Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Apollo.io vs Clay

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Apollo.io

4.0

From $49/seat/mo

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Clay

3.7

From From $167/mo

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Comparing 2 tools. Add one more if you like.

At a glance

Apollo.io4.0

Best overallBest valueEasiest to use

Pick it if: Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.

Clay3.7

Pick it if: Growth marketers, sales ops people and agencies who build targeted lead lists and personalised outbound.

Overview

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
In one line	B2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them.	Builds and enriches lead lists from 100+ data sources, with an AI agent for web research.
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starting price	$49/seat/mo	From $167/mo
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Works with Claude Code	Yes	No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Overall rating	4.0Winner	3.7
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.	4.5	2.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.	4.5	5.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.	3.0	4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.	4.0	3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.	4.0	3.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Access & platform
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Mobile app	Yes	–
Desktop app	–	–
Browser extension	Yes	Yes
API access	Yes	Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace	Yes	Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO	Yes	Yes
Connects to other apps	Yes	Yes
Open source or self-hosted	No	No
AI abilities
Works with your files	–	Yes
Understands images	–	–
Makes images	No	No
Makes video	No	No
Writes code	–	–
Runs agents or automations	Yes	Yes
Learns your brand or style	–	–
Works in many languages	–	–
Capabilities score	8/ 17	8/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Plans	Free Free Founders testing outbound.	Free Free Learning Clay and small tests.
	Basic $49/seat/mo billed yearly Individual sellers doing regular outbound.	LaunchOur pick From $167/mo, less billed yearly Founders and small teams building outbound lists.
	ProfessionalOur pick $79/seat/mo billed yearly Full-time reps.	Growth From $446/mo, less billed yearly Teams syncing Clay with their CRM.
	Organization $119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats) Sales teams wanting advanced controls.	Enterprise Custom Large teams needing SSO and controls.
Which plan to pick	Start on Free to check the data covers your market. Basic suits one person prospecting; Professional is worth it if you also call prospects or want AI scoring. Monthly billing costs noticeably more than the yearly prices shown.	Learn on Free, then move to Launch when you are ready to run real campaigns. Only take Growth if you need CRM sync or the API. Set credit budgets on every table.

Key features

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Standout features	Contact database Email sequences Chrome extension Dialer and call recording AI research and scoring Enrichment	Waterfall enrichment Claygent Signals AI writing CRM sync Sequencer

Pros and cons

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Pros	Generous free plan for getting started Database and outreach in one tool Much cheaper than ZoomInfo Easy to learn for non-technical users	Finds more emails and numbers than any one database Claygent can research almost anything about a company Very flexible: build exactly the list you need Useful free plan for learning
Cons	Bounce rates and out-of-date contacts are common complaints Weaker phone and contact data outside the US Credits run out fast and do not roll over Billing disputes and slow support on lower plans	Steep learning curve for non-technical users Credits and actions are easy to burn, with no sandbox for testing Two-currency pricing makes the bill hard to predict Frequent pricing changes in 2026 confused existing customers

Who each one is for

Attribute	Apollo.io	Clay
Best for	Finding business emails and phone numbers Building B2B lead lists Simple cold email sequences Cheaper alternative to ZoomInfo	Building niche lead lists Finding emails and phone numbers from many sources AI research on each prospect Keeping CRM data enriched
You'll find it used by	Founders Sales development reps Account executives Marketers Recruiters	Growth marketers Sales ops Outbound agencies Founders Recruiters

Questions people ask

Which is better, Apollo.io or Clay?

Apollo.io scores highest overall in our ratings (Apollo.io 4.0/5 and Clay 3.7/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Clay is best for building niche lead lists and finding emails and phone numbers from many sources.

Which is cheaper, Apollo.io or Clay?

Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Clay: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $167/mo.

Which is easier to use, Apollo.io or Clay?

Apollo.io rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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