Clay Pricing and Credits Explained (2026): The Post-March Math
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Clay Pricing and Credits Explained (2026): The Post-March Math
Published August 31, 2026 · Updated August 31, 2026
Clay repriced in March 2026. The current self-serve plans are Free ($0), Launch ($185/mo, $167 annual) and Growth ($495/mo, $446 annual), with legacy Starter ($149), Explorer ($349) and Pro ($800) plans grandfathered for existing customers. The bigger change is the meter: Clay now charges through two separate credit types - Data Credits for enrichment purchases and Actions for running workflows - and both deplete independently.
How we know this category: Valley runs outbound for 1,000+ LinkedIn accounts and has sent 30M+ messages. We publish this page as a vendor in the broader outreach space; Valley appears once, in the cheaper-paths section, clearly marked.
TL;DR: Clay is the most powerful enrichment workbench in GTM, priced like the infrastructure tool it is. The two-meter system means the same workflow costs twice: once in Actions to run it, once in Data Credits to buy the data it fetches. Enterprise contracts land around a $30,400/year median (Vendr), with reported deals from ~$12,000 to $154,000.
The full pricing table and the two-meter fine print
Current as of August 2026, post-overhaul (sources: Clay's published plans plus Vendr, Docket, Warmly and Cleanlist buyer data). If you are on a legacy plan, the switching window between legacy tiers closed April 10, 2026 - moving means moving to the new plans.
Plan | Price (monthly / annual) | Credits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Free | $0 | 100 Data Credits + 500 Actions/mo | 200-row table limit |
Launch | $185 / $167 per mo | tiered Data Credits + Actions | the realistic entry plan |
Growth | $495 / $446 per mo | larger allowances | team workflows |
Enterprise | custom | custom | median ~$30,400/yr (Vendr) |
Legacy Starter / Explorer / Pro | $149 / $349 / $800 per mo | legacy credit system | grandfathered only |
The costs that surprise people:
The double meter: a 1,000-row enrichment run spends Actions to execute and Data Credits for every provider call - waterfalls multiply this, because each fallback provider is its own spend.
Credits price in provider markups: Clay's marketplace convenience costs more per record than going direct to a provider; that is the price of the orchestration.
The operator cost: Clay is a power tool. Teams that get value budget real hours (or a hire, or an agency) to build and maintain tables - the subscription is often the smaller line item.
Volume cliffs: outgrow your plan's credits and the answer is the next tier, which is a $310/mo jump from Launch to Growth.
Worked scenario: a lean GTM team on Launch annual (~$167/mo) enriching ~3,000 rows/mo with a two-step waterfall typically lands in the $300-$500/mo all-in zone once credit top-ups are counted - before anyone's time.
Keep exploring: Valley pricing, explained · real customer results.
Is it worth it, and the cheaper paths
If your team runs on custom data workflows - scraping, multi-provider waterfalls, scoring models feeding a warehouse - Clay is worth it and nothing else really does its job. The honest question is whether you are buying infrastructure or buying meetings. A lot of sub-20-person teams sign up for Clay to "do outbound" and discover they have hired themselves a data-engineering hobby.
Alternatives by job:
You mostly need enriched lists: Apollo's database plus its native enrichment is a fraction of the cost - see Apollo pricing explained.
You want the Clay outcome without the build: our comparison in Clay alternatives for LinkedIn outreach and the stack math in the $750 stack problem.
Booked meetings, flat price: Valley (us, marked as always) does the research-and-personalize step natively - 200+ sources per prospect, LinkedIn + email in one flow - at $149/mo billed quarterly ($199 monthly) with no Data Credits, no Actions, no meters on core features. Head-to-head: Valley vs Clay.
► If the goal is booked meetings, not workflow engineering: test Valley free for 7 days
FAQ
What happened to Clay's old pricing? The Starter/Explorer/Pro lineup became legacy in the March 11, 2026 overhaul. Existing customers keep their pricing indefinitely, but the window to switch between legacy tiers closed April 10, 2026.
What is the difference between Data Credits and Actions? Data Credits buy enrichment data from Clay's provider marketplace; Actions pay for platform operations like running workflow steps. One enrichment run typically spends both.
Is Clay's free plan usable? For evaluation, yes: 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month with a 200-row table cap - enough to prototype a workflow, not to run one.
How much does Clay cost for enterprise? Vendr's 2026 marketplace data puts the median enterprise contract around $30,400/year, with deals reported from ~$12,000 to $154,000.
Do Clay credits roll over? Monthly allowances reset; top-ups and plan upgrades are the paths when you run out mid-cycle.
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