Compare the API products, not just the brands
A planning application API and a construction-intelligence platform can serve different jobs. Start with the workflow you need: records inside your own product, researched project intelligence for a sales team, or a land-search application. Then compare the specific API, dataset and licence offered for that workflow.
The Glenigan vs Barbour ABI vs PlanWire comparison gives a source-linked overview, including Searchland. This guide is the practical test to run before choosing one. For application search inside your software, inspect the PlanWire UK planning API and its published paid plans.
1. Establish which product you are evaluating
Glenigan and Barbour ABI offer construction-intelligence products as well as API integrations. Glenigan publishes an LDP API tutorial; Barbour ABI publishes API fundamentals. Ask which records, enrichment and delivery options are included in your proposed agreement. Public documentation does not establish the commercial terms of a particular dataset.
Searchland also has API documentation. Evaluate its API allowance and dataset access separately from the price or capabilities of its graphical application. A user-seat price is not a like-for-like API quote.
PlanWire supplies planning applications and source evidence inside your own software. It is not a contact database, CRM or guarantee of construction starts. That distinction matters particularly for a supplier expecting ready-to-use sales leads.
2. Test one territory with known records
Choose councils your product actually needs. Assemble a small set of application references from their official planning registers, including recent submissions, older decisions and amended proposals. Check whether each provider returns the same reference, address, proposal and relevant dates. Record missing fields rather than silently treating them as negative answers.
For PlanWire, use the coverage evidence and UK planning-data hub before running requests. A source inventory count does not establish complete history, field completeness or current operation in every authority. Radius searches also depend on available coordinates, so compare them with council-filtered results.
3. Compare changes, not just the first response
A useful first response is only part of an integration. Revisit known records after a source change. Check how decisions, amendments and document links are represented, how your stored record should be updated, and whether the source evidence lets you investigate a discrepancy.
Ask about polling, webhooks, retry behaviour and recovery after an outage. PlanWire's webhook documentation and proptech integration walkthrough describe the supported approach. Do not assume an application submission, a recorded decision and a construction start are interchangeable events.
4. Price the same workload and usage rights
Estimate requests for your initial import, daily searches, record lookups and recovery. Include the territory, history, fields, update frequency and number of consuming systems. Ask each provider for terms against that same workload, including quotas, overages, retention and permitted use inside customer-facing software.
PlanWire's published plans are the starting point for its request allowances. Free sample access is for evaluating the integration; check the current access limits before assuming a sample proves full production coverage. Do not infer another provider's API costs from an unrelated product subscription.
5. Make the decision against a recorded result
Keep an evaluation sheet with each known reference, expected source fields, returned fields, missing values, request outcome and review date. Separate mandatory requirements from desirable enrichment. A provider that fits one territory or software workflow may not fit another.
Developers can get a sample key and run their first request. Commercial teams can use the supplier territory evaluation to inspect evidence with their technical team. For a finished sales application, establish the implementation or partner route before buying API access.