Short answer
If you use Clay for its waterfalls and Claygent, there is no like-for-like replacement; Bitscale and Freckle come closest. If you mainly pull contacts and send sequences, Apollo or Unify take less building, and Unify starts at $20 per seat a month. If the bottleneck is the research, writing and CRM work after the data arrives, that is the job Helix GTM is built for.
Closest fit by need
- One contact database with email sequences, free to startApollo.io
- Enterprise data with deep Salesforce or Dynamics integrationZoomInfo
- Waterfall enrichment written straight into CRM recordsBitscale
- Data, sequences, dialer and mailboxes, priced per seatUnify
- Enrichment from Claude Code or another coding agentFreckle
- Agents that research, draft and update the CRM, a person approving each messageHelix GTM
On this page · 9 sections
Helix GTM$499 / user / moSee Helix GTM
What Clay does well
Clay turns prospect lists into tables where each column can call a data provider, an AI model or an API. Its best-known feature is the waterfall: ask several providers for an email or phone number in turn until one returns a result, under one Clay contract instead of a dozen. The pricing page counts 150+ providers; the home page says 200+ data and AI vendors.
Claygent, Clay's research agent, browses the web for each row and writes the answer back into the table. Seats and tables are unlimited, there is a built-in email sequencer, Growth plans sync with your CRM, and Clay has native integrations with Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Postgres. Clay says more than 500,000 GTM teams use it.
How Clay pricing works
Clay meters two things. Actions measure platform work such as enrichment steps and outreach. Data credits pay for data and AI from vendors in Clay's marketplace. Unused credits partly roll over.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 500 actions and 100 data credits/mo |
| Launch | From $60/mo | From $54/mo | 15,000 actions/mo at the entry tier, plus data credits |
| Growth | From $205/mo | From $185/mo | 40,000 actions/mo at the entry tier, CRM sync, HTTP API |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom limits and terms |
Why teams compare Clay alternatives
- Forecasting spend. Two meters, variable AI pricing for some models, and per-provider credit costs make the monthly bill depend on how a workflow is built.
- Building time. Clay is a workspace. Someone has to design and maintain the tables. Teams without a GTM engineer often want a database with search and filters instead.
- Data in the CRM. Teams that live in Salesforce or HubSpot want enrichment written to the record, not to a separate table.
- The work after the data. A clean list still needs account research, a message written for each person, follow-up and CRM updates.
Clay vs Helix GTM
Clay and Helix GTM sit at different points in the same pipeline. Clay gets you the data. Helix agents use it: they open the prospect's site and LinkedIn in a real browser, write a draft for each person, log the activity in HubSpot and post deal reviews to Slack. The two can run side by side.
| Clay | Helix GTM | |
|---|---|---|
| Core job | Find and enrich data in tables, run AI research per row | Do the research, drafting, follow-up and CRM work around the data |
| How the AI works | Claygent researches the web and writes results into a column | Agents work on their own desktops with a real browser and your logged-in tools |
| Contact data | 150+ providers in a marketplace | None of its own; uses the sources you connect |
| Sending | Built-in sequencer or your outreach tool | Drafts wait for a person to approve each message |
| Pricing | Free plan; Launch from $60/mo; metered actions and data credits | $499/user/mo with 30 agent desktops and 5,000 tasks/mo; 72-hour trial |
Pick Clay if
- You enrich thousands of rows a month and want the best match rate from many providers.
- You have someone who enjoys building and maintaining workflows.
- You want enrichment results in a warehouse or CRM on a schedule.
Pick Helix GTM if
- The list is not the problem; researching each account and writing a good first message is.
- You want agents to work in the same tools your team uses, LinkedIn and HubSpot included.
- You want a person to approve every message. See how that works on Helix GTM.
Clay and nine alternatives at a glance
| Tool | What it is | Data | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay | Enrichment tables, waterfalls and AI research | 150+ providers in a marketplace | Free; Launch from $60/mo |
| Helix GTMOurs | Agents with their own desktop for research, drafting and CRM work | Your connected tools; no contact database | $499/user/mo; 72-hour trial |
| Apollo.io | Contact database plus sequences | 240M+ contacts (Apollo) | Free plan; paid prices not verified |
| ZoomInfo | Enterprise contact and company data | 500M+ contacts (ZoomInfo) | Quoted; free Lite plan |
| Bitscale | Waterfall enrichment synced to the CRM | 18+ providers | Free; Growth $349/mo |
| Unify | Data, signals and sequences per seat | 1.1B people (Unify) | Free; Base $20/seat/mo |
| Common Room | Signal-based buyer intelligence | 400M+ contacts (Common Room) | $2,500/mo, billed annually |
| Freckle | Enrichment CLI for coding agents | 40+ providers | Free; Build from $99/mo |
| Persana AI | Enrichment with AI research agents | 100+ sources | Not verified |
| Origami | Prospecting and outreach run for you | 50+ sources | $99/mo |
The nine Clay alternatives
Helix GTM is first because it is ours. The rest run from the broadest data tools to the most specialised.
Helix GTMOurs
AI agents for GTM- Best for
- Founders and small sales teams who want agents to research accounts, draft outreach and keep the CRM current, with a person approving every message.
- Pricing
- $499 per user per month on Helix Cloud, with 30 concurrent agent desktops and 5,000 tasks a month. Free for the first 72 hours.
Strengths
- Each agent works on its own desktop with a real browser, so it can use the sites and tools a person would, such as LinkedIn and HubSpot.
- Drafts wait in a queue until someone on your team approves them. Nothing is sent on its own.
- Agents also do the work around outreach: deal reviews posted to Slack, call prep, prospect trackers and CRM updates after calls.
- Helix runs the same agents on its own pipeline: lead discovery every hour from sign-ups, GitHub and public threads, and a review of top HubSpot deals posted to Slack at 9am ET each weekday.
Check before you buy
- Helix is not a contact database or an enrichment waterfall. Agents work with the data sources and accounts you connect.
- It is not a bulk sending tool. If you need mailbox warmup and high-volume sequences, keep a tool for that.
- $499 per user is more than the entry plans of most data tools; it pays for agent desktops and tasks, not data credits.
Apollo.io
Contact database and sales engagement- Best for
- Small and mid-size sales teams that want contact data and email sequences in one tool.
- Pricing
- Free, Basic, Professional and Custom plans, monthly or annual. Paid prices not verified: we could not read them from the pricing page.
Strengths
- A database of 240M+ contacts and 30M+ companies, per Apollo.
- Email campaigns are included on every account, with sequencing and core CRM integrations from Basic.
- AI agents that start supervised and earn more autonomy as you approve their actions (Professional plan).
Check before you buy
- Credits reset each billing cycle and do not roll over.
- Standard terms limit Apollo data to internal business use.
ZoomInfo
Enterprise data and GTM platform- Best for
- Larger sales and marketing teams that want one enterprise data contract with deep CRM integration.
- Pricing
- Quoted; no prices on the pricing page. ZoomInfo Lite is a free plan with no card required.
Strengths
- Data on 500M+ contacts and 100M+ companies, per ZoomInfo.
- Native Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrations, plus 120+ other tools.
- Copilot tiers add AI account research and prioritisation.
Check before you buy
- Packages are credit-based; each export costs a credit.
Bitscale
Enrichment inside your CRM- Best for
- RevOps teams that want waterfall enrichment written back into Salesforce or HubSpot records.
- Pricing
- Free plan with 200 credits. Growth $349 a month, Booster $799 a month, Enterprise from $15,000 a year.
Strengths
- Runs a waterfall across 18+ contact-data providers.
- Credits are spent only when a provider returns a valid result.
- Unused credits roll over, up to three times the plan amount.
Check before you buy
- Two-way HubSpot sync starts on Growth; Salesforce integration starts on Booster.
Unify
Signals, data and outbound per seat- Best for
- Sales teams that want prospecting data, sequences, a dialer and mailboxes in one per-seat product.
- Pricing
- Free plan. Base $20 and Pro $60 per seat per month; Business is custom and billed annually.
Strengths
- Data on 1.1 billion people and 65 million companies, per Unify.
- Sequencing, a dialer and managed mailboxes in the same product.
- Published credit costs: about one credit per email enrichment, four per phone number.
Check before you buy
- CRM sync is read-only on Pro; read-write needs the Business plan.
Common Room
Buyer intelligence and signals- Best for
- Mid-market and enterprise teams that sell from buying signals across product, community and web.
- Pricing
- Essential $2,500 a month, billed annually, with five seats. Advanced and Enterprise are custom.
Strengths
- Waterfall enrichment across a 400M+ contact directory, per Common Room.
- Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Outreach and 50+ other integrations.
Check before you buy
- An annual commitment from $30,000 a year; not a low-cost enrichment tool.
Freckle
Enrichment from your coding agent- Best for
- GTM engineers who already work in Claude Code or similar tools and want enrichment as a command line.
- Pricing
- Free with 250 credits. Build from $99 a month, Scale from $699 a month, Enterprise on request.
Strengths
- A CLI for building GTM workflows from a coding agent.
- 40+ data providers, waterfalls and reusable workflows.
- No separate action credits, per Freckle.
Check before you buy
- A newer product; its home page cost comparison with Clay is Freckle's own test.
Persana AI
Enrichment and AI research agents- Best for
- Teams that want a Clay-style research layer with built-in AI agents.
- Pricing
- Not verified: we could not read prices from the pricing page.
Strengths
- 100+ data sources, web scraping, and email and phone waterfalls.
- Research and autopilot agents, plus a full-service AI SDR option.
Check before you buy
- Persana's site announces it is joining forces with Rox; ask what that means for your contract.
Origami
Outbound done for you- Best for
- Founders who want leads found, messages written and replies delivered, without building tables.
- Pricing
- Starter $99 a month; Teams custom. No per-seat fees.
Strengths
- Researches across 50+ sources and verifies with 10+ providers, per Origami.
- $99 a month covers over 1,000 researched and verified leads, per its FAQ.
- Connects to Salesforce, HubSpot or Attio.
Check before you buy
- It sends outreach for you; it is not an enrichment workspace.
Looking at tools that also send for you? Our AI SDR round-up sorts eight of them by how much they do without a person.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Clay?
It depends on which part of Clay you use. For a single contact database with sequences, Apollo. For enterprise data contracts, ZoomInfo. For waterfall enrichment written back into Salesforce or HubSpot, Bitscale. For data, sequences and a dialer per seat, Unify. For agents that do the research, drafting and CRM work with a person approving each message, Helix GTM.
Is there a free alternative to Clay?
Clay has a free plan with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month. Among the alternatives, Apollo, Unify, Bitscale (200 credits), Freckle (250 credits) and ZoomInfo Lite also have free plans. Free tiers are small; check the credit allowance against your list size.
How much does Clay cost in 2026?
On November 5, 2026, Clay's pricing page listed a free plan, Launch from $60 a month and Growth from $205 a month on monthly billing ($54 and $185 on annual billing), and custom Enterprise pricing. Usage is metered in Actions for platform work and in Data Credits for marketplace data. Data Credits start at $0.05 each.
What are Clay actions and data credits?
Clay meters two things. Actions measure platform usage, such as enrichment steps and GTM execution, and start at less than a cent each. Data Credits pay for data and AI from vendors in Clay's marketplace and start at $0.05 each. A workflow can use both.
Can Helix GTM replace Clay?
Only for part of the work. Helix GTM runs agents that research accounts, draft outreach, update the CRM and review deals, each on its own desktop with a browser, and a person approves every message. It does not sell contact data or run a provider waterfall, so teams that enrich large lists keep a data tool alongside it.
Sources, checked November 5, 2026
Each vendor's claims are quoted or summarised from the pages below. Customer counts, ratings and percentages are the vendor's own figures; we have not audited them. “Not published” means we found no price on the vendor's site. “Not verified” means the page draws its prices with a script we could not read, so a price may exist that we could not confirm. If something here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.