Clay

Clay combines prospect research, data enrichment and workflow automation in a spreadsheet-style platform for salespeople, growth teams and small agencies. It is strongest for teams that want to assemble customer data from multiple sources and move it into outreach or CRM workflows. Its breadth comes with two usage meters to manage, and the free tier’s row cap and lack of phone enrichment constrain serious prospecting.

Overview

Clay draws on more than 150 enrichment providers and can use multi-provider waterfalls, giving teams alternatives when a source lacks a particular data point. Claygent adds web research and can generate custom data points. The platform covers contact, company, people, email, phone, social, financial, job, technology, news and online-content enrichment.

Beyond finding and enriching prospects, Clay can track job changes, promotions, new hires, company news, social activity and web intent; signal availability depends on plan. Its Salesforce integration can manage data, create or update records, and access reports and views. Integrations also include HubSpot, Snowflake and Google BigQuery. Teams can centralize audience data and sync ad audiences to LinkedIn, Meta and Google.

Usage has two components: Actions measure platform activity, while Data Credits pay for marketplace data and AI. That separation can make costs harder to forecast than a single allowance, especially when workflows rely on both enrichment and automation.

Key features

Multi-source enrichment: Provider waterfalls help teams draw on different sources in one workflow rather than depend on a single provider.

Web research with Claygent: The AI agent can research online and create custom data points, useful when a team needs context beyond standard fields.

Signals: People and company changes can inform timely outreach, but signal access varies by plan.

CRM and warehouse connections: Salesforce can support record management and reporting workflows; Growth adds CRM and data warehouse sync and HTTP API integrations.

Audience activation: Centralized audience data can be synced to LinkedIn, Meta and Google ad audiences.

Clay says it is SOC 2 Type II compliant and displays GDPR, CCPA, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001. It also says customer data is not used to train its AI models or those of its AI providers.

Pricing

Clay is freemium, with a 14-day trial and paid plans starting at $167/mo (annual). The plan terms distinguish the listed annual starting price from the monthly-billed Launch and Growth prices.

PlanPriceWhat it includesFreefree500 actions/mo, 100 data credits/mo, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per tableLaunch$167 a month, billed Monthly15,000 actions/mo, 3,000 data credits/mo, phone enrichment, job change and other signalsGrowth$446 a month, billed Monthly40,000 actions/mo, 6,000 data credits/mo, CRM and data warehouse sync, HTTP API integrations, priority supportEnterpriseCustom pricingCustom actions and credits, SSO, role-based access control, dedicated growth strategistFree suits exploration and small workflows, but 200 rows per table and no phone enrichment are real constraints, alongside just 500 monthly actions and 100 data credits. Launch is intended for small teams automating prospecting and adds phone enrichment and signals; it is a meaningful step up in allowances, but lacks Growth’s CRM and warehouse sync, HTTP API integrations and priority support. Growth fits teams with CRM-based workflows and growth campaigns, with substantially higher usage allowances and sync capabilities. Enterprise is for organizations needing custom usage allowances, access controls and a dedicated growth strategist; it has custom pricing.

Platforms

Clay runs on Linux, macOS and the web. API access is supported.

Who it's for

Choose Clay when prospecting depends on combining enrichment from multiple providers, custom web research and signals, then connecting the results to CRM, warehouse or advertising workflows. Teams that only need a small capped workflow may be comfortable on Free; teams needing phone data or signals should weigh Launch, while CRM-centric teams are better matched to Growth. It is a weaker fit for buyers who want a simple single-meter usage model or need phone enrichment without moving beyond Free.

Pros and cons

Pro: More than 150 enrichment providers and waterfall workflows give teams broad source coverage.

Pro: Claygent, signals and CRM integrations join research and operational workflows in one platform.

Pro: Free has unlimited seats and tables, making it possible to explore without a seat cap.

Con: Free is capped at 200 rows per table and excludes phone enrichment, limiting its usefulness for larger prospecting lists.

Con: Actions and Data Credits are separate allowances, so teams must monitor both as workflows scale.

Con: CRM and data warehouse sync, HTTP API integrations and priority support are reserved for Growth.

Alternatives

For AI-oriented lead generation, compare AI Lead Generation Software; for data enrichment, see Data Enrichment Software, Lead Enrichment Software or Account Enrichment Software. Teams focused on moving warehouse data into other systems can browse Reverse ETL Tools, while sales teams comparing prospecting workflows can consult Sales Prospecting Software.

LayerFlow is a freemium alternative with a free starting point and paid plans from $49 a month. Dealfront is a paid option with a free plan; its Basic tier starts at €2,388 a year and includes three seats and 2,500 annual credits. ZoomInfo offers a permanent free Lite plan, while its Professional plan requires contacting the maker for pricing. Apollo is another freemium option; its Free plan grants 900 credits per seat per year, distributed monthly, and includes API access, two sequences and one intent topic.

For website visitor identification, Dealfront has a free Lite tier with unlimited users, seven days of visitor history and up to 100 identified companies a month. Leadfeeder offers the same stated Lite limits. Koala has a free tier with two seats and 100 credits per month, and a $200 a month Starter plan. LinkedNav is a paid alternative whose Free plan is a seven-day trial with one active campaign, one sender, one inbox, manual signal monitoring and single email enrichment.

Verdict

Clay is a strong choice for sales and growth teams that need enrichment, web research, signals and downstream CRM or audience workflows together. Its multi-provider breadth is the clearest reason to choose it; the dual usage meters and Free plan’s row and phone limits are the main reasons to look elsewhere or budget for a paid tier.