Tool vs tool
Ken is our productClay vs Apollo: Which Is Better in 2026?
Pick Apollo if you want one tool with its own contact database, sequences and a dialer at a published per-seat price. Pick Clay if a RevOps or GTM engineer will build enrichment workflows that pull from 150+ data providers, with unlimited seats on every plan.
Ken is our product. Every fact about other tools comes from their public pages on the date shown.
The Verdict
Clay or Apollo?
Ken's view, from each vendor's public pages checked Oct 17, 2026.
Pick Clay if
- You want waterfall enrichment across 150+ data and AI providers, with no charge when a lookup returns nothing.
- You already pay for data or AI providers and want to bring your own keys.
- Many people need access, since every Clay plan includes unlimited seats.
Pick Apollo if
- You want a contact database, sequences, a dialer and meeting scheduling in one tool.
- A small team wants paid plans from $49 per seat a month billed yearly, where Clay Launch starts at $167 a month billed yearly.
- Your reps need phone numbers and Salesforce or HubSpot sync on any plan.
At a Glance
In short Of the 3 features below, Clay has 2 and Apollo has 3 in full, from each vendor's public pages checked Oct 17, 2026.
| Feature | Clay | Apollo |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan or trial | Free plan: 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month | Free plan with 75 credits per seat a month, 2 sequences and 250 emails a day |
| Lowest paid plan | Launch, $185 a month ($167 billed yearly) | Basic, $65 per seat a month ($49 billed yearly) |
| Built-in B2B contact data and email finding | Yes - 150+ providers in waterfalls, billed in Data Credits | Yes - 1 credit per email, charged only for addresses Apollo can verify |
| Native email and LinkedIn sending | Partial - email sequencer from Launch, no LinkedIn sends | Yes - sequences on every plan; 250 emails a day on Free and Basic, unlimited from Professional |
| CRM steps (HubSpot, Salesforce) | Yes - HubSpot and Salesforce sync on Growth plan and up | Yes - Salesforce and HubSpot push and pull on every plan |
Clay and Apollo sit in different categories, so the rows are pricing plus the features both answer. Sources are listed at the end of the page.
How Much Do Clay and Apollo Cost?
In short Clay's lowest paid plan is Launch, $185 a month ($167 billed yearly). Apollo.io's lowest paid plan is Basic, $65 per seat a month ($49 billed yearly).
| Tool | Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay | Free | $0 | $0 | Flat |
| Includes500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month; Unlimited seats and tables; Up to 200 rows per table; Multi-provider waterfalls and Claygent | ||||
| Clay | Launch | $185 | $167 | Usage tiers |
| Includes15,000 Actions and 2,500 Data Credits a month at the entry tier; Phone number enrichment; Job change, company news and social listening signals; Email sequencer or sequencing integrations; Up to 50,000 rows per table | ||||
| Clay | Growth | $495 | $446 | Usage tiers |
| Includes40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits a month at the entry tier; CRM and data warehouse sync; HTTP API integrations and webhooks; Web intent signals and ad audiences; Priority support | ||||
| Clay | Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Custom |
| Includes100,000+ Data Credits and 200,000+ Actions a month; SSO, SCIM and role-based access control; Clay API access and bulk enrichment; Dedicated growth strategist | ||||
| Apollo.io | Basic | $65 | $49 | Per seat |
| Includes2,500 credits per seat a month (30,000 a year on annual billing); Unlimited sequences, 250 emails a day; 6 Bombora intent topics; Waterfall enrichment and automated CRM enrichment; US dialer, calls use credits | ||||
| Apollo.io | Professional | $99 | $79 | Per seat |
| Includes4,000 credits per seat a month (48,000 a year on annual billing); Unlimited daily sends and A/Z testing; Unlimited Google and Microsoft mailboxes per user; AI agents and AI lead scoring; 4,000 minutes of call recording per user a month | ||||
| Apollo.io | Organization | Not sold monthly | $119 | Per seat |
| Includes72,000 credits per seat a year; Minimum 3 seats, annual billing only; 12 intent topics; SSO, custom permission profiles and Salesforce custom objects; 8,000 minutes of call recording per user a month | ||||
Prices in USD from each vendor's pricing page: Clay checked Oct 17, 2026, Apollo.io checked Oct 17, 2026.
- Clay: Two meters: Actions count platform work (1 per enrichment, AI run, export or sequenced lead, under $0.01 each) and Data Credits pay for data and AI bought in Clay's marketplace (from $0.05 each).
- Clay: Launch is $185 a month billed monthly (15,000 Actions for $60 plus 2,500 Data Credits for $125), or $167 a month billed annually ($54 plus $113).
- Clay: Growth is $495 a month billed monthly (40,000 Actions for $205 plus 6,000 Data Credits for $290), or $446 a month billed annually ($185 plus $261).
- Apollo.io: Credits are pooled across the team and granted upfront each billing cycle. Unused credits, including bought add-on credits, expire at the end of the cycle.
- Apollo.io: An email costs 1 credit and is charged only when Apollo can verify the address. A phone number costs 8 credits. Enrichment, AI research, the dialer, email warmup and domain or mailbox purchases also use credits.
- Apollo.io: Add-on credits are bought in-app and cost $0.025 per credit at small volumes, down to $0.015 at the largest tiers.
What Are the Key Differences Between Clay and Apollo?
In short 7 differences that change which tool fits, each from the vendors' own pages.
| Topic | Clay | Apollo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Enrichment platform that pulls from 150+ data and AI providers in tables and workflows | Sales platform with its own contact database, sequences, dialer and deal tools |
| Where the data comes from | Waterfalls across 150+ providers, billed in Data Credits | Its own database, which it says holds 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts |
| Pricing unit | Two meters, Actions and Data Credits, with unlimited seats | Per seat, with credits pooled across the team |
| Entry paid plan | Launch, $185 a month or $167 billed yearly | Basic, $65 per seat a month or $49 billed yearly |
| CRM sync | HubSpot and Salesforce on Growth, $446 a month billed yearly | Salesforce and HubSpot push and pull on every plan, Free included |
| Email sending | Email sequencer from Launch, up to 4 emails per sequence | Sequences on every plan, unlimited daily sends from Professional |
| Failed lookups | No Actions or Data Credits charged when an enrichment returns nothing | Email credits charged only for addresses it can verify |
Clay vs Apollo FAQ
Is Clay a replacement for Apollo?
Not directly. Clay enriches lists from 150+ providers and pushes the results to other tools, with an email sequencer of up to 4 emails per sequence from Launch. Apollo sells its own contact database plus sequences, a dialer and meeting tools.
Is Clay more expensive than Apollo?
For a small team, yes. Clay Launch is $167 a month billed yearly, while Apollo Basic is $49 per seat a month billed yearly. Clay includes unlimited seats, so from 4 Apollo Basic seats the list prices cross.
Do Clay and Apollo have free plans?
Yes. Clay's free plan includes 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month with unlimited seats and up to 200 rows per table. Apollo's includes 75 credits per seat a month and 2 sequences per team.
The new Ken opens to the waiting list in batches.
Related
Sources
Changelog
- Page published.