01 · API-first
Built to fit your stack
Plota delivers JSON, CSV, feeds, and webhooks into your own product, CRM, warehouse, dashboard, map, or automation. It is not trying to become your team's main workspace.
Planning data, without paying for another software suite.
Plota is built for teams that already have a CRM, map, dashboard, data platform, or product. You pay for API access to structured UK planning data, not a bundle of user accounts and software features you may never use.
No card. No sales call. Inspect the response before choosing a plan.
392UK councils monitored
99%+Classification accuracy
DailyChecks of council portals
10M+Applications held
2016+Historic coverage
Why the model costs less
You pay for the data, not the software around it.
Broader planning, land, and site-sourcing platforms have their place. They also include software, workflows, and commercial structures that are unnecessary when your team mainly needs data inside systems it already operates.
02 · No seat bundle
Usage, not named users
Plans are priced by requests. A platform's headline price typically buys a single seat, with API access an add-on above it. With Plota the API is the product, and colleagues who see the data in your own tools cost nothing extra.
03 · Focused scope
Planning data, deliberately
You are not funding a large suite of land appraisal, prospecting, campaign, ownership, or project-management tools. Plota concentrates on making planning application data easy to retrieve and use.
04 · Self-service
Less ceremony before you build
Published plans, public documentation, a machine-readable schema, and an automated demo key reduce the cost of demonstrations, bespoke quotations, and manual onboarding.
A different buying decision
Do you need a platform, or the data?
Plota's planning records are available through public search, with source links and live coverage information that can be checked at any time. That keeps the data open to continuous scrutiny, rather than asking buyers to judge quality only from a curated demonstration.
Buying consideration
Broader data platform
Plota API
Primary product
A ready-made software workspace
Structured planning data
Typical commercial model
May involve users, modules, regions, credits, or a bespoke contract
Published request allowances
Interface
Supplier's maps, dashboards, and workflow
Your product, CRM, map, BI tool, or warehouse
Starting process
Often a demo, scope, and commercial discussion
Demo key, docs, and self-service plans
Inspecting data quality
Often assessed through a demo, trial, or selected sample
Public search, source-linked records, and coverage information remain inspectable at any time
Best suited to
Teams wanting a complete off-the-shelf workflow
Teams building or integrating their own workflow
Commercial models vary by provider and contract. This comparison describes common product-model differences rather than claiming that every supplier follows the same approach.
Example search requestGET
GET /v1/applications
?postcode=SW11
&category=extensions
&limit=50
{
"data": [
{ "reference": "2026/2284/FUL", ... },
{ "reference": "2026/2311/HOU", ... },
...
],
"meta": {
"count": 50,
"next_cursor": "eyJzIj..."
}
}Up to 50 applications returned
on a Starter search page
on a Starter search page
1 API request
The unit matters
A request is not an application.
Plota counts calls to the API. It does not count every planning application in the response as a separate request. That makes usage easier to understand and forecast.
1
Make one search callFilter by postcode, council, category, date, status, keyword, or location.
2
Receive a page of recordsStarter supports up to 50 results in a search response; Pro 100, Business 250.
3
Use one request from your allowanceThe number of applications returned does not turn that call into multiple requests.
Simple request estimator
Indicative only. Actual usage depends on your integration.
15,000 requests/month
Indicative planStarter · £49/month
Compare all plans
Published pricing
Every plan, side by side.
Each paid plan includes commercial use of the data in your own products and services, subject to the API terms. The demo tier is free, one-time, and for evaluation. Rate limits and quotas are hard caps: no automatic overage charges.
| Feature | Demo | Starter | Pro | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Application details | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Category filters | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Council source links | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Nearby search | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Saved alert feeds | 1 | 5 | 25 | 100 | Custom |
| CSV & bulk export | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bulk export rows / month | - | 25k | 100k | 500k | Custom |
| Webhooks | No | 5 | 25 | 100 | Custom |
| Commercial use in your product | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Docs | Priority | Priority + setup | SLA | |
| Resell raw data | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Bulk data delivery | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Contact Data add-on +£29/mo
Add applicant, agent and case-officer details to your responses - applicant name, agent name and company, the agent's email and phone, and the council case officer's name and direct contact details where the council publishes them. Names and details are as published on councils' public registers. Contact fields on up to 10,000 records a month, one allowance across all contact fields. Available with a Starter subscription and above.
These come straight from councils' public registers, so they're there wherever the council publishes them - see live coverage, or validate it yourself on the free demo key. Usage rules are in the API terms.
Choose the right product
API-first is a strength, but it is not for everyone.
Plota is built for teams that want planning data inside their own products and workflows. A complete platform may be a better fit for teams that want an off-the-shelf workspace.
Plota is likely a good fit when…
Your team has an existing system or wants control over the final experience.
- You are adding planning data to a product or customer portal.
- You are creating a white-labelled internal tool, or want to give wider teams access without buying individual seats.
- You want records in your CRM, warehouse, BI tool, or internal map.
- You need a repeatable feed, export, or webhook.
- You prefer published usage allowances to named-user licensing.
A full platform may suit you better when…
You want an off-the-shelf workspace rather than an integration.
- You need a complete site-sourcing or appraisal workflow immediately.
- You want bundled ownership, constraints, or project intelligence.
- You're happy signing in to the supplier's platform and working there, rather than bringing the data into your own CRM or workflow.
In that case, an end-to-end platform such as Searchland, LandTech, or Glenigan may be a better fit.
Planning API pricing FAQ
Straight answers about the price.
The commercial questions buyers ask before choosing between a data API and a platform subscription.
Why is the Plota planning API cheaper than many planning data platforms?
Plota is built API-first. You pay for programmatic access to structured planning application data rather than a bundled software suite, named user seats, or a multi-user workspace you may not need. Broader platforms can include useful additional tools, but those tools also change the product and its cost.
Does Plota charge per user?
No. Plota API plans are based on API usage rather than named user seats. Your team can use the data in internal tools and permitted commercial products, subject to the allowance and API terms for the plan.
Does one API request equal one planning application?
No. A request is one call to an API endpoint. A search request can return multiple planning applications, up to the page-size limit for the plan - 50 on Starter, 100 on Pro, 250 on Business. Plota does not treat every application returned as a separate API request.
What does the £49 Starter API plan include?
Starter includes 20,000 API requests per month at up to 120 a minute, up to 50 results per search page, 25,000 export rows per month, five saved alert feeds each able to drive a signed webhook, historic applications from 2016, email support, and commercial use subject to the API terms.
Is the data cheaper because it is less open to inspection?
No. Plota exposes its planning dataset through the public search interface, publishes council coverage and last-checked information, and links records back to the official council source where available. The data remains open to inspection before and after subscribing, which makes gaps, stale records, and formatting problems easier to identify and correct.
Do I need a developer to use Plota?
Not always. Developers can integrate the REST API directly, while other teams can use CSV exports, webhooks, and integration guides for Zapier, Make, n8n, Google Sheets, Airtable, HubSpot, and Pipedrive.
See whether Plota fits your workflow.
Generate a free demo key, make your first request, inspect the source-linked records, and decide with real data rather than a sales presentation.