You’re probably looking at Clay and wondering:
“How much does this cost once I start using it?”
I’ve been there.
The pricing page shows numbers, but when you use Clay, the way credits work, the cost of enrichments, and what you get for your money… It’s not that simple.
I used Clay for three full months across real campaigns, not just testing, but actually running it for lead gen.
And in this post, I’ll show you:
If you don’t read this, you might pick the wrong plan, burn through credits, or miss a better option.
Let’s get into it.
Clay is a tool that helps you find and organize lead data.
It collects information from different websites like LinkedIn, Apollo, and others and puts it all in one place.
You don’t need to write any code to use it.
You can also build simple workflows inside Clay.
For example:
→ When you add a lead, Clay can look up their email, job title, LinkedIn, and more, automatically.
→ Then it can send that lead into your CRM or even help you write a message.
Here’s why many sales and RevOps teams choose Clay:
Clay works best for:
If your team is small or you want something easy to use without setup, Clay might feel too advanced.
In short, Clay is powerful and flexible, but it's not for everyone.
If you want full control and don’t mind learning how it works, it’s a great choice.
When I first looked at Clay, the pricing looked okay.
You pick a plan, get some credits, and start enriching leads.
But once we actually started using it for real campaigns, we saw how fast credits can disappear and how the real cost is more than what it says on the pricing page.
I was working with a small sales team, just 3 people.
Our goal was to use Clay to:
We didn’t talk to their sales team. We just picked a plan and jumped in.
Here’s the pricing of Clay according to their website:
We chose the Explorer plan, which costs $349/month and gives you 10,000 credits.
We picked this because:
It felt like a safe starting point.
Over the 3 months, we used Clay in many different ways:
At first, it worked great. But very quickly, we noticed something…
Credits were used up way faster than we thought.
Here’s what caused it:
Even testing workflows used up credits without us realizing it.
We thought 10,000 credits would last us the whole month.
But by week 3, we were nearly out.
So we had to buy extra credits, twice, just to finish the campaigns.
Here’s what we ended up paying that month:
That’s $200 more than we planned.
Here are some things we didn’t expect:
If you’re not careful, Clay’s credit system can get expensive.
The monthly plan is just the base; how you set up your workflows really decides the final cost.
So before you jump in, make sure you:
In the next section, I’ll go over what Clay does well and where it struggles, based on our actual experience.
After using Clay for 3 months, I can say this:
It’s a strong tool but not cheap.
If you use it the right way and have a clear workflow, it can save your team hours every week.
But if you're not careful, the credits go fast and the price adds up quickly.
Here are the pros and cons of Clay:
But the biggest thing we noticed wasn’t in the main feature list, it was in the way credits were used.
Even though Clay worked well, the extra costs added up quickly, especially when we didn’t fully understand how certain actions burned credits.
That’s when we started to see the hidden costs. Here's what you need to watch out for:
While using Clay, we noticed that some things quietly used up more credits or added to our cost, without warning.
These weren’t obvious at first, but they showed up once we started running real workflows.
Here’s what you should watch out for:
So even though the base plan seemed affordable, these hidden costs pushed the total much higher than expected.
This matters a lot if you’re working with tight budgets or scaling fast.
Clay is a flexible tool with powerful features.
But when we used it for a few months, we realized that pricing wasn’t always easy to follow.
The credit system gives you freedom, but it also means you have to watch your usage closely or you’ll run out of credits faster than expected.
Many teams don’t want to manage all that. They just want something that works out of the box, with clear, fixed pricing.
That’s why people often start comparing Clay with other tools.
Here is the pricing of some of the top Clay alternatives that we tried:
If you're running technical workflows and want full control, Clay is a strong option.
But if you want something simple, with fixed monthly pricing and built-in outreach, Leadsforge makes it much easier to get started.
Next, I’ll walk you through when Clay is actually worth it and when it’s better to go with an alternative.
If your team needs full control and has someone comfortable with automation or logic-building, Clay can work really well.
But if you’re looking for something simpler, read the next section covers when to choose an easier alternative.
Clay is a strong tool, but it’s not always the right fit, especially if you don’t need all the advanced features.
You might want to look at alternatives if:
In our case, we also tried tools that didn’t require all the logic building.
If your goal is enrichment + outreach without managing credit usage or complex workflows, Leadsforge is a faster, cleaner fit — especially for lean sales teams.
It’s worth checking out if you just want something that works right away, without needing to manage credits or build custom flows.
After using Clay for 3 months, here’s the bottom line:
If you're looking for something easier, with fixed pricing and everything in one place, alternatives like Leadsforge are worth considering.
It all depends on your team, your goals, and how much time you want to spend managing your data tools.
1. Does Clay have a free plan?
Yes, Clay offers a free plan with 100 credits per month. It’s good for testing, but not enough for real campaigns.
2. How much does Clay cost per month?
Clay’s paid plans start at $149/month (Starter – 2,000 credits) and go up to $800/month (Pro – 50,000 credits). You can also buy extra credits if you run out.
3. How do Clay credits work?
Credits are used for actions like enriching leads, using AI, or triggering workflows. Even failed enrichments still use credits, so you have to manage them carefully.
4. What’s the most common hidden cost with Clay?
Many users are surprised by how fast credits get used, especially when using AI or running automations without filters. Extra user seats and failed lookups can also increase costs.
5. Is Clay pricing fixed or usage-based?
Clay uses a credit-based pricing model, so your actual cost depends on how many actions you run. It’s not fixed like some other tools.