The Google People API reads and writes contacts inside a user's Google account. That's exactly right if your feature is "sync with the user's Google Contacts," and overkill for everything else. You inherit OAuth consent screens, sensitive scopes, verification review, and data that lives in Google, not your app.
Signs you want something else
- You want to store your app's contacts, not read the user's Google address book.
- You don't want to pass Google's OAuth verification for restricted scopes.
- You want the contact data in your own database.
Alternatives
- ContactAPI: your contacts, your account, a bearer key instead of OAuth scopes.
- Firebase/Firestore: if you want a general database and will model contacts yourself.
- Airtable: if a visible table beats an API for your team.
Use the People API only when the goal really is syncing a person's Google Contacts. For app-owned contacts, a plain API is less friction and keeps the data where you can query it.
Where ContactAPI fits
ContactAPI is an open-source REST API for saving and managing contacts. You POST an email plus any JSON fields, get simple CRUD back, and can reach the same data from an AI client over its MCP server. No CRM, no pipeline stages, no lock-in.