the matching businesses - including local, single-location ones - as contact-ready records. biz collect is built for that discovery-first job.
Still have questions? Talk to us.
Turn the concept into real data.
Sign up free with 200 signup credits, no credit card. POST a city plus keywords and get an enriched, structured list of businesses back as JSON.
No credit card required200 signup credits20 daily login credits