Spaw vs numlookupapi
numlookupapi is a phone number validation API sold as a monthly request quota: one validate endpoint returns validity, formats, country, location, carrier and line type.
The table uses numlookupapi's public pricing and documentation pages as checked on 2026-09-27, and Spaw's own pricing page. A row those pages carry no value for is marked "not on the pages read" rather than guessed at, and that is a statement about the reading and not about what numlookupapi publishes.
| spaw | numlookupapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go credit packs whose credits never expire, or optional plans, billed monthly or yearly, that deposit the same credits every month for less and roll unused plan credits over up to three months' allowance; both through Stripe Checkout | Monthly subscription tiers by request quota: Free $0 for 100 requests, Basic $9.99 for 5,000, Pro $49.99 for 50,000, Scale $109.99 for 250,000, and Custom by contact; the page offers yearly billing at 20% off. Scale and Custom list "Overages" with no overage price shown, and the quota documentation says a request over the monthly quota answers 429 until the plan is upgraded or the month ends. |
| Free tier | 100 free credits every month, no card required | 100 requests a month on one API key, at 10 requests a minute |
| Price per 1,000 at about 10k | $7.80 (Growth pack: 5,000 credits for $39), or $5.80 on the Growth monthly plan (5,000 credits for $29 a month) | not on the pages read |
| Price per 1,000 at about 100k | $4.49 (Volume pack: 100,000 credits for $449), or $3.49 on the Volume monthly plan (100,000 credits for $349 a month) | not on the pages read |
| Numbers the vendor could not settle billed | A valid number costs 1 credit whatever its flags say. The live carrier-network check (hlr: true) is not enabled on the service: hlr_checked answers false and nothing extra is charged. | not on the pages read |
| Invalid numbers billed | No: invalid numbers are free, including a number in a block the regulator lists as unassigned, and so are repeats within 7 days | Only successful calls count against the quota; "validation errors (e.g., wrong parameter)" and errors on its side do not, so an empty or unparseable number (422 invalid_number, "The phone number is empty or could not be parsed") is free. A well-formed number it does not recognise answers 200 with "valid": false, and the status-codes page calls a 200 "a successful response", noting that "a well-formed but unrecognised phone number also returns a 200" |
| Line type source | The numbering plan metadata everywhere except the North American plan, where mobiles and landlines share blocks and the plan can only say fixed_line_or_mobile; there the regulator's block holder settles it — a wireless carrier's block is mobile, a virtual-number wholesaler's is voip. line_type_source names which of the two answered. | Not stated beyond the pricing FAQ: "All number data delivered are sourced from multiple data providers and international carriers." The documented line_type values are landline, mobile, satellite, paging, special_services, premium_rate, toll_free and N/A; none of them is VoIP. |
| Numbering plan coverage | libphonenumber metadata for every region it carries, plus the regulators' own allocation tables, each named in the answer with the date of the copy it read. Complete tables, where a geographic number in a block the table leaves out answers unassigned_block: NANPA for the United States (with Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands), the CNAC for Canada, ARCEP for France (with Guadeloupe, St. Barthélemy, St. Martin, Martinique, French Guiana, Réunion, Mayotte and St. Pierre & Miquelon), ACM for the Netherlands and the CRT (formerly the IFT) for Mexico. Partial tables, answered only from the ranges they list (a range listed as free, spare or held in reserve answers unassigned_block), so block_status answers null for a number outside them: Ofcom for the United Kingdom (with Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man), ACMA for Australia, the NAD for New Zealand, UKE for Poland and MIMIT for Italy. Re-synced weekly, NANPA daily; /status lists each table's age. Outside those regions, block_status and is_virtual answer null rather than a guess. | "Phone data for 230+ countries", per the site footer; the pages read name no numbering plan or regulator table. |
| Live network check | Reserved behind hlr: true: 4 credits on top of the base credit, only where the network answers, reported in its own reachable, ported, current_carrier and roaming fields. The live carrier-network check (hlr: true) is not enabled on the service: hlr_checked answers false and nothing extra is charged. | not on the pages read |
| Ported numbers | None from the tables, and the docs say so: carrier and line_type describe the block the number was allocated in, never a later port. Only a live carrier-network check can say who serves a number today. | not on the pages read |
| SMS pumping controls | Flags in the risk score, and an SMS policy that turns them into ok_to_send and blocked_by: a fraud and deliverability decision, not consent and not a do-not-call scrub. allowed_countries limits sending to the regions you serve; it is empty (any country) until you set it. range_burst (+40) flags a number once your account has looked up 5 distinct numbers in its 1,000-number range within 60 minutes, and numbers_per_client (+30) once one client address (the client_ip you send, or a browser visitor's own) has tried 5 within 60 minutes, unless Spaw's own IP data places it on a mobile carrier or a corporate proxy, or it is private or reserved. Both count only your own single and browser lookups, so a new account has no history. The range is a heuristic, and in North America a burst more likely means someone testing numbers against a form; the client count does not stop an attack rotated through residential proxies. disposable (+70) flags a number SMS-receiving websites publish and disposable_stale (+40) an old listing; disposable_range (+30) flags an unlisted number in a 1,000-number range holding 10 or more fresh listings. The lists are public and synced daily. The default policy blocks the fictional, disposable, reported_abuse, reported_abuse_widely and premium_rate signals and a risk_score above 60, so neither traffic signal blocks on its own. | not on the pages read |
| Bulk limit | 100,000 numbers per bulk job, with an HMAC-signed completion webhook | not on the pages read |
| Batch API | 1,000 numbers per synchronous request, answered in input order | Not offered on the pages read: the API documents two endpoints, /v1/validate/{number} for one number and /v1/status for the quota. |
| Rate limit | 50 requests per second per key on the phone endpoints | 10 requests a minute on Free; the paid plans list "No Rate Limit" and the home page says "All paid plans come along with an unlimited amount of API connections"; a request over the minute limit or the monthly quota answers 429 |
| Official SDKs | Python, Node.js, PHP | PHP, Ruby, Node.js, Python |
| Data retention | No history row and no log line carrying the number. What a lookup leaves is keyed and never holds the number: the 7-day marker that makes a repeat free (a second one when the account paid for a live check); for single and browser lookups, a truncated keyed hash of the number filed under keyed hashes of its range and client address for 60 minutes, and the account's lookups per country and hour as counts for 30 days; and a live check's answer, held for a day under a hash of the number. The number itself is kept only in the account's own outcome reports, phone suppression list and monitors. Bulk input lists and result files are deleted with the job after 30 days. | not on the pages read |
checked 2026-09-27 · sources: numlookupapi pricing and plans, numlookupapi home page (coverage), numlookupapi validate endpoint documentation, numlookupapi rate limit and quotas, numlookupapi request status codes, numlookupapi SDKs, numlookupapi MCP server, numlookupapi testing and sandbox keys
When numlookupapi fits better
A form or a script that needs validity, formats, country, carrier and line type at a small monthly volume on a fixed bill, or an AI agent calling it over MCP.
- A hosted MCP server at api.numlookupapi.com/mcp exposes validateNumber and getStatus to AI agents, metered like REST calls
- A well-formed number it does not recognise answers 200 with "valid": false rather than an error, so the valid field has to be read
- Sandbox API keys on Pro and above answer dummy data and do not count against the quota
- Successful lookup responses carry an X-Cost header with the number of requests the call counted against the quota
When Spaw fits better
Developers who want the numbering plan and the regulators' own allocation tables read for them, the dataset behind every field named in the answer, and an SMS policy that turns the evidence into ok_to_send and blocked_by — a fraud and deliverability decision, not consent and not a do-not-call scrub. Every answer is made on the server: the opt-in live carrier-network check, the one call that would send a number to a partner, is not enabled on the service.
- numlookupapi sells a monthly quota that resets; Spaw sells pack credits that never expire and grants 100 free every month
- numlookupapi says its data comes from "multiple data providers and international carriers" without naming them; Spaw's line_type_source says whether the numbering plan or the regulator's block table decided the line type, and the sources block names each dataset an answer consulted, with its version or sync date
- numlookupapi documents one number per request; Spaw takes 1,000 numbers per batch request and 100,000 per bulk job
- Spaw returns 49 fields, including the regulator's block status, flags for fictional, virtual-number and SMS-receiving numbers, and ok_to_send from your own SMS policy, a fraud and deliverability decision rather than consent or a do-not-call scrub
Questions
Does Spaw charge for numbers it cannot settle?
Spaw bills per answer. A number the numbering plan and, where one is installed, the regulator's own table agree is assignable costs 1 credit whatever its flags say. An invalid number is free — including one in a block the regulator lists as unassigned — and so is a repeat of the same number within seven days. The live carrier-network check (hlr: true) is not enabled on the service: hlr_checked answers false and nothing extra is charged. numlookupapi does not publish how it bills them.
Can I move a list of numbers from numlookupapi to Spaw?
Yes. Upload the CSV in the dashboard or POST it to the bulk endpoint, up to 100,000 numbers a job; Spaw keeps your columns, adds the answer columns, and lets you download the whole file or only the valid, invalid, low, medium or high-risk rows. A country column gives each row its own region, so a mixed international list needs no splitting.
Is there a free tier?
Every Spaw account receives 100 free credits at the start of each month with no card on file, and unused free credits accumulate. numlookupapi offers: 100 requests a month on one API key, at 10 requests a minute.
Try Spaw on your own list
Free credits every month, no card. Upload a list, keep your columns, and download only the rows you want. See the pricing page for every rule, or the numlookupapi alternatives.
numlookupapi is a trademark of its owner. Spaw is not affiliated with it. Markdown version: /compare/numlookupapi.md