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SeekOut alternatives in 2026

People found by what they built, at 20¢ a person with an email.

SeekOut Sourcing Core costs $149 a month paid annually ($1,788 a year) or $179 billed monthly, with 500 contact credits and 1,000 exports a month. Its Sourcing, Sourcing + Integration and Full Recruiting Funnel plans are custom and billed annually, and Vendr reports a median contract of $20,000 a year. Every search runs over SeekOut's own 1B+ profiles.

SpecStream is the best alternative to SeekOut for a sourcer whose role stays open because every rival searched the same profiles. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents: describe the people in plain words, by the code, papers, talks or patents the role needs, and get each person who made them as a structured row, with a link to the work. A person with 15 facts and an email costs 20¢, and you approve the most a run can cost before it starts.

Describe your data

New accounts get $10 of credit, no card.

SpecStream and SeekOut side by side

SpecStreamSeekOut
What you sendThe people you want in plain words, with the conditions every row must meetA search of its profile database, narrowed with 30+ smart filters
What you get backStructured rows, one record per person, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every valueRanked profile matches, with outreach drafted for your review
Data already heldPublic databases read every morning at specstream.ai/data: every company that filed a Form D since 2023 with its filing history, nearly 2 million US nonprofits, every US bank failure since 1934, federal rules, open federal contracts and grants, and local businesses. Signals such as funding rounds, new executives and layoffs at specstream.ai/signals. Ask for your own cut of any of themIts own database of 1B+ profiles, searched across external sources and your ATS
A list you already haveImport a CSV, Excel file, Google Sheet or Airtable base of up to 20,000 rows. SpecStream fills in or checks each row and matches it to one identity, with any namesakes shown alongside their evidence. Import is free. A row that matches pays its rate, and a row that does not costs 5¢ATS rediscovery and silver medalists, on the Sourcing + Integration plan at a custom price
The unit you pay forA delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every planA plan for the year. Sourcing Core is $149 a month paid annually ($1,788 a year) or $179 billed monthly, with 3 seats included. Its terms set fees by the license metrics purchased "and not actual usage"
A larger teamThe same row rates for any number of people, with no seats. Pro $19, Scale $99 and Team $499 a month, all spent as credit at those rates. A yearly plan adds 20% more creditSourcing, Sourcing + Integration and Full Recruiting Funnel are custom and billed annually. Vendr reports a median of $20,000 a year across 65 purchases, from $5,820 to $54,920
Emails and phones5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone, charged on the rows that carry them. No monthly allowance500 contact credits a month on Sourcing Core, 750 a seat a month on Sourcing
ExportsReading, exporting and sharing cost nothing, with no monthly cap1,000 exports a month on Sourcing Core, 5,000 a seat a month on Sourcing
The cost cap and the commitmentThe most the run can cost, quoted before it starts. Nothing runs until you approve it, and there are no automatic overages. What a run does not use goes back to your balanceFees are invoiced in full and in advance annually, and its terms say quantities purchased cannot be decreased during the subscription term
How to start$10 of credit, no card. At 20¢ a person with 15 facts and an email, that is 50 people14 days free on Sourcing Core, no credit card
MCP and APIMCP server, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A. An agent can buy one request with no account, by card or in USDCSeekOut MCP for Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Amazon Quick
Where the data goesAshby, Bullhorn, Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Affinity, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooksWorkday, Greenhouse, iCIMS and Lever. ATS integration is part of Sourcing + Integration, a custom plan

Why SeekOut buyers move to SpecStream

People found by what they built

When a profile search returns people every rival messaged, search by the code, papers, talks or patents the role needs, and get the people who made them in Ashby, with a link to the work you can mention in your first message.

The request is the whole job: "people who maintain open-source Postgres extensions, with what they built", "authors of papers on diffusion models since 2024 who now work in industry", or "speakers on FPGA trading systems at conferences in the last two years, with the talk". SpecStream searches the live web, reads each page and joins what it finds into one record per person. Each person comes from the page where the work is published, and that page is the link on the row.

You pay per person delivered, with no seats

SeekOut sells a year: $1,788 for Sourcing Core, and a median of $20,000 on Vendr for the custom plans, with fees set by what was purchased "and not actual usage". SpecStream bills the rows that meet your request: 5¢ for a row with up to 5 facts, 15¢ for up to 15 facts and one set of related records, and $1 for a deep row with no limit, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. 200 people with 15 facts and an email cost $40. A person left out costs nothing, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing.

The price is set before the run

Every request gets a quote of the most it can cost, good for 30 minutes. Nothing runs until you approve it, the charge never goes past that amount, and whatever the run does not use goes back to your balance. Reading and pricing a request cost nothing, so you can size the pool for a role or a new city before you spend.

The search behind every row leads the public benchmarks

The SpecStream search API is the most accurate web search API in the world: SimpleQA Verified 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions (978 correct), and WideSearch 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks. The Extract API scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. The scores and the method are on benchmarks.

New people reach your ATS on a schedule

Save the request and it reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching, and new matches arrive in Ashby, Bullhorn, Slack, email, a sheet or a signed webhook with no code. A changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row costs 1¢. Rows you already own are never charged again.

Other SeekOut alternatives

SpecStream

The live web data engine for teams and agents. One request in plain words returns the people who built, wrote or shipped what the role needs, as structured rows at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone, under a maximum you approve before the run. There are no seats, and new accounts get $10 of credit.

Juicebox

A people search tool sold by the seat. Starter is $99 a seat a month with 500 contact credits and 500 export credits, Growth is $179 a seat a month with 1,500 contact credits, and Business is custom, on annual billing. SpecStream has no seats and no monthly credit allowance: a person with an email is a row at its rate, and exporting costs nothing.

Metaview

AI sourcing priced per user. Pro is $100 a user a month for 200 profiles sourced, Max is $300 a user a month for unlimited profiles, and the first 100 profiles are free. On SpecStream $100 is 500 people with 15 facts and an email, for any number of teammates.

Gem

A recruiting CRM and ATS with custom pricing based on your company's FTE count. Companies under 30 employees get Gem All-in-One free for six months, then 50% off a paid plan. SpecStream charges the same 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row at any company size, quoted before the run.

How SpecStream scores

The same numbers as the benchmarks page, from the official tasks and scorers.

SpecStreamParallelExaTavilyPerplexity
Web researchWideSearch, GPT-5.6 Luna60.945.553.047.947.0
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Luna9694919494
Factual accuracySimpleQA Verified, GPT-5.6 Sol9997919295

How to switch from SeekOut

Write the role the way you would brief a sourcer: what the person built, wrote or shipped, where they are, and the facts you want on each one. Or import the people you exported from SeekOut, up to 20,000 rows, and SpecStream fills in or checks each row. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 20¢ a person with 15 facts and an email, that is 50 people.

Connect Ashby or Bullhorn once and the rows land there. Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the 402 reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost.

curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"request": "Engineers who maintain an open-source Rust project for low-latency networking and live in or near London, with the project, what they built in it, their current employer and an email", "count": 25}'

Approve that maximum by card through Stripe's Link agent wallet, or in USDC, and you pay for the rows found. On an account, your agent uses the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp and your team uses the workspace, from the same balance.

Describe your data

Frequently asked questions

Something we didn't answer? Talk to a human

How much does SeekOut cost?
SeekOut Sourcing Core costs $149 a month paid annually ($1,788 a year) or $179 billed monthly, with 3 seats, 500 contact credits and 1,000 exports a month. Sourcing, Sourcing + Integration and Full Recruiting Funnel are custom and billed annually. Vendr reports a median of $20,000 a year across 65 purchases, and $15,000 to $35,000 a year for teams of 1 to 5 seats.
What is the best SeekOut alternative?
SpecStream, at 20¢ a person with 15 facts and an email. You describe the people by what they built, wrote or shipped, approve the most the run can cost, and get one structured row per person in Ashby, Bullhorn, your sheet or Slack. Only delivered rows are billed.
Is there a cheaper alternative to SeekOut?
Yes. On SpecStream 200 people with 15 facts and an email cost $40, with no seats and no annual contract. SeekOut's lowest plan is $1,788 a year, and Vendr puts small teams of 1 to 5 seats at $15,000 to $35,000 a year.
Does SeekOut have a free trial?
SeekOut offers 14 days free on Sourcing Core, with no credit card. SpecStream gives every new account $10 of credit, no card, which is 50 people with 15 facts and an email or 200 rows at 5¢.
Does SpecStream have an API?
Yes. Deep Search runs through the REST API, the Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and the MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches and the Extract API $0.80 per 1,000 pages.
Where do the emails come from?
An email costs 5¢ and is charged when the row carries it. An email printed on a page comes with that page's URL and the time it was read. An email no page printed is built from the company's published pattern, labeled likely and billed as an email.
Can SpecStream keep a search open for a hard role?
Yes, a saved request reruns hourly to yearly, and an unchanged person costs 1¢ to recheck. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching, a changed or new row costs half its rate, and new matches arrive in your ATS, Slack or a sheet.

Sources

SpecStream wrote this page. Each SeekOut figure comes from SeekOut's own pages or from Vendr, and each other tool's figure from its own pricing page.

  1. SpecStream pricingspecstream.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  2. SpecStream for agentsspecstream.ai/agents.md, read Nov 9, 2026
  3. SpecStream benchmarksspecstream.ai/benchmarks, read Nov 9, 2026
  4. SpecStream dataspecstream.ai/data, read Nov 9, 2026
  5. SpecStream signalsspecstream.ai/signals, read Nov 9, 2026
  6. SeekOut pricingseekout.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  7. SeekOut home pageseekout.com/, read Nov 9, 2026
  8. SeekOut termsseekout.com/terms, read Nov 9, 2026
  9. Vendr, SeekOut buyer guidevendr.com/buyer-guides/seekout, read Nov 9, 2026
  10. Juicebox pricingjuicebox.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  11. Metaview pricingmetaview.ai/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026
  12. Gem pricinggem.com/pricing, read Nov 9, 2026