Clay pricing (2026): Free vs Launch vs Growth — and what the credits actually buy

People search 'Clay pricing' because they remember a Starter in the low hundreds a year, or because finance asked why a spreadsheet costs more than Apollo Professional. Those are different tickets. If you do not name whether you needed a waterfall you will engineer, a kit this week, or a zap, you will buy Launch because the community looked clever — or stay on a 2025 Explorer quote until checkout shows Actions and Data credits and laughs.

This is a cost page, not a playbook dump. Public list prices below were checked against clay.com/pricing on 19 September 2026. Clay's own docs (university.clay.com/docs/plans-and-billing and legacy-plans) explain the March 2026 meter change. They change. We do not invent an Enterprise sticker, a typical-credit lab, or a partner URL. The full review is /tools/clay. The sales ranking is the scored GTM table. The automation ranking sits Clay last on purpose: it is not Zapier for ops. A sane AI sales stack is the ladder.

Clay cost in 2026, at a glance

• The old Starter / Explorer / Pro packaging is legacy. Clay's March 2026 model uses Actions (workflows) plus Data credits (marketplace). Legacy feature access for those old plans runs through 31 December 2026. New buyers should price Launch / Growth, not a 2025 Starter blog.
• Credits and actions expand on the same page. Launch data-credit add-ons on the public grid start around $125 / mo for 2.5K extra. We will not invent your 'typical' row bill. Read the cart.
• Top-ups on modern plans are a 30% premium (Clay's own comparison vs 50% on legacy). Unused Launch / Growth credits can roll up to about one month (15% of annual). Confirm in billing.
• A fully enriched row can spend many data credits once you add email, phone, and Claygent. Clay's docs ballpark 'tens of credits' per rich record. Empty columns still invent last year's ICP.

Stay on Free if you are proving the table, not a motion

Free is a real product: unlimited seats and tables, multi-provider waterfalls, Claygent, your own API keys, 200 rows per table, 100 data credits and 500 actions a month. Enough to learn whether anyone on the team thinks in columns. Not enough to enrich a territory. Phone numbers are a paid-plan feature.

Leave Free when phone enrichment, signals, or more than 200 rows is the job — and someone will own the meters. Skip Launch if your SDRs needed a sequence tool yesterday. That is Apollo. Skip it if the leak is a form-to-Slack zap. That is Zapier, then the automation ranking. Skip it if nobody will review samples before they run 8,000 rows. Clay will happily spend the credits.

• Best for: one RevOps or growth engineer testing whether a waterfall is even the leak
• Skip if: you needed a dialer this week, a coaching OS, or a zap
• Honest watch-out: 100 credits will not become a GTM OS if you just watch more Clay University videos

Buy Launch when someone will own the table

Launch is the honest first paid rung. Starting at $185 a month, or $167 billed annually, for 2,500 data credits and 15,000 actions. Phone enrichment, job-change and news signals, Clay's sequencer or a sequencing integration, 50,000 rows per table. Clay's own docs position it for teams enriching under about 1,000 records a month. That is either obvious or a fight the first time someone runs Claygent on the whole TAM.

Pay monthly if you are still proving the owner. Pay annually if the table is already a weekly motion. Skip Launch if you have not survived Free's first ugly column. Skip it if CRM auto-sync, HTTP APIs, or web intent is already the job — that is Growth. Skip it if you wanted Apollo with extra steps. Buy Apollo. Apollo pricing is that kit.

• Best for: RevOps and growth engineers who will waterfall providers and review samples
• Skip if: the leak is a sequence this week, a call library, or an ops zap
• Honest watch-out: more credits will not invent an ICP. Unreviewed AI columns at Launch prices are just a faster dump

Buy Growth when the table has to talk to the CRM

Growth is the row Clay marks recommended. Starting at $495 a month, or $446 billed annually, for 6,000 data credits and 40,000 actions. CRM auto-sync and enrichment, HTTP API, webhooks, web intent, unlimited ad audiences, warehouse sync on the public compare grid, priority support. This is a GTM system bill, not an intern.

Buy it when the list already lives in Clay and the next leak is keeping HubSpot or Salesforce honest — or pushing an audience to ads. Skip it if you have not used Launch's 2,500 credits. Skip it if the leak is still 'we needed a dialer.' Skip it if nobody will own credits and data quality. Clay's own docs say a rich record can cost on the order of twenty data credits. Do the math on 4,000 accounts before you call Growth a bargain versus Apollo.

Buy Enterprise when SSO, or bulk, is the job

Enterprise is how Clay sells the company: SSO, RBAC with workbook credit budgets, unlimited audience imports, bulk enrichment, a dedicated growth strategist, custom meters. You request a quote. Annual commitment. That is not a darker Growth.

Buy it when several workbooks are already the operating system and security is in the room. Do not buy it because Launch felt lonely and a keynote said 'Intercom grew outbound 140%.' We will not invent a typical contract.

Clay vs Apollo vs Zapier, as a bill

Apollo Basic is $49 a seat. Professional is $79. You are buying a database plus sequences plus, on Professional, a dialer. Clay Launch is $167–$185 for a table that can call dozens of providers. Power GTM teams eventually feed Apollo — or another sequencer — from Clay. Buying Clay because you needed to email 200 people this week is how the table stays empty. Apollo pricing is the kit math. The sales stack is the ladder.

Zapier is a reliable zap: form lands, Slack pings, a row in the sheet. Make is the zap that became a machine. n8n is the graph next to the repo. Clay is not that wire. It is the GTM row. The automation ranking already declined the 'AI employee that files itself' theater. Buying Clay to replace Zapier is how ops tickets go sideways. Buying Zapier to waterfall ZoomInfo, Clearbit, and an LLM is how you reinvent Clay badly.

Gong is coaching. Copy.ai Growth is a research-to-first-touch workflow. ChatGPT Plus is $20 and will draft the first line. None of them replace a waterfall. Mixing those bills is how a writing tab ends up on a data RFP.

What we are not pricing

• A typical-credit lab or an invented 'cost per fully enriched account.' Read the dashboard after a 50-row sample.
• Enterprise per-seat or per-credit quotes. Anyone who publishes a median invented it.
• Legacy Starter / Explorer / Pro as if they were still the 2026 new-buyer grid.
• A fake Impact or PartnerStack URL. Until a real partner link is set, the CTA goes to clay.com.

Most 'what does Clay cost' tickets are a Launch ticket, an Apollo ticket, or a stay-on-Free ticket. The pricing page is doing too much work if you have not named whether anyone will own the meters.— Aiacent pricing, 2026

Verdict

Proving the table: Free, then Launch monthly if someone will review samples. A weekly waterfall under about a thousand rich records: Launch, annual if the habit is already real. CRM sync, HTTP, web intent, ads audiences: Growth. SSO and bulk: take the Enterprise conversation. A kit this week: do not buy Clay — Apollo is the seat, then Apollo pricing. A zap: Zapier or Make, then the automation ranking. Coaching: Gong. Then read the sales ranking if you want the scores, and the sales-stack guide if you are trying not to buy four logos because a slide said 'GTM OS.'