Apollo vs. Clay: Which Data Enrichment Tool to Choose?

Apollo vs. Clay: quick overview

Here’s what each platform does.

Apollo is an all-in-one sales platform with a built-in B2B contact database of 275+ million contacts. You can search for leads, find their contact information, and execute email sequences or cold calls directly from the platform. Apollo combines prospecting, enrichment, and outreach in a single tool designed for speed and simplicity.

Starting price: $49/user/month (billed annually)

Clay is a data enrichment and automation platform that functions like a programmable spreadsheet. It doesn’t have its own database. Instead, it connects to 100+ data providers to pull real-time information about leads. Clay specializes in building custom workflows with conditional logic, AI personalization, and waterfall enrichment to prepare hyper-targeted lead lists that you send through your existing outreach tools.

Starting price: $134/month (billed annually, unlimited users)

Apollo vs. Clay: head-to-head comparison

Let’s break down how these platforms compare across the most important categories for B2B sales teams.

Features & capabilities

Apollo offers an extensive feature set built for full-cycle sales execution. Its 275+ million contact database includes verified emails and phone numbers searchable by industry, job title, location, company size, technology stack, and buying intent signals. The platform includes built-in email sequencing with A/B testing, a power dialer for cold calling, task management, CRM functionality for managing deals, and basic data enrichment via API or CSV upload.

Apollo’s strength is having everything in one place. You can prospect, enrich, sequence, call, and track performance without switching tools. The buying intent filter identifies prospects actively searching for solutions based on online behavior, though its effectiveness depends on your industry’s search volume.

Clay takes a different approach focused entirely on data preparation and enrichment. Rather than providing a proprietary database, Clay connects to data sources like Clearbit, Hunter, People Data Labs, and dozens of others. You build workflows that pull from multiple providers using “waterfall enrichment” with fallback logic.

Clay’s standout capability is its GPT-powered personalization engine. You can generate custom email intros based on LinkedIn posts, recent job changes, company news, or any other data point you enrich. The visual workflow builder lets you add conditional logic like “if email is missing from Source A, try Source B” or “only generate personalized copy if the person posted on LinkedIn in the past 14 days.”

Bottom line: Apollo wins for teams wanting everything in one login. Clay wins for teams prioritizing data accuracy and advanced personalization who already have outreach tools.

Ease of use

Apollo is designed for immediate productivity. The interface is clean and intuitive, similar to popular CRMs. You can sign up, filter for leads using multiple criteria, build a list, and launch an email sequence within 30 minutes. The learning curve is minimal if you’ve used any sales engagement platform.

Apollo provides in-app tooltips, a searchable knowledge base, and chat/email support. Most sales reps can start prospecting independently within a day or two of onboarding.

Clay requires more investment upfront. The spreadsheet-like interface might feel familiar, but building workflows with enrichment blocks, GPT prompts, and conditional logic requires a builder’s mindset. You need to understand how to chain data sources, structure formulas, and design logic flows across rows.

That said, Clay’s active Slack community is one of its biggest assets. Users share workflows, templates, and troubleshooting tips. The platform offers live chat support and detailed documentation. Most teams become proficient within a week or two of consistent use.

Bottom line: Apollo is faster to start using immediately, though Clay’s deeper capabilities justify the learning curve for technical teams.

Pricing & value

Apollo pricing follows a per-user model with four tiers:

• Free plan: $0 with 1,200 credits per year (100/month) granted monthly
• Basic: $49/user/month (billed annually) with 30,000 credits per year granted upfront
• Professional: $79/user/month (billed annually) with 48,000 credits per year granted upfront
• Organization: $119/user/month (minimum 3 users, billed annually) with 72,000 credits per year granted upfront

Credits are consumed when accessing emails (1 credit), phone numbers (8 credits), or enriching data (1-8 credits per record). For a 10-person sales team on the Professional plan, you’d pay $790/month ($9,480/year).

Apollo’s pricing increases with headcount, making it potentially expensive as teams scale. However, the all-in-one approach means you’re not paying separately for prospecting, sequencing, and calling tools.

Clay pricing uses a flat-rate model based on usage, not seats:

• Free: $0 with 1,200 credits per year
• Starter: $134/month (billed annually) with 24K credits per year
• Explorer: $314/month (billed annually) with 120K credits per year
• Pro: $720/month (billed annually) with 600K credits per year
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

All plans include unlimited users. Credits are consumed based on which data providers you use and how much enrichment you perform. The entire team shares the same pool of credits.

Clay doesn’t send emails, so you’ll need an outreach tool like Instantly, Lemlist, or Smartlead (typically $80-150/month additional).

Bottom line: Clay for growing teams. The unlimited users model scales better as headcount increases, though you’ll need to budget for a separate sending tool.

Integrations

Apollo integrates with major CRMs including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. You can sync contacts, activities, and deal data bidirectionally. Apollo also connects with Gmail, Outlook, Zapier for basic automation, and tools like Outreach and SalesLoft.

The platform is built to function as an all-in-one system, so it expects you to work primarily within Apollo’s dashboard rather than building a complex tech stack around it.

Clay is designed for extensibility. It plugs into your stack at every point, connecting with Notion, Airtable, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and Google Sheets. Clay works seamlessly with Zapier and Make for advanced automation, accepts webhooks and APIs, and integrates with email sending platforms like Instantly, Lemlist, Smartlead, and Mailshake.

Clay functions as your data operating layer, feeding enriched leads to your existing tools rather than replacing them.

Bottom line: Clay. The modular approach gives teams complete flexibility to build custom workflows across their entire stack.

Data quality & sources

Apollo uses its proprietary database of 275+ million contacts and 73+ million companies. The data is collected from public sources, third-party providers, and user-generated information. Apollo applies multiple verification layers and updates data regularly.

However, user reviews frequently mention data accuracy issues. Some contacts are outdated, emails bounce, and phone numbers are occasionally incorrect. Because Apollo maintains a single centralized database that many teams access simultaneously, you may be reaching the same prospects as competitors.

Clay doesn’t maintain its own database. Instead, it pulls real-time data from 100+ providers including Clearbit, Hunter, Dropcontact, People Data Labs, and LinkedIn. The waterfall enrichment feature queries multiple sources in sequence, using fallback logic to maximize data completeness.

You control which providers to trust and when to use each one. This flexibility typically results in higher accuracy rates and more complete contact records. Clay also includes email verification from providers like NeverBounce and Dropcontact to minimize bounce rates.

Bottom line: Clay. The multi-provider approach with waterfall enrichment and verification delivers more accurate, complete data than relying on a single database.

Apollo vs. Clay: pros and cons

Apollo strengths & weaknesses

Pros

• Extensive database with 275+ million contacts accessible in one platform
• All-in-one solution combining prospecting, enrichment, sequencing, and calling eliminates the need for multiple tools
• Quick setup with minimal learning curve lets sales reps start prospecting within hours
• Built-in dialer with local presence (mimics recipient’s area code) increases answer rates
• Affordable entry point at $49/user/month makes it accessible for small teams

Cons

• Data accuracy issues reported frequently, with some outdated contacts and bounced emails
• Per-user pricing becomes expensive as teams scale
• Limited personalization capabilities compared to AI-powered alternatives
• Customer support quality varies, with some users reporting slow response times and unhelpful interactions
• Basic enrichment features lack the depth and customization of specialized data platforms

User Rating:

• G2: 4.8/5 (based on 7,036 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (based on 344 reviews)

Clay strengths & weaknesses

Pros

• Access to 100+ data providers with waterfall enrichment delivers highly accurate, verified contact data
• Unlimited users at flat-rate pricing makes it cost-effective for growing teams
• GPT-powered personalization creates contextual messages at scale using real-time data
• Flexible workflow builder with conditional logic supports complex, customized prospecting strategies
• Active Slack community provides templates, troubleshooting help, and workflow ideas

Cons

• Steeper learning curve requires time investment to master workflow building and enrichment logic
• No built-in email sending requires integration with separate outreach platforms
• Credit-based pricing model can feel confusing compared to straightforward per-seat plans
• Requires technical mindset and experimentation to unlock full capabilities
• Some manual configuration needed for advanced workflows and integrations

User Rating:

• G2: 4.9/5 (based on 150 reviews)
• Capterra: N/A

Apollo vs. Clay: side-by-side comparison table

Here’s how Apollo and Clay stack up across key features:

Which should you choose?

Here are specific scenarios to help you decide:

Choose Apollo if:

• You need an all-in-one platform for prospecting, outreach, and calling without managing multiple tools
• Your team is small (1-5 people) and you want to get started immediately with minimal setup
• You’re on a tight budget and need affordable access to a large contact database
• You don’t need advanced personalization or complex data enrichment workflows
• You’re doing high-volume outreach where speed matters more than hyper-personalization

Choose Clay if:

• You want the highest quality data with access to multiple providers and waterfall enrichment
• Your team is growing and you need unlimited user access without per-seat pricing increases
• You prioritize advanced personalization using AI and contextual data for each prospect
• You’re comfortable with a technical setup and want to build custom workflows
• You already have outreach tools and need a powerful data layer to feed them enriched leads

Use both together: Many power users actually combine these tools. Use Apollo’s database for initial lead discovery, then export those leads to Clay for enrichment, verification, and AI-powered personalization before sending through your outreach platform. This hybrid approach maximizes the strengths of each tool while minimizing their individual limitations.

Need something different? Check out La Growth Machine

If you’re evaluating Apollo and Clay but realize you need multichannel sales automation rather than just data enrichment and email outreach, our platform takes a different approach.

What La Growth Machine does:

We’re a multichannel sales automation platform that helps teams prospect across LinkedIn, email, calls, voice messages, and X (Twitter) from unified sequences. While Apollo and Clay focus primarily on email prospecting and data enrichment, we specialize in reaching prospects wherever they’re most active.

Our platform combines lead enrichment (with Waterfall Enrichment using 9 email providers and double verification), multichannel automation, and intelligent inbox management in one system. Features like LinkedIn Voice Messages with AI voice cloning, Lookalike Search to find companies similar to your best clients, and Intent Data to target prospects showing active interest set us apart.

How it fits into your stack:

If Apollo and Clay are built for email-first prospecting, La Growth Machine excels at multichannel engagement. You could use Clay to enrich your data, then push those leads to La Growth Machine to execute coordinated outreach across LinkedIn, email, and other channels. Or you might find that our built-in enrichment and prospecting features eliminate the need for separate data tools altogether.

Many teams use Apollo or Clay to build their initial prospect lists, then import those leads into La Growth Machine to execute multichannel sequences that generate 3.5x more replies than email-only campaigns.

Pricing: Starting price: €50/month per identity
Free trial: 14 days

Worth considering if you:

• Want to reach prospects on LinkedIn, email, and other channels in coordinated sequences
• Need LinkedIn automation features like voice messages, connection requests, and profile visits
• Are looking for an all-in-one multichannel solution rather than stitching together multiple tools

Apollo vs. Clay: FAQs

Does Clay have its own contact database like Apollo?

No. Clay doesn’t maintain a proprietary database. Instead, it connects to 100+ data providers to pull real-time information. Apollo provides direct access to 275+ million contacts in its built-in database.

Can I use Apollo and Clay together?

Yes, many teams do this. Use Apollo’s database for initial lead discovery, export those leads to Clay for enrichment and AI personalization, then send through your outreach platform. This combination maximizes strengths of both tools.

Which platform is better for small teams on a budget?

Apollo is more affordable for solo users or very small teams at $49/user/month. Clay’s flat-rate pricing ($134/month for unlimited users) becomes more cost-effective once you have 3-4+ team members.

Conclusion

Both Apollo and Clay are powerful tools, but they serve different roles in your sales tech stack.

Apollo delivers an all-in-one platform that’s fast to implement and affordable for small teams. It works best when you need to move quickly, don’t require deep personalization, and want prospecting, outreach, and calling in one place.

Clay provides data quality and personalization capabilities that Apollo can’t match. It’s the better choice for teams that prioritize accuracy, need advanced AI-powered messaging, and already use specialized tools for outreach.

If you’re looking for multichannel sales automation that goes beyond email prospecting, La Growth Machine offers a different approach. We combine lead enrichment, LinkedIn automation, email sequences, calls, and voice messages in coordinated campaigns that meet prospects on their preferred channels.