How to Choose the Best Way to Access TheirStack Data

TL;DR

• If you're not a developer, use the App.
• If you need a filtered feed, start with the API or Webhooks. From roughly 2M to 5M records per month, Datasets may become more cost-effective, so contact us to compare the options.
• If you want to get notified when (1) new jobs are posted or (2) new companies start using a new technology, use Webhooks.
• If you want to enrich an external system on demand, use the API.
• If you want your AI assistant to query TheirStack data directly, use the MCP server.

Basics

• Same data for all methods: Every delivery method accesses the same underlying dataset and quality.
• Filtering: All filters are available in the App, API, and Webhooks. Datasets are exported as flat files (CSV/Parquet) without server-side filtering.

Decide where the data and filtering should live

• Datasets: We deliver complete historical and ongoing files through S3. You ingest and store them, then build the filtering, enrichment, and query experience your users need. This provides the most control and is a strong fit for broad coverage, analytics, or model training, but requires the most data engineering.
• Webhooks: You define filters in TheirStack and we push matching records into your database. You store the records and build any additional filtering or customer-facing query experience. Webhooks consume API credits for each record delivered.
• API: Your product queries TheirStack on demand instead of ingesting the full database. This requires less data infrastructure, but every record returned consumes API credits, including records requested again.

Estimate your monthly volume first

Most of the decisions below — Webhooks vs Datasets, which plan, what it costs — depend on a single number: how many jobs per month your use case actually needs. The fastest way to find out is to let the data tell you, before you talk to us or pick a plan:

1. Open Job Search.
2. Add the exact filters you'll use in production — job titles, countries / markets, and any industry, technology, or seniority filter that defines your niche. The more precise your filters, the more accurate (and cheaper) your estimate.
3. Set Date posted to last 30 days.
4. Read the total results count at the top of the results. That number is a close approximation of the jobs you'd ingest per month with those filters.

Repeat with a few filter variations to see how volume changes — for example, adding a second country or a broader title list. This gives you a realistic min/max range to plan around.

Use that number to choose your path:

• Under ~2M records/month → API or Webhooks. These are usually the simplest options for job boards, niche feeds, lead generation, and on-demand product features. You pay only for the filtered slice you need.
• From ~2M to 5M records/month → compare API/Webhooks with Datasets. API and Webhooks remain available through self-serve plans, while Datasets may start to make economic and operational sense depending on how broad your coverage is and where you want filtering to happen. Contact us with your monthly volume, markets, filters, and historical-data needs, and we will help you compare both routes.
• Above ~5M records/month → Datasets usually become more cost-effective. The exact crossover still depends on whether you need the complete database or only a filtered slice.

Delivery methods

App (UI)

Use the App when you want to explore, iterate, and export data without writing code.

• What it’s best for
  • Target companies with active job openings
  • Find companies by tech stack or discover a company’s tech stack
  • Source candidates with niche technology experience
  • Ad-hoc searches, validating data quality, and exporting to CSV/Excel
• Pricing
  • Uses company credits
• Learn more

Datasets (bulk + historical)

Use Datasets when you need large-scale access for warehouses, analytics, or ML.

• What it’s best for
  • Expand your job board with fresh listings (backfilling)
  • Power sales intelligence platforms at scale
  • Convert competitors’ paying advertisers into your customers
  • Loading into a data warehouse or data lake (S3, BigQuery, Snowflake, etc.)
  • Historical analysis, model training, and high-volume consumption
• Pricing
  • Flat subscription; may become more cost-effective between roughly 2M and 5M records/month, depending on scope and architecture
• Learn more
  • Overview: Datasets
  • Jobs schema and coverage: Job data
  • Access steps: Obtaining access to your datasets

Webhooks (real-time)

Use Webhooks when you need to ingest fresh data continuously without polling.

• What it’s best for
  • Monitor past customers that are hiring again
  • Spot your competitors’ next moves
  • Expand your job board with fresh listings (backfilling)
  • Match job seekers with relevant opportunities (academies, bootcamps, career services)
  • Triggering workflows in Zapier, Make, n8n, or your own services via saved searches
• Pricing
  • Consumes API credits; pay per record returned
• Learn more
  • How to set up a webhook
  • Monitor your webhooks

API (on-demand)

Use the API when you need programmatic, on-demand access for enrichment or user-triggered actions.

• What it’s best for
  • Enrich companies with technographic data on demand (CRM, product records)
  • Power sales intelligence platforms with server-to-server lookups
  • Identify companies with problems your software solves
  • Synchronous product features that fetch data on demand
• Pricing
  • Consumes API credits; pay per record returned
• When not to use
  • If you’re polling or batching requests on a schedule, prefer Webhooks for push delivery, retries, and lower operational overhead
• Learn more

MCP (AI assistants)

Use the MCP server when you want your AI assistant to search TheirStack data conversationally.

• What it's best for
  • Asking natural-language questions about jobs, companies, and tech stacks from Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, or any MCP client
  • Quick ad-hoc research without writing code or learning the API
  • Create niche job newsletters with AI-assisted curation
• Pricing
  • Consumes API credits at the same rate as the REST API
• Learn more

Examples

• Sales or RevOps team wants to test a new ICP and export a CSV for outreach → App (UI)
• Product team needs new US tech jobs streamed into an internal DB every hour → Webhooks
• Data team wants multi-year job postings for trend analysis and modeling → Datasets