What happened to Proxycurl?
Proxycurl was the go-to LinkedIn data API for many developers — until LinkedIn took legal action in early 2025 and the service was wound down by mid-year. Teams that built enrichment, sourcing, and CRM tooling on top of it suddenly needed a replacement that returns the same kind of clean, structured profile and company data.
Why BraveData is a natural replacement
BraveData is a real-time LinkedIn scraper API. Instead of serving a stale, pre-bought database, it scrapes the live public page on every request and returns predictable JSON for profiles and companies — backed by an index of 800M+ profiles and 70M+ companies. You authenticate with a standard API key; your own LinkedIn account is never involved.
- Familiar, clean JSON shape for profiles and companies.
- No browser extension and no account-ban risk.
- Self-serve testing and billing through RapidAPI.
- Plans from $10/mo with pay-as-you-go overage — no steep minimum.
Proxycurl vs BraveData
| Metric | BraveData | Proxycurl |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Active, real-time API | Shut down (2025) |
| Data freshness | Scraped live, on-demand | Cached database |
| Account needed | No — stateless API key | No |
| Coverage | 800M+ profiles, 70M+ companies | N/A |
| Entry price | From $10/mo + pay-as-you-go | N/A |
Comparison based on publicly available information as of 2026 and may change. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used for identification only.
Honest note on contact data
Unlike some enrichment tools, BraveData does not promise personal emails or phone numbers. We return the structured public data available at scrape time — name, headline, location, experience, education, skills, and company attributes.
See also
Comparing other options too? Read BraveData vs Bright Data, BraveData vs Apify, or our best LinkedIn scraper API guide.