Efficiency onlyBuild toolEstablished, AI retrofitted

Clay

Clay Labs Inc ·www.clay.com· As of: 2026-07-30

A list of companies or people rarely carries the attributes you actually decide on. Clay is the workbench where you assemble those attributes, query several data sources in sequence and put your own scoring logic on top.

Work through this tool with an AI

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Our verdict

For a sales team that wants to target rather than blanket, enrichment and signal processing are no longer optional. Without them you work through lists whose selection criteria nobody can explain any more. It still does not amount to an edge: Clay sells the same workbench and the same data marketplace to everyone, and any competitor can query the same providers in the same order. What sets you apart is the judgement about which attributes matter at all, and that judgement lives in the operator's head and in your own customer data, not in the tool. Calling it a case-by-case efficiency gain would understate it, because what hangs on it is not one task but the entire stage that precedes outreach.

Evidence:As of 2026-07-30Plans, included actions and data credits, top-up premium, single sign-on as an add-onOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30Definition of actions and data credits, typical enrichment at 6 to 20 credits, expiry and rolloverOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30Customer data is not used for model training, contracts with the AI providers prohibit itOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30Legal entity, address, data processing agreement on request including standard contractual clausesOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30Retention only while the account exists, automatic renewal, fees non-refundableOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30SOC 2 Type 2 completed, report available through the trust center on requestOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30Valuation, funding rounds and estimated annual recurring revenueOpen sourceAs of 2026-07-30CSV export of any table and live integrations as exit routesOpen source

Who it fits

Solo

suitable with caveats

The free tier with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month is enough to try it out, not to work with. The first workable plan costs 167 USD a month, plus the time it takes to build the logic. A solo seller mostly buys themselves work here.

Mid-market

suitable

This is the group the tool is built for. Seats and tables are unlimited, one person can maintain the logic and the whole team reads from it. The precondition is that somebody keeps an eye on consumption.

Enterprise

suitable with caveats

Single sign-on is only an add-on on the Growth plan, the storage location of the data is not publicly documented, and there is no public commitment on access logging. For a corporate review that means an enterprise contract or nothing.

Buy, switch or build

Off-the-shelf

Buy a data vendor with ready-made filters

You subscribe to a database and filter it by industry, size and role. The start is faster and the bill is a fixed annual amount with no consumption surprises. You pay for that in selection: you can only sort by what the vendor carries, and your competitors buy the same database and filter it the same way. Coverage gaps only surface when reply rates drop.

AI-native

An agent researches and qualifies on its own

A newer class of tools takes the target definition and returns researched, scored contacts without anyone building columns. That saves exactly the work Clay makes you do yourself. The price is that the criteria disappear inside the tool: once nobody can say why a company is on the list, there is no way to correct course when the list stops converting.

Build it yourself

Your own register with direct provider APIs

A script calls the data providers' APIs directly and writes into your own database, with the scoring living in code and under version control. This pays off when the criteria are stable, the volume is large and the data is needed elsewhere in the company anyway. It breaks where the criteria change weekly, because then sales waits on engineering.

Our advice

  • Solo: Try the free tier, but count the setup time honestly.
  • Mid-market: Buy it, put one person in charge and review consumption monthly.
  • Enterprise: Enterprise contract only, with storage location and audit logging settled in writing first.

Who owns what gets built

bound to the platform · portable with limits

Under its terms of service the vendor claims no ownership of the data you upload, while retaining all intellectual property rights in the platform and its content. What the workbench produces is an enriched and scored list. It is not an end product but moves on into the CRM, into an outreach or messaging tool, into a data warehouse or as a CSV file into the hands of the sales team. The work itself, meaning the table structure, the order of data providers and the wording of the AI steps, stays tied to the account and has no interchange format. On top of that, exporting counts as an action and consumes quota.As of 2026-07-30Retention only while the account exists, automatic renewal, fees non-refundableOpen source

Who is behind it

Staying power: Funded

The vendor is well funded and growing fast, but the valuation sits far above revenue. This is not a forecast about the company's survival, it is a note that today's prices and terms rest on a growth expectation.

  • Legal entity and seat: Clay Labs Inc, 119 N 11th Street, 3C, Brooklyn, NY 11249, USAAs of 2026-07-30Legal entity, address, data processing agreement on request including standard contractual clausesOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
  • Funding: USD 277m across seven rounds, most recently a USD 100m Series C in August 2025 led by CapitalGAs of 2026-07-30clay.com/dossier/clay-fundingOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
  • Valuation: USD 5bn at an employee share sale in January 2026, previously USD 3.1bn after the Series CAs of 2026-07-30Valuation, funding rounds and estimated annual recurring revenueOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
  • Revenue: estimated USD 150m annual recurring revenue in May 2026, up from USD 108m at the end of 2025, a third-party estimate not confirmed by the vendorAs of 2026-07-30Valuation, funding rounds and estimated annual recurring revenueOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
  • Years in market: first funding round in 2017 per the vendor, founding year 2019 per Sacra, the sources contradict each otherAs of 2026-07-30clay.com/dossier/clay-fundingOpen source · As of 2026-07-30
  • Security audit evidence: SOC 2 Type 2 per the vendor's own announcement of 9 September 2024, report available only through the trust center on requestAs of 2026-07-30SOC 2 Type 2 completed, report available through the trust center on requestOpen source · As of 2026-07-30

Cost of leaving: Moderate

The data comes out: every table can be downloaded as CSV, and there are live integrations into CRM and outreach tools. What does not come out is the work itself, meaning the table structures, the order of data providers and the wording of the AI steps. There is no interchange format for those, so they get rebuilt on a switch. On top of that, the vendor counts exporting as an action, so it consumes quota.

Regulation and data

How to read the traffic lightHow to read the traffic lightThe traffic light rates how well a point is evidenced, not how good the tool is. It draws only on the value, note and source held in the profile. Where a statement is missing, it rates the absence, not a guess. A well-reasoned "unclear" on a point that matters little for this tool is yellow. A missing source on a point that decides whether you can use it at all is red.documented, no condition attacheddocumented, tied to a conditiondocumented, but unfavourableopen on a point that decides usability
Data processing agreementScale for this point: Data processing agreementdocumented, no condition attached: Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag öffentlich abrufbar und ohne weitere Bedingung Bestandteil des Vertrags; oder er entfällt nachvollziehbar begründet, weil kein Anbieter Kundendaten verarbeitet.documented, tied to a condition: Vertrag existiert, ist aber an einen Tarif gebunden, nur nach Anfrage einsehbar oder allein in den Nutzungsbedingungen geregelt statt als eigenes Dokument.documented, but unfavourable: Kein Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag im üblichen Sinn: entweder weil der Anbieter für das Kerngeschäft eigenständig Verantwortlicher ist und stattdessen eine andere Konstruktion gilt, oder weil öffentlich offen bleibt, ob überhaupt einer angeboten wird.open on a point that decides usability: Weder ein Vertrag noch ein dokumentierter Weg zu einem Vertrag; der Einkauf hätte nichts, worauf er sich stützen kann.documented, tied to a conditionon request, including standard contractual clausesAs of 2026-07-30Legal entity, address, data processing agreement on request including standard contractual clausesOpen sourceThe privacy policy states that Clay offers data processing agreements on request and that these include standard contractual clauses. A signed copy has to be requested via security@clay.com and is not publicly posted.As of 2026-07-30
Storage locationScale for this point: Storage locationdocumented, no condition attached: EU-Speicherort ohne Zusatzkosten und ohne Tarifbindung, oder der Ort ist vollständig selbst bestimmbar, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: EU-Speicherort möglich, aber an einen Tarif, einen gesondert zu aktivierenden Zusatz oder einen Umzug in eine getrennte Umgebung gebunden; oder die EU-Region ist nicht die Voreinstellung.documented, but unfavourable: Kein EU-Speicherort, der Ort ist aber eindeutig benannt, sodass die Folgen bewertbar sind.open on a point that decides usability: Der Speicherort ist öffentlich nicht benannt oder vom Kunden nicht steuerbar, sodass sich die Verarbeitung nicht verorten lässt.open on a point that decides usabilityunclearNeither the privacy policy nor the terms name a country or region for data storage. The trust center only releases its contents on request and could not be read for this review. Third parties claim a US region, which is not solid evidence.no source given · As of 2026-07-30
SubprocessorsScale for this point: Subprocessorsdocumented, no condition attached: Vollständige öffentliche Liste der Unterauftragnehmer mit Zweck und Land; oder es gibt keine, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Liste existiert und ist benannt, aber nur nach Anfrage oder nach Zugang zu einem Vertrauensportal einsehbar, oder sie nennt Zweck und Land nicht vollständig.documented, but unfavourable: Keine geführte Liste; namentlich stehen nur einzelne Dienste in der Datenschutzerklärung, überwiegend solche der eigenen Website.open on a point that decides usability: Weder eine Liste noch eine Nennung der Verarbeiter des Produkts, und kein dokumentierter Weg, sie zu erfahren.documented, tied to a conditiona list exists, but it is not publicly retrievableAs of 2026-07-30trust.clay.com/subprocessorsOpen sourceThe vendor maintains a subprocessor list in its trust center. The page only loads its contents after a request, so it could not be read openly. The only subprocessor named in the privacy policy is Stripe for payment processing.As of 2026-07-30
Third-country transferScale for this point: Third-country transferdocumented, no condition attached: Keine Übermittlung in ein Drittland, oder die Übermittlung findet statt und die Grundlage ist benannt und im Vertrag verankert, etwa Standardvertragsklauseln, Angemessenheitsbeschluss oder EU-US-Datenschutzrahmen.documented, tied to a condition: Übermittlung findet statt, eine Grundlage ist genannt, aber ohne Zuordnung, welcher Empfänger auf welcher Grundlage arbeitet.documented, but unfavourable: Übermittlung findet statt und die eigenen Unterlagen widersprechen sich, oder die genannte Grundlage bezieht sich erkennbar nur auf einen Randbereich wie die Marketing-Website.open on a point that decides usability: Übermittlung findet erkennbar statt und eine Grundlage wird nirgends genannt.documented, no condition attachedprocessing in the US, covered by standard contractual clauses in the data processing agreementAs of 2026-07-30Legal entity, address, data processing agreement on request including standard contractual clausesOpen sourceThe vendor is based in New York and New York law applies. For European customers, the privacy policy points to the data processing agreement with standard contractual clauses as the basis.As of 2026-07-30
Training on customer dataScale for this point: Training on customer datadocumented, no condition attached: Vertraglich oder in der Datenschutzerklärung ausdrücklich ausgeschlossen, mit Erstreckung auf die eingesetzten Modellanbieter; oder es gibt keine Datenübertragung an einen Anbieter.documented, tied to a condition: Ausschluss ab einem bestimmten Tarif, oder die Zusage steht nur auf einer Dokumentationsseite statt im Vertrag, oder die Frage stellt sich für das Werkzeug sachlich kaum und der Anbieter schweigt dazu.documented, but unfavourable: Nutzung ist die Voreinstellung und nur ein Widerspruch beendet sie; oder der Anbieter trainiert eigene Modelle auf bereinigten Kundendaten.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage, obwohl das Werkzeug KI-Funktionen auf Kundeninhalten betreibt.documented, tied to a conditionaccording to the vendor, customer data is not used for model trainingAs of 2026-07-30Customer data is not used for model training, contracts with the AI providers prohibit itOpen sourceThe product documentation states explicitly that contracts with all AI providers prohibit training on customer data. How long those model providers retain the content passed to them is not stated.As of 2026-07-30
Retention and deletionScale for this point: Retention and deletiondocumented, no condition attached: Löschfristen nach Vertragsende beziffert und die Löschung oder Rückgabe zugesagt; oder die Fristen bestimmt der Betreiber selbst, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Löschung ist zugesagt, die Fristen sind aber nur teilweise beziffert, oder Sicherungskopien sind ausdrücklich ausgenommen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur der Grundsatz der Erforderlichkeit ohne jede Frist nach Vertragsende, oder Fristen sind allein für Randbereiche wie Website-Protokolle genannt.open on a point that decides usability: Keine Aussage zu Aufbewahrung und Löschung.documented, tied to a conditiondata persists as long as the account does and is deleted when the account is deletedAs of 2026-07-30Retention only while the account exists, automatic renewal, fees non-refundableOpen sourceThe terms put this briefly and name neither retention periods for backups nor a grace period after the contract ends.As of 2026-07-30
CertificationsScale for this point: Certificationsdocumented, no condition attached: Mehrere anerkannte Nachweise, benannt mit Norm, Fassung und Geltungsbereich, und bezogen auf den Anbieter selbst.documented, tied to a condition: Ein anerkannter Nachweis für den Anbieter belegt, der Bericht aber nur auf Anfrage, oder der Nachweis hängt an einem Tarif, oder der Geltungsbereich bleibt teilweise offen.documented, but unfavourable: Nur pauschale Nennung ohne Norm-Fassung und Geltungsbereich, oder bloße Selbstauskunft, oder die Nachweise gehören dem Infrastrukturanbieter statt dem Anbieter, oder der Prüfzeitraum ist erkennbar veraltet, oder die eigenen Angaben widersprechen sich.open on a point that decides usability: Kein Nachweis genannt und keine Sicherheits- oder Vertrauensseite vorhanden.documented, tied to a conditionSOC 2 Type 2 evidenced, ISO 27001 not evidenced first-handAs of 2026-07-30SOC 2 Type 2 completed, report available through the trust center on requestOpen sourceThe completion of the SOC 2 Type 2 audit is announced by the vendor itself. An ISO 27001 certificate is mentioned in third-party market overviews but could not be confirmed on any reachable vendor page. Ask for the evidence before procuring.As of 2026-07-30
EU AI Act, Article 50Scale for this point: EU AI Act, Article 50documented, no condition attached: Der Anbieter macht eine belegte Aussage, die die eigene Pflicht trägt, etwa Modelldokumentation und Zertifizierung nach ISO/IEC 42001; oder das Werkzeug enthält nachvollziehbar begründet kein KI-System im Sinne der Verordnung.documented, tied to a condition: Der Anbieter äußert sich zur Verordnung oder ordnet die eigene Funktion ein, eine benannte Zusage zu den Transparenzpflichten aus Artikel 50 fehlt aber; oder das Werkzeug enthält kein KI-System, das gegenüber Menschen auftritt, und der Anbieter schweigt.documented, but unfavourable: Das Produkt enthält KI-Funktionen, der Anbieter schweigt dazu oder trägt ein Selbstetikett ohne Nachweis; die Kennzeichnung ist vom Betreiber aber selbst setzbar.open on a point that decides usability: KI spricht im Produkt unmittelbar mit Endkunden und der Anbieter sagt zu Artikel 50 nichts; die Kennzeichnung lässt sich ohne Zusage des Anbieters nicht sicher setzen.documented, but unfavourableunclearOn its publicly reachable pages the vendor says nothing about the transparency duties under Article 50. In practice your own duty matters more anyway: whoever sends machine-generated outreach built with this tool carries the disclosure obligation.no source given · As of 2026-07-30
Audit loggingScale for this point: Audit loggingdocumented, no condition attached: Nachvollziehbares Protokoll über Zugriffe und Änderungen in allen Tarifen enthalten, mit benannter Frist und Ausleitung in eigene Systeme; oder die Nachvollziehbarkeit liegt vollständig in eigener Hand, weil das Werkzeug im eigenen Betrieb läuft.documented, tied to a condition: Protokoll vorhanden, aber an einen höheren Tarif oder einen kostenpflichtigen Zusatz gebunden, oder die Ausleitung fehlt in den unteren Stufen; Reichweite und Frist sind benannt.documented, but unfavourable: Protokolle sind nur anbieterseitig beschrieben, oder Reichweite und Frist bleiben offen, sodass sich Nachweispflichten nicht planen lassen.open on a point that decides usability: Öffentlich nicht belegt, ob der Kunde überhaupt ein auswertbares Protokoll erhält.open on a point that decides usabilityunclearAs of 2026-07-30Plans, included actions and data credits, top-up premium, single sign-on as an add-onOpen sourceThere is no public commitment on auditable access and change logs. The only documented point is that single sign-on is an add-on on the Growth plan and included on Enterprise.As of 2026-07-30

What it really costs

Entry price

Free with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month. Launch costs 167 USD a month with 15,000 actions and 3,000 data credits, Growth 446 USD a month with 40,000 actions and 6,000 data credits. Seats and tables are unlimited on every plan, annual billing saves 10 percent.As of 2026-07-30Plans, included actions and data credits, top-up premium, single sign-on as an add-onOpen source

As of 2026-07-30

What gets expensive

The monthly price is not the price. Two currencies run side by side. Actions cost fractions of a cent and are charged for every step, including exporting data out of the system. Data credits cost several cents each and are charged as soon as third-party data is bought. The vendor puts a typical enrichment at 6 to 20 data credits. That makes the 6,000 credits on the Growth plan enough for roughly 300 to 1,000 enriched rows a month, not 6,000. Topping up carries a 30 percent premium, actions expire monthly, and credits only roll over up to twice the monthly allowance. Comparing plans by the base price means comparing the wrong number.

What it displaces

  • Manual list research done person by person
  • Several parallel subscriptions with individual data vendors
  • Scoring logic that lives only in a spreadsheet on one machine

Interfaces

  • CSV import and CSV export
  • HTTP calls to any API straight from the table
  • Integrations with CRM, outreach and messaging tools
  • Your own provider API keys instead of data credits
  • MCP connection

Matching methods

  • GTM Stack Signal RoutingThe method needs one place where signals from several sources come together and get scored before a workflow fires, and Clay is the workbench where that merge happens without building it yourself.
  • Lead Scoring: Best Leads to Best ClosersRouting by win probability presupposes that the scoring attributes exist per contact in the first place, and gathering exactly those attributes from several data sources in sequence is what Clay does.
  • Inbound-Led Warm Outbound (95/5 Map)The method starts outreach from a reaction, and Clay is where such a signal gets rounded out with company and person data before anyone acts on it.

Sources

  1. 1.Plans, included actions and data credits, top-up premium, single sign-on as an add-on (opens in a new tab)clay.com/pricing · As of 2026-07-30
  2. 2.Definition of actions and data credits, typical enrichment at 6 to 20 credits, expiry and rollover (opens in a new tab)university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits · As of 2026-07-30
  3. 3.Customer data is not used for model training, contracts with the AI providers prohibit it (opens in a new tab)university.clay.com/docs/ai-in-clay · As of 2026-07-30
  4. 4.Legal entity, address, data processing agreement on request including standard contractual clauses (opens in a new tab)clay.com/privacy · As of 2026-07-30
  5. 5.Retention only while the account exists, automatic renewal, fees non-refundable (opens in a new tab)clay.com/terms-of-service · As of 2026-07-30
  6. 6.SOC 2 Type 2 completed, report available through the trust center on request (opens in a new tab)clay.com/blog/clay-is-soc-2-type-2-compliant · As of 2026-07-30
  7. 7.Valuation, funding rounds and estimated annual recurring revenue (opens in a new tab)sacra.com/c/clay · As of 2026-07-30
  8. 8.CSV export of any table and live integrations as exit routes (opens in a new tab)university.clay.com/…/export-getting-your-lists-out-of-clay · As of 2026-07-30
  9. 9.clay.com/dossier/clay-funding (opens in a new tab)As of 2026-07-30
  10. 10.trust.clay.com/subprocessors (opens in a new tab)As of 2026-07-30

Last reviewed: 2026-07-30 by Dr. Oliver Gausmann, Convios GmbH

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