Cleanlist vs Clay
Clay hands you a table, two meters and a marketplace to build with. Cleanlist AI hands the whole job to an agent: one sentence to Clu, and every Monday 500 verified leads land in your sequence.
Both run multi-provider waterfalls and both send email. In Cleanlist AI, Clu builds the agent from one sentence, one credit balance pays for everything, and HubSpot and Salesforce sync start on Pro at $89 a seat. In Clay, you design the table, pay in actions and data credits, and CRM integrations start on Growth at $495 a month.
Updated 2026Clay facts checked , with the source on every row
- 1B+profiles to search, and search is free
- 25+data providers in one waterfall
- 98%verified work emails on the 500-lead benchmark
- 14 daysof Pro: 250 credits, up to 3 seats
| Measure | Cleanlist AI | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Agents that run your GTM: Clu, agents, search, enrichment and Sequences in one app | A data and workflow platform: tables, a 150+ provider marketplace, Claygents and a sequencer |
| Starts at | $49 a seat a month, with 750 credits a seat | $185 a month for the workspace on Launch, or $167 billed annually |
| How you pay | One balance: 1 credit a verified email, 10 a phone number, 0 for a miss | Two meters: data credits from $0.05 each, and actions at under $0.01 each |
| CRM sync | HubSpot and Salesforce from Pro, $89 a seat | From Growth, $495 a month |
| Sends outreach | Email from your own inbox and call tasks, on every paid plan | Email through the Clay Sequencer, from Launch |
The short answer
Pick Clay if you have a RevOps engineer who wants to build: 150+ data providers to choose from, Claygent research steps and tables you design yourself. Pick Cleanlist AI if you want the job run for you: Clu turns one sentence into an agent that searches 1B+ profiles, runs a 25+ provider waterfall, verifies every email and adds the leads to a sequence with email and call steps.
Bottom line
Clay is a data and workflow platform: a 150+ provider marketplace, Claygents, a sequencer from the Launch plan and CRM integrations from Growth, metered in actions and data credits (clay.com/pricing, read October 3, 2026). Cleanlist AI runs the same kind of waterfall as finished jobs: agents that Clu builds from one sentence, Sequences with email and call steps on every paid plan, HubSpot and Salesforce sync from Pro at $89 a seat, and one credit balance, with 98% verified work emails on its 500-lead benchmark.
The same job in Cleanlist AI and Clay.
Each job below is done twice: once in Cleanlist AI, once in Clay, with the steps each one takes. Every Clay step links to the page on Clay's site that describes it.
- 01
Every Monday, put 500 new ICP leads with verified emails and phone numbers into a sequence
In Cleanlist AI4 steps
- Type the job to Clu in one sentence.
- Clu reads your company profile, finds 41,500 people who match and asks 4 questions.
- It builds Weekly ICP outbound: search, waterfall, verify, add to Series B outbound, post to #pipeline.
- Test it on 25 people for free, then switch it on for Monday 8:00 AM.
First run: 500 found, 487 verified emails, 412 phone numbers, all 500 in the sequence, in 11m 42s.
In Clay6 steps
- Build a table and pull people into it from a source.Source
- Add waterfall columns for emails and for phone numbers. Phone enrichment starts on Launch.Source
- Add a validation step for the emails.Source
- Schedule the table to rerun every week (Launch and up).Source
- Send through the Clay Sequencer, or push rows to a sequencing tool.Source
- Connect HubSpot or Salesforce, which needs the Growth plan.Source
It runs once the table is built. Every run spends actions and data credits, and Clay's docs put a fully enriched record at 6 to 20 data credits.
- 02
Know what 1,000 leads will cost before the run starts
In Cleanlist AI3 steps
- A verified work email is 1 credit and a phone number is 10.
- Searching costs 0, and a lookup that finds nothing costs 0.
- Set a credit limit on the agent. The run stops when it gets there.
1,000 leads with email and phone: 11,000 credits at most, less for every miss.
In Clay4 steps
- Every enrichment spends 1 action plus 0.5 to 10+ data credits, by data type.Source
- A fully enriched record typically costs 6 to 20 data credits, per Clay's docs.Source
- AI steps bill a fixed number of credits, or by tokens on the larger models.Source
- A step that returns nothing costs no data credits and no actions.Source
1,000 fully enriched records: 6,000 to 20,000 data credits plus the actions, by Clay's own range.
- 03
Build a prospect list from inside Claude or ChatGPT
In Cleanlist AI3 steps
- Connect the Cleanlist AI MCP server, included from Starter.
- Ask Claude for 50 VPs of Sales at Series B software companies in the US, with emails.
- Claude runs People Search and the waterfall through Cleanlist AI's 30+ MCP tools and saves the list.
A verified list in Cleanlist AI, at the same credit prices as the app.
10,000+ users, from founders to full sales teams
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Cleanlist AI vs Clay, capability by capability.
Every capability Cleanlist AI ships, grouped the way the product is, with what Clay offers for each.
The biggest difference. Clay is infrastructure you assemble: tables, columns, Claygents and a sequencer, metered in actions and data credits. Cleanlist AI is the job already assembled: Clu turns one sentence into an agent that searches 1B+ profiles, runs 25+ providers, verifies, sequences and reports to Slack, on one credit balance.
| 23 capabilities | Cleanlist AI | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| Clu and agentsTell Clu the job. An agent runs it every week and posts the run to Slack.How it works | ||
| GTM agent you talk to | Yes. Clu, in the app (⌘J) and in Slack | Yes. Sculptor builds tables and workflows from plain languageSource |
| Agents on a schedule or a CRM trigger | Yes. Weekly, daily or the moment a CRM record changes | Partly. Account Agents, in beta on Launch and up; Claygents run inside a tableSource |
| Runs and approvals in Slack | Yes. Every run posts to a channel, a DM or your inbox | Partly. A Slack message action you add to a table, all plansSource |
| AI research and qualification per lead | Yes. Research and Qualification skills, 5 credits a lead | Yes. Claygent web research, on every planSource |
| ICP scoring | Yes. Fit score 0 to 100 with the reasons | Yes. Score Row: up to 15 criteria, a score and the reasoningSource |
| SearchSearch 1B+ profiles for free. Pay only for the contacts you enrich.How it works | ||
| People search | Yes. 1B+ profiles, and search is free | Yes. Find People in Clay's own database, 0 data credits a searchSource |
| Company search | Yes. Industry, headcount, funding stage, location | Yes. Find Companies, 0 data credits a searchSource |
| Chrome extension | Yes. LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Salesforce and HubSpot | Partly. Clay for Chrome pulls page data into a tableSource |
| Enrich and verify25+ providers in one waterfall. A lookup that finds nothing costs nothing.How it works | ||
| Waterfall enrichment | Yes. 25+ providers, stops at the first verified result | Yes. 150+ marketplace providers; waterfalls on every planSource |
| Verified work emails | Yes. 98% on the 500-lead benchmark, 1 credit each | Yes. From marketplace providers, on data creditsSource |
| Phone numbers | Yes. 85% on the same benchmark, 10 credits each | Partly. From the Launch plan; not on FreeSource |
| Email verification | Yes. Syntax, DNS, MX, SMTP and catch-all checks | Yes. Validation providers as a table step, some freeSource |
| A miss is free | Yes. 0 credits when nothing comes back | Yes. No data credits or actions when a step returns nothingSource |
| SequencesEmail from your own inbox and call tasks in one sequence.How it works | ||
| Email sequences | Yes. From your own Gmail or Outlook, on every paid plan | Yes. Clay Sequencer, from the Launch planSource |
| Call tasks | Yes. Call tasks with an agent-written call script | No. Not described on Clay's Sequencer or pricing pagesSource |
| CRM, MCP and APIWrite straight to your CRM, or run Cleanlist AI from Claude and ChatGPT.How it works | ||
| Two-way CRM sync | Yes. HubSpot and Salesforce | Partly. From Growth, $495 a monthSource |
| Push to a sales engagement tool | Yes. Salesloft and Lemlist | Yes. Smartlead, Instantly and Lemlist from Launch; Outreach and Salesloft integrations tooSource |
| MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT | Yes. 30+ tools, from the Starter plan | Yes. On Launch and up; lookups on Free and trialSource |
| REST API | Yes. From the Pro plan | Yes. API and CLI on every plan, at in-app credit pricesSource |
| PricingPublished prices. Every seat adds credits to one shared balance.How it works | ||
| Free plan | Yes. $0, 50 credits a month, up to 3 seats | Yes. 500 actions and 100 data credits a monthSource |
| Free trial | Yes. 14 days of Pro, 250 credits, up to 3 seats | Yes. 14 days with Growth featuresSource |
| Paid plans from | Yes. $49 per seat a month, $37 billed annually | Yes. $185 a month per workspace, $167 billed annuallySource |
| Credits shared and rolled over | Yes. One team balance, unused credits roll over | Partly. Per workspace; data credits roll over up to 2x on Launch and Growth, actions resetSource |
Cleanlist AI covers all 23. Clay covers 16 in full. Every Clay cell links to the page on Clay’s own site it was read from, checked October 3, 2026.
Where Cleanlist AI pulls ahead of Clay.
- 1 sentence
From the job to a running agent
Clu reads your company profile, sizes the audience, asks four questions and builds the agent. Test it on 25 people for free, then switch it on. There is no table to design.
- $89
CRM sync on Pro, per seat
HubSpot and Salesforce sync start on Cleanlist AI Pro at $89 a seat a month. Clay's CRM integrations start on Growth, at $495 a month on monthly billing.
- 1 balance
One meter for the whole team
Every seat adds credits to one shared balance, and unused credits roll over. Search, sending and a miss cost 0. Clay meters actions and data credits separately, and actions reset every billing cycle.
- 2 channels
Email and call tasks in one sequence
Sequences send from your own Gmail or Outlook and queue call tasks with an agent-written script. Clay's Sequencer and pricing pages describe email.
Cleanlist AI vs Clay pricing, at your team size.
List prices from each vendor's own pricing page. Clay's figures were read on October 3, 2026.
| Team | Cleanlist AI Starter$49 a seat, 750 credits a seat | Clay Launch$185 a month for the workspace, any number of users | Cleanlist AI Pro$89 a seat, 1,500 credits a seat | Clay Growth$495 a month for the workspace, adds CRM sync |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 seat | $49750 credits a month | $1852,500 data credits + 15,000 actions, for the workspace | $891,500 credits a month | $4956,000 data credits + 40,000 actions, for the workspace |
| 3 seats | $1472,250 credits a month | $1852,500 data credits + 15,000 actions, for the workspace | $2674,500 credits a month | $4956,000 data credits + 40,000 actions, for the workspace |
| 5 seats | $2453,750 credits a month | $1852,500 data credits + 15,000 actions, for the workspace | $4457,500 credits a month | $4956,000 data credits + 40,000 actions, for the workspace |
| 10 seats | $4907,500 credits a month | $1852,500 data credits + 15,000 actions, for the workspace | $89015,000 credits a month | $4956,000 data credits + 40,000 actions, for the workspace |
Monthly list prices on monthly billing. Cleanlist AI annual billing is $37 and $67 a seat (25% off), and every seat’s credits go into one shared balance that rolls over. Clay prices per workspace, so its figure holds as the team grows. Clay's docs put a fully enriched record at 6 to 20 data credits; a Cleanlist AI record with a verified email and a phone number is 11 credits. Clay pricing, checked October 3, 2026
Cleanlist AI or Clay: which to pick.
Each side gets its own case. Where Clay is the better tool, this page says so.
Pick Cleanlist AI if
- You want an agent to run the weekly list, start to finish, from one sentence
- You don't have a dedicated RevOps engineer to maintain workflows
- You want waterfall enrichment to work out of the box on day one
- You want HubSpot or Salesforce sync without moving to a $495-a-month plan
- You want verification inside every lookup instead of a step you add
- You've started a Clay build twice and never finished it
Best for
- Sales teams who want results, not workflow building
- Non-technical users who need data enrichment fast
- Teams frustrated with Clay's steep learning curve
- Anyone who wants a waterfall that is already tuned rather than one to build
- Teams without dedicated RevOps engineers
Pick Clay if
- You have an ops engineer who wants full control over every API call
- Your enrichment logic is genuinely custom (e.g. branching by industry, region, ICP tier)
- You're already paying for 5+ data provider APIs and want to orchestrate them in one place
- You need to mix enrichment with non-enrichment workflows like research and AI prompt chains
- You want to sync a data warehouse or send ad audiences to LinkedIn and Meta
Where Clay is stronger
- A marketplace of 150+ data providers, and you can bring your own API keys
- Claygent research steps inside any table, on every plan
- Signals: job changes, company news and social listening from Launch, web intent from Growth
- Warehouse sync with Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Postgres on Growth
- Per-workspace pricing with unlimited users, which favours a large team on Launch
- Ad audiences sent to LinkedIn and Meta
How to switch from Clay.
Run both side by side first. Export what you hold in Clay, enrich it here, compare the results on your own rows, then point your CRM and your sequences at Cleanlist AI.
- 1
Export the Clay table you run most
Download it as a CSV, with a LinkedIn URL, an email or a name and domain on every row.
- 2
Enrich the same rows in Cleanlist AI
Upload the CSV. The waterfall runs 25+ providers on every row and verifies each email. Compare the results with your Clay columns, row by row.
- 3
Tell Clu the job your table did
Describe it in one sentence. Clu builds the agent, shows you its play, and tests it on 25 people for free before it runs.
- 4
Connect your CRM and inbox
Turn on HubSpot or Salesforce sync on Pro, add your mailbox to Sequences, and switch the agent on.
Clay ratings on review sites.
Each score links to the site that published it. Our own scores sit underneath, with review counts.
Our own scores, with review counts: G2 5.0 from 5 reviews, Chrome Web Store 4.7 from 13, AppSumo 4.8 from 112.
“Clay is brilliant for technical teams that want to build custom enrichment workflows. But the learning curve is steep. Most teams spend weeks configuring tables and waterfall logic that Cleanlist AI handles automatically. If you have an ops engineer to dedicate, Clay is powerful. If not, you'll burn time instead of enriching data.”
Every Clay fact on this page was read off Clay’s own site on October 3, 2026:
References & Sources
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Frequently asked questions
What buyers ask when they weigh Cleanlist AI against Clay.
Is Cleanlist AI easier to use than Clay?
For most sales teams, yes. In Clay you build the job: the table, the source, the waterfall columns, the validation step, the schedule and the send. In Cleanlist AI you tell Clu the job in one sentence, and it builds the agent, tests it on 25 people for free and runs it on your schedule. For a one-off list, upload a CSV or open a LinkedIn profile with the Chrome extension, and the enriched, verified rows come back in minutes.
Does Clay have better data quality than Cleanlist AI?
They are measured differently. Clay's pricing page counts 150+ data partners in its marketplace, and what you get depends on which ones your table calls and in what order. Cleanlist AI ships one curated waterfall across 25+ providers with verification built into every lookup. On the Cleanlist AI 500-Lead Enrichment Benchmark, 2026, it returned a verified work email for 98% of a stratified 500-lead sample and a phone number for 85% of the same list.
Is Cleanlist AI cheaper than Clay?
For small teams, yes. Cleanlist AI Starter is $49 per seat a month. Clay's Launch plan is $185 a month on monthly billing ($167 billed annually) for the whole workspace, with 2,500 data credits and 15,000 actions, and Growth is $495 ($446 billed annually) (clay.com/pricing, read October 3, 2026). Because Clay prices per workspace, Launch costs less than Starter from four seats up. For CRM sync, compare Cleanlist AI Pro at $89 a seat with Clay Growth at $495 a month: Pro costs less up to six seats. Clay also meters actions and data credits separately; Cleanlist AI charges 1 credit for a verified work email, 10 for a phone number and nothing for a miss.
Can Clay send emails?
Yes, from the Launch plan. Clay's Sequencer sends email, and Clay can also push rows to a sequencing tool (clay.com/pricing, read October 3, 2026). Cleanlist AI Sequences send email from your own Gmail or Outlook and queue call tasks with an agent-written script, on every paid plan, and sending costs no credits. If you already use Salesloft or Lemlist, Cleanlist AI pushes the list there instead.
Should I use Clay or Cleanlist AI for waterfall enrichment?
Choose Cleanlist AI if you want a waterfall that already runs: 25+ providers in a set order, verification inside every lookup, 1 credit a verified email, 10 a phone number and nothing for a miss. Choose Clay if you want to pick providers from its 150+ partner marketplace, set their order yourself and mix in Claygent research steps, and you have someone to build and maintain the table.
How much does the Clay API cost?
Clay's developer docs say its API and CLI are available on every plan, Free and trial included, and use the same credits and actions as the same work done in the app. HTTP API integrations and webhooks start on Growth, and API table sync is an Enterprise feature (university.clay.com and clay.com/pricing, read October 3, 2026). Cleanlist AI's API v2 starts on Pro at $89 a seat a month, and every job returns a signed cost quote before it runs, so you approve the spend first.
Is there a Clay API alternative with predictable pricing?
Cleanlist AI's API v2 covers people search, company search, and waterfall enrichment with signed cost quotes before every run. API access starts on Pro at $89 per seat a month. You get multi-provider enrichment through one contract instead of assembling per-provider credits.
Does Cleanlist AI have an AI agent like Claygent?
Yes, and it runs the whole job. Clu, the GTM agent, builds agents from one sentence. Each agent runs on a schedule or when a CRM record changes, searches 1B+ profiles, runs the waterfall, verifies, scores against your ICP, adds people to a sequence and posts the run to Slack. The Research and Qualification skills cost 5 credits a lead. Claygent is Clay's web-research agent inside a table, on every Clay plan, and Clay's Account Agents are in beta from the Launch plan (clay.com, read October 3, 2026).
When is Clay the better choice?
When you want to build. Clay lets you pick from 150+ data providers or bring your own API keys, chain Claygent research steps, sync a warehouse such as Snowflake or BigQuery on Growth, and send ad audiences to LinkedIn and Meta. Clay prices per workspace with unlimited users, which suits a large team on the Launch plan (clay.com/pricing, read October 3, 2026).
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