What Clay does
Clay is a go-to-market orchestration workspace for finding, enriching, researching, scoring, and routing companies and contacts into personalized campaigns and revenue systems.
Clay is best treated as a programmable data and workflow layer for go-to-market teams, not as a static prospect database. A table can begin with a search, CSV, CRM, webhook, or warehouse source. Columns then call more than one enrichment provider in sequence, calculate fields, watch signals, or ask Claygent to research a specific question on the web. This row-oriented model makes the provenance and intermediate result visible, which is valuable when operations teams need to understand why a record qualified before it enters outreach.
The new pricing model separates platform Actions from Data Credits. Actions cover orchestration such as enrichment runs, AI research, exports, and sequencer enrollment; Data Credits buy marketplace data and AI. Free offers 500 monthly Actions and 100 monthly Data Credits, while Launch and Growth increase scale, row limits, integrations, and automation. Prices can differ by billing selector and capacity, so teams should model a representative workflow rather than compare only base subscriptions. Bringing an eligible provider or model API key can avoid Data Credit cost, but the workflow still consumes Actions.
Clay's flexibility also creates operational risk. Waterfalls can merge stale or conflicting data, AI research can infer the wrong entity, and personalized copy can turn an enrichment error into a public mistake. Keep source URLs and timestamps, validate identity before contact, suppress opted-out records, and require approval for sensitive claims. Clay states that customer data is not used to train its or its AI providers' models and lists SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, but buyers still need to review subprocessors, permissions, retention, lawful outreach, and CRM write scopes for their deployment.
How Clay works
Clay loads people or companies into tables, then runs provider waterfalls, formulas, integrations, and AI research across each row. Builders validate the resulting fields, score or segment records, and sync approved data to a CRM, ad audience, or email sequence. Actions meter orchestration while Data Credits pay for marketplace data and selected AI work.
Assemble the candidate records
Start from a Clay search, Audiences result, CSV, CRM, webhook, or warehouse sync. Define the entity key and exclusions first so later providers enrich the correct person or company instead of multiplying duplicates.
Run a cost-aware waterfall
Each table column can call a provider, formula, integration, or Claygent task. Order sources by trust and cost, stop when a verified result appears, and preserve provider evidence; Actions and Data Credits are consumed according to the work.
Research, score, and segment
Normalize outputs and apply explicit qualification rules. Claygent can investigate web evidence or draft a custom field, but identity, intent, and sensitive claims need source review before a score controls outreach.
Route approved records
Send qualified rows to a CRM, ad audience, Clay Sequencer, or external engagement tool. Enforce deduplication, suppression, approval, error handling, and monitoring for cost, bounce rate, and accepted-record quality.
How to set up Clay
Define one qualified audience
Write the ICP, geographic and legal boundaries, required evidence, suppression rules, owner, and accepted downstream action before importing records.
Choose sources and a budget
Select a Free, Launch, Growth, or quoted Enterprise plan, then estimate Actions and Data Credits on a small sample using the exact providers and models.
Build the enrichment waterfall
Load a clean test set, order providers by trust and cost, normalize fields, preserve source evidence, and stop when a sufficiently verified result is found.
Add scoring and personalization
Use formulas or Claygent for bounded research, require structured outputs, and separate generated suggestions from fields approved for CRM or outreach.
Test the destination safely
Connect a least-privilege CRM or sequencer, test duplicates, missing data, opt-outs, bounces, and retries, then monitor cost and accepted-record rate.
Clay FAQs
Does Clay have a free plan?
Yes. The plan reviewed July 15, 2026 includes 500 monthly Actions, 100 monthly Data Credits, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per table.
What is the difference between Actions and Data Credits?
Actions meter work Clay orchestrates. Data Credits pay for marketplace data and selected AI processing; provider, data type, and model affect consumption.
What does Claygent do?
Claygent is Clay's AI research agent. It can research the web and produce custom data points per row, but teams should retain evidence and verify identity-sensitive results.
Can Clay send email?
Yes. Clay Sequencer can run campaigns from tables, and paid plans can also send records to external campaign tools. Deliverability, consent, and opt-out obligations remain with the sender.
Does Clay train models on customer data?
Clay says customer data is not used to train its AI models or those of its contracted AI providers. Review the current trust center and subprocessor list for procurement.
Listing reviewed 2026-07-15. Product details and pricing can change; verify important terms on the provider's website.
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