Clay vs Apollo 2026: prices, features and which to pick

Pick Apollo if you are a founder or a sales team that wants a contact database, email sequences, a dialer and CRM sync in one per-seat tool, free to start or $49 per seat per month billed annually. Pick Clay if someone on your team, usually RevOps or a GTM engineer, will build custom data workflows across 150+ data providers: it starts at $185 a month for unlimited seats, but CRM sync needs Growth at $495 a month. Many teams use both, because Clay can push contacts into Apollo sequences.

Checked against each vendor's own pages on 15 October 2026.

Revexa builds Leo, an AI agent in the same market, so read with that in mind. This comparison is about the tools in the title. Prices are USD list prices excluding VAT.

What each tool is

Apollo is a sales platform built on its own contact database, which Apollo says holds "240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts" (Apollo data). Sequences, calling and deal management come in the same per-seat plan. Per Apollo's pricing page: a Free plan with no time limit, Basic at $49 per seat per month billed annually or $65 monthly, Professional at $79 annually or $99 monthly, and Organization at $119 per seat, annual only, with a minimum of 3 seats. The page is split-tested and also calls the top tier "Custom", so check what it shows you before you budget.

Clay is a data workspace. It enriches lists through waterfalls across 150+ data providers, researches the web for each row with its AI tool Claygent, and since 1 September 2026 sends cold email itself through Clay Sequencer (Clay Sequencer). It is priced per workspace with unlimited seats. Per Clay's pricing page: Free, Launch at $185 a month ($167 billed annually) with 2,500 data credits and 15,000 actions, Growth at $495 a month ($446 billed annually), and Enterprise on a custom annual contract.

Side by side

Sources: Apollo pricing, Apollo LinkedIn tasks, Clay pricing, Clay Sequencer FAQ, Clay Search doc, Claygent.

Where Apollo is better

• Everything in one seat. The database, sequences, dialer, meeting scheduler, deal management and call recording come in one per-seat plan. Clay leaves calling to other tools and has no deal management (Apollo pricing, Clay Sequencer FAQ).
• A cheaper start for one person. Apollo Free includes contact data and 2 sequences, and Basic is $49 per seat per month billed annually. Clay's cheapest paid plan costs $167 to $185 a month (Clay pricing).
• Calling is built in. Paid plans include a US dialer at 1 credit per 30 seconds, with parallel and power dialing as an add-on. Clay has no dialer (Apollo pricing).
• CRM sync and intent on low tiers. Free already includes two-way sync with Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive, 1 intent topic and 20 identified visiting companies a month. Clay's CRM sync and web intent start on Growth (Apollo pricing).

Where Clay is better

• Coverage and research per lead. Clay runs waterfalls across 150+ providers, does not charge when an enrichment finds nothing, and uses Claygent to research the web for each row. Apollo's waterfall starts with Apollo's own data, then the third-party providers you configure (Claygent, Apollo API capabilities).
• Unlimited seats. Clay prices per workspace. Apollo charges per seat and requires all seats to be on the same plan (Apollo pricing).
• Workflow flexibility. HTTP API calls, webhooks, scheduled runs and warehouse sync to Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks let an ops team build what Apollo's built-in workflows, capped at 2 to 500 per team by plan, do not cover (Clay pricing).
• Works with any sending tool, including Apollo. Clay integrates with Outreach, Salesloft, Instantly, Smartlead and lemlist, and since 15 April 2026 it can orchestrate Apollo sequences through Apollo's API (Clay integrations, Clay blog).

Limitations and criticisms

Apollo

• Sending and usage caps. Free and Basic send at most 250 emails a day, from 1 mailbox per user. Credits reset each cycle, record selection is capped per action by plan, and LinkedIn steps must be completed by hand (Apollo LinkedIn tasks).
• Reviews. Trustpilot showed 3.1 out of 5 from 1,365 reviews on 15 October 2026, 36% of them one-star. Recurring complaints are billing and refunds, credits that do not roll over, support, data accuracy, and people asking to have their own data removed (Trustpilot).
• Data location. Apollo hosts data in the US and processes EU business contacts on "legitimate interests". Its trust center lists SOC 2, ISO 27001 and GDPR (Apollo processing notice, Apollo Trust Center).

Clay

• Learning curve and credit burn. Trustpilot showed 2.9 out of 5 from 27 reviews on 15 October 2026, a small sample on a profile Clay has not claimed. Complaints focus on credits used faster than expected, complexity, and support or cancellation (Trustpilot).
• The March 2026 repricing. Clay itself said some customers, especially those using their own API keys or on the old Pro plan, could pay more (Clay pricing blog).
• Gaps for outbound. The Sequencer is email-only and locks a campaign's steps once launched, Launch has no CRM sync, and Clay's own doc still describes Search as "in open beta" (Clay Search doc).

What changed in 2025 and 2026

• About 6 March 2025: LinkedIn removed Apollo's company page, along with Seamless.AI's. Apollo's CEO said its service was not disrupted, and the page was live again on 15 October 2026 (MarTech).
• 3 February 2026: Matt Curl became Apollo's CEO, with co-founder Tim Zheng staying on as chairman. Apollo said it was "approaching $200M" ARR with nearly 100,000 paying customers (Apollo newsroom).
• 11 March 2026: Clay replaced Starter, Explorer and Pro with Free, Launch, Growth and Enterprise (Clay blog).
• 20 March 2026: Apollo acquired Pocus, a revenue intelligence and signals startup, on undisclosed terms (The Next Web).
• 15 April 2026: Paid Clay customers got Apollo rate limits at least 5x faster, and Clay can orchestrate Apollo sequences via API (Clay blog).
• 1 September 2026: Clay Sequencer, Clay's native cold email, became generally available (Clay blog).
• 9 September 2026: Clay raised a $115M Series D at a $7.1B valuation, led by Wellington, and reported 17,000+ customers (Clay blog).
• 15 September 2026: Apollo became a flagship data partner for Salesforce's outbound agent Hunter, in pilot with general availability planned for November 2026. Hunter can use Apollo data without an Apollo subscription (Apollo newsroom).
• 30 September 2026: Apollo launched an "AI GTM System". The Intelligence Layer is live, while Builder Studio and Messaging OS are "coming soon" (Apollo newsroom).

Which one should you choose?

• Founder or small team starting outbound: Apollo. Startups with fewer than 20 employees that come through an Apollo partner can get 50% off Basic or Professional for a year, for up to 5 seats (Apollo for Startups).
• You need to call prospects: Apollo. Clay has no dialer.
• You have RevOps or a GTM engineer and need data Apollo lacks, or research per lead: Clay.
• You already run Apollo: add Clay for data and let it enroll contacts in your Apollo sequences.

If neither fits, see Clay alternatives and Apollo alternatives.

Another option

If you want the outreach done for you on buying signals with approval before anything is sent, agents such as Leo by Revexa ($99/month in the US, €89 in Europe, 999 SEK in Sweden, 7 days free) take a different approach.

Frequently asked questions

Is Clay or Apollo better for a small team starting outbound?

Apollo is the simpler start: data, sequences and a dialer in one tool, with a free plan. Clay pays off when you need data Apollo does not have or custom research per lead.

Does Clay have its own contact database like Apollo?

Partly. Clay Search, which Clay's doc describes as "in open beta", covers "900M people, 70M companies, and 300M jobs", but Clay's core is still enrichment from 150+ providers. Apollo sells access to its own database of "240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts".

Can I use Clay and Apollo together?

Yes, with accounts on both. Since 15 April 2026, paid Clay customers get faster Apollo rate limits and can enroll contacts in Apollo sequences from Clay.

Can Clay replace Apollo's sequences?

For cold email, yes: Clay Sequencer has been generally available since 1 September 2026. For calls and LinkedIn steps, no: Clay's docs say the Sequencer has no dialer or manual rep tasks, while Apollo sequences include calls and LinkedIn tasks.