Clay vs Apollo.io
Clay and Apollo.io side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Clay | Apollo.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Sales & CRM | Sales & CRM |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $167/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $49/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Apollo.io has the lower starting price ($49/mo against $167/mo for Clay). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Sales & CRM category.
About each tool
Clay
Table-based data enrichment and outbound workflows using Actions and Data Credits. Free plan; paid plans from $167 a month billed annually ($185 monthly).
Who it is for
Clay's plan FAQ points Launch at individuals and small teams starting prospecting workflows, Growth at teams scaling their outbound motion that need CRM sync, API access or ad audiences, and Enterprise at large operations needing security and governance. It is built for sales, revenue and marketing teams working with lead and account lists rather than for general-purpose AI use.
Strengths
- Clay says connecting your own provider API keys removes the Data Credit cost for those enrichments, although each enrichment still uses one Action.
- Clay's pricing page lists unlimited seats and unlimited tables on every plan, including Free.
- Clay's AI docs list Claygent research agents, a Sculptor chat assistant for building and debugging tables, a formula generator, and an API request generator, using models from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google plus Clay's own models.
- Clay's pricing page lists CRM auto-sync, data warehouse sync, HTTP API integrations and webhook signals on Growth, and SSO/SAML, SCIM, IP allowlists, RBAC and a custom DPA on Enterprise.
- Clay's AI docs say it does not train or fine-tune models on customer data except where the data is used solely for your own workspace, and that its AI providers are contractually barred from training on it.
Limitations
- The Free plan is capped at 500 Actions, 100 Data Credits a month and 200 rows per table, and excludes phone number enrichment, signals, Audiences, CRM integrations, bulk enrichment and credit rollover.
- Clay's terms say paid contracts renew automatically at Clay's current rates, must be cancelled before the renewal date, and that all fees are non-refundable except as the agreement provides. They also say Clay may change prices with notice.
- Clay's own pages disagree in places: the pricing page FAQ says Free includes the Sequencer while its comparison table marks email campaigns as not included; credit rollover is described as up to 2 times the monthly amount in the FAQ and as up to 1 month's credits in the table; the free-trial FAQ lists 2,000 credits, 50 rows per table and 10,000 actions while the pricing page lists a 14-day trial; and the docs list Enterprise at 100,000+ Actions while a third-party article lists 200,000+.
Apollo.io
B2B contact database with sequences, dialing and AI research tools. Free plan available; Basic is $49 per user a month billed annually (Reported).
Who it is for
Apollo's pricing page describes Free for founders and early-stage teams, Basic for individual sellers doing regular outbound, and Professional for full-time reps who need higher credit limits and AI features. A Custom tier is described for teams that need custom volumes, SSO and dedicated support.
Strengths
- Apollo says its database holds 240M contacts and 30M companies, and its pricing page lists integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, SalesLoft and Marketo.
- Apollo's AI Overview lists an AI Assistant, AI Research, Outbound Copilot, Lookalikes, Scores, an AI Writing Assistant, Pre-meeting Insights and Conversation Intelligence.
- Apollo's comparison article lists Free at $0 with 900 credits a year, 2 sequences and basic filters, and Basic with 30,000 credits per user a year, unlimited sequences and CRM integrations.
- The same article lists Professional with 48,000 credits per user a year, 5 mailboxes, a dialer, workflow automation and AI research, and Organization with 72,000 credits, 15 mailboxes, SSO and an international dialer.
- Apollo's pricing page says credits are pooled across the team and that extra credits can be bought mid-cycle from Settings.
- Apollo's AI policy says it does not share Customer Data with third-party providers to train their models without disclosure and consent, and that data sent to those providers is deleted from their platforms within 30 days.
Limitations
- Apollo's credits page says unused credits expire at the end of each billing cycle and do not roll over; its terms say fees are based on credits purchased, not actual usage.
- Apollo's terms say subscriptions are non-cancelable during the term, auto-renew unless you give 30 days' written notice, and payments are nonrefundable except in cases such as Apollo's convenience termination.
- Apollo's help article says data-sharing from a connected mailbox (to improve its contact database) is generally not optional on Free, Basic and Professional; Organization customers can discuss options with their account manager.
- Apollo's own pages disagree on plan names and prices: the pricing page lists Free, Basic, Professional and Custom with no dollar figures, while Apollo's comparison articles list Organization at $119 per user a month, and the pricing page and one article differ on dialer wording.
