Clay Pricing in 2026: Plans, Credits & Real Costs Explained

Last updated: February 2026

Clay is a data enrichment and outbound automation platform used by sales teams to build prospect lists and enrich leads. Pricing starts at $149/month for 2,000 credits. The credit-based system means your actual costs depend heavily on how you use the platform.

Clay has become the go-to tool for growth teams running personalized outbound at scale. The waterfall enrichment, AI message writing, and integration ecosystem make it powerful.

But the pricing model is complex. Credits are consumed at different rates depending on which data providers you use. A 1,000-lead campaign might cost $50 or $500 depending on your enrichment workflow.

This guide breaks down Clay's actual costs in 2026, how the credit system works, and when alternatives might make more sense.

What is Clay?

Clay is a spreadsheet-like platform for building and enriching prospect lists. You can:

• Pull data from 100+ sources: LinkedIn, Apollo, Clearbit, Hunter, and more
• Waterfall enrichment: Try multiple providers until you get a result
• AI-powered personalization: Generate custom outreach using enriched data
• CRM integration: Push enriched leads to HubSpot, Salesforce, Outreach, etc.

Think of it as a supercharged spreadsheet where every cell can pull live data from the web.

Who uses Clay?

• SDR/BDR teams building targeted prospect lists
• Growth teams running personalized outbound campaigns
• Agencies managing outbound for multiple clients
• Founders doing their own prospecting

Clay is designed for teams who need deep enrichment and personalization, not just basic contact data.

Clay Pricing Plans (2026)

Here's the current pricing structure:

Annual billing saves approximately 10-20% depending on the plan.

What's included in each plan

Free Plan ($0/month)

• 100 credits/month
• 1 user
• Basic integrations
• Community support
• Good for: Testing the platform only

Starter Plan ($149/month)

• 2,000 credits/month
• 1 user
• All integrations
• Email support
• Good for: Individual SDRs, light prospecting

Explorer Plan ($349/month)

• 10,000 credits/month
• 3 users
• All integrations
• Priority support
• Shared tables
• Good for: Small sales teams, moderate volume

Pro Plan ($800/month)

• 50,000 credits/month
• 5 users
• All integrations
• Dedicated support
• Advanced permissions
• Good for: Growth teams, agencies, high volume

Enterprise Plan (Custom)

• Custom credits
• Unlimited users
• SSO/SAML
• SLA guarantees
• Custom integrations
• Good for: Large organizations with compliance needs

Understanding Clay Credits

This is where pricing gets complicated. Clay uses a credit-based system where different actions consume different amounts of credits.

How credits are consumed

Every data enrichment action costs credits. The cost varies by provider:

The waterfall problem

Clay's waterfall enrichment is powerful but credit-hungry. Instead of trying one provider, you can configure fallbacks:

1. Try Hunter for email → 3 credits
2. If no result, try Apollo → 3 credits
3. If no result, try Clearbit → 3 credits

If Hunter succeeds, you spend 3 credits. If all three fail, you spend 9 credits and still have no email.

Real-world credit consumption

Let's calculate actual costs for common workflows:

Basic lead enrichment (company + email)

• Company data: 2 credits
• Email finder: 4 credits (with fallback)
• Total: 6 credits per lead

Standard outbound enrichment

• Company data: 2 credits
• LinkedIn profile: 3 credits
• Email finder (waterfall): 6 credits
• Phone number: 4 credits
• Total: 15 credits per lead

Deep research enrichment

• Company data: 2 credits
• LinkedIn profile: 3 credits
• Company technographics: 3 credits
• Recent news: 2 credits
• Email finder (waterfall): 6 credits
• AI personalization: 2 credits
• Total: 18 credits per lead

Real Cost Scenarios

Now let's translate credits into dollars.

Scenario 1: Solo SDR, light prospecting

Profile: Individual SDR enriching 300 leads/month Enrichment: Basic (6 credits/lead) Monthly credits needed: 1,800

Cost: Starter plan at $149/month (2,000 credits) Per-lead cost: $0.50

Scenario 2: Small sales team, moderate volume

Profile: 3-person team enriching 1,500 leads/month Enrichment: Standard (15 credits/lead) Monthly credits needed: 22,500

Cost: Pro plan at $800/month (50,000 credits) Per-lead cost: $0.53

Scenario 3: Growth team, high volume

Profile: 5-person team enriching 5,000 leads/month Enrichment: Standard (15 credits/lead) Monthly credits needed: 75,000

Cost: Pro plan + overage or Enterprise Estimated cost: $1,200-1,500/month Per-lead cost: $0.24-0.30

Scenario 4: Agency managing multiple clients

Profile: Agency running outbound for 10 clients Enrichment: Deep (18 credits/lead) Monthly leads: 8,000 total Monthly credits needed: 144,000

Cost: Enterprise (custom pricing) Estimated cost: $2,000-3,000/month Per-lead cost: $0.25-0.38

Cost per credit by plan

Key insight: The Pro plan is 4.6x more cost-efficient per credit than Starter. If you're going to use Clay seriously, you need to be on Pro or higher.

Hidden Costs and Gotchas

Credits don't roll over

Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle. If you buy Explorer (10,000 credits) and only use 6,000, you lose 4,000 credits.

This makes it hard to right-size your plan. You're either wasting credits or running out.

Waterfall enrichment burns credits fast

The waterfall is Clay's killer feature, but it's also the biggest credit sink. A 5-provider waterfall can consume 15+ credits per lead even when most providers return nothing.

Optimization tip: Start with the highest-success-rate provider first. Check your provider hit rates in Clay's analytics.

Seat limits matter

• Starter: 1 seat
• Explorer: 3 seats
• Pro: 5 seats

If you have 4 people who need access, you're forced to Pro ($800/month) even if Explorer credits would suffice.

Export and API costs

Some actions that seem free have credit costs:

• Exporting to CRM: Usually free
• API access: Pro plan and above
• Webhooks: Pro plan and above

Learning curve is real

Clay is powerful but complex. Expect 1-2 weeks of learning to build efficient workflows. Inefficient workflows waste credits.

Clay Pricing vs Competitors

How does Clay compare to alternatives?

When Clay wins

• You need waterfall enrichment across many providers
• Deep personalization with AI is important
• You're running complex, multi-source enrichment
• Volume is high enough to justify Pro plan pricing

When alternatives win

Apollo: Better for teams who want email + CRM + sequences in one tool. Simpler pricing. Less powerful enrichment but good enough for most.

Clearbit: Better for product/engineering teams who want API access to enrichment data. Developer-friendly.

Miniloop: Better for teams who want to describe their enrichment workflow in plain language and have AI build it. No credit counting. Handles the data processing + enrichment + output in one workflow.

Optimizing Your Clay Costs

1. Calculate your per-lead credit cost first

Before choosing a plan, build a test workflow and check credit consumption per lead. Multiply by your monthly volume to find the right plan.

2. Optimize waterfall order

Put highest-hit-rate providers first. If Apollo finds emails 70% of the time and Hunter finds 40%, put Apollo first.

3. Use conditions to skip enrichment

Don't enrich leads you already have data for. Add conditions: "If email exists, skip email enrichment."

4. Batch similar enrichments

Clay processes rows in parallel. Batching similar leads can help with provider rate limits and efficiency.

5. Review credit usage weekly

Clay shows credit consumption by provider. Find which providers are burning credits with low success rates and remove them.

6. Consider annual billing

10-20% savings on annual plans. Only commit once you know your usage patterns.

When Clay is Worth It

Clay makes sense when:

• High volume: You're enriching 1,000+ leads/month
• Complex enrichment: You need 5+ data points per lead
• Personalization matters: AI-written intros improve your response rates
• Multiple sources: No single provider has all your data
• Team collaboration: Multiple people need to build and run workflows

Clay is expensive when:

• Low volume: Under 500 leads/month, the minimum plans are costly per-lead
• Simple needs: You just need email + company name
• One data source: A direct Apollo or Lusha subscription is cheaper
• Budget-constrained: Credit anxiety limits experimentation

Clay Alternatives to Consider

Apollo.io

Best for: All-in-one sales platform with built-in sequences

Apollo includes contact data, email finding, and sales engagement in one tool. Less powerful enrichment than Clay but simpler and cheaper for most use cases.

Pricing: $49-99/month per user. Contact-based, not credit-based.

Miniloop

Best for: AI-powered data enrichment without credit counting

Miniloop takes a different approach. Instead of dragging columns and configuring waterfalls, you describe what you want: "Enrich this company list with LinkedIn employee count, recent funding, and find the VP Sales email."

AI generates the workflow. You review and run it. No credit system. No waterfall configuration. Results flow into your CRM or spreadsheet.

Pricing: $29/month for unlimited workflows.

When to choose Miniloop over Clay:

• You want to describe workflows in plain language
• Credit counting creates friction
• Your enrichment needs are moderate (not 50,000 leads/month)
• You want enrichment + data processing in one tool

Clearbit

Best for: Developer teams who want API access

Clearbit's API is clean and well-documented. Better for product teams building enrichment into their app than for sales teams running campaigns.

Pricing: $99/month+ based on API volume.

ZoomInfo

Best for: Enterprise with big budgets

ZoomInfo has the largest B2B database. Enterprise pricing ($15,000+/year) but includes unlimited lookups on many plans.

Pricing: $15,000-50,000+/year

Making the Right Choice

Choose Clay if:

• You need waterfall enrichment across many providers
• AI personalization is critical to your outbound
• You're enriching 1,000+ leads/month
• You have budget for Pro plan ($800/month)
• Your team can invest time learning the platform

Budget expectation: $350-1,500/month for most serious users.

Choose Apollo if:

• You want email + sequences + CRM in one tool
• Simpler enrichment is fine
• Per-user pricing works better for your team
• You're primarily doing email outbound

Budget expectation: $49-150/month per user.

Choose Miniloop if:

• You'd rather describe what you want than configure waterfalls
• Credit counting creates anxiety
• You want enrichment + data processing + output in one workflow
• Moderate volume (under 5,000 leads/month)

Budget expectation: $29-150/month.

FAQs About Clay Pricing

How much does Clay cost per month?

Clay costs $149-800+/month depending on the plan. Starter is $149/month for 2,000 credits. Explorer is $349/month for 10,000 credits. Pro is $800/month for 50,000 credits. Enterprise pricing is custom. Annual billing saves 10-20%.

What are Clay credits?

Clay credits are consumed when you enrich data. Each data provider action costs credits. A single lead enrichment can use 5-20+ credits depending on which providers you use. LinkedIn lookups, email finding, and company data each consume separate credits.

Do unused Clay credits roll over?

No, unused Clay credits do not roll over. Credits reset at the start of each billing cycle. This makes it important to right-size your plan based on actual monthly usage to avoid waste.

Is there a free Clay plan?

Yes, Clay offers a free plan with 100 credits/month. This is enough to test the platform and build a few small workflows, but not enough for real outbound campaigns. Most users need Starter ($149/month) or higher for actual work.

How many credits does lead enrichment cost?

A typical lead enrichment costs 5-20 credits. Basic company data costs 2-3 credits. Email finding adds 3-8 credits depending on waterfall depth. LinkedIn enrichment adds 2-5 credits. Deep research workflows can exceed 20 credits per lead.

Is Clay worth the price?

Clay is worth it for teams running high-volume outbound with complex enrichment needs. The ROI depends on your deal size and conversion rate. If a single closed deal covers months of Clay costs, it's worth it. For smaller teams or simpler enrichment, alternatives like Apollo or Miniloop may offer better value.

How does Clay compare to Apollo?

Clay is more powerful for enrichment; Apollo is simpler and cheaper. Clay offers waterfall enrichment across 100+ providers and AI personalization. Apollo includes contact data + email sequences in one tool at $49-99/user/month. Choose Clay for complex enrichment, Apollo for all-in-one simplicity.

Can I use Clay for free?

Yes, but it's very limited. The free plan includes only 100 credits/month. That's enough for 10-20 lead enrichments depending on your workflow. It's a demo, not a usable free tier for real work.

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