Apollo is a sales platform with its own contact database, sequences and a dialer, priced per seat with credits. Clay is a workflow builder that pulls data from many providers, priced by Actions and Data Credits with unlimited seats. They are not exclusive: Clay lists Apollo as one of its integrations.
People compare Clay and Apollo because both find and enrich prospects, but they start from opposite ends. Apollo gives you a database to search. Clay gives you a table to fill from whichever sources you choose.
We make Buena, which competes with both for some buyers, so read this as a third vendor's comparison. Every Clay and Apollo figure comes from that vendor's own pages, checked on September 30, 2026. We have not tested either tool's data, and this page does not claim one has better data than the other.
Clay and Apollo side by side
| Area | Clay | Apollo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Tables and workflows you build, enriching from 150+ data providers | A sales platform with a database Apollo lists at 240M contacts and 30M companies, plus sequences and a dialer |
| Free plan | 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, up to 200 rows per table | 75 credits per seat a month (900 a year) and two sequences |
| Starting paid price | Launch from $185 a month billed monthly ($167 billed annually) | Basic at $65 per seat a month billed monthly ($49 billed annually) |
| How usage is metered | Two meters: Actions for the work Clay does, Data Credits for the data it buys | One pool of credits: an email is listed at 1 credit and a phone number at 8. Apollo's FAQ also describes email addresses as unlimited |
| Seats | Unlimited seats and tables | Priced per seat, with every seat on the same plan |
| Phone numbers | Enrichment from the Launch plan; not on Free | 8 credits each |
| Sending email | From Launch, by Clay's plan table: its email sequencer or a sequencing integration. Clay's FAQ also lists the sequencer on Free | Sequences on every plan: two on Free, unlimited from Basic |
| Unused allowance | On paid plans, Data Credits roll over up to a cap; Actions reset each billing cycle | Credits reset each billing cycle and do not roll over |
Both also work inside Claude through connectors listed in Anthropic's directory. Our guide to the best Claude connectors for sales covers what each one can do there.
What each costs in a year
| Plan and billing | Listed price | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo Basic, one seat, billed annually | $49 a month | $588 |
| Apollo Basic, one seat, billed monthly | $65 a month | $780 |
| Apollo Professional, one seat, billed annually | $79 a month | $948 |
| Clay Launch, billed annually | $167 a month | $2,004 |
| Clay Launch, billed monthly | $185 a month | $2,220 |
| Clay Growth, billed annually | $446 a month | $5,352 |
For one person, Apollo costs less. Clay's price does not rise with seats and Apollo's does: on annual billing, three Basic seats come to $1,764 a year and four to $2,352, which passes Clay Launch's $2,004. That arithmetic is ours, and it compares price only. The plans include different amounts of data, so check what your own volume would use.
For the detail behind these figures, see our guides to Apollo pricing and Clay pricing.
Choose Apollo if
- You want to search a database and start sending from the same tool on the first day.
- You call prospects. Apollo's paid plans include a US dialer, with calls listed at 1 credit per 30 seconds.
- One or two people will use it, so per-seat pricing stays low.
- You want to start without paying. Apollo's free plan includes two sequences.
Choose Clay if
- You want to combine several data providers for coverage, which Clay calls a waterfall.
- Someone on your team will build and maintain the tables and workflows.
- Many people need access. Clay's plans come with unlimited seats.
- You want AI research on every row. Claygent is Clay's AI agent with access to web research.
Using both
The two are not exclusive. Clay lists an Apollo.io integration whose actions include enriching people and companies with Apollo's data, finding people at a company by job title, and adding a contact to an Apollo sequence. That makes one arrangement possible: Apollo as a data source and the sending tool, with Clay doing the enrichment in between.
You then pay both vendors. Clay marks every Apollo action as requiring your own Apollo account, and says runs on your own API key use Actions but no Data Credits. Apollo's pricing page is not consistent about which plans include API access, so confirm that with Apollo before you build on it.
Where Buena fits
Buena is a third kind of tool, and for many readers of this page it is the wrong one. It is one membership at $97/month plus applicable tax for one member: 500 researched prospects and 500 verified work-email reveals a month, with extra reveals in $29 packs of 250. Your AI service is billed separately by your provider.
If you want a database to search, choose Apollo. If you want to build workflows, choose Clay. If you want prospects researched for a reason to reach out, a verified work email and a drafted message you review, without running a database or building a workflow, that is what Buena covers. Our Apollo comparison and Clay comparison set out when each is the better choice.
When Buena is not the right fit
- You need more than 500 researched prospects a month, or several members on one plan. For teams, we scope a custom deployment instead.
- You don't use an AI service such as Claude Code or Codex. Buena works through your own AI service and does not include AI inference.
- You want to try the product before paying. The membership starts with your first payment.
Sources
Figures come from Apollo's pricing page and Clay's pricing page. The integration is described on Clay's Apollo.io integration page, and both connectors are listed in Anthropic's connector directory. All were checked on September 30, 2026. Apollo loads its plan prices in the browser, so we read them from the page as it displays. Plans and prices change, so confirm current details on each page. Buena's terms are on our pricing page.