Switch from Clay to Cleanlist
Same multi-source concept. Zero setup. No credits burned on failed lookups.
TL;DR
Clay gives you 75+ data sources but requires you to build and maintain enrichment workflows manually. Failed lookups burn credits. Complex tables eat hours of setup time. Cleanlist provides pre-built waterfall enrichment across 15+ premium sources — the same multi-source concept with zero configuration. Upload a CSV, get verified data back. No workflow building, no credit waste on failed lookups.
Why Teams Leave Clay
The frustrations that drive the switch.
Steep Learning Curve
Clay's table-based workflow builder requires understanding data flows, column types, enrichment providers, and credit economics. Most teams spend days learning the platform before running their first enrichment. It is powerful but complex.
Credit Burn on Failed Lookups
Clay charges credits for every provider query, even when the lookup returns no data. A waterfall across 5 providers that finds nothing costs 5 credits. Teams frequently report that a significant portion of credits go to failed lookups with zero data returned.
DIY Waterfall Maintenance
Building your own waterfall means choosing which providers to query, in what order, with what fallback logic. When providers change their APIs or data quality shifts, you need to reconfigure. Clay gives you the building blocks; you supply the engineering.
Expensive at Scale
Clay's Explorer plan at $349/month looks affordable until you account for credit consumption across multi-step workflows. Teams regularly exceed their credit allotment and pay overage charges. The effective cost per enrichment is often 3-5x what the plan pricing suggests.
How to Switch
Step-by-step migration from Clay to Cleanlist.
Export Your Clay Tables
15 minutesDownload your enriched contact data from Clay's table interface as CSV. Include all columns — emails, phones, company data.
Sign Up for Cleanlist
5 minutesCreate your account, get 100 free credits. No workflow to build — just upload your contacts.
Upload and Enrich
30-60 minutesUpload your CSV. Cleanlist's pre-built waterfall handles all the source selection, fallback logic, and verification automatically. No columns to configure, no provider selection, no workflow building.
Compare Results
30 minutesRun the same contacts through both platforms. Compare fill rates, verification status, and effective cost per enriched record. Most teams see higher fill rates at lower cost from Cleanlist.
What You Gain
| Metric | Clay | Cleanlist |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Time | Hours to days | Minutes |
| Failed Lookup Cost | Credits consumed | $0 (only pay for results) |
| Workflow Maintenance | Ongoing manual updates | Zero (pre-built waterfall) |
| Monthly Cost | $349/mo + overages | $99/mo (predictable) |
Pricing Comparison
Real cost scenarios based on typical team sizes and volumes.
5K enrichments/month with waterfall
10K enrichments/month
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cleanlist less powerful than Clay?
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Different, not less. Clay is a workflow automation platform that can do far more than enrichment — data transformation, multi-step research, custom integrations. If you need that flexibility, Clay is the right tool. If you primarily use Clay for contact enrichment and the complexity is slowing you down, Cleanlist delivers the same multi-source result with zero configuration.
Does Cleanlist support as many data sources as Clay?
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Clay offers 75+ integrations. Cleanlist queries 15+ premium data providers via a pre-built waterfall. The key difference: Cleanlist selects the optimal providers and query order for you, while Clay requires you to build and maintain that logic. For enrichment specifically, 15+ curated sources with intelligent routing often outperform 75+ sources with manual configuration.
What about Clay's AI research features?
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Clay's AI agent can research companies and extract unstructured information from the web. Cleanlist does not replicate this capability. If AI-powered research is central to your workflow, you may want to keep Clay for that use case and use Cleanlist for structured enrichment (emails, phones, firmographics) where cost predictability matters.
Do I still waste credits on failed lookups with Cleanlist?
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No. Cleanlist only charges credits for successful enrichments that return verified data. If a contact cannot be enriched, you are not charged. This is a fundamental difference from Clay's model, where every provider query consumes credits regardless of results.
Ready to make the switch?
Try Cleanlist free and compare the results on your own data. No credit card required.