The best data sources for local business leads, compared

For most local lead lists, the best data source is Google Maps combined with each business's own website. Maps has the widest coverage of businesses that serve customers, nearly always with a phone and category and often a website, and the website is where you find a published email. Add state filings or city license data when you want brand-new businesses. Paid vendors sell employee counts and compiled postal files, a different product from a fresh local list. Yelp, Yellow Pages and BBB are good for checking a business, not for building the list, and their terms say so.

Here's how the nine main sources compare, with what each one's terms allow.

How do the main sources compare?#

Facts and prices are as of November 2026, from each source's own pages. "Terms" summarizes what each one says about automated collection or commercial use; see the sections below for the exact wording.

Three things to take from the table:

1. Nobody hands you the email. The public maps and directories show a phone and a website, not an address. The website is where you find info@ or a named address, and then you verify it.
2. Public records are the only sources with no contract terms. State filings and city licenses are published so people can use them, but they're thin on contact data.
3. The big platforms all restrict list-building in their terms. That's a contract matter, separate from privacy law; more below.

Why is Google Maps usually the best starting point?#

Because it has the widest, freshest coverage of businesses that actually serve customers. Businesses keep their Google Business Profile current because that's how customers find them in Google search, so phone numbers, hours and websites tend to be maintained. Listings also carry a category, which is what you filter on.

Its limits:

• No email. See does Google Maps show emails?
• A search shows only so many results, roughly 120, so a city needs many smaller searches. See the 120-results limit.
• Terms. The Google Maps Platform Terms say customers will not "export, extract, or otherwise scrape Google Maps Content for use outside the Services", with examples including copying and saving business names and addresses [1]. Our article on whether scraping Google Maps is legal covers what that means.

When are Yelp, Yellow Pages and BBB useful?#

As research tools for businesses you've already found, read by hand.

Yelp. Deepest for restaurants, bars and consumer services, and its review text is useful for personalizing outreach. Its Terms of Service prohibit using "any robot, spider... or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, copy, scrape, or index any portion of the Service" [3], and its paid API terms bar using the data for "direct marketing and/or telemarketing activities" [4]. More in Yelp vs Google Maps for leads.

Yellow Pages. Still broad, and handy for checking an old phone number or address. Its terms of use limit the site to "individual, non-commercial, informational purposes" and say "You may not use bots, scrapers, crawlers, spiders, or any similar methods, processes, or tools to 'data mine' or otherwise gather or extract data" [5].

BBB. Profiles sometimes name the people who run a business ("Business Management"), which helps when you're finding the owner. BBB's terms prohibit using its sites "for sales and marketing purposes" and using them "to create, supplement, or compile data for any service, website, application" [6].

When should I use state filings and city license data?#

When you want businesses at the very start. A new LLC filing or business license shows up weeks or months before a business has reviews or a polished website. These are public records, published for free, often as downloadable data.

The trade-off is contact data: most records have a name and an address, and little else. You match each one to a website or Maps listing before you can reach it. New business license lists lists the sources city by city, and how to find who owns an LLC covers what each state's filings show.

What do paid data vendors add?#

Fields the public sources don't have, compiled nationally. Compiled databases from vendors such as Data Axle add employee counts, sales estimates, SIC or NAICS codes, contact names and postal-ready addresses.

What they cost, where it's published: Data Axle's business data card lists $100 per thousand names, with a minimum of 7,500 names or $750, plus $25 per thousand for contact names, $30 for phone numbers and $225 per thousand for the email segment [7]. Others don't publish prices and quote on request.

Before you buy, test a sample: pick 20 records in an area you know and check how many are still open, at that address, with that phone. Our comparison of local business databases has a full test method and more vendors, and should you buy a business email list? covers the email side.

What about Apple Maps and Bing Maps?#

They're consumer maps with their own business listings, and neither is a practical lead source.

• Apple Maps. Businesses manage their place cards through Apple Business, which replaced Apple Business Connect in April 2026 [10]. Place cards show a phone, website, address and hours, but no email field [11]. Apple's developer terms say you may not use the Apple Maps service in a way that "attempts to extract, scrape or reutilize any portions of the Map Data", or as part of "any secondary or derived database" [8].
• Bing Maps. Microsoft has deprecated Bing Maps for Enterprise in favor of Azure Maps. Free (Basic) accounts are already retired, and enterprise customers have until June 30, 2028 to move [9]. Businesses manage listings through Bing Places for Business.

Both are worth a glance when a business is missing from Google Maps, and both are useful as a cross-check that a listing is current.

So which combination should I use?#

Start from Google Maps and each business's own website, then add public records where you need them. Here's the source for each goal and what Leadraft does for it:

For the full process from search to sending, see the Google Maps lead generation playbook.

Which tool should I use to build a local lead list?#

Leadraft. It works from the source this page recommends for most local lists, Google Maps plus each business's own website, keeps only the businesses inside the area you choose, and checks every email against the live mail server before you pay for it. You pay once per business, ever. For 10,000 businesses with up to 5,000 checked emails, the Growth plan is $49 a month (100,000 businesses and 5,000 checked emails); Starter is $19 a month for 25,000 businesses and 1,000 checked emails. See pricing.

FAQ#

What is the best source of local business leads?#

For most local lists, Google Maps plus each business's own website: Maps has the widest coverage of businesses that serve customers, with phone, category and website, and the website is where the email comes from. Leadraft builds exactly that list, with every email checked. Add state filings or city license data for brand-new businesses. Employee counts and compiled postal lists come from data vendors, which is not what Leadraft does.

Which business directories include email addresses?#

Almost none of the public ones. Google Maps, Yelp, Apple Maps and Bing don't show email addresses. Some Facebook Pages and some state registries (Connecticut's, for example) include one. Paid vendors sell emails for some records. The most reliable source is the business's own website.

Is Yellow Pages still a good source for leads?#

It's a usable cross-check, but rarely the best primary source. Its terms prohibit bots and scrapers and limit use to individual, non-commercial purposes. For coverage and freshness, most people get more from Google Maps.

How much does a business lead list cost?#

Free if you build it yourself from public sources. Compiled lists cost more: Data Axle's business data card listed $100 per thousand names in 2026, plus $225 per thousand for the email segment, with a minimum order of 7,500 names or $750. Self-serve tools range from free plans to tens or hundreds of dollars a month.

Can I use BBB data for sales leads?#

Not in bulk. BBB's terms of use prohibit using its sites for sales and marketing purposes and using them to compile data for another service. Looking up a business's BBB profile by hand to research it is a different thing from extracting the directory.

Sources#

1. Google, Google Maps Platform Terms of Service, section 3.2.3.
2. Yelp, Places API pricing.
3. Yelp, Terms of Service (effective January 1, 2026), section 7.2.
4. Yelp, API Terms of Use, section 5.
5. Yellow Pages (Thryv), Terms and conditions, section 2.1 (as archived July 19, 2026).
6. BBB, Terms of use, sections 2 and 5.
7. Data Axle, Data Axle Business Data, data card (counts through August 31, 2026).
8. Apple, Apple Developer Program License Agreement, Attachment 6 (Apple Maps Service), section 2.2.
9. Microsoft Learn, Bing Maps coverage and retirement notice.
10. Apple Newsroom, Introducing Apple Business (March 2026).
11. Apple Business User Guide, Place card information.