# Clay — Lead Generation

Clay by Clay Labs, Inc. (Clay) holds a panel rating of 2/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 1.5/5), as of 2026-10-21. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Clay Labs, Inc. (Clay) (https://www.clay.com)
- Category: [Lead Generation](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/clay
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/clay/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/clay/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-21 · evaluated 2026-10-21 · oldest source captured 2026-10-20

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Clay Labs, Inc. (Clay)
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 20 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 20 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 20 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

Clay is a lead-generation platform built on multi-provider enrichment: 75+ tools waterfalled together, billed only when a result is found. The scoring puts its clear strength in prospecting compliance, where the range runs 8 to 8 — DNC screening through the partner Meer covers Germany's Robinsonliste, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Australia plus the US national and nine state registries, scrub guidance sits at 14 to 28 days, and opt-outs synced from CRM propagate into downstream workflows and connected ad accounts. The weakest areas are sovereignty, scored 1-2, and pricing transparency, scored 2 across the range: the contracting entity and controller is Clay Labs Inc. of 111 W 19th Street, New York, and we found no public information on hosting, data residency, subprocessors or an EU representative, while the pages show a free start with no credit card, and we found no public information on tier prices, seat costs or credit expiry. Data coverage spread widest, 2 to 4, on per-country figures; the only numbers are a customer story's 80% coverage and less than ~1 cent per enrichment.

**Speaks for it:**
- DNC screening through the partner Meer covers Germany's Robinsonliste, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Australia and the US national registry plus nine state registries.
- Scrub guidance directs re-screening at least every 28 days, with 14 days recommended for extra precaution.
- Opt-out data from CRM and sales engagement tools syncs back into Clay and propagates to downstream workflows, reaching connected ad accounts on the next scheduled sync.
- Waterfall enrichment across 75+ providers charges only once a result is found, at disclosed wholesale rates.
- A documented HTTP API supports GET, POST, PUT and DELETE with pagination up to 50,000 rows and encrypted workspace-level credentials.

**Held against it:**
- The contracting entity and controller is Clay Labs Inc. of 111 W 19th Street, New York, and we found no public information on hosting, data residency, a subprocessor list or an EU representative.
- We found no public information on tier prices, credit allowances, seat costs or credit expiry, so an annual invoice cannot be computed.
- The only coverage figures are a customer story's 80% coverage and less than ~1 cent per enrichment; we found no public information on per-country numbers for Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
- We found no public information on a consent position for the tracking script, a cookieless option, or how anonymous visitor identification works.
- The EU guidance puts documenting a lawful basis on the buyer, and we found no public information on Clay's own basis for people in the database or an Art. 14 notification practice.

**Best for:**
- You run outbound calling in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Australia or the US and want DNC screening and scrub cadence inside the workflow.
- You centralize opt-out data in a CRM or sales engagement tool and need it to propagate into every downstream enrichment and ad sync.
- You want to compare providers across a 75+-tool waterfall and pay only when an enrichment returns a result.
- You build US-based ad audiences from vendor-sourced data, which the captured pages explicitly allow.

**Avoid if:**
- You need an EU contracting entity or confirmed EU data residency — ask the vendor: the public pages we read do not show it
- You must budget against published tier prices — the pricing shown is usage-based: "the price of Clay depends entirely on the enrichment tools you choose to use."
- You build non-Google/Bing ad audiences outside the US from Clay-sourced contacts — the captured pages include Clay-sourced contacts only when the country is the US or blank.
- You deploy website tracking in Germany — the captured pages describe what the script collects (pages visited, time spent, traffic sources) but we found no public information on a consent position or a cookieless option.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The SDR Team Lead | The RevOps Manager | The Data Protection Officer | The ABM Marketer | The DACH Sales Director | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Coverage, accuracy & freshness | 2/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Data sources & lawful basis | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Visitor identification & intent signals | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Prospecting workflow & outreach rules | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| CRM sync, enrichment & export | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| European sovereignty | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** | **2/5** |

### The judges

- **The SDR Team Lead** (v1.0): Runs eight SDRs against a monthly meeting target. Wants filters that find the right buyer at the right company, emails that do not bounce, and direct dials that reach a person. Measures a database by connect rate, not by the record count on the homepage.
- **The RevOps Manager** (v1.0): Owns the CRM and cleans up after every tool sales buys. Wants sync with field mapping and deduplication, re-enrichment that updates rather than duplicates, objections that propagate into synced records, and exit terms that say what the company may keep.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Knows the company becomes controller the moment a list is exported. Wants the source and legal basis of every record stated, the Art. 14 notice actually sent, a removal route for the people in the database, and a visitor script that does not fire before consent.
- **The ABM Marketer** (v1.0): Works a list of three hundred target accounts and wants to know which of them are in market. Cares about company-level visitor identification, intent data with a named source, and alerts that reach the account owner while the signal is still warm.
- **The DACH Sales Director** (v1.0): Sells into German Mittelstand companies that are barely visible in US-built databases. Wants register-based company data, coverage stated for Germany, Austria and Switzerland rather than for "Europe", and a tool that knows a cold call under UWG §7 is not a growth hack.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has read "98% accuracy" and "GDPR-compliant data" on every homepage in the category. Reads instead for the refresh cadence, the credit-back rule for a bounced email, what a mobile number costs in credits, and the source the privacy notice admits to.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Admin only ads settings: yes [S10]
- Clay sourced country filter: non-Google/Bing e.g. Meta Ads · yes · US · blank [S10]
- Company audiences not filtered: no [S10]
- Cookie consent banner: yes · yes [S2]
- Dnc meer partner: Meer · DNC registry screening within Clay workflows [S9]
- Dnc registry coverage: UK · Germany · Ireland · Spain · Belgium · Australia · US · Colorado · Florida · Indiana · Louisiana · Massachusetts · Missouri · Pennsylvania · Texas · Wyoming [S9]
- Dnc scrub frequency: 28 · 14 [S9]
- Eea rights: yes [S2]
- Enriched contacts keep first party: yes · yes [S10]
- EU lawful basis: document lawful basis for personal data use in EU [S9]
- Exclusion audiences filtered: yes [S10]
- First party contacts not country filtered: first-party · no [S10]
- Google bing first party only: yes · yes [S10]
- Internal dnc requirement: yes [S9]
- International transfers: ]}, { [S2]
- Nonus first party data: non-US · first-party · yes [S10]
- Not legal advice: yes [S9]
- Opt out sync timing: next_scheduled_sync [S10]
- Personal liability EU: yes [S9]
- Platform: Transcend [S2]
- Privacy email: privacy@clay.com [S2]
- Restrict table ad sync toggle: First-party only toggle · Ads settings [S10]
- Segment sync per contact filtering: audience_segment · per_contact [S10]
- Under18 sale: no [S2]
- US audience clay data: US · yes [S10]
- US scrub guidance: avoid calling numbers on national DNC registries without legal basis [S9]
- US state rights: yes [S2]

**Data**
- Account deletion: yes [S2]
- Enrichment providers: yes [S2]
- Minors age limit: 18 [S2]
- Retention policy: as long as necessary unless legally required longer [S2]
- Sources: You/Your Devices · Users · Affiliates · Advertising Networks · ISPs · Analytics Providers · OS/Platform Provider · Social Networks · Resellers: Consumer data brokers · Partners: Business partners · Public: Publicly accessible sources [S2]

**Integrations**
- Platform: yes [S1]

**Legal**
- Effective date: 2025-07-03 [S2]
- Entity: Clay Labs Inc. [S1]
- Entity: Clay Labs Inc. [S3]
- Entity: Clay Labs Inc. [S5]
- Entity: Clay Labs Inc. [S6]
- Entity name: Clay Labs Inc. · 111 W 19th Street, New York NY 10011 [S2]
- Privacy notice scope: Clay Labs Inc. [S2]

**Pricing**
- Claimed savings: 1/5th or less of Zoominfo cost · often double or triple data coverage rates [S4]
- Free trial: yes · no [S1]
- Usage based: Price depends entirely on the enrichment tools chosen [S4]
- Zoominfo comparison: 80 · 30 · 0.25 · 0.01 [S4]

**Product**
- Activation: email triggers · ads · programmatic 1:1 messaging [S1]
- Agents: research · scoring · personalized outreach [S1]
- AI enrichment: yes [S5]
- Capabilities: Claygent AI · Account Agents · Ads · Sequencer · Multi-provider data enrichment · Audiences · Signals · Workflows · Functions [S3]
- Claygent: Claygent AI [S4]
- Conditional logic only run if: Only run if conditional logic on all actions/enrichments [S9]
- Controller vs processor: yes · yes [S2]
- Data marketplace: data marketplace [S1]
- Data types: people · company · jobs [S1]
- Dnc status filtering: flag and filter contacts by DNC status via Meer integration [S9]
- Enrich CRM overview: Enrich CRM enriches people and companies, finds work emails, and adds website traffic, technology, funding, and French business registry data [S12]
- Enrichment count: 10 [S12]
- Enrichment disclosure: yes [S2]
- Free trial: Free start available, no credit card required [S4]
- Free trial: yes · no [S6]
- Free trial no card: no · yes [S3]
- Free trial no cc: yes · no [S5]
- Global coverage: yes · 75 [S3]
- Http API enrichment: yes [S11]
- Http API methods: GET · POST · PUT · DELETE [S11]
- Http API source: yes · 50000 [S11]
- Lookalike seed list: lookalike_audiences_from_first_party_seed [S10]
- Mcp data sources: contact data · company intelligence · web research · 150 [S6]
- Modules: Claygent AI · Account Agents · Ads · Sequencer · Multi-provider data enrichment · Audiences · Signals · Workflows · Functions · Integrations [S1]
- Modules: Claygent AI · Account Agents · Ads · Sequencer · Multi-provider data enrichment · Audiences · Signals · Workflows · Functions · Integrations [S5]
- Named providers: Hunter · Apollo · SalesNavigator [S5]
- Opt out central tracking: central tracking of opt-out preferences [S9]
- Opt out list sync: sync internal opt-out lists into Clay [S9]
- Opt out sale: yes [S2]
- People search geo filters: People Search filters to include/exclude countries, regions, or predefined lists [S9]
- Provider transparency: Discloses which individual providers data comes from and offers wholesale rates [S4]
- Rep productivity: self-serve prospecting data · natural language account context chat [S1]
- Segment vs synced counts: yes · yes [S10]
- Source pagination modes: page-based · offset · cursor · full URL [S11]
- Third party login: Google · Okta · Azure · yes [S2]
- Use cases: Automated inbound · Account research · ABM · PLG assist · Rep assist · Reverse ETL · Outbound · CRM Enrichment · TAM Sourcing [S1]
- Use cases: Automated inbound · Account research · ABM · PLG assist · Rep assist · Reverse ETL · Outbound · CRM Enrichment · TAM Sourcing [S3]
- Use cases: Automated inbound · Account research · ABM · PLG assist · Rep assist · Reverse ETL · Outbound · CRM Enrichment · TAM Sourcing [S5]
- Visual workflows: clicks · code · chat [S1]
- Waterfall enrichment: Uses multiple data providers and waterfalls them for coverage [S4]
- Waterfall feature: yes · yes [S5]
- Web intent overview: website visitor tracking collecting pages visited, time spent, and traffic sources [S8]
- Workspace level auth: yes [S11]

**Support**
- Docs http API: HTTP API docs in Clay University [S11]
- Gap email: support@clay.run [S3]
- Resources: Get started lesson · University · Use case templates · Partner programs · Community · FAQ [S1]
- Status page: yes [S1]

## Questions

### Is Clay European?

Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where Clay is based.

### Where does Clay store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 20 Oct 2026.

### Does Clay have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 20 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Clay?

As of 21 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Cognism (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/cognism), [Dealfront (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/dealfront) and [Apollo.io (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/apollo) highest among the other 35 Lead Generation products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Cognism](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/cognism) (UK / wider Europe). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Clay alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/clay/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 60 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 7 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 4 subprocessors facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor page: https://www.clay.com (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S2] Privacy policy — found from the homepage: https://privacy.clay.com/policies (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S3] Coverage, accuracy & freshness — found from sitemap: https://www.clay.com/faq/do-you-have-global-coverage (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S4] Coverage, accuracy & freshness — found from sitemap: https://www.clay.com/faq/how-can-clay-give-me-better-data-coverage-and-pricing-than-zoominfo-or-other-data-providers (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S5] Data sources & lawful basis — found from sitemap: https://www.clay.com/faq/how-good-is-clays-data-quality (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S6] Data sources & lawful basis — found from sitemap: https://www.clay.com/faq/what-data-sources-does-clay-mcp-use (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S7] Visitor identification & intent signals — found from sitemap: https://www.clay.com/providers-signal-type-subtype/anonymous-visitor-identification (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S8] Visitor identification & intent signals — found from sitemap: https://university.clay.com/docs/website-tracking (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S9] Prospecting workflow & outreach rules — found from sitemap: https://university.clay.com/docs/dnc-compliance (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S10] Prospecting workflow & outreach rules — found from sitemap: https://university.clay.com/docs/clay-ads-compliance-best-practices (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S11] CRM sync, enrichment & export — found from sitemap: https://university.clay.com/docs/http-api-integration-overview (checked 2026-10-20)
- [S12] CRM sync, enrichment & export — found from sitemap: https://university.clay.com/docs/enrich-crm-integration-overview (checked 2026-10-20)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Clay — Lead Generation", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-21. https://whats-best.ai/software/lead-generation/clay

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/920?target=page