> Enrich.chat gives AI agents verified work emails and mobiles. To use it from an agent, read https://enrich.chat/agents.md . This is the Markdown version of https://enrich.chat/alternatives/clay/

# The best Clay alternatives in 2026: contact data without building a table

Clay split its pricing into Data Credits and Actions on March 11, 2026. We compared seven alternatives on how you use them, what 1,000 enriched leads cost, and when Clay is still the better tool.

By Enrich.chat Editorial. Updated October 15, 2026.

**Short answer:** Enrich.chat is the simplest Clay alternative when you mainly need contact data: paste one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, get work emails and mobile numbers back, and spend credits only on matches, with plans from $29 a month. For waterfalls across many providers, [BetterContact](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/) and [FullEnrich](https://fullenrich.com/pricing) bill only for data they find. [Clay's Launch plan](https://www.clay.com/pricing) starts at $185 a month after its March 2026 switch to Actions.

## Key takeaways

- Clay moved to two meters on March 11, 2026: Data Credits for data and Actions for platform work. Launch starts at $185 a month, or $167 billed annually.
- Clay says a fully enriched record typically costs 6 to 20 Data Credits, or $300 to $1,000 for 1,000 leads at $0.05 a credit.
- Pro-rated at published rates, 1,000 leads with an email and a phone cost about $46.80 on Enrich.chat, $234 on Apollo Basic, $439 on BetterContact and $528 on FullEnrich. The Enrich.chat Scale plan is $90 a month.
- Persana, still ranked in many Clay alternative lists, said on March 30, 2026 that it is sunsetting its platform as its team joins Rox.
- Stay on Clay if you need 150+ providers, Claygent research, signals and CRM sync in one place, and someone to own the tables.

## The verdict

For teams that use Clay mostly to find emails and phone numbers, **Enrich.chat** is the simplest swap: one prompt in ChatGPT or Claude, no table to build, and credits are spent only on matches.

- Best overall: Enrich.chat (One prompt in any agent, credits for matches only)
- Best all-in-one: Apollo (Data, sequences and a dialer in one app)
- Best waterfall for mobiles: BetterContact (20+ providers, billed only for valid data)
- Best waterfall with MCP: FullEnrich (25+ sources and unlimited users)

## Clay alternatives at a glance

|  | Enrich.chat | Clay | Apollo | FullEnrich | BetterContact | Freckle | n8n or Make | Cargo |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| No table to build | Yes | No: table-based | Yes: search and export | Yes: app or API | Yes: app or API | Partial: an agent builds it | No: you build the flow | No: you build plays |
| Works inside ChatGPT or Claude | Yes: MCP server or one prompt | Yes: Clay MCP | Yes: connectors | Yes: MCP server | Partial: third-party MCP | Partial: Claude Code, Codex | Partial: you wire it up | Yes: MCP server |
| Billed only for matches | Yes: plus a plan | Yes: plus a plan | Partial: any phone billed | Yes: plus a plan | Yes: plus a plan | Not stated | Depends on the API | Not stated |
| Returns work emails and mobiles | Yes: status on each | Partial: phones from Launch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No: add a data API | Yes: via providers |
| Waterfall across many providers | No: one API | Yes: 150+ providers | Yes: add your sources | Yes: 25+ sources | Yes: 20+ providers | Yes: 40+ providers | Partial: build it yourself | Yes: via integrations |
| Free tier | Yes: 10 lookups a day | Yes: 100 credits a month | Yes: 75 credits a month | Partial: 50 trial credits | Partial: 50 trial credits | Yes: 250 credits | Yes: self-hosted n8n | Yes: 100 credits a month |
| No annual contract required | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | Free, then $29 a month | $185 a month | $65 a seat a month | $29 a month | $15 a month | $99 a month | n8n from €24 a month | $165 a month |

## The 7 best Clay alternatives, ranked

Ranked for teams that use Clay mainly to find emails and phone numbers. Prices come from each vendor's own site, checked October 15, 2026.

### Enrich.chat

Contact data for AI agents and apps. Add the MCP server to ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor, or paste one prompt, and get a work email and a mobile number back for each row, each with a status.

- Best for: Teams that used Clay to find emails and phones and want no table to maintain
- Pricing: Monthly plans from $29 for 100,000 credits: 10 credits per email, 250 per mobile
- Strength: No table, waterfall or Actions meter to manage
- Strength: Credits are spent only on matches, with unlimited seats and no annual contract
- Strength: Every email has a status (verified, catch_all or unknown) and every mobile a line type
- Strength: Works in ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor through a keyless MCP server, and in n8n or code through the plain API
- Watch out for: No visual table builder, AI research columns or CRM sync
- Watch out for: A mobile costs 250 credits, 25 times an email
- Watch out for: No SDKs yet, though they are planned

### Apollo

Sales platform with its own contact database, sequences, a dialer and a waterfall that can add third-party sources.

- Best for: Teams that want data and outreach in one app
- Pricing: Basic $65 a seat a month, or $49 billed annually, with 2,500 credits a seat ([Apollo pricing](https://www.apollo.io/pricing), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: First-party connectors for ChatGPT and Claude
- Strength: Sequences, a dialer and CRM sync in the same app
- Strength: An email costs 1 credit, about $0.026 on Basic
- Watch out for: A phone costs 8 credits, and mobile credits are never refunded
- Watch out for: Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle

### FullEnrich

Waterfall enrichment across 25+ sources for work emails, personal emails and mobiles, through an app, an API or an MCP server.

- Best for: Teams that want Clay-style waterfall coverage without building one
- Pricing: Pro from $29 a month for 500 credits; an email is 1 credit, a mobile 10 ([FullEnrich pricing](https://fullenrich.com/pricing), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: Spends credits only on found, verified data
- Strength: Unlimited users on every plan
- Strength: MCP server works in Claude and ChatGPT
- Watch out for: A mobile is 10 credits, $0.35 to $0.58 depending on the tier
- Watch out for: Monthly-plan credits roll over for only 3 months

### BetterContact

Waterfall across 20+ providers that charges only for valid emails and for mobiles scored likely to connect.

- Best for: Phone-heavy teams that want a low price per mobile
- Pricing: Starter $15 a month for 200 credits; Pro from $49 for 1,000 ([BetterContact pricing](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: No charge for invalid data or catch-all checks
- Strength: Mobiles billed only when scored likely to connect
- Strength: Runs inside Clay, HubSpot, Zapier or its REST API
- Watch out for: No MCP server listed on its own site
- Watch out for: A mobile is 10 credits, about $0.40 on the 20,000-credit tier

### Freckle

Clay-style waterfalls, AI columns and research agents across 40+ providers, now run from Claude Code or Codex through a CLI.

- Best for: GTM engineers who want Clay's flexibility from a coding agent
- Pricing: Build from $99 a month for 1,000 credits; 10,000 credits for $429 ([Freckle pricing](https://www.freckle.io/pricing), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: No Actions meter: credits pay for data only
- Strength: Publishes its cost per data point, per provider
- Strength: Unlimited seats and tables
- Watch out for: The CLI is a beta from May 2026, built for coding agents
- Watch out for: Its pricing page does not say whether misses are free

### n8n or Make

Workflow builders where you wire your own enrichment: a trigger, an HTTP call to any data API, and a write-back to your CRM.

- Best for: Teams with an ops engineer who want full control
- Pricing: n8n Cloud from €24 a month for 2,500 executions, or €20 billed annually ([n8n pricing](https://n8n.io/pricing/), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: n8n bills per full workflow run, not per step
- Strength: Call any data API, including Enrich.chat
- Strength: Self-host n8n to keep data on your own servers
- Watch out for: You build and maintain the waterfall yourself
- Watch out for: No contact data of their own

### Cargo

GTM infrastructure for AI agents: data models, plays and enrichment you run from a CLI, an MCP server or a coding agent.

- Best for: Technical teams building a GTM system in code
- Pricing: From $165 a month for 1,500 credits ([Cargo pricing](https://www.getcargo.ai/pricing), Oct 15, 2026)
- Strength: MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and other clients
- Strength: No seats and no feature gating
- Strength: Plays are planned and deployed like code
- Watch out for: Enrichment credits vary by provider, so list costs are hard to predict
- Watch out for: Says it assumes someone writes code or directs an agent that does

## What is Clay, and what is it good at?

Clay is a spreadsheet-style workspace for sales and marketing data. Each row is a company or a person, and each column runs an enrichment, an AI prompt or an export. [Clay's pricing page](https://www.clay.com/pricing) lists more than 150 data providers, multi-provider waterfalls and Claygent, its AI web research agent, on every plan, including Free.

Clay is strong at five things:

- **Waterfalls.** [Clay's waterfall](https://www.clay.com/waterfall-enrichment) checks one provider after another until it finds a valid email or phone, in the order you choose.
- **Custom research.** [Claygent](https://www.clay.com/claygent) reads the web and returns structured data that no provider sells, such as a niche company detail or a buying trigger.
- **More than contact data.** [Clay's developer docs](https://developers.clay.com/use-cases/enrich-leads-and-accounts) list tech stack, job openings, company news and funding next to emails and phones.
- **Signals and outreach.** Clay tracks job changes from the Launch plan up, sends email through its own sequencer, and pushes ad audiences to LinkedIn and Meta on Growth.
- **Your own API keys.** If you already pay a data provider, you can connect its key and skip Clay's Data Credits for that step.

Clay also works outside its own app. The [Clay MCP](https://www.clay.com/mcp) lets reps ask ChatGPT, Codex or Claude to search Clay's database and run Clay Functions, while ops controls spend and CRM write-backs. The [Clay agent plugin](https://developers.clay.com/quickstart) brings its CLI into Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, though Clay's docs say the plugin does not work in chat apps such as claude.ai or ChatGPT.

## Why are teams looking for Clay alternatives in 2026?

Most teams leave Clay for one of three reasons: the March 2026 pricing change, the work it takes to build and maintain tables, or because they only ever used Clay to find emails and phone numbers.

### Clay now meters two things

On [March 11, 2026, Clay changed its pricing](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing). Credits became Data Credits, which pay for data bought from providers. A new meter, Actions, counts platform work such as enrichments, AI runs and exports. Clay says it cut marketplace data costs by 50 to 90% and sized plans so 90% of customers never hit the Actions limit. Customers on the legacy Starter, Explorer and Pro plans could stay on them.

Here are the new plans, from [Clay's pricing page](https://www.clay.com/pricing) on October 15, 2026:

| Clay plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Included each month |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | $0 | 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions; 200 rows per table; no phone numbers |
| Launch | From $185 | From $167 | 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions; adds phone numbers and signals |
| Growth | From $495 | From $446 | 6,000 Data Credits and 40,000 Actions; adds CRM sync and HTTP API |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom, annual | 100,000+ Data Credits and 200,000+ Actions |

Two details matter if you mostly enrich contacts. First, CRM sync and HTTP API calls now start on Growth, at $495 a month. Second, a step that runs on your own API key now uses an Action. [Clay's announcement](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing) says those workflows were effectively free on legacy plans. Actions also expire at the end of each billing cycle, while Data Credits roll over up to 2x on monthly plans, per [Clay University](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits).

Misses are not the problem. [Clay's FAQ](https://www.clay.com/faq/do-unsuccessful-searches-consume-data-credits-what-about-actions) says an enrichment that returns nothing uses no Data Credits and no Actions, even when a whole waterfall comes back empty.

**Figure 1: What one Clay step uses under the March 2026 pricing.** Four Clay activities and the Actions and Data Credits each uses. Buying data from Clay's marketplace uses 1 Action and 0.5 to 10 or more Data Credits. Running the same step on your own API key uses 1 Action and no Data Credits, which was effectively free on legacy plans. An enrichment that finds nothing uses neither. Exporting a record to a CRM or another tool uses 1 Action and no Data Credits.

*Clay now runs two meters. A step on your own API key costs an Action, and a miss costs nothing. Sources: [Clay University](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits), [Clay's pricing announcement](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing), [Clay FAQ](https://www.clay.com/faq/do-unsuccessful-searches-consume-data-credits-what-about-actions).*

### Tables take skill to build and keep running

Clay is powerful because you design every step, and that is also its cost. Clay runs [cohort classes](https://university.clay.com/cohorts) and a certification program. Its [experts directory](https://www.clay.com/experts) lists agencies that build and run Clay for you. Even Clay's [Sculptor docs](https://university.clay.com/docs/sculptor) pitch its AI co-pilot as a way to shorten your learning curve. For a team that needs a few hundred emails a week, that is a lot of machinery.

### Many tables only find contact data

If your Clay table mostly runs "find email" and "find phone", you pay a plan fee to route two fields. A contact-data API or a waterfall tool returns the same fields without a table. Our guide to [waterfall enrichment](https://enrich.chat/blog/waterfall-enrichment/) explains when extra providers pay off and when they do not.

## How does one prompt compare to building a Clay table?

In Clay you build the pipeline, then run it. With Enrich.chat, your AI agent reads [agents.md](https://enrich.chat/agents.md), calls the API once per row and hands back your list with a status on every field. Figure 2 shows both paths for the same job: add a work email and a mobile to a list.

**Figure 2: Adding emails and mobiles to a list: a Clay table versus one prompt.** Two paths to add a work email and a phone to a list. In Clay you create a table, add a find-email column, pick and order providers, add a phone waterfall and a validation step, run it while watching Actions and Data Credits, and sync to a CRM on the Growth plan: seven steps. With Enrich.chat you paste a prompt and the list, the agent calls the API per row, and each row comes back verified, with a line type, or not found at 0 credits.

*The same job, two ways. Clay's Sculptor can draft some of the table for you, but you still run and maintain it. Sources: [Clay University](https://university.clay.com/docs/sculptor), [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing), [Enrich.chat agents.md](https://enrich.chat/agents.md).*

The agent picks the best identifier for each row: a LinkedIn URL first, then an email, then a name plus company. It asks only for the fields you want, marks rows with no match as not found, and reports the total `credits_used`. Work emails come back as `verified`, `catch_all` or `unknown`. Mobiles come back with a line type of `mobile` or `unknown`, which describes the number's type, not whether the line is live.

Try it on a few rows from your last Clay table. Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor:

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to add a work email and a mobile to each row of this list. Use the LinkedIn URL when a row has one, mark misses as not found, flag catch_all emails as risky, and tell me the total credits_used: [paste rows]
```

The first 10 lookups each day are free, with no signup. For more, log in on the [account page](https://enrich.chat/account/) with your email and a one-time code, pick a plan and pay through checkout. Your API key appears on that page. To check one profile in the browser first, use the free [LinkedIn email and phone finder](https://enrich.chat/tools/linkedin-email-finder/).

## What would 1,000 enriched leads cost on each Clay alternative?

For 1,000 leads with a work email and a phone number each, Enrich.chat needs 260,000 credits: 1,000 × (10 + 250), and every row with no match lowers it. Pro-rated at the Scale plan rate that is $46.80, and the plan itself is $90 a month. At published rates, the same list costs about $234 on Apollo Basic, $439 on BetterContact, $528 on FullEnrich, and $300 to $1,000 in Clay Data Credits. We checked every price on October 15, 2026.

**Figure 3: Cost of a work email and a phone for 1,000 leads.** Bar chart of the cost to add a work email and a phone number to 1,000 leads at each vendor's published rate on October 15, 2026: Enrich.chat about $46.80 pro-rated at its Scale plan rate (the plan is $90 a month), Freckle from $108 with its cheapest listed providers, Apollo Basic about $234, BetterContact about $439, FullEnrich about $528, and Clay Launch $300 to $1,000 in Data Credits.

*Pro-rated cost at each vendor's published monthly rate, assuming every row returns both fields. Plan fees, seat minimums and unused credits are not counted, so Enrich.chat is priced at its Scale plan's credit rate while the plan itself is $90 a month. Freckle uses its cheapest listed mobile and email providers; Clay excludes Actions. Sources: [Freckle](https://www.freckle.io/provider-breakdown), [Apollo](https://www.apollo.io/pricing), [BetterContact](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/), [FullEnrich](https://fullenrich.com/pricing.md), [Clay docs](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits), [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing), checked October 15, 2026.*

| Tool | What 1,000 leads use | Pro-rated cost | Smallest monthly plan that covers it |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Enrich.chat | 260,000 credits: 1,000 emails and 1,000 mobiles | $46.80 | Scale: 500,000 credits for $90 |
| [Freckle](https://www.freckle.io/provider-breakdown) | About 2,340 credits | From $108 | Build: 10,000 credits for $429 |
| [Apollo Basic](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) | 9,000 credits | $234 | 4 seats: 10,000 credits for $260 |
| [BetterContact Pro](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/) | 11,000 credits | $439 | 20,000 credits for $799 |
| [FullEnrich Pro](https://fullenrich.com/pricing.md) | 11,000 credits | $528 | 15,000 credits for $720 |
| [Clay Launch](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | 6,000 to 20,000 Data Credits, plus Actions | $300 to $1,000 | $350 to $940: Actions tier plus a credit tier |
| [Cargo](https://www.getcargo.ai/pricing) | Varies by provider | Not published per field | 1,500 credits from $165 |

How each number is worked out:

- **Apollo:** 1 credit per email plus 8 per phone is 9,000 credits. [Apollo Basic](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) gives 2,500 credits a seat for $65 a month, about $0.026 a credit. Credits are pooled across the team, so four seats cover the list.
- **BetterContact:** 1 credit per email plus 10 per mobile is 11,000 credits. [BetterContact's Pro tier](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/) sells 20,000 credits for $799 a month, about $0.04 a credit.
- **FullEnrich:** the same 11,000 credits. [FullEnrich's published tiers](https://fullenrich.com/pricing.md) sell 15,000 credits for $720 a month, $0.048 a credit.
- **Clay:** [Clay's docs](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits) say a fully enriched record typically costs 6 to 20 Data Credits. At [$0.05 a credit](https://www.clay.com/pricing), that is $300 to $1,000. Launch's monthly Actions tier costs $60, and its credit tiers run from $290 for 6,000 to $880 for 20,000.
- **Freckle:** its [provider breakdown](https://www.freckle.io/provider-breakdown), based on a 20,000-credit plan, lists $0.095 for a mobile from Freckle's own source and $0.013 for a work email from LeadMagic. A waterfall that tries more providers costs more.

Keep two things in mind. These numbers assume every row returns both fields, and FullEnrich, BetterContact and Clay do not bill misses either, so real bills on those tools run lower too. But a plan fee is due whether or not you use its credits, and that includes Enrich.chat: the Scale plan costs $90 a month, and this list uses 260,000 of its 500,000 credits. Its $29 Growth plan covers 100,000 credits, or 10,000 emails, a month. See [Enrich.chat pricing](https://enrich.chat/pricing/), our [Clay pricing guide](https://enrich.chat/blog/clay-pricing/) and the [Apollo pricing breakdown](https://enrich.chat/blog/apollo-pricing/) for the full math.

## Which Clay alternative fits your job?

Match the tool to the work your Clay table does today. If it only finds contact data, you may not need a table at all.

| If you mainly need | Pick | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Emails and mobiles from ChatGPT, Claude or code | Enrich.chat | One prompt, credits spent only on matches, a status on every field |
| Data plus sequences and a dialer | Apollo | One app for prospecting and outreach, with [ChatGPT and Claude connectors](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp) |
| Waterfall coverage for mobiles, no table | BetterContact or FullEnrich | 20+ or 25+ sources, billed only for data found |
| Clay-style tables driven by a coding agent | Freckle | [CLI beta since May 2026](https://freckle.io/blog/cli-announcment), 40+ providers |
| A pipeline you fully control | n8n or Make | Pay per run and call any data API |
| A GTM system written in code | Cargo | MCP server, CLI and plays deployed like code |

One name to drop from older lists: Persana. On [March 30, 2026, Persana announced](https://persana.ai/blogs/exciting-news-our-next-chapter) that its team is joining Rox and that it is sunsetting the Persana platform. Many Clay alternative roundups still rank it.

For a wider field that includes data vendors without waterfalls, see our list of the [best data enrichment tools](https://enrich.chat/blog/best-data-enrichment-tools/) and our [Clay vs Apollo comparison](https://enrich.chat/compare/clay-vs-apollo/).

## When is Clay still the better choice?

Stay on Clay when the table itself is the product: you need many data types, custom research and automation in one governed place, and someone owns it. Clay is the better fit if you:

- **Enrich far more than contacts.** Tech stack, hiring, funding and AI-researched fields from [Claygent](https://www.clay.com/claygent) all live in one row.
- **Want to control the waterfall.** You pick the providers and their order for each data point, across [more than 150 sources](https://www.clay.com/waterfall-enrichment).
- **Already pay for data elsewhere.** Connect your own keys, and those steps use only Actions.
- **Run signals and campaigns.** Job-change alerts start on Launch, and web intent, ad audiences and CRM sync come with [Clay's Growth plan](https://www.clay.com/pricing).
- **Have a GTM engineer or an agency.** Someone has to build the tables, watch both meters and fix failed runs.

Enrich.chat has two real gaps next to Clay. It has no visual table builder, AI research columns or CRM sync, so you bring your own spreadsheet, CRM or outreach tool. And its SDKs are still planned, so for now you call the plain HTTPS API or the MCP server.

## How do you move a Clay enrichment to Enrich.chat?

Export the rows, keep the identifier columns, and let your agent do the lookups. Most teams can test the switch in one sitting.

1. Export the Clay table you enrich most often as a CSV. Keep the LinkedIn URL, name, company and domain columns.
2. Paste the rows into ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor with the prompt below. The agent uses the LinkedIn URL first, then the email, then the name plus company.
3. Ask only for the fields you use. A mobile costs 250 credits and a work email 10, so skip mobiles for email-only campaigns.
4. Map the statuses to your old Clay columns. Treat `catch_all` emails as risky, and keep `mobile.line` with each row. Test doubtful domains with the free [catch-all checker](https://enrich.chat/tools/catch-all-checker/).
5. For a recurring job, call `GET /v1/person` from an HTTP step in n8n, Make or Zapier, or from your own code. The [person enrichment API](https://enrich.chat/api/person-enrichment/) page shows the full response.
6. Honor removals. People can opt out at [enrich.chat/opt-out](https://enrich.chat/opt-out/), and you stay responsible for TCPA, CAN-SPAM and GDPR rules.

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to enrich this CSV export from Clay with work email and mobile only. Keep my columns, add email_status and mobile_line columns, and tell me if you hit the free daily limit: [paste CSV]
```

Your agent returns your columns plus the new ones. To build a fresh list instead, describe your buyers in plain English with the [AI lead list builder](https://enrich.chat/tools/lead-list-builder/), or read how [Enrich.chat works with AI agents](https://enrich.chat/agents/).

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best alternative to Clay?

It depends on what your Clay table does. If it mostly finds work emails and phone numbers, Enrich.chat replaces it with one prompt in ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor and spends credits only on matches. For waterfall coverage without a table, [BetterContact](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/) and [FullEnrich](https://fullenrich.com/pricing) bill only for data they find. Apollo fits teams that want data, sequences and a dialer in one app. Stay on Clay if you need custom research, signals and 150+ providers in one place.

### Is there a cheaper alternative to Clay?

Yes, for contact data. On October 15, 2026, adding an email and a phone to 1,000 leads cost about $46.80 pro-rated on Enrich.chat (the Scale plan, $90 a month), about $234 on [Apollo Basic](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) and $439 on [BetterContact](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/). [Clay's docs](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits) put a fully enriched record at 6 to 20 Data Credits, which is $300 to $1,000 at $0.05 a credit, plus a plan from $185 a month. Clay's plan also covers research, signals and automation.

### What changed in Clay's pricing in 2026?

On [March 11, 2026](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing), Clay split its pricing into two meters. Data Credits pay for data bought from providers, and Actions count platform work such as enrichments, AI runs and exports. Clay cut marketplace data prices by 50 to 90%, set Launch at $185 a month and Growth at $495, and moved CRM sync and HTTP API calls to Growth. Steps that run on your own API keys now use an Action.

### Does Clay charge credits when no data is found?

No. [Clay's FAQ](https://www.clay.com/faq/do-unsuccessful-searches-consume-data-credits-what-about-actions) says an enrichment that returns no data, or ends in an error, uses no Data Credits and no Actions, even when a whole waterfall comes back empty. You still pay the monthly plan, and unused Actions expire each billing cycle. Enrich.chat treats misses the same way: a lookup that returns found: false uses 0 credits, though its monthly plan is billed either way.

### Can I enrich leads in ChatGPT or Claude without Clay?

Yes. Add the Enrich.chat [MCP server](https://enrich.chat/install/) at enrich.chat/mcp, or paste a prompt that points your agent to enrich.chat/agents.md, then add your rows and the agent looks up each one, with 10 free lookups a day and no signup. [Apollo](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp), [FullEnrich](https://fullenrich.com/pricing.md) and [Cargo](https://www.getcargo.ai/mcp) offer MCP connectors too, and Clay has its own [Clay MCP](https://www.clay.com/mcp) for running Clay Functions from chat. For ideas, see our [ChatGPT lead generation prompts](https://enrich.chat/blog/chatgpt-lead-generation-prompts/).

### Who are Clay's main competitors?

Clay's closest competitors in 2026 are waterfall tools such as FullEnrich and BetterContact, table and agent tools such as Freckle and Cargo, all-in-one sales platforms such as Apollo, and workflow builders such as n8n and Make. Enrich.chat competes for the contact-data part of Clay's work, without a table. Persana, once a common pick, announced on [March 30, 2026](https://persana.ai/blogs/exciting-news-our-next-chapter) that it is sunsetting its platform as its team joins Rox.

## Sources

1. [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing)
2. [Introducing Clay's new pricing](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing)
3. [Actions and Data Credits](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits)
4. [Do unsuccessful searches consume Data Credits? What about Actions?](https://www.clay.com/faq/do-unsuccessful-searches-consume-data-credits-what-about-actions)
5. [Clay MCP](https://www.clay.com/mcp)
6. [Quickstart: agent plugin and API](https://developers.clay.com/quickstart)
7. [Enrich leads and accounts](https://developers.clay.com/use-cases/enrich-leads-and-accounts)
8. [Sculptor](https://university.clay.com/docs/sculptor)
9. [Cohorts](https://university.clay.com/cohorts)
10. [Find Clay experts](https://www.clay.com/experts)
11. [Waterfall enrichment](https://www.clay.com/waterfall-enrichment)
12. [Claygent](https://www.clay.com/claygent)
13. [Apollo pricing](https://www.apollo.io/pricing)
14. [Apollo MCP](https://docs.apollo.io/docs/apollo-mcp)
15. [Waterfall Enrichment Overview](https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/34071089002509-Waterfall-Enrichment-Overview)
16. [Request Contact Data in Apollo](https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4738396786701-Request-Contact-Data-in-Apollo)
17. [FullEnrich pricing](https://fullenrich.com/pricing)
18. [FullEnrich pricing, machine-readable](https://fullenrich.com/pricing.md)
19. [BetterContact pricing](https://bettercontact.rocks/pricing/)
20. [How to connect Bettercontact to Claude](https://composio.dev/toolkits/bettercontact/framework/claude-cowork)
21. [Freckle pricing](https://www.freckle.io/pricing)
22. [Provider breakdown](https://www.freckle.io/provider-breakdown)
23. [Freckle CLI: bringing GTM workflows to the terminal](https://freckle.io/blog/cli-announcment)
24. [Freckle overview (llms.txt)](https://www.freckle.io/llms.txt)
25. [n8n pricing](https://n8n.io/pricing/)
26. [Make pricing](https://www.make.com/en/pricing)
27. [Cargo pricing](https://www.getcargo.ai/pricing)
28. [Cargo MCP](https://www.getcargo.ai/mcp)
29. [Cargo overview (llms.txt)](https://www.getcargo.ai/llms.txt)
30. [Our next chapter: We're joining forces with Rox](https://persana.ai/blogs/exciting-news-our-next-chapter)

## Try this prompt

Enrich a list without a Clay table

```text
Use www.enrich.chat to add a work email and a mobile to each row of this list. Use the LinkedIn URL when a row has one, mark misses as not found, flag catch_all emails as risky, and tell me the total credits_used: [paste rows]
```

## Related

- [Clay pricing](https://enrich.chat/blog/clay-pricing/)
- [Clay vs Apollo: data, AI and cost per lead](https://enrich.chat/compare/clay-vs-apollo/)
- [Waterfall enrichment explained](https://enrich.chat/blog/waterfall-enrichment/)