Clay vs Apollo.io

Clay vs Apollo — data enrichment workbench or contact database?

Clay · 8.6 / 10 Apollo.io · 8.4 / 10 HANDS-ON · NO AFFILIATE BIAS

READ Clay REVIEW → READ Apollo.io REVIEW → CUSTOMISE COMPARISON →

Side by side

PRICING + WHO IT'S FOR

	Clay	Apollo.io
CATEGORY	CRM	CRM
RATING	8.6 / 10	8.4 / 10
PRICING	FREE 100 CR · STARTER $149 · EXPLORER $349 · PRO $800 · ENTERPRISE CUSTOM	FREE · BASIC $49/SEAT · PRO $79/SEAT · ORG $119/SEAT
BEST FOR	RevOps teams, outbound ops, founder-led B2B sales, agencies doing research-heavy outbound, data-first SDR orgs who can invest in a real workflow tool.	Outbound sales teams, SDR orgs, startups running cold outbound, agencies running outbound for clients, AE teams needing mid-call contact lookup.
WATCH OUT	Teams without data-ops capacity, SMBs who want a simple CRM out of the box, or orgs looking for a primary CRM — Clay isn't one and doesn't try to be.	Inbound-only teams, companies needing enterprise CRM depth (use HubSpot or Salesforce), teams where data freshness on private companies is critical (ZoomInfo still wins).

Our verdict

PICK BY USE CASE, NOT RATING

PICK Clay

Pick Clay when you need flexible data enrichment workflows — combining many sources, AI-driven research, custom waterfalls.

PICK Apollo.io

Pick Apollo when you need a large contact database with built-in dialer + sequencer at a reasonable per-seat price.

These solve adjacent but different problems. Clay is a programmable enrichment table — you drop in domains or names and orchestrate 50+ data providers (plus LLM agents) to fill in everything else. It's a builder's tool, not a sales rep's tool. Apollo is the inverse: a contact database with built-in calling, sequencing, and engagement — designed for an SDR's daily workflow.

Many teams use both. Clay for the prospecting + enrichment pipeline that produces a clean target list, Apollo to actually run the outbound sequence against it.

Frequently asked

TAP TO EXPAND

Clay is the workbench; Apollo is the database + outbound stack.

Clay: FREE 100 CR · STARTER $149 · EXPLORER $349 · PRO $800 · ENTERPRISE CUSTOM. Apollo.io: FREE · BASIC $49/SEAT · PRO $79/SEAT · ORG $119/SEAT.

Clay — Teams without data-ops capacity, SMBs who want a simple CRM out of the box, or orgs looking for a primary CRM — Clay isn't one and doesn't try to be.. Apollo.io — Inbound-only teams, companies needing enterprise CRM depth (use HubSpot or Salesforce), teams where data freshness on private companies is critical (ZoomInfo still wins)..

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