Apollo vs Clay: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of Apollo and Clay to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
Apollo
6.5/10
Apollo is a sales intelligence and engagement platform that combines a B2B contact database, email sequencing, a dialer and deal tracking for outbound sales teams.
Clay
6.4/10
Clay is a go-to-market data platform that enriches leads and accounts from many data providers and automates prospecting workflows for B2B sales and marketing teams.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 6.5/10 | 6.4/10 |
| Integration | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| Customization | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Support | 4/10 | 6/10 |
| Cost | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| Scalability | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $49/user/mo Basic | $185/mo Launch |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free | Free Free |
| Features | ||
| Built-in Calling | Not listed | |
| Collaboration | ||
| Lead Management | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Sales Automation | ||
| Opportunity Management | ||
| Contact Management | ||
| Reporting & Analytics | Not listed | |
| Marketing Automation | Not listed | |
| Customer Support Management | Not listed | |
Apollo vs Clay cost by team size
Apollo and Clay cost the same at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Apollo | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree | FreeFree |
| 5 users | FreeFree | FreeFree |
| 10 users | FreeFree | FreeFree |
| 25 users | FreeFree | FreeFree |
| 50 users | FreeFree | FreeFree |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Apollo
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Cost score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for small business (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Includes Opportunity Management, which Clay lacks
Why choose Clay
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 6/10)
- Higher Integration score (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for marketing teams (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Better fit for agencies (8/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Apollo
Pros
- Prospect database, email sequencing, dialer and enrichment come in one subscription, so teams buy fewer tools.
- The free plan has no time limit and lets a team try the full prospecting workflow.
- Reviewers rate ease of use highly, and G2 shows about 4.7 out of 5 from roughly 9,700 reviews.
- Admins can pool credits across the team and set per-user caps.
Cons
- Many reviews report inaccurate data, especially mobile numbers and contacts outside North America.
- Credits expire each cycle, phone reveals cost about eight times as much as an email, and credits are spent even on bad records.
- Support is the lowest-rated G2 subcategory, and Trustpilot shows a TrustScore of about 3.1.
- API access and SSO require the top Custom plan, and every seat must be on the same plan.
Clay
Pros
- Waterfall enrichment across more than 150 providers raises match rates, and failed lookups are not charged.
- Every plan includes unlimited seats, so whole teams can work in shared tables.
- Claygent can research accounts on the web with custom AI prompts.
- Growth includes native sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Close, plus Snowflake and BigQuery.
- Clay University and an active community provide a lot of free training.
Cons
- Reviewers widely report a steep learning curve, and some teams hire consultants to build their first workflows.
- The two meters, actions and data credits, make it easy to burn through allowances.
- CRM sync, the HTTP API and webhooks require Growth at $446 a month or more.
- Top-ups cost 30 percent more than plan credits.
- There is no pipeline or deal management, so a separate CRM is still needed.
- Standard source syncs run daily, and only Enterprise gets 15-minute syncs.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Apollo scores higher on our AI Software criteria: 6.5/10 against 6.4/10 for Clay. The largest gap is in Ease of Use: 8/10 for Apollo and 4/10 for Clay.
Both are free for 10 users.
Yes, both Apollo and Clay have a free plan.
Apollo is the better fit for small business: we rate it 8/10 for them, against 4/10 for Clay.
Apollo has Opportunity Management, which Clay lacks.
