Clay Pricing in 2026: What You Actually Pay, Explained Simply
Clay's pricing page is one of the most confusing in the GTM stack, which is why 'how much does Clay cost' is a question people keep asking AI assistants. Since March 2026 every plan has two meters, Actions for platform work and Data Credits for buying data, and the headline price is the sum of both. Here is what each plan really costs on annual and monthly billing, what the free plan can do, how to estimate your own bill, and when Clay is the wrong tool.
Kenneth Kather · Founder & CEO, KNK Outbound
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Key takeaways
- Since March 2026, Clay bills two things separately: Actions, which measure platform work such as enrichment steps, AI calls, API requests and CRM pushes, and Data Credits, which pay for the data itself. The headline price of each plan is the sum of both.
- As listed on Clay's pricing page in late September 2026: Launch from 167 dollars a month on annual billing (54 for 15,000 Actions plus 113 for 3,000 Data Credits), about 185 on monthly billing. Growth from 446 a month on annual billing (185 plus 261 for 40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits), about 495 monthly. Enterprise is custom.
- The free plan is a real test bench, not a production tool: 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month, tables up to 200 rows, and no phone enrichment, CRM integrations or website intent signals.
- Estimate your bill with a 200-row test before committing: the cost per enriched contact depends on which data providers your waterfall hits and how many steps each row runs. Clay pays off for teams that build; teams that only need a contact database are usually better served by something simpler.
Ask ten people what Clay costs and you get ten different numbers, which is why "how much does Clay cost" keeps showing up as a question for ChatGPT and Claude. The confusion is understandable. Clay's pricing is usage-based, every plan has sliders, and since the March 2026 change there are two separate meters. We use Clay at the center of the outbound systems we build for clients, inside accounts the clients own, so we read this pricing page more often than we would like. Here is the plain version.
The one idea that explains Clay pricing
Every paid plan charges for two different things:
- Actions measure platform work: each enrichment step, AI call with Claygent, API request, CRM push or export that a table runs.
- Data Credits pay for the data itself: emails, phone numbers and company details bought from the providers Clay connects to.
The price on the plan card is the sum of both meters at their starting level. Once you see that, the page stops being confusing. Clay introduced this split in March 2026. Teams on the older Starter, Explorer and Pro plans could stay on them, so you will still see older numbers quoted in forums and outdated articles.
What each plan costs in 2026
These are the starting prices as listed on Clay's pricing page in late September 2026. Both meters scale up with sliders, so larger volumes cost more.
| Plan | Annual billing, per month | Monthly billing, per month | Included at the starting level | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 dollars | 0 dollars | 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month, tables up to 200 rows | Unlimited seats, waterfalls, Claygent |
| Launch | from 167 dollars (54 platform plus 113 data) | about 185 dollars (60 plus 125) | 15,000 Actions and 3,000 Data Credits a month | Phone enrichment, job change and company news signals, sending emails, unlimited search |
| Growth | from 446 dollars (185 platform plus 261 data) | about 495 dollars (205 plus 290) | 40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits a month | CRM auto-sync, HTTP API, website intent signals, data warehouse connections, priority support |
| Enterprise | custom, annual only | custom | typically 200,000 Actions a month and up | SSO, role-based access, dedicated support |
- Annual billing, per month
- 0 dollars
- Monthly billing, per month
- 0 dollars
- Included at the starting level
- 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month, tables up to 200 rows
- Adds
- Unlimited seats, waterfalls, Claygent
- Annual billing, per month
- from 167 dollars (54 platform plus 113 data)
- Monthly billing, per month
- about 185 dollars (60 plus 125)
- Included at the starting level
- 15,000 Actions and 3,000 Data Credits a month
- Adds
- Phone enrichment, job change and company news signals, sending emails, unlimited search
- Annual billing, per month
- from 446 dollars (185 platform plus 261 data)
- Monthly billing, per month
- about 495 dollars (205 plus 290)
- Included at the starting level
- 40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits a month
- Adds
- CRM auto-sync, HTTP API, website intent signals, data warehouse connections, priority support
- Annual billing, per month
- custom, annual only
- Monthly billing, per month
- custom
- Included at the starting level
- typically 200,000 Actions a month and up
- Adds
- SSO, role-based access, dedicated support
Two details matter for the decision. All plans include unlimited seats, so Clay does not get more expensive per person the way seat-based tools do. And the jump from Launch to Growth is mostly about integrations: if you need Clay to sync with your CRM automatically or react to website visitors, you need Growth.
What the free plan is good for
The free plan is a test bench. With 100 Data Credits and tables capped at 200 rows, you cannot run a real campaign on it, but you can build your first table, connect a waterfall, and learn how many Actions and credits one row really consumes. That is the most useful thing you can do before paying for anything.
How to estimate your own bill
The honest answer to "what will Clay cost me" is: it depends on your table, so measure it. A simple method:
- Build the table you would actually run on 200 rows in the free plan: company list, contact search, email waterfall, one AI research step.
- Read the usage after the run: Actions per row and Data Credits per row.
- Multiply by your monthly volume. If you plan to enrich 2,000 contacts a month, that number tells you whether Launch covers it or you need a higher slider level.
The two things that drive cost are how many providers your waterfall tries before it finds an email, and how many AI steps run per row. Cutting one unnecessary AI step often matters more than the plan choice.
When Clay is worth it, and when it is not
Clay is worth its price for teams that build: signal-based lists, custom research per account, and workflows that combine several data sources. That is exactly why we use it. It is the wrong tool for teams that just want a contact database and a sending tool. For them, an all-in-one like Apollo is simpler and usually cheaper, and our Apollo pricing breakdown shows what that costs. If email finding is the only job, a dedicated waterfall tool such as FullEnrich can be enough. The full comparison is in our Clay alternatives guide, and the basics of how Clay works are in what Clay is.
The cost nobody puts on the pricing page
Clay's bill is rarely the expensive part. The expensive part is the time it takes to build tables that produce good lists, and the mistakes that happen when nobody on the team enjoys that work. That is the gap we close as a B2B lead generation agency: we build and run the Clay tables, sending infrastructure and sequences in accounts you own, so the system stays yours if we ever part ways. Pricing for that starts at 3,500 euros a month with a three-month build phase and monthly terms after that, details on the pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Clay cost per month in 2026?
As listed on Clay's pricing page in late September 2026: the free plan costs nothing and includes 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month. Launch starts at 167 dollars a month on annual billing, made up of 54 dollars for 15,000 Actions and 113 dollars for 3,000 Data Credits, or about 185 dollars on monthly billing. Growth starts at 446 dollars a month on annual billing, or about 495 monthly. Enterprise is custom. Both meters scale with sliders, so higher volumes cost more.
What is the difference between Clay Actions and Data Credits?
Actions measure the work the platform does: each enrichment step, AI call, API request, CRM push or export that a table runs. Data Credits pay for the data itself, such as emails, phone numbers and company details bought from connected providers. Since March 2026 every paid plan bills both meters separately, and the plan price is the sum of the two at their starting level.
Is the Clay free plan enough to run cold outreach?
No. The free plan includes 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month and caps tables at 200 rows, with no phone enrichment and no CRM integrations. It is a good test bench to build a first table and measure how many credits a row consumes, which is the most reliable way to estimate what a paid plan will cost you.
I only need emails for a few hundred contacts a month. Is Clay worth paying for, or is there something cheaper?
Probably not worth it for that job alone. Clay pays off for teams that build signal-based lists, custom research and multi-source workflows. For a few hundred emails a month, an all-in-one tool like Apollo or a dedicated email waterfall such as FullEnrich is simpler and usually cheaper. Test Clay's free plan first if you expect your needs to grow.