Zabalist vs Shovels.ai
A Shovels alternative for Texas construction, permit, and contractor data — compared as of August 2026.
150K+ companies · 400K+ projects · 400K+ permits · 335K+ TDLR projects · All 254 Texas counties
TL;DR
Shovels covers more of the country; Zabalist covers Texas more deeply — TDLR licensing, appraisal history, and government bids joined to every company, not just a permit lookup.
Choose Shovels if…
you need permit or contractor data outside Texas, or you specifically need zoning/council-meeting intelligence and are fine with a $599/mo+ entry price.
Choose Zabalist if…
you need Texas contractor licensing, entity resolution, government bids, and appraisal history joined together — and want to start free instead of at $599/mo.
Zabalist vs Shovels.ai, side by side
| Category | Zabalist | Shovels.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Texas only — statewide (all 254 Texas counties), deepest in Austin/Travis County | National — 2,000–2,750 jurisdictions, ~85% of U.S. population |
| Data joins | TDLR statewide contractor licensing + deduplicated entity work-history graph + ESBD government bids with SBA/HUB certifications + county appraisal/deed history, joined in one schema | Permits + contractor search + property characteristics + gov-meeting/zoning intelligence; no TDLR licensing or appraisal join |
| Pricing | Free (500 calls/mo) · Developer $49/mo (10,000 calls) · Growth $149/mo (100,000 calls) · Scale $399/mo (500,000 calls) — published, self-serve, as of August 2026 | From $599/mo; free tier 250 pings; Enterprise Data License custom — as of August 2026 |
| API access | REST API with self-serve keys, a free tier, and an MCP server for AI agents | REST API, CLI, GIS plugins (QGIS/ArcGIS), warehouse delivery |
| Self-serve | Yes, from Free | Partial — entry API tier is self-serve; Enterprise Data License is custom/sales-led |
Shovels.ai figures compiled independently as of August 2026; see sources below.
Pricing, as of August 2026
Online/API access starts at $599/month; the free tier allows 250 pings (down from a prior 1,000). Enterprise Data License (EDL) pricing is custom, delivered into Snowflake, BigQuery, or Databricks — as of August 2026.
Free
Free
500 calls/mo
Developer
$49/mo
10,000 calls/mo
Growth
$149/mo
100,000 calls/mo
Scale
$399/mo
500,000 calls/mo
What Shovels.ai offers
Shovels positions itself as "the intelligence layer for the built world": address search, contractor search by radius or ZIP, property characteristics, government-meeting intelligence (council and zoning agendas), a natural-language AI assistant called Charlie, and an audience-building product for marketers. Delivery spans a REST API, a CLI, GIS plugins for QGIS/ArcGIS, and warehouse delivery for enterprise customers.
Genuine strengths
- 180M permits and 30M addresses across 2,000–2,750 jurisdictions — roughly 85% of the U.S. population
- Well-funded: $6.5–7.6M raised across seed and Series A (Base10 Partners and others)
- 39 employees as of January 2026 and a January 2026 acquisition of ReZone AI
- Government-meeting and zoning intelligence — council agendas, not just permits
- Charlie, a natural-language AI query assistant, plus warehouse delivery (Snowflake/BigQuery/Databricks) for enterprise buyers
Where Zabalist wins for Texas
- TDLR statewide contractor licensing joined to project history — Shovels has no equivalent license join anywhere in its published product
- A deduplicated entity graph with work-history links, so "who built this" resolves to one canonical company instead of name variants
- ESBD government bid data joined to the same contractor graph, including SBA 8(a)/HUBZone/WOSB certification fields
- County appraisal and deed history joined to permits and projects
- Transparent published pricing starting free, versus Shovels' $599/month entry tier
When Shovels.ai is the better choice
We would rather tell you this up front than have you find out after signing up.
- National coverage — if you need permit data outside Texas, Shovels covers it and Zabalist does not
- Far larger raw permit corpus (180M nationally vs. a Texas-only dataset)
- Government-meeting and zoning-agenda intelligence, which Zabalist does not offer
- A more mature enterprise motion: warehouse delivery, a CLI, GIS plugin support, and a natural-language AI assistant already shipped
- More engineering scale and funding behind continued national expansion
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Shovels alternative for Texas construction data?
For Texas-specific work, Zabalist is a Shovels alternative that adds TDLR statewide contractor licensing, a deduplicated entity work-history graph, ESBD government bid data with SBA/HUB certifications, and county appraisal/deed history — joined into one schema. Zabalist starts free; Shovels' API/online access starts at $599/month as of August 2026. If you need permit coverage outside Texas, Shovels' national footprint (180M permits, 2,000+ jurisdictions) is the better fit.
How much does Shovels cost in 2026?
As of August 2026, Shovels' online/API access starts at $599/month, with a free tier limited to 250 pings. Enterprise Data License (EDL) pricing is custom and quoted for warehouse delivery into Snowflake, BigQuery, or Databricks.
Zabalist vs Shovels — what is the actual difference?
Shovels is a national permit and contractor intelligence platform with the largest published permit corpus and gov-meeting/zoning data. Zabalist is Texas-only but joins TDLR licensing, an entity work-history graph, government bids (ESBD + SBA/HUB certifications), and county appraisal/deed history into one schema — depth Shovels does not offer for any state, including Texas.
Does Shovels have a free tier?
Yes, as of August 2026 Shovels offers a free tier limited to 250 pings. Zabalist's free tier includes 500 API calls per month with no credit card required.
Competitor information on this page was independently compiled from public sources (pricing pages, product docs, and press coverage) as of August 2026. Vendors change pricing and features without notice. If something here is out of date or inaccurate, tell us at [email protected] and we will correct it.
Sources
- https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/knowledge-base/getting-started/pricing-structure
- https://www.shovels.ai/api
- https://tracxn.com/d/companies/shovels/__jzIhWYTInxg_TRix7B2pLFXZ237f5SHISuFrjB1z91w/funding-and-investors
- https://www.shovels.ai/blog/shovels-raises-5m-seed-round-to-scale-ai-powered-building-permit-platform/
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