B
BApollo.io vs Clay
Pricing, features, platforms and who each one suits — side by side.
A
Choose Apollo.io if…
- you work on Chrome
- you're in its core audience: sales development reps, account executives
C
Choose Clay if…
- you're in its core audience: gtm engineers, sales operations teams
Side by side
Feature Apollo.io Clay
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starting price—$54/mo
Free plan
Free trial
API
Open source
Trains AI on your contentYes—
Data retention—Kept as long as necessary for purposes; no longer than user has an account
Security and complianceSOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA—
Updates, last 90 days—8
Own contact database—
Waterfall enrichment
Phone numbers—
Intent & job-change signals
Built-in sequences
MCP server
PlatformsWeb, Chrome, APIWeb, API
CategoryLead GenerationLead Generation
CompanyZenLeads, Inc. d/b/a Apollo.ioClay Labs Inc
Based inUnited StatesUnited States
Founded20152017
Part of——
Key features
A Apollo.io
- B2B database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts
- AI agents that research accounts and prioritize leads
- Email sequencing and outreach automation
- Parallel dialer for phone prospecting
- Waterfall enrichment for more complete records
- Domain warming, inbox rotation and reputation monitoring
- Chrome extension for finding emails and phone numbers
- 200+ integrations, plus an MCP server
C Clay
- Data marketplace with 200+ data and AI providers
- Waterfall enrichment across multiple data providers
- Claygent AI agent for web research
- Job change, promotion and intent signal tracking
- Visual canvas for building GTM workflows
- Native email sequencer
- Ad audience sync to LinkedIn, Meta and Google
- API, CLI and coding-agent plugin
Plans and prices
From each vendor's site. Prices change — confirm before buying.
Apollo.io
FreeFree
BasicNot published
ProfessionalNot published
CustomCustom
Clay
FreeFree
LaunchFrom $54/mo billed annually ($60/mo monthly)
Strengths and limitations
Apollo.io
- Free plan with no time limit
- Large built-in B2B contact database
- Works inside your CRM, Gmail and browser
- Monthly billing can be cancelled anytime
- Plan prices are not shown on the pricing page
- API access is listed only on the Custom plan
- Free plan sends email campaigns only through connected Gmail accounts
- Unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle
Clay
- Free plan with 500 actions/mo and unlimited seats
- One contract for data from 200+ providers
- 14-day trial with no credit card required
- API and CLI for building programmatically
- Free plan limited to 200 rows per table
- Usage-based actions and data credits make costs vary
- No mobile apps listed
More comparisons
Other options to consider
BB
Free, from $10/mo
B
Scrape, enrich and qualify sales leads with AI for go-to-market teams
Lead GenerationFree plan
O
OO
Contact
O
AI agents for sales teams covering prospecting, deals, coaching and forecasts
Sales Assistants & CRMAPI
A
AA
From $600/mo
A
Sales platform with AI agents, B2B data, sequences and a parallel dialer
Sales Assistants & CRM
1
11
Contact
1
AI sales agents for outbound prospecting, inbound qualification and expansion
Sales Assistants & CRMAPI
C
CC
From $24/mo
C
GTM AI platform with workflows, agents and chat for sales and marketing teams
Sales Assistants & CRMAPI
G
GG
Contact
G
Revenue AI platform that captures sales interactions and automates follow-up
Sales Assistants & CRM
Built from each vendor's public website; we haven't tested them hands-on. Editorial policy