Beauhurst is a research platform for analysts. UKDataAPI is an API for developers. Same underlying patent and grant data, 100x cheaper for programmatic access.
Beauhurst is the UK's leading platform for tracking high-growth companies, venture capital deals, and innovation ecosystems. It's excellent for analysts and investors who need a web dashboard to research individual companies. But at £3,000-10,000+ per year for a platform licence, it's expensive for developers who just need patent counts, grant data, or innovation signals programmatically. UKDataAPI's Innovation endpoint returns UK patent filings from the IPO, UKRI research grants, Innovate UK awards, and a proprietary Innovation Score — all via a single API call for £0.025. If you're building an innovation tracker, deal sourcing tool, or R&D monitoring system, UKDataAPI gives you the data Beauhurst visualises — at a fraction of the cost, in structured JSON.
| Feature | UKDataAPI | Beauhurst |
|---|---|---|
| UK patent data (IPO filings) | Included with filing counts and trends | Included in platform |
| UKRI research grants | Included — active projects and funding amounts | Included in platform |
| Innovate UK awards | Included with project details | Included in platform |
| Innovation Score | ✓0-100 composite with factor breakdown | No composite score — manual assessment |
| Company profile data | Full Companies House + FCA + Gazette | Companies House + proprietary enrichment |
| Deal and fundraising data | Not included | ✓Comprehensive VC/PE deal tracking |
| Accelerator and programme tracking | Not included | ✓Tracks 500+ UK accelerators |
| Output format | ✓Structured JSON API | Web platform + CSV export |
| Batch processing | ✓Up to 500 req/min | Manual or CSV bulk export |
| AI agent access (MCP/x402) | ✓Native support | Not available |
| Custom alerting | Build your own with API polling | ✓Built-in email alerts |
| Human research and curation | Automated data only | ✓Analyst-curated company profiles |
UKDataAPI
From £0.005/call (summary) to £0.025/call (full). Pay-as-you-go. Free tier: 200 credits/month.
Beauhurst
Platform licence from ~£3,000/year (single user). Enterprise pricing for API access and multiple seats.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \ "https://www.ukdatapi.com/api/v1/innovation/00445790?depth=standard" # Returns: patent filings, UKRI grants, Innovate UK awards, # Innovation Score (0-100) with factor breakdown # Cost: 12 credits (£0.025)
200 free credits. No contract. No credit card.