# Claude Code email finder without signing up to each provider

Use Claude Code as an email finder with one MCP connection and one prepaid balance, no account per provider. Setup, prices, and what a miss costs.

## Summary

You can use Claude Code as an email finder without making an account at Hunter, Tomba, Findymail or any other finder. You add one MCP server, sign in once in the browser, top up a prepaid balance, and Claude Code calls whichever finder the job needs. Setup is two commands.

This post shows the commands, what a lookup costs, and what you give up compared with signing up to a single finder directly. looot publishes this post, so check the prices on the live catalog before you trust them.

## How do I connect Claude Code to an email finder?

Run these two commands in a terminal. The first adds the looot MCP server at user scope. The second opens the browser sign-in.

Sign in with email or Google, pick the workspace and click Connect. There is no key to copy and no secret in a config file. A new workspace starts at zero, so the last step is a top-up. The minimum is $5 ([skill file](https://looot.ai/skill.md)), and you pay through a Stripe link that Claude Code shows you. Claude Code never types card details itself.

The [setup page](https://looot.ai/setup) lists the same step for other clients such as Cursor, Codex and Gemini CLI. For the wider list of finders, see [best email finder tools](https://looot.ai/blog/best-email-finder-tools).

## What can Claude Code do once it is connected?

It gets a tool for each job. For this post the two that matter are `find_work_email`, which returns an address for a name and a company, and `verify_email`, which checks one. Others cover phone numbers, company enrichment and people search.

The balance tool shows what is left. Searching the catalog, reading a price and checking an input are free. You pay when a lookup runs, and the price is quoted before it does.

## What does a lookup cost?

It depends on which finder answers, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest finder for the same job is wide. The [public catalog](https://looot.ai/public-catalog) lists every email finder with its price per call. The table below reads the live prices for four of them when the page loads.

Price per call. Prices read on 2026-10-13 from the live looot catalog. They change when a provider changes its price.

| Option | Cheapest provider | Price per call |
|---|---|---|
| Find a work email | Tomba | $0.0089 per call |
| Verify an email | Icypeas | $0.0019 per call |

To see what a top-up buys, divide it by the price in the row you plan to use. The [skill file](https://looot.ai/skill.md) works the same sum for email checks and company lookups.

## How does that compare with signing up to one finder?

Two other tools, with prices read from their own pages on 2026-10-13:

| Tool | What it charges | A miss | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter | Free 50 credits a month; Starter $49 a month for 2,000 credits, about $0.0245 a credit | Free, 1 credit per email found | hunter.io/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |
| Lusha | Free 40 credits a month; Starter $49.90 a month for 400 credits; a verified email costs 1 credit | Not stated on the page | lusha.com/pricing, read 2026-10-13 |

Compare Hunter's Starter credit price with the Hunter row in the live table above. Hunter's higher plans are cheaper per credit. If you run thousands of lookups a month on Hunter alone, a Hunter plan can be cheaper than a gateway. The gateway's case is different: you may need three finders, you do not know which one holds the person you want, and you do not want three accounts.

One caveat from the catalog itself. The entry for Hunter's finder says a search that finds nothing is charged the same as a hit, and its saved runs include misses billed at full price. Hunter's own page says a miss is free. The catalog note applies to calls through looot. Check it on the endpoint before a big run.

## How do I avoid paying for misses?

Ask Claude Code to use fallback. With `fallback` on, a miss on the first finder moves the run to the next provider of the same job, under a cost cap you set. [Automatic provider fallback for data APIs](https://looot.ai/blog/automatic-provider-fallback-for-data-apis) explains the order and the stops.

Put a cap in the prompt. A run with `maxCostUsd` set will skip any finder that would pass it.

## Try it: your first lookup

Use a real name and domain in place of the example. Step 2 is free.

## What this does not do

- It does not give you a free trial. A new workspace has no credit, and the minimum top-up is $5 per the [skill file](https://looot.ai/skill.md).
- It does not find an email for everyone. A miss is a normal answer.
- It does not send email. It finds and checks addresses.
- Scheduled lookups are not available yet, so a recurring list refresh runs by hand.
- We did not run the lookups in this post. Prices come from the live catalog and the pages cited, last checked 2026-10-13.

Author: the looot team.

## Questions

### Can Claude Code find email addresses?

Yes, through an MCP server that exposes an email finder. Add looot with one command, sign in, top up, and Claude Code can call `find_work_email` and `verify_email`.

### How do I use an email finder without signing up for it?

Use a gateway that holds the provider accounts. You sign in to one service and pay from one balance, and the gateway calls the finders. You trade some price at high volume for not managing accounts.

### How much does it cost to find an email with Claude Code?

It depends on the finder, and finders for the same job differ widely in price. The public catalog lists each one, and Claude Code reads the price before the call runs.

### Is there a free email finder for Claude Code?

Not through looot. Searching and pricing are free, but running a lookup needs a balance, and the minimum top-up is $5 ([skill file](https://looot.ai/skill.md)). Hunter and Lusha have free credits each month if you sign up to them directly.

### Do I need a Hunter account?

Not to use Hunter through looot. If you already have a Hunter plan with thousands of credits a month, using it directly can cost less.

### Does Claude Code need an API key?

No. Sign-in is OAuth in the browser. A headless setup can use an agent token instead.

### What if the first finder does not find the email?

Turn on fallback and the next finder runs, under a cost cap. The run record shows each attempt and whether the provider billed it.

## For agents

### Code (bash)

```bash
claude mcp add --scope user --transport http looot https://api.looot.ai/mcp
claude mcp login looot
```

### Find one work email

```text
Use looot to find a work email.
1. Set up https://looot.ai/skill.md.
2. Check my balance and tell me what is left.
3. Find the work email of Jane Doe at example.com with fallback on and a cap of $0.10. Show the provider, the price and the result.
4. Verify the email if one comes back, and tell me the total spent.
```