How much Clay costs in 2026
These numbers come from Clay's own pricing page. Clay replaced its older tiers with Launch and Growth in March 2026, and many guides still quote the old plans, so check the live page before you budget.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Base Actions | Base Data Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 USD | 0 USD | 500 a month | 100 a month |
| Launch | 185 USD a month | 167 USD a month | 15,000 a month, or 180,000 a year | 3,000 a month, or 30,000 a year |
| Growth | 495 USD a month | 446 USD a month | 40,000 a month, or 480,000 a year | 6,000 a month, or 72,000 a year |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Free
- Monthly billing
- 0 USD
- Annual billing
- 0 USD
- Base Actions
- 500 a month
- Base Data Credits
- 100 a month
Launch
- Monthly billing
- 185 USD a month
- Annual billing
- 167 USD a month
- Base Actions
- 15,000 a month, or 180,000 a year
- Base Data Credits
- 3,000 a month, or 30,000 a year
Growth
- Monthly billing
- 495 USD a month
- Annual billing
- 446 USD a month
- Base Actions
- 40,000 a month, or 480,000 a year
- Base Data Credits
- 6,000 a month, or 72,000 a year
Enterprise
- Monthly billing
- Custom
- Annual billing
- Custom
- Base Actions
- Custom
- Base Data Credits
- Custom
The page lists unlimited seats on every plan. Free is limited to 200 rows per table and does not include phone numbers or email campaigns. Top-ups carry a 30 percent premium on Launch and Growth. The page contradicts itself in places (the data credit counts and the rollover rule differ between the FAQ and the comparison grid), so confirm the exact allowance at checkout.
What Data Credits and Actions are
Data Credits pay for data Clay buys from providers on your behalf: an email, a phone number, a company enrichment. Actions pay for everything the platform does: each workflow step, AI research call or write into a CRM uses them. A table with 5,000 rows and a handful of enrichment steps can use tens of thousands of Actions, which is why the headline price is rarely the whole bill.
Clay sells larger packs of each meter. On Launch billed monthly, Actions go from 60 USD for 15,000 to 540 USD for 200,000, and Data Credits go from 125 USD for 2,500 to 2,125 USD for 50,000. On Growth the Actions packs start at 205 USD for 40,000 a month.
What Clay costs for a real outbound program
Clay stops at the list. To contact those people you still need sending inboxes, a sequencing tool, warmup, a calendar link and someone to write and review the messages. This is a typical stack for a small team, with each line priced from its own public page.
| Piece | What it does | Typical cost a month |
|---|---|---|
| Clay Launch | Builds and enriches the list | 185 USD billed monthly |
| A sequencer | Sends emails and follow-ups | Often 40 to 100 USD, depending on tool |
| Mailboxes and domains | Where mail is sent from | A few dollars per mailbox and a domain each year |
| A person | Writes the campaign, checks replies, books calls | Salary or contractor time |
Clay Launch
- What it does
- Builds and enriches the list
- Typical cost a month
- 185 USD billed monthly
A sequencer
- What it does
- Sends emails and follow-ups
- Typical cost a month
- Often 40 to 100 USD, depending on tool
Mailboxes and domains
- What it does
- Where mail is sent from
- Typical cost a month
- A few dollars per mailbox and a domain each year
A person
- What it does
- Writes the campaign, checks replies, books calls
- Typical cost a month
- Salary or contractor time
Add them up and a modest program lands at several hundred USD a month before anyone's time. That is fine for a team with a growth marketer who enjoys building workflows. It is a poor fit for a founder who wants meetings booked and has no one to operate the stack.
What Clay does well and where it stops
Clay is strong at list building. It queries many data providers in a waterfall, uses its Claygent web research agent to read a company's site, and pushes the result to your CRM or sequencer. For a growth team that wants a custom list, such as every company hiring for a given role or using a given tool, it is flexible in ways simple lead databases are not.
It does not decide what the message should say in your voice, send it, follow up, sort replies or book a call. The Free plan's email sequencer is limited, and the comparison grid says campaigns are not included on Free, so check before relying on it. If nobody on your team owns outbound today, a better list does not fill a calendar.
Clay alternatives compared on price and job
Prices come from each vendor's pricing page where one is published. Confirm the current price before you buy.
| Tool | Entry price | How it is billed | What it does best | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay (for reference) | 185 USD a month, 167 billed annually | Two usage meters plus a plan fee | Custom lists and enrichment workflows | Growth teams who build and operate their own stack |
| Apollo | See its pricing page | Per user with credits | Contact database with built-in sequences | Teams that want data and sending in one tool |
| Smartlead and Instantly | See each pricing page | Plan tiers by contacts and emails | Sending at volume from many inboxes | Operators who already have a list |
| Amplemarket | Annual contract, see its pricing page | Per user with credits | Data and AI outreach together | Sales teams with budget for annual terms |
| OutreachAuto | 99 USD a month, 49 billed yearly | Plan with contact limits | Research, writing, follow-up and booking done for you | Founders and small teams with no one to run outbound |
Clay (for reference)
- Entry price
- 185 USD a month, 167 billed annually
- How it is billed
- Two usage meters plus a plan fee
- What it does best
- Custom lists and enrichment workflows
- Best for
- Growth teams who build and operate their own stack
Apollo
- Entry price
- See its pricing page
- How it is billed
- Per user with credits
- What it does best
- Contact database with built-in sequences
- Best for
- Teams that want data and sending in one tool
Smartlead and Instantly
- Entry price
- See each pricing page
- How it is billed
- Plan tiers by contacts and emails
- What it does best
- Sending at volume from many inboxes
- Best for
- Operators who already have a list
Amplemarket
- Entry price
- Annual contract, see its pricing page
- How it is billed
- Per user with credits
- What it does best
- Data and AI outreach together
- Best for
- Sales teams with budget for annual terms
OutreachAuto
- Entry price
- 99 USD a month, 49 billed yearly
- How it is billed
- Plan with contact limits
- What it does best
- Research, writing, follow-up and booking done for you
- Best for
- Founders and small teams with no one to run outbound
For the head to head on price per tool, see the AI SDR pricing comparison, and for the nearest data and outreach neighbors read Apollo pricing and alternatives and Amplemarket pricing.
Why teams look for a Clay alternative
The first reason is that a list is not a meeting. Teams buy Clay, build an impressive table, then discover that writing, sending and following up is a second job.
The second reason is that usage billing is hard to forecast. Two meters and top-ups at a 30 percent premium mean the monthly number moves with every new workflow.
The third reason is time. When the goal is meetings booked rather than a custom data pipeline, an AI SDR that finds matching companies, reads each site, writes the first line, follows up and books the call removes the build step. Clay's research agent is a web scraper at heart, and if you only need to pull structured facts from a few pages yourself, an AI web scraper that browses like a human covers that single task without a platform subscription.
When Clay is the right buy
Buy Clay if you have a growth or revenue operations person, you want highly custom lists, and you already have a sender and a sequencer. At 185 to 495 USD a month it is a serious but reasonable tool for that person. Look elsewhere when you are one founder with no time to build tables, when you want meetings booked without anyone writing and sending, or when you want one price you can predict. Outbound automation pricing lists every OutreachAuto limit.
How much does Clay cost per month?
Clay costs 185 USD a month on Launch and 495 USD a month on Growth when billed monthly. Billed annually, the headline prices are 167 and 446 USD a month. A Free plan gives 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, and Enterprise pricing is custom with an annual commitment.
Is Clay free?
Partly. The Free plan costs nothing and includes 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month with up to 200 rows per table, but it excludes phone number enrichment and email campaign launches. Real prospecting usually needs a paid plan.
What are Clay Data Credits and Actions?
Data Credits pay for data Clay buys from third-party providers, such as emails, phone numbers and company details. Actions pay for platform work, such as workflow steps, AI research and writing to your CRM. Both are metered, so the total depends on how many rows and steps you run.
Does Clay send emails or book meetings?
Clay is built for research and enrichment. It writes data into your CRM or sequencer. Sending, follow-up, reply handling and booking come from other tools, and the Free plan's campaign features are limited, so plan for a separate sequencer.
What is the best alternative to Clay?
It depends on the job. If you want outbound done without anyone building tables, OutreachAuto starts at 99 USD a month, or 49 billed yearly, and includes research, writing, follow-up and booking. For custom data pipelines run by a growth operator, Clay is built for that.
