Copper API review
CRM that lives inside Google Workspace
# every Copper Developer API call carries all three X-PW-AccessToken: $COPPER_API_KEY X-PW-Application: developer_api X-PW-UserEmail: owner@yourcompany.com # base: api.copper.com/developer_api/
The Copper API is the developer side of the CRM built for Google Workspace, and its metering is unusual. Requests are limited to 180 a minute on a rolling window, the same on every plan that has the API. What the plan changes is how many contacts you may store: 2,500 on Basic, 15,000 on Professional, unlimited on Business.
So a Copper CRM API integration has two ceilings, and the second one is the one that bites. A sync that only reads stays inside 180 a minute indefinitely. An enrichment job that writes everything it finds can cross 2,500 contacts in its first run, and the fix for that is a more expensive seat rather than a slower loop.
Authentication is an API key sent in three custom headers, or OAuth 2.0 for applications other people install. Copper calls the product the Developer API, and its documentation lives at developer.copper.com, with a Postman collection to start from.
The rest of the category is in the CRM and sync APIs listing.
What the Copper Developer API reaches
Copper's reference is organized by record type, and the list is the CRM itself: everything a rep sees in the Gmail sidebar has an endpoint behind it.
| Area | What it holds | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Leads, people, companies | The contact records the plan caps | The core records an integration creates. |
| Opportunities and projects | Pipelines and post-sale work | Projects are Copper's own object, not a custom one. |
| Tasks and activities | The timeline | Custom activity types are definable through the API. |
| Custom fields and connect fields | Your own schema | Connect fields link one record to another. |
| Tags, related items, field layouts | Organization and display | |
| Webhooks | Change notifications | Push instead of polling against the minute limit. |
Search endpoints return 20 records a page by default and up to 200 with page_size, and stop at the first 100,000 matches whatever the pagination. The X-PW-TOTAL header gives an upper bound on how many records a search matched, which is enough to plan the pages before reading them.
A Copper user's access can be restricted by team permissions, and the API honors those restrictions. Copper's own advice is to use an admin's credentials for integrations, and to create a separate, non-personal user so records written through the API are owned by the integration rather than by a person.
Copper API pricing, plan by plan
Copper API pricing is seat pricing: the API comes with the subscription, and the plan you choose sets the contact cap rather than the request rate.
Basic
- 2,500 contact limit
- Pipelines and task automation
- Contact enrichment
Professional
- 15,000 contact limit
- Workflow automation, bulk email and reporting
- Integrations
Business
- Unlimited contacts
- Email series and custom reports
- Multi-currency and premium support
Annual billing takes up to 26% off, and every plan starts with a free trial; there is no free tier after it. Copper says 63% of customers start on Professional, which is also the first plan whose card lists integrations. Its feature comparison names the API and embedded integration SDK as a feature, but the capture read for this review does not show which plans carry it, so confirm the plan before building.
At 180 requests a minute, a Copper integration can write roughly 10,800 records an hour on whichever plan carries the API. Basic will not hold 10,800 contacts, so the rate is rarely the constraint below Business. Model the number of people and companies the integration will create in a year, and pick the plan that holds them.
180 a minute, and 3 a second on bulk
Copper API rate limits are published in Copper's request guide: 180 requests a minute for all API calls, evaluated on a rolling window, and a second limit of 3 requests a second on the bulk APIs. Exceed either and the response is a 429.
The general limit
Every call, the same limit on every plan that has the API.
- 180 requests a minute across API calls.
- Rolling window, so a burst at the end of one minute still counts at the start of the next.
- Returns 429 once reached.
- The same on every plan that carries the API.
The bulk limit
On top of the general one.
- Bulk APIs are limited to 3 requests a second.
- Also returns 429 when exceeded.
- Bulk calls still count toward the 180 a minute.
- Search pages of 200 are the cheaper way to read many records.
The contact limit is a ceiling on the database, not on the API. Copper meters storage where most CRMs here meter throughput, so the limit an integration meets first depends on whether it reads or writes contacts.
Read that way, the Copper API rate limits are generous for what most Copper integrations do. Three a second is enough to keep a sidebar CRM in step with a warehouse, and the plan you need is decided by how many contacts you keep, not by how fast you talk to them.
How to create a Copper API key
A Copper API key is generated in the web app under System settings, API Keys, with a label for each key so you can tell integrations apart. Users can hold several valid keys at once, and admins can see every key users have generated.
API key
For individual users and your own integrations.
- Sent as X-PW-AccessToken, never as a Bearer token.
- Must travel with X-PW-UserEmail, the email of the user who made it.
- And with X-PW-Application: developer_api.
- HTTPS with TLS 1.2 or higher is required.
OAuth 2.0
Copper's preferred route for apps.
- Documented with an overview, a quickstart and the full flow.
- Suited to applications other Copper accounts install.
- An embedded app SDK sits alongside it for building inside Copper.
The usual first failure is sending the key alone. Copper authenticates the key together with the email of the user who generated it and the application name, so a request missing any of the three is rejected even with a valid key.
For one company's own sync, a labeled key on a dedicated integration user is the whole setup, and Copper's own guidance points that way. Reach for OAuth when the integration is something other Copper customers will connect.
Where the Copper API documentation lives
The Copper API documentation lives at developer.copper.com, a single reference with the introduction, authentication, request rules and every record type in one navigation.
| Surface | Where | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | developer.copper.com | The base URL, the changelog and the change policy. |
| Authentication | developer.copper.com/introduction/authentication.html | API keys and the OAuth 2.0 guides. |
| Requests | developer.copper.com/introduction/requests.html | The three headers and the rate limits. |
| Pagination | developer.copper.com/introduction/pagination.html | Page sizes, X-PW-TOTAL and the 100,000 cap. |
| Postman collection | developer.copper.com/download/copper_postman_collection.json | Import and start calling. |
The API base moved from api.prosperworks.com to api.copper.com/developer_api/ when the product was renamed, and the old domain only redirected until early 2022, so code from the ProsperWorks era needs its base URL changed before anything else. Copper also keeps a public changelog and a written change policy for the Developer API.
Copper's own product walkthrough
Copper publishes this on its own channel, so it is Copper's account of Copper, not ours. It is here because a rate card cannot show you the thing moving, and a minute or two of the product is faster than any paragraph on this page at telling you whether the shape of it fits yours.
YouTube · Copper Organize your business with Copper, the Google Workspace CRM 0:48 · Published November 2023A 48 second brand film for Copper as the Google Workspace CRM. It says nothing about the Developer API, the 180 requests a minute or the contact caps, and Copper's channel carries no API walkthrough, so treat it as the positioning and the rest of this page as the integration detail.
Published 15 November 2023 on Copper, the channel Copper's own pages link to, and read on 23 October 2026. Nothing in it is a source for a price or a limit on this page: every figure in the tables above comes from a Copper page.
Strengths and limits
Copper is the CRM for teams that will not leave Gmail, and the API is plain, predictable and capped in an unusual place.
What it does well
- A published rate limit of 180 requests a minute, the same on every plan that has the API.
- API keys with labels, several per user, and admin visibility of all of them.
- Webhooks, so a sync can be pushed rather than polled.
- A Postman collection and environment to start from.
- A public changelog and a written change policy.
- Up to 26% off on annual billing.
Where it falls short
- Plans cap stored contacts at 2,500 and 15,000 below Business.
- Bulk APIs are limited to 3 requests a second.
- Searches stop at 100,000 matching records.
- No free tier after the trial, and no MCP server yet: Copper's read-only Claude beta is due in November 2026.
- Three headers on every call, including the token owner's email.
- Which plans carry the API is not shown in the pricing capture read here.
The two columns meet at the contact cap. Everything about the API itself is ordinary and documented, so the decision is really whether a team that lives in Google Workspace will keep few enough contacts to stay below Business.
Who should actually buy this
Buy Copper when the team lives in Gmail and will not adopt a CRM that is anywhere else, and when the integration reads more than it writes. The API is simple, the limit is published and the same on every plan that has the API, and the Workspace fit is the one argument Copper wins outright.
Model the contact count before the seat. An integration that creates people and companies from enrichment or form fills crosses 2,500 quickly, and the plans step from $29 to $69 to $134 a seat on that axis alone. If the honest number is well above 15,000, the plan is Business, and the comparison changes.
Against Pipedrive, the trade is where the ceiling sits. Pipedrive meters API use in a daily token budget and does not price its plans on a contact cap; Copper caps contacts and meters API use in a plain 180 a minute. A write-heavy integration fits Pipedrive better, and a Workspace-first team that mostly reads fits Copper.
Before you build against it
Three things to settle first, each one read off Copper's own pages. The ticks are remembered in this browser, so you can come back to a half-finished integration.
If Copper is not the answer
Three providers in the CRM and sync APIs listing that solve the same problem differently. Each one is a trade, and the trade is named.
HubSpot
Free tierFree, metered on requests rather than on contacts stored, with a published 100 requests per 10 seconds. It answers both of Copper's ceilings without a price.
Pipedrive
$14/seat/mo$14 a seat with full API access and a published token budget. A paid replacement metered on API use rather than on stored contacts.
Attio
$44/user/moA free plan with the full REST API, objects defined in code and 100 reads a second. For teams that want to build on the CRM, not just in it.
The full set, organized by the reason people leave, is on the Copper alternatives page.
Copper against the obvious rival
Same rate cards, read side by side, with the arithmetic done on a worked volume rather than left to you: HubSpot vs Copper and Copper vs Pipedrive. Every pairing in the directory is on the compare hub.
Calling these APIs one by one? Run them from one Clay table.
Clay runs a waterfall across 150+ data providers from one table, without a separate contract with each. A lookup that finds nothing costs no data credit, and the free plan includes 500 actions a month.
Frontal is a Clay Elite Studio Partner.
Nothing worth quoting yet
We searched Reddit for threads about the Copper API and have found none worth quoting yet. When one turns up, it goes here, and nothing on this page leans on an unquoted paraphrase.
Copper API, answered
Is the Copper API free?
No free tier. Free trial, and annual billing takes up to 26% off. Paid plans start at $23/seat/mo annual.
How much does the Copper API cost?
Copper starts at $23/seat/mo annual. It bills per seat, by subscription. Read from Copper's own pricing page on 24 October 2026.
What are the Copper API rate limits?
180 requests a minute on a rolling window, and 3 a second on bulk APIs. 429 when exceeded.
How do I get a Copper API key?
A Copper API key is generated in the web app under System settings, API Keys, with a label for each key so you can tell integrations apart. Requests authenticate with API key, or OAuth 2.0 for user-facing integrations. The current steps are in Copper's own documentation, which is authoritative on anything that has changed since 24 October 2026.
Does Copper have an MCP server?
Not one its own documentation describes, at the time of writing. Copper ships a REST API, webhooks and bulk or async jobs instead.