Many companies use data automation platforms to find leads, automate and personalize emails, and integrate their data. However, sifting through the numerous sales intelligence tools on the market today can be tedious and time-consuming. To help you understand one of the more popular options available, we’ll take a look into Clay, a B2B lead generation tool used by countless businesses globally. This guide will dive into pricing and plans to see if it’s worth the cost.
Here’s a quick summary of Clay´s pricing:
| Plan | Monthly price → credits/month | Annual price (billed yearly) → credits/year | People/Company searches (cap per search) | Notable inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo → 100 credits/mo | $0/yr → 1,200 credits/yr | Up to 100/search | Unlimited users, exporting, Claygent/AI access, 100+ integrations, rollover credits, Chrome extension |
| Starter (Tier 1) | $149/mo → 2,000 credits/mo | $1,608/yr ($134/mo) → 24,000 credits/yr | Up to 5,000/search | Adds phone number enrichments; use your own API keys |
| Starter (Tier 2) | $229/mo → 3,000 credits/mo | $2,472/yr ($206/mo) → 36,000 credits/yr | Up to 5,000/search | Same as Starter; higher credit allotment |
| Explorer (Tier 1) | $349/mo → 10,000 credits/mo | $3,768/yr ($314/mo) → 120,000 credits/yr | Up to 10,000/search | Integrate with any HTTP API, Webhooks, email-sequencing integrations (plus Starter features) |
| Explorer (Tier 2) | $499/mo → 14,000 credits/mo | $5,388/yr ($449/mo) → 168,000 credits/yr | Up to 10,000/search | Same as Explorer; higher credit allotment |
| Explorer (Tier 3) | $699/mo → 20,000 credits/mo | $7,548/yr ($629/mo) → 240,000 credits/yr | Up to 10,000/search | Same as Explorer; higher credit allotment |
| Pro (Tier 1) | $800/mo → 50,000 credits/mo | $8,640/yr ($720/mo) → 600,000 credits/yr | Up to 25,000/search | Everything in Explorer + CRM integrations |
| Pro (Tier 2) | $1,000/mo → 70,000 credits/mo | $10,800/yr ($900/mo) → 840,000 credits/yr | Up to 25,000/search | Same as Pro; higher credit allotment |
| Pro (Tier 3) | $1,500/mo → 100,000 credits/mo | $16,200/yr ($1,350/mo) → 1.2M credits/yr | Up to 25,000/search | Same as Pro; higher credit allotment |
| Pro (Tier 4) | $2,000/mo → 150,000 credits/mo | $21,600/yr ($1,800/mo) → 1.8M credits/yr | Up to 25,000/search | Same as Pro; highest published non-custom tier |
| Enterprise (Custom) | Custom | Custom | Up to 50,000/search | All Pro features plus: unlimited rows (Passthrough Tables), up to 40 action columns/table, AI prompting support, Snowflake (data engineering), dedicated Slack support, credit reporting analytics, Private Clay recipes, SSO |
- Annual billing typically saves ~10% vs. monthly and grants all credits up front.
- All plans support unlimited users; pricing is credit-based rather than per seat.
What is Clay?
Clay is a data automation platform that helps you discover quality leads, automate lead enrichment, streamline workflow, and integrate and enrich your lead data. Users have found they save hours each week using Clay since they no longer have to research and vet companies and complete routine tasks, allowing sales teams to focus on their primary task – selling.
Clay gives users access to unique data, including contact information, firmographics, technographics, and funding information for any data point, with no contracts required. There is a free version for new users who want to try out the services, three paid plans, and a custom pricing option for larger teams.
Clay Pricing: Plan Breakdown
Let’s take a look at the different pricing plans Clay offers. Clay has several plans, starting with a free version and going up to custom pricing. The highest-priced non-custom plan is $21,600 annually.
Free
Clay allows you to try their platform for free to see if it works for your teams. The free plan allows for unlimited users, 1,200 credits a year, and up to 100 results per individual people/company search. Unlimited users on all plans (including Free). Other benefits to the free plan include more than 100 integration providers, exporting and AI/Claygent benefits, rollover credits, and the Clay Chrome extension.
Price: free
Starter
In addition to all of the free benefits listed above, the Starter plan also offers phone number enrichments and the use of your API keys. Maximum 5,000 results per individual people/company search.
Price: $149 for 2,000 credits a month or $229 for 3,000 credits a month – Monthly Plan / $1,608 ($134 a month) for 24,000 credits or $2,472 ($206 a month) for 36,000 credits a year – Annual Plan
Explorer
The Explorer Plan offers users Webhooks, integration with any HTTP API, email sequencing integrations, and exclude people/company filters, in addition to all of the benefits of the Starter Plan. Maximum 10,000 results per individual people/company search.
Price: $349 for 10,000 credits a month, $499 for 14,000 credits a month, or $699 for 20,000 a month – Monthly Plan / $3,768 ($314 a month) for 120,000 credits, or $5,388 ($449 a month) for 168,000 credits, or $7,548 ($629 a month) for 240,000 credits a year – Annual Plan
Pro
The Pro Plan adds CRM integrations; CRM integrations are only on Pro and Enterprise. Maximum 25,000 results per individual people/company search.
Price: $800 for 50,000 credits a month, $1,000 for 70,000 credits a month, $1,500 for 100,000 credits a month, or $2,000 for 150,000 a month – Monthly Plan / $8,640 ($720 a month) for 600,000 credits, or $10,800 ($900 a month) for 840,000 credits, $16,200 ($1,350 a month) for 1.2 million credits, or $21,600 ($1,800 a month) for 1.8 million credits a year – Annual Plan
Enterprise
Larger companies may want to contact Clay to find out the pricing options for the Enterprise plan, which offers numerous additional features, including unlimited rows (Passthrough Tables), up to 40 action columns per table, Snowflake data engineering, AI prompting support, dedicated Slack support, credit reporting analytics, and SSO.
Price: You must contact the sales team at Clay for Custom Pricing. Maximum 50,000 results per individual people/company search.
What Are Clay Credits?
Clay is less transparent with how their credits work than other platforms. Clay credits are what you use to purchase different data points and actions, but the average cost of each data point or action varies depending on the provider and the data point itself.
Most of the actions are either free or cost one to two credits. However, some data points (like cell phone numbers) may be more expensive because they are harder to find. Credit cost varies by data point and provider; the exact cost is shown in-app on each action’s green cost bubble.
How Credits Work with Clay Pricing – 200 Words
The platform has limited free credits, and it’s difficult to understand how much one credit truly costs. For example, any actions that clean or format data are free, and CRM integrations are included on Pro/Enterprise; email sequencing integrations start on Explorer (plan-gated features; connecting does not spend credits). Clay only charges credits for data points, such as LinkedIn profiles, phone numbers, contact research, and AI actions. As noted above, most actions cost between one and two credits.
Although there is not a clear exchange of credits to dollar amounts, you can see any corresponding credit costs on the right side of your screen in a green cost bubble to easily keep track of your credit spending. The green icon will always show the cost for each data point or action, and any free options are indicated in a grey bubble.
A popular benefit of Clay’s credits is that you do not pay any credits for prospecting, only for actual data enrichment. This means you can prospect leads and accounts from many platforms – Google Maps, GitHub, web scraping, and CRM tools – all for free. Prospecting sources (e.g., Google Maps, GitHub, web scraping) don’t spend credits; credits are charged only on enrichment/actions. LinkedIn prospecting is capped per search (each individual search run has a maximum number of results depending on your plan), but this cap increases when you purchase the more expensive plans. If you are unsure how many credits your company may use, you can calculate the amount of credits you might need each month through their “credit calculator” on the Clay website.
Clay Pricing Compared to Competitors
Clay is transparent about its pricing options and does offer a 10% discount if you purchase a plan yearly rather than monthly. Let’s look at the pricing and key features of the main competitors before discussing their benefits in more detail.
| Alternative | Pricing | Key Features | Link to Pricing |
| UpLead | $74 to $199+ per month | • 95%+ accuracy• Real-time email verification• CRM integrations | UpLead Pricing |
| ZoomInfo | Typical list pricing (before add-ons): Professional ~$14,995/yr; Advanced ~$24,995/yr; Elite ~$39,995/yr. | • Extensive database• Intent data• Advanced search | ZoomInfo Pricing |
| Cognism | Custom pricing (Seat-based; not credit-based. Packages (Grow/Elevate) are tailored; must contact sales.) | • Compliant data• Sales Intelligence• Chrome extension | Cognism Pricing |
| Lusha | Credit-based plans (Free, Pro, Premium, Scale). Example: Pro 3,000 credits/year ≈ $22.45/mo (annual); Pro monthly 250 credits at $29.90/mo; Premium 7,200 credits/year ≈ $52.45/mo (annual). | • Free plan available• Chrome extension• CRM integrations | Lusha Pricing |
| Apollo | Per-seat: Basic ≈ $49–$59/seat/mo (billing-term dependent), Professional $99/seat/mo, Organization $149/seat/mo (3-seat min). 20% discount on annual. | • Free plan available• Engagement analytics• Sequencing tools | Apollo Pricing |
| Hunter | $49 to $499 per month | • Bulk searches• Cold campaigns• Chrome extension | Hunter Pricing |
| Datanyze | Credit/day model (e.g., Personal 15 credits/day; higher tiers increase daily credits). Public site emphasizes daily credits over flat monthly price. | • Extensive search features• Organizational charts• Demographic filters | Datanyze Pricing |
| Snovio | $75 to $554 per month | • Email drip campaigns• Bulk searches• CRM integrations | Snovio Pricing |
| Seamless AI | Basic $147/mo (annual billing); Pro and Custom/Enterprise are credit-based with daily credit refresh (pricing via sales). Free plan available. | • Free plan available• Data Enrichment• CRM integrations | Seamleass AI Pricing |
| Lead411 | Spark $49/mo (1,000 exports/mo) or $490/yr (12,000 exports/yr). Higher tiers (Ignite/Blaze) via sales; free trial available. | • Free trial available• Triple-verified database• CRM integrations | Lead411 Pricing |
Clay Reviews: Is it Worth It?
The 160+ reviews on G2 all agree that Clay is a solid platform for automation of workflow, automated lead sourcing, and pulling all of the quality data into one place. Many of the reviewers noted that they use Clay daily and complimented the number of integrations that automate their entire workflow, and built-in features and tools available for free. Other reviewers touted having all of the data in one place so that their sales team can focus on what matters – contacting leads – and not the busywork of sifting through and organizing mounds of data.
Although Clay is transparent about the prices of its paid plans, a common complaint about the platform is that the pricing in terms of actual credits is not as straightforward when you try to equate them to actual dollars.
Choosing a Clay Plan for Your Business
Understanding the credit-to-dollar ratio can be confusing, but Clay offers a robust free trial plan, this may be a great place to see which features meet your team’s needs. Clay also offers a 14-day free trial that grants 1,000 credits (separate from the Free plan). However, you may see those credits go quickly using the free version and will likely need to upgrade to get a full sense of the platform.
Why UpLead is the Best Alternative to Clay
UpLead is an industry leader in data accuracy and quality, ease of use, and tool sophistication. Both UpLead and Clay have free versions of their services, but UpLead’s pricing is far better (and not to mention you’ll get a lot more features!)
After the seven-day free trial, Uplead’s Essentials plan is $99 a month, and the Plus plan is $199 a month. UpLead’s user-friendly platform searches through more than 160 million profiles of worldwide contacts and filters with more than 50 lead criteria, such as job title, industry, age, gender, and location.
UpLead is also known for its notable 95% accuracy rate for emails and achieves this near-perfect rate through a combination of human and machine learning for real-time email verification processes for higher-quality leads. Experience the power of high-quality leads and an easy-to-use platform by giving UpLead a try today for free.
FAQs About Clay Pricing
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions we have received about Clay.
Clay offers a free plan to get started and three paid plans (and a custom pricing option) that each offer a certain amount of credits and features. You can pay monthly or receive a 10% discount by paying for the entire year upfront. Annual billing shows a 10% discount and grants all credits up front.
You can use the credits on Clay to purchase different actions and data points. Costs vary by action/provider; Clay displays the credit cost per action in-app.
Costs vary by action/provider; Clay displays the credit cost per action in-app.
Your Clay credits are deducted each time you perform an action and data point with a respective credit charge. Costs vary by action/provider; Clay displays the credit cost per action in-app. Clay does keep a credit count for you and allows you to run your information to get a summary of the Clay credits you have spent in a given time frame.
What You Need to Remember About Clay Pricing
Clay is transparent with its pricing structure of each payment plan, but how much each action costs credit-wise can be confusing and take time to figure out. Start on Free or Starter, estimate usage with the in-app credit indicators and the plan credit tiers, and upgrade for higher per-search caps and integrations (Explorer for sequencing & webhooks; Pro for CRM).
