Free alternatives · Sales and outreach
IndianFirmData
A company data API, MCP server and dashboard for Indian companies, where every field shows its public source, licence and freshness.
A free alternative to Crustdata, built by Surge Software. Free. You pay only what third-party services cost us, at cost.
Live at indianfirmdata.com
Walkthrough
See IndianFirmData in action
The problem
What it solves for a business
For: Developers, sales-ops and data teams, and AI-agent builders who need Indian company records (CIN, LEI, NSE listing) in their tools.
- Global data APIs barely cover Indian identifiers like CIN, and do not say where a field came from.
- Credit prices are hidden, so we cannot tell what a lookup really costs.
- Matching the same company across MCA, exchange and LEI records by hand is slow and error-prone.
How it works
IndianFirmData, step by step
- 01
Sign up and get a key
Create a free workspace and an API key; no card needed.
- 02
Search or ask
Filter on 84 fields, or type a plain-English query that the AI turns into filters.
- 03
Enrich a record
Look up a company by domain, name, CIN, LEI, ISIN or NSE symbol and get linked records with a confidence score per link.
- 04
Check sources
Each field carries its source, licence and a freshness flag so you know what to trust.
- 05
Watch for changes
Set watchers on companies or saved searches and receive signed webhooks when something changes.
- 06
Use it from an AI agent
Connect the MCP server (16 tools) to Claude or another MCP client.
Comparison
IndianFirmData vs Crustdata
| IndianFirmData | Crustdata | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free. You pay only what third-party services cost us, at cost. | From ~$95/month (own blog); price per credit not published (checked 24 Oct 2026) |
| Company enrich cost | 1 fair-use credit, 0 if no match | 2 credits (+2 for technographics) |
| Search, per result | 0.01 credits | 0.03 credits |
| Indian IDs (MCA CIN decode, LEI-CIN-NSE links) | Yes | Not found in its docs |
| Source and licence per field | Yes, with freshness SLA | Sources not named |
| MCP server | 16 tools, HTTP and stdio | Yes (about 40 hosted tools, third-party count) |
| People data | Public business roles from registers and CC0 sources only, with opt-out; no contact data | Large global profiles (1B+ claimed) |
| Billing currency | INR wallet with UPI and GST invoices; USD via Stripe | USD |
Crustdata details are taken from its public website and may have changed since (From ~$95/month per its own blog (a third party says $49; conflicting); price per credit not published; $20 free credits (checked 24 Oct 2026)).
Why switch
Advantages over Crustdata
India-first identifiers
CIN, LEI, ISIN, NSE symbol and domain are linked, and each link stores its method and confidence.
You can see where data came from
Every field shows its source, licence and how fresh it is.
Free with published credit rates
100,000 fair-use credits a month; no charge when there is no match.
Lawful sources only
No LinkedIn data and no scraping of CAPTCHA-protected portals; people data is limited to public business roles with opt-out.
Features
What it does today
- About 10,140 companies and organisations from public sources: NSE main and SME boards, Wikidata, GLEIF LEIs and 2,084 universities (as ingested 25 Oct 2026)
- Search on 84 fields with 433 field-operator filters, plus CSV export
- Enrich by domain, name, CIN, LEI, ISIN or NSE symbol, with entity-resolution confidence per link
- Per-field source, licence and freshness SLA, with stale fields flagged
- Free offline checks and decoders for CIN, GSTIN, PAN, Udyam, LEI and ISIN
- Watchers with HMAC-signed webhooks for company and saved-search changes
- REST API (17 endpoints) with dry-run cost preview and no credit charge on no-match, plus an MCP server over HTTP and stdio
- Dashboard with natural-language search, company profiles, team of 10 seats and API keys
Use cases
How teams use IndianFirmData
CRM clean-up
A sales-ops team enriches its Indian accounts by domain or CIN and fills in LEI and listing status.
AI agent research
A developer gives an AI assistant the MCP server so it can look up Indian listed companies.
ID checks at onboarding
A fintech validates a customer's GSTIN, PAN or CIN format with the free decoders.
Change alerts
A team watches key accounts and gets a webhook when status or directors change.
Under the hood
Where AI is used, and where it is not
The model
Surge's own Qwen server (qwen3.8-27b) for natural-language search, then Claude only as an opt-in at-cost add-on, then a rule parser.
Rules and code
Code does search, entity resolution and confidence scores, ID checksums and decoding, freshness flags, credit metering and webhooks. AI only turns a plain-English question into filters.
People in the loop
You review results and choose what to export or watch; admins approve nothing automatically on your behalf.
Book a working session
A working session with our architects on one of your use cases. You bring a process and sample documents; we leave you with a scoped plan: model, hosting, integrations, timeline and cost range.