--- title: "WhoLayer vs Explorium (2026): pricing, features, and where each is stronger" description: "A sourced, dated comparison of WhoLayer and Explorium: person-level ID, ecommerce, API, MCP, and pricing, plus where Explorium is the better pick." url: https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium --- Compare · Contact data, enrichment, and MCP # WhoLayer vs Explorium Explorium is being discontinued. WhoLayer covers some of the same jobs, with person-level identification and data for the US only. The switch guide shows exactly what maps across and what doesn't. Checked November 4, 2026. Every Explorium figure links to its source. Winding down Explorium announced on November 3, 2026 that it is shutting down operations. Its AgentSource platform remains available until December 2, 2026, when data exports also end; account data is deleted by December 31, 2026, and unused credits are refunded. [\[4\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-4) [Moving off Explorium? Read the switch guide](https://wholayer.com/switch/explorium) ## Side by side WhoLayer compared with Explorium |   | Explorium | WhoLayer | | --- | --- | --- | | Positioning | B2B business and prospect data API and MCP server for AI agents (AgentSource). [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-1) | Website visitor identification, ecommerce shopper ID, and contact data for teams and AI agents. | | Person-level visitor ID | Global business and prospect data (not a website visitor ID product) [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-1) | Yes, US traffic only (1 credit per person, charged once a month); company-level worldwide (free) | | Ecommerce | No ecommerce product found in our research | Yes: Shopper ID sends identified US shoppers to Klaviyo, Customer.io, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Iterable, Braze, ActiveCampaign, or Brevo, with Returning Shopper events for existing Attentive and Postscript subscribers (2 credits per new shopper, 1 credit for shoppers already on your list where the platform can be checked), Growth plan and up | | API | Yes (AgentSource API), being discontinued [\[4\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-4) | Yes: REST API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec | | MCP server | Yes (hosted MCP server); the shutdown notice covers the AgentSource platform [\[5\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-5) | Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5 | | Pricing model | Credits: 2 per email and 5 to 15 per phone, nothing when no data is found [\[3\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-3) | Monthly or annual plans with credits from one wallet for every product; overage between $0.045 and $0.060 a credit on paid plans | | Entry price | No longer sold. Credit packs started at $29.99 for 500 credits (third-party) [\[2\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-2) | Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month | WhoLayer's column is generated from our live pricing and API limits. See [pricing](https://wholayer.com/pricing) and the [MCP docs](https://wholayer.com/docs/mcp). ## Where Explorium is stronger An honest list. If one of these is what you need, it may be the better pick. - Global coverage of businesses and professionals, not just the US - Deep business enrichments: technographics, funding, financial filings, workforce trends, and intent - Business and prospect events by pull or webhook ## Where WhoLayer is different ### Built for agents A data MCP server with 13 tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI spec. Per-key daily caps, a 250-credit default ceiling per call, read-only keys, and idempotent retries keep an agent's spending predictable. ### Contact data with checks Work and personal emails come with a risk grade, mobiles come with a carrier and line-type check, and you can verify lists of up to 1,000 emails per call. ### Company-level ID is free Company identification is free and unlimited on every plan. Person-level ID is US-only and charged once per person per month; repeat visits are free. ### One wallet, published per-result prices Visitor ID, Shopper ID, the Data API, and the MCP server draw from the same credits, and every credit cost is listed on the pricing page. Misses aren't charged. ### Opt-outs honored everywhere Opted-out and suppressed people are never returned, delivered, or charged. Global Privacy Control signals are honored, and the rules we enforce are published as a machine-readable policy. ### Monthly plans, spend caps Monthly plans stop at the end of the billing period, and you can set a hard monthly spend cap so overage never surprises you. ### WhoLayer isn't the right fit if - You need a large global contact database for prospecting by country. WhoLayer's person-level data is US-only. - You need person-level identification of visitors outside the US. WhoLayer identifies people for US traffic only; elsewhere it's company-level, after consent. - You want a full ABM advertising suite, an on-site AI chat agent, or a built-in sequencer and dialer. WhoLayer identifies and enriches; it doesn't run ads, chat, or send email for you. ## Pricing Explorium's published entry price, next to WhoLayer's plans. Explorium No longer sold. Credit packs started at $29.99 for 500 credits (third-party) [\[2\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-2) Credits: 2 per email and 5 to 15 per phone, nothing when no data is found [\[3\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/explorium#source-3) WhoLayer WhoLayer plans | Plan | Monthly | Credits | Overage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Free | 100 | None | | Starter | $49 | 1,000 | $0.060 a credit | | Growth | $199 | 5,000 | $0.050 a credit | | Scale | $799 | 20,000 | $0.045 a credit | Example: identifying 1,000 US people a month uses 1,000 credits. The cheapest fit is Starter at $49 a month. Repeat visits by the same person in a month are free, and company-level ID doesn't use credits. [Price your own volume](https://wholayer.com/calculator) ## Questions ### Is WhoLayer cheaper than Explorium? It depends on what you need and how much. Explorium's entry price is: No longer sold. Credit packs started at $29.99 for 500 credits (third-party) (as of November 4, 2026). WhoLayer: Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month. Use the WhoLayer cost calculator to price your own volume. ### Does WhoLayer identify people outside the US? No. Person-level identification is US-only. Outside the US, WhoLayer identifies the company, and only after the visitor's consent is recorded. ### Do Explorium and WhoLayer have MCP servers? Explorium: Yes (hosted MCP server); the shutdown notice covers the AgentSource platform. WhoLayer: Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5. ### When is Explorium the better choice? When you need global coverage of businesses and professionals, not just the US, or deep business enrichments: technographics, funding, financial filings, workforce trends, and intent. ## Sources - \[1\] [Explorium developer docs](https://developers.explorium.ai/) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[2\] [PricingSaaS: Explorium pricing](https://pricingsaas.com/companies/explorium/diffs/2026W37) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) - \[3\] [Explorium docs: contact information enrichment](https://developers.explorium.ai/v2/prospects/enrichments/contact_information_job) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[4\] [Explorium: AgentSource will be discontinued on December 2, 2026](https://www.explorium.ai/blog/news-and-updates/important-notice-agentsource-will-be-discontinued-on-december-2-2026/) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[5\] [explorium.ai](https://www.explorium.ai/) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) Competitor information is from public sources as of November 4, 2026 and may have changed. Trademarks belong to their owners. WhoLayer wrote this page; if something here is wrong, [tell us](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales) and we'll fix it. [Explorium alternatives](https://wholayer.com/alternatives/explorium) · [All comparisons](https://wholayer.com/compare) Ready when you are ## See who's on your site this week Install one tag. Your first 100 identified people are free, no card needed. [Start free](https://wholayer.com/signup) [Talk to sales](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales)