Alternatives
A Barbour ABI alternative you can try today
Barbour ABI sells planning data as construction intelligence, through sales. PlanWire gives you the same public planning record as a documented API you can evaluate in a sandbox before paying anything.
Why people look for a Barbour ABI alternative
Barbour ABI, now part of Landmark Information Group, launched a Planning API in early 2025. It is aimed at construction intelligence buyers: access is arranged through sales, entry pricing starts in the hundreds per month, and documentation sits behind a login.
PlanWire covers the same underlying public record — planning applications from UK local planning authorities — but is designed to be evaluated and integrated without a conversation.
PlanWire compared with Barbour ABI
| PlanWire | Barbour ABI | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting access | Instant self-serve key | Sales call |
| Free evaluation | Free sandbox, 25 calls/day | No public sandbox |
| Pricing | Published: £0 sandbox / £49+VAT Developer / £199+VAT Production / £499+VAT Business | Not published — quoted on enquiry |
| API documentation | Public, no key needed to read | Not published publicly |
| Real-time alerts | HMAC-signed webhooks | Email alerts |
| Coverage | 375 monitored sources across 382 UK LPAs, 18.3M applications | UK-wide |
Which one you should pick
Choose Barbour ABI if you want construction intelligence with the surrounding commercial dataset and are buying it as a sales tool.
Choose PlanWire if you want the planning record itself, in a documented REST API with source links back to each council, and you would rather test it this afternoon than book a demo.
Try it before you talk to anyone
A free key takes about thirty seconds and needs no sales call. If the API shape suits you, Developer is £49/month + VAT and Production £199/month + VAT, both listed publicly.
Get a free API key Full comparison