Which PermitStack Product Do You Need? API vs. Leads vs. Bulk Export

PermitStack sells building-permit data, but not everyone wants the same thing with it. Some people want to build software. Some want homeowners to mail. Some want a big spreadsheet. Those are three different products, and picking the right one takes about two minutes. Here is the plain-English version.

The three products, in one breath

• Permit API — a REST API to query 65 million+ U.S. building permits (address, work type, dates, value, contractor). For developers and analysts who want to build or research.
• Contractor Leads — done-for-you homeowner leads with the property owner's mailing address, in an exclusive ZIP and trade you claim. For contractors who want to send mail and win jobs.
• Bulk Data Export — large CSV files of permit data delivered by email, no code required. For loading permit data into your own system in one shot.

"I want to build software or analyze the market" → Permit API

If you are a developer, a proptech startup, or an analyst, the API is your product. You get a normalized REST endpoint across 7,000+ U.S. cities in all 50 states, with every permit classified into categories (solar, roofing, HVAC, new construction, and more), geocoded, and filterable by city, ZIP, category, date, value, and contractor. There is a free tier (100 requests/day) so you can try it before paying. See the API docs for the full schema.

What the API is not: it is not a list of homeowners to mail. It contains the permit records, and the property owner's name and mailing address are not part of those records (more on that below).

"I want homeowners to mail or call" → Contractor Leads

If you are a roofer, solar installer, HVAC company, or any trade that markets to homeowners, you want Contractor Leads. This is the product that includes the owner mailing address, because we build that layer ourselves. You claim a ZIP code and a trade, and every qualified lead in it is yours alone, with one contractor per ZIP and trade so you are not competing with five other companies over the same house.

This is the piece people most often mix up with the API. The API tells you a roof was permitted at an address; Leads tells you who owns that home and where to reach them, filtered to the ones actually worth contacting.

"I want a big CSV to load into my own system" → Bulk Data Export

If you would rather not write code and just want the data in a file, use Bulk Data Export. Pick your jurisdictions, and we email you a CSV package you can drop into a spreadsheet, CRM, or database. It is the fastest way to seed your own system with permit history without touching an API.

Does any of them include the property owner's name?

Short answer: only Contractor Leads includes owner contact data, and even then it is the mailing address (owner names are redacted by law in a growing number of states). The API and Bulk Export are permit records, not owner records. This trips up a lot of people, so we wrote a whole explainer on it: Permit Data vs. Property-Owner Data: Why They're Not the Same Thing.

Quick decision guide

• Build an app, dashboard, or model → Permit API
• Do market research or find renovation waves → Permit API (or Bulk Export)
• Send direct mail / cold outreach to homeowners → Contractor Leads
• Load permit history into your own CRM or database → Bulk Data Export
• Look up one property's permit history → the free Search tool or Property History