Clearbit Authentication

generated: '2026-08-13'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://help.clearbit.com/hc/en-us/articles/6045527495191-How-Do-I-Access-My-Clearbit-API-Key
  plus live 401 probes of person/company/reveal/prospector/risk/discovery.clearbit.com on 2026-08-13
docs: https://help.clearbit.com/hc/en-us/articles/6045527495191-How-Do-I-Access-My-Clearbit-API-Key
provider: Clearbit (HubSpot Breeze Intelligence)
providerId: clearbit
description: >-
  Clearbit authenticates with a single long-lived Secret API key scoped to the account, presented
  either as HTTP Basic (key as the username, empty password) or as an RFC 6750 Bearer token. There
  is no OAuth 2.0 authorization server, no OIDC discovery document, no scopes and no per-endpoint
  permission model — every key carries the full entitlement of its account's plan. Key issuance is
  now closed: Clearbit's own help centre states API keys are available only for accounts created
  in 2023 and earlier, so the authentication surface is live but unobtainable for new integrators.
schemes:
- name: SecretApiKeyBasic
  type: http
  scheme: basic
  in: header
  header: Authorization
  description: >-
    API key supplied as the HTTP Basic username with an empty password
    (Authorization: Basic base64("<api_key>:")).
  verified: probed
  evidence:
    request: 'curl -u "<key>:" https://person.clearbit.com/v2/people/find?email=...'
    http_status: 401
    body: '{"error":{"type":"invalid_api_key","message":"Invalid API key provided"}}'
    note: >-
      A deliberately invalid key produced invalid_api_key rather than auth_required, which proves
      the Basic credential was parsed and evaluated.
- name: SecretApiKeyBearer
  type: http
  scheme: bearer
  in: header
  header: Authorization
  description: 'API key supplied as a bearer token (Authorization: Bearer <api_key>).'
  verified: probed
  evidence:
    request: 'curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>" https://company.clearbit.com/v2/companies/find?domain=...'
    http_status: 401
    body: '{"error":{"type":"invalid_api_key","message":"Invalid API key provided"}}'
oauth2: false
openid_connect: false
mutual_tls: false
scopes:
  model: none
  note: >-
    No OAuth scopes and no permission scoping of any kind. One account-level secret key grants
    every endpoint the plan entitles. scopes/ is intentionally not emitted for this provider.
key_management:
  location: Clearbit dashboard - Settings > Keys & Settings
  visibility: Account Admins only
  rotation_documented: false
  issuance_status: closed
  issuance_note: >-
    "API keys are available for Clearbit accounts created in 2023 and earlier. If you signed up in
    2024, free or paid plans with API keys are not available." — help centre, last updated
    2025-02-16. Free Clearbit accounts were sunset 2025-04-30 and new accounts are not being
    created.
unauthenticated_endpoints:
- name: Autocomplete API
  base_url: https://autocomplete.clearbit.com
  path: /v1/companies/suggest
  auth: none
  verified: probed
  http_status: 200
  note: >-
    The only Clearbit endpoint that answers without a credential. Confirmed live 2026-08-13
    returning a JSON array of {name, domain, logo}; the logo field now returns null (see
    lifecycle/clearbit-lifecycle.yml).
failure_modes:
- http_status: 401
  type: auth_required
  message: Authentication is required for this action. Sign up at https://clearbit.com
  meaning: No Authorization header presented.
- http_status: 401
  type: invalid_api_key
  message: Invalid API key provided
  meaning: Authorization header presented but the credential did not resolve to an account.
transport:
  https_required: true
  hsts: true
  hsts_max_age: 63072000
  note: Every API host answered HTTP/2 with strict-transport-security preload on 2026-08-13.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com