---
title: "Clay vs Apollo: Which Is Better in 2026?"
description: "Clay vs Apollo compared: plans, prices and 7 key differences from each vendor's own pages, checked Oct 17, 2026."
path: /compare/clay-vs-apollo
family: versus
updated: 2026-10-17
html: /compare/clay-vs-apollo
sources:
  - "https://www.clay.com/pricing"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/plans-and-billing"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/sequencer-faqs-and-best-practices"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/email-sequencer"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/webhook-integration-guide"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/http-api-integration-overview"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/formula-generator"
  - "https://university.clay.com/docs/enrichment-in-workflows"
  - "https://www.apollo.io/pricing"
  - "https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits"
  - "https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/9527776320781-Review-Credit-Usage-in-Apollo"
  - "https://docs.apollo.io/reference/bulk-people-enrichment"
  - "https://www.apollo.io"
facts:
  category: "Workflow automation tool vs B2B data provider"
  a_lowest_paid_plan: "Launch, $185 a month ($167 billed yearly)"
  b_lowest_paid_plan: "Basic, $65 per seat a month ($49 billed yearly)"
  a_free_plan: "Free plan: 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month"
  b_free_plan: "Free plan with 75 credits per seat a month, 2 sequences and 250 emails a day"
  prices_checked: "Oct 17, 2026"
---

# Clay 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.

**Disclosure:** Ken is our product. Every fact about other tools comes from their public pages on the date shown.

## The Verdict

### 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.

**Clay vs Apollo at a glance**

| 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).

**Clay and Apollo plans and prices**

| Tool | Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Unit | Includes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Free | $0 | $0 | Flat | 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month; Unlimited seats and tables; Up to 200 rows per table; Multi-provider waterfalls and Claygent |
| [Clay](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Launch | $185 | $167 | Usage tiers | 15,000 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](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Growth | $495 | $446 | Usage tiers | 40,000 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](https://www.clay.com/pricing) | Enterprise | Contact sales | Contact sales | Custom | 100,000+ 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](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) | Basic | $65 | $49 | Per seat | 2,500 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](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) | Professional | $99 | $79 | Per seat | 4,000 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](https://www.apollo.io/pricing) | Organization | Not sold monthly | $119 | Per seat | 72,000 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.

**Key differences between Clay and Apollo**

| 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.

## Related

- [All comparisons](/compare)
- [ZoomInfo vs Apollo](/compare/zoominfo-vs-apollo)
- [Clay vs ZoomInfo](/compare/clay-vs-zoominfo)
- [Apollo vs Instantly](/compare/apollo-vs-instantly)
- [Apollo vs Lusha](/compare/apollo-vs-lusha)
- [Clay pricing](/compare/clay/pricing)
- [Clay review](/reviews/clay)
- [Apollo alternatives](/alternatives/apollo)
- [Apollo pricing](/compare/apollo/pricing)
- [Apollo review](/reviews/apollo)
- [What is workflow automation?](/glossary/workflow-automation)
- [What is a webhook?](/glossary/webhook)

## Sources

| Source | URL | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Clay pricing | https://www.clay.com/pricing | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: Actions and Data Credits | https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: plans and billing | https://university.clay.com/docs/plans-and-billing | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: Sequencer FAQs and best practices | https://university.clay.com/docs/sequencer-faqs-and-best-practices | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: table-based campaigns | https://university.clay.com/docs/email-sequencer | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: webhooks | https://university.clay.com/docs/webhook-integration-guide | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: HTTP API | https://university.clay.com/docs/http-api-integration-overview | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: formulas | https://university.clay.com/docs/formula-generator | 2026-10-17 |
| Clay docs: enrichment in Workflows | https://university.clay.com/docs/enrichment-in-workflows | 2026-10-17 |
| Apollo.io pricing | https://www.apollo.io/pricing | 2026-10-17 |
| Apollo.io: About Apollo credits | https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits | 2026-10-17 |
| Apollo knowledge base: Review credit usage in Apollo | https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/9527776320781-Review-Credit-Usage-in-Apollo | 2026-10-17 |
| Apollo API docs: Bulk people enrichment (credit usage) | https://docs.apollo.io/reference/bulk-people-enrichment | 2026-10-17 |
| Apollo.io homepage | https://www.apollo.io | 2026-10-17 |

## Changelog

- 2026-10-17: Page published.