Clay alternatives: what does each one cost, and who is it for?

What are the main Clay alternatives in 2026?

We picked seven tools that, as of 2026-10-06, either publish a page comparing themselves with Clay or appear in one Clay publishes: Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Databar.ai, Bitscale, Amplemarket, Cognism and Lusha. Review-site rankings would not load for us that day, so nothing here leans on them.

They split into three jobs: credit-based tools priced against Clay (Databar.ai, Bitscale), tools that sell their own contact data (Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Lusha) and one platform for founder-led sales teams (Amplemarket). Every price and plan detail here comes from the vendor's own pages, read on 2026-10-06.

If what you want is companies with a real reason to buy what you sell, found and ranked for you, that is a fourth job, and it is the one Clean does. The alternatives hub also covers Apollo alternatives and ZoomInfo alternatives, and the compare hub has every head-to-head.

What does Clay do as of 2026-10-06?

Start with what you would be replacing. Clay describes itself as infrastructure to get any data and run agentic workflows. Its pricing page lists data from 150+ providers, an AI agent called Claygent that researches companies and people on the web, and search for companies and people inside Clay, so you do not have to bring a list.

Paid plans add signals on job changes, promotions, new hires, company news and social posts, and Growth adds web intent signals. From Launch up, Clay can send email itself or through the email tools it connects to. On Growth it can also push ad audiences to LinkedIn and Meta. Its homepage says more than 500,000 teams use it and that engineers build on Clay.

So be honest about what you use it for. If it is one job, like looking up contact details for a list you already have, several tools below cover it. If one table runs three providers, AI research and email, you are replacing a system.

How does Clay charge? Actions and data credits

Clay bills in two units. Actions measure the platform work Clay does. Data credits buy data and AI from the vendors in its marketplace. As of 2026-10-06, data credits start at $0.05 each and actions at less than a cent each. Clay offers a 14-day trial with no credit card, and its pricing page says it scoped Launch and Growth so that 90% of its customers will never hit a usage limit.

Compare the cost of your own monthly job, not the sticker price: a credit buys something different at every company on this page. Count what you looked up last month and price it in each vendor's unit. For scale, Clay's Launch plan includes 2,500 data credits and 15,000 actions a month, and Growth 6,000 and 40,000; the full plan table is on Clean vs Clay.

Databar.ai and Bitscale: credit-based tools priced against Clay

Both bill in credits and publish a page pitched at people leaving Clay.

Databar.ai: the Build plan is $99 a month billed monthly with 5,000 credits a month, and annual billing saves 12% (as of 2026-10-06). Databar says the plan suits growing companies and agencies. Its comparison page is titled "Databar vs Clay: same data breadth at a third of the price". That is Databar's claim, and we have not tested it.

Bitscale: a lifetime free plan with 200 credits, and Growth at $349 a month billed monthly with 15,000 credits (as of 2026-10-06). Bitscale prices in credits with unlimited actions, so you pay in one unit instead of Clay's two. It pitches Growth at startups and small businesses.

If you are leaving because nobody has time to build workflows, check how much setup each one needs first. A cheaper unit does not help if the work still waits on one person.

Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Cognism and Lusha: tools that sell their own contact data

Apollo.io calls itself an AI sales platform that joins data, intelligence and execution. It says it has 240M+ contacts, offers buying signals (intent, job changes, website visits and more), and says its AI agents learn your products and ICP, then research accounts, build lists and write messages. Email campaigns come with every plan. As of 2026-10-06: a free plan, Basic at $49 per seat a month billed annually or $65 monthly, 1 credit per email and 8 per phone number. Apollo says Free suits founders and early-stage teams.

ZoomInfo does not list prices for its paid plans; you ask its sales team for a quote. It has a permanent free plan, ZoomInfo Lite, with 10 credits a month, and a free trial that is typically 7 days with no credit card. ZoomInfo says it has data on 500M+ contacts and is best for enterprise and upper mid-market teams. Its paid plans add AI account prioritization, an account fit score and buyer intent signals.

Cognism quotes every plan. Its Standard package includes 5 seats and counts 1 credit per revealed contact. Lusha has a free plan with 40 credits a month and one seat, and Starter at $37.45 a month billed yearly or $49.90 monthly (as of 2026-10-06), at 1 credit per email address and 5 per phone number. Lusha describes itself as B2B data and AI prospecting for sales teams and AI agents.

Amplemarket: one platform pitched at founder-led teams

Amplemarket's own comparison page casts Amplemarket as a platform and Clay as a toolkit, and its pricing follows that line: one plan, users included, credits bundled. As of 2026-10-06 the Startup plan costs $600 a month on an annual term for 2 users, each with a yearly allowance of 13,500 email credits and 600 phone credits, and every plan starts with a free trial. Amplemarket pitches it at small businesses, startups and founder-led sales teams.

It has the highest published entry price here, on an annual term, so compare it with your whole current bill, not with Clay's Launch plan alone.

Which Clay alternatives cost less on paper?

On published paid entry prices as of 2026-10-06, three come in under Clay's Launch plan ($185 a month billed monthly, $167 billed annually): Lusha Starter at $37.45 a month billed yearly, Apollo Basic at $49 per seat a month billed annually, and Databar Build at $99 a month billed monthly. ZoomInfo and Cognism quote their paid plans, so there is no sticker to compare.

The catch is the unit. Apollo charges per seat, Lusha and Apollo charge more credits for a phone number than for an email, and Clay splits the bill into actions and data credits. The cheapest tool is the one whose unit matches what you do each month.

When should you stay with Clay?

Stay when the workflow is the product. These are the cases where Clay's own published facts, as of 2026-10-06, favor staying:

• You pull from several providers: Clay says it offers data from 150+ providers in one place.
• You use AI research as a step: Claygent researches companies and people on the web inside your workflow.
• You find accounts in Clay, not only look them up: Launch includes unlimited search with Audiences.
• You already send from it: paid plans send email from inside Clay or through connected tools, so moving means rebuilding that too.
• Your usage fits the two units: if your actions and data credits sit inside your plan, the billing question is settled.
• Someone owns it: Clay's homepage says engineers build on Clay, and Launch is pitched at small teams building and automating prospecting workflows. If that person is on your team, keep them on Clay.

Selling to plants, employers or law firms: what each approach returns

A contact data tool (Apollo.io, ZoomInfo, Cognism, Lusha) returns companies and people from its own database, picked by your filters, the signals your plan includes and, at Apollo and ZoomInfo, AI features that rank accounts. A workflow tool (Clay, Databar.ai, Bitscale) returns whatever columns your workflow fills from the providers you choose. Clean returns companies with a real reason to buy what you sell, the evidence behind each one, who decides there and who in your team's network can introduce you.

In these three markets, test any tool on the question your buyer actually answers. If you sell to manufacturing plants, the decision often sits at one plant, so check whether a tool shows you the plant and the people there or only the parent company; Clean for manufacturing covers how plants buy. If you sell benefits or coverage to employers, or software to agencies, MGAs and carriers, check whether you get the employer or firm with an open decision or just a name and a title; start at Clean for insurance. If you sell to law firms or in-house legal teams, check whether a tool can tell a firm replacing a system from one that just renewed; law firm technology covers what firms run and when they replace it, and Clean for legal tech covers who signs.

Whichever tool you pick, ask to see one result from your own market, with the evidence behind it, before you sign.

Where does Clean fit next to Clay?

Clean does a different job from a data workflow. It finds businesses with a real reason to buy what you sell, ranks them against your ICP, shows the evidence behind each one from real-world records, names who decides there and shows who in your team's network can introduce you. Clean doesn't use ad clicks, page views or other intent data, and it never sends anything: your team decides who to contact and what to say. Prospects sync to HubSpot or Attio.

Clean is not a contact database you search and not a workflow builder. You can also run both: keep Clay for data work and use Clean to decide which companies deserve it; Clay and Clean together shows how. For the head-to-head, read Clean vs Clay, or Clay vs Apollo vs Clean if Apollo is on your shortlist too. To try it, book a demo, and we'll get you started right after the call.