- clay.com
- Oct 5, 2026
Clay
This report reads the companies competing for Clay’s buyers and where Clay could move. One of eight factors is crowded; the open water is usage-based billing and agents in the plan. Two established players trail Clay most on public pricing; two beat it on own verified data.
Clay’s space: one of eight factors is crowded; the open water is usage-based billing and agents in the plan.
- Own verified dataApollo.io, Cognism, HubSpot10
- Autonomous outreach11x, Salesforce, HubSpot10
- Built-in CRMHubSpot, Salesforce, Apollo.io10
- Public buying signals11x24
- Public pricingNo one43
- Agents in the planNo one34
- Usage-based billingNo one45
- Many data sourcesNo one45
Clay on public pricing
Of five established players, two are level with Clay and three trail Clay.
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
- No one
- HubSpotSalesforce
- 11xCognismApollo.io
Clay on usage-based billing
Of five established players, all five trail Clay.
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
- No one
- No one
- Apollo.ioHubSpotSalesforce11xCognism
Clay on agents in the plan
Of five established players, one is level with Clay and four trail Clay.
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence.
- No one
- HubSpot
- CognismSalesforce11xApollo.io
HubSpot against Clay
Beats Clay on built-in CRM and own verified data; trails on usage-based billing and many data sources.
Skip the steps
Built-in CRM
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Own verified data
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Autonomous outreach
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Public pricing
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Agents in the plan
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence. HubSpot is at 3 of 4, on high evidence.
Public buying signals
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Usage-based billing
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
Many data sources
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. HubSpot is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Their words, facts and funding
- Not stated
- Clay’s 12K-install CRM target now enriches records itself
- Not disclosed
Salesforce against Clay
Beats Clay on built-in CRM and autonomous outreach; trails on many data sources and usage-based billing.
Skip the steps
Built-in CRM
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Autonomous outreach
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence.
Public pricing
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Own verified data
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Public buying signals
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Agents in the plan
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence. Salesforce is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
Usage-based billing
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
Many data sources
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Salesforce is at 0 of 4, on low evidence.
Their words, facts and funding
- The CRM Clay pushes into now ships its own prospecting agent.
- Not disclosed
- Not disclosed
11x against Clay
Beats Clay on autonomous outreach and public buying signals; trails on public pricing and usage-based billing.
Skip the steps
Autonomous outreach
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Public buying signals
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 3 of 4, on high evidence.
Own verified data
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 1 of 4, on medium evidence.
Built-in CRM
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 1 of 4, on medium evidence.
Many data sources
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence.
Agents in the plan
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence. 11x is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Usage-based billing
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Public pricing
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. 11x is at 0 of 4, on high evidence.
Their words, facts and funding
- Sells named digital coworkers you “hire,” not data you query.
- Not disclosed
Apollo.io against Clay
Beats Clay on own verified data and built-in CRM; trails on usage-based billing and public pricing.
Skip the steps
Own verified data
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Built-in CRM
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Autonomous outreach
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Public pricing
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence.
Many data sources
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 3 of 4, on high evidence.
Public buying signals
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Agents in the plan
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence. Apollo.io is at 2 of 4, on low evidence.
Usage-based billing
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Apollo.io is at 1 of 4, on medium evidence.
Their words, facts and funding
- Owns the database it sells: 240M contacts in one platform
Cognism against Clay
Beats Clay on own verified data; trails on public pricing and many data sources.
Skip the steps
Own verified data
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
Autonomous outreach
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 1 of 4, on medium evidence.
Built-in CRM
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Public buying signals
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Usage-based billing
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 2 of 4, on high evidence.
Agents in the plan
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence. Cognism is at 1 of 4, on low evidence.
Many data sources
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 1 of 4, on medium evidence.
Public pricing
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence. Cognism is at 0 of 4, on high evidence.
Their words, facts and funding
- Quote-only pricing; every plan bundles 5 seats, no amount published
32 candidate moves for Clay, sorted into eliminate, reduce, raise and create.
- 6
- 9
- 10
- 7
Skip the steps
Drop the headcount-replacement pitch
Drop the headcount-replacement pitch. 11x promises to “Scale pipeline faster than you can hire”; Clay’s buyers keep reps and want them selling.
Cut demo-gated access
Cut demo-gated access. 11x runs no pricing page and no self-serve signup, so an ops buyer can’t try anything before a call.
Gated first runs look optional
Gated first runs look optional: Apollo’s pricing page keeps a Starter plan “free forever,” so buyers start without paying.
Seat minimums
Seat minimums. Cognism bundles ‘5 seats included’ on both prospecting tiers, so small ops teams pay for chairs nobody fills.
Seat fees for reps who only read the finished list
Seat fees for reps who only read the finished list. HubSpot meters enrichment by credit from $42 per month.
Eliminate roadmap talk from the pitch
Eliminate roadmap talk from the pitch — Salesforce says “The rest will launch by year’s end,” and buyers can’t run a play on a date.
Reduce the provider-count headline
Reduce the provider-count headline. 11x courts the same RevOps buyer by naming one outcome, pipeline, not a tally of data vendors to wire up.
Reduce build-it-yourself setup
Reduce build-it-yourself setup. 11x offers a 20-minute demo that configures Julian on the buyer’s own scenarios; Clay’s spreadsheet asks ops to assemble plays.
Provider breadth may be over-invested
Provider breadth may be over-invested. Apollo bundles its own contact database and sells itself as the single go-to-market “foundation,” not a stack to assemble.
Headcount-heavy service may be over-built for ops buyers
Headcount-heavy service may be over-built for ops buyers. Apollo runs a team of 800 behind one owned database.
Sales-gated pricing
Sales-gated pricing. Cognism routes both prospecting tiers to ‘Talk to sales’ and publishes no amount, so buyers can’t size spend alone.
Headline provider counts matter less once records enrich themselves inside the CRM
Headline provider counts matter less once records enrich themselves inside the CRM. HubSpot shipped Breeze Intelligence enrichment on Sep 18, 2024.
Chasing every GTM department thins focus
Chasing every GTM department thins focus. HubSpot fields 8,882 full-time employees to cover that surface, and Clay can’t out-staff it.
Reduce agent branding
Reduce agent branding — Salesforce’s page title reads “Best Sales Prospecting AI Agent,” so the word agent no longer sorts one tool from another.
Reduce spend on prospecting features the CRM now bundles
Reduce spend on prospecting features the CRM now bundles — Salesforce ships a prospecting agent of its own inside Sales Cloud.
Raise price legibility
Raise price legibility. 11x publishes no price and no pricing page, so a number the buyer reads without a call becomes the differentiator.
Raise vendor continuity
Raise vendor continuity. 11x named a new CEO in May 2025 when its founder stepped down; buyers staking a channel want stability proof.
Raise why-it-qualified evidence
Raise why-it-qualified evidence. 11x’s homepage sells outcomes — “Digital Workers, Human Results” — and never shows the reason a contact got picked.
Readable paid pricing is a gap
Readable paid pricing is a gap: Apollo’s fetched pricing page lists a free Starter tier and no paid dollar amount.
Qualification reasoning is open ground
Qualification reasoning is open ground: Apollo’s fetched pages sell database access, while Intercom’s reps won’t work a list without the why.
Published coverage proof
Published coverage proof. Cognism sells ‘verified, compliance-first data’ with no hit rate on the page; buyers want numbers they can check pre-purchase.
Show why each account qualified, not just a filled field
Show why each account qualified, not just a filled field. Reps at Intercom won’t work a list without that reason.
A price the buyer reads without a call
A price the buyer reads without a call. HubSpot publishes a $42-per-month entry price for Breeze Intelligence credits.
Raise a price you can read without a call
Raise a price you can read without a call — this run’s fetch of Salesforce’s pricing page turns up no quotable number.
Raise what works without Sales Cloud
Raise what works without Sales Cloud — Salesforce files its prospecting agent under Sales Cloud, so the agent lives inside the CRM.
Pay per booked meeting, not per seat or credit
Pay per booked meeting, not per seat or credit — nobody in this footprint prices on the outcome they advertise.
A record where the agent’s research, its source, and its date ride along with every send, so the rep can inspect it
A record where the agent’s research, its source, and its date ride along with every send, so the rep can inspect it.
Nobody prices data by rows that proved true
Nobody prices data by rows that proved true. A per-verified-row charge, refunding stale records, would let ops buy accuracy instead of credits.
A per-record receipt
A per-record receipt: where each phone number came from, which provider, what consent basis — so compliance review doesn’t stall the list.
Charge only for enrichment that lands a usable field, refunding credits when every provider comes back empty
Charge only for enrichment that lands a usable field, refunding credits when every provider comes back empty. Nobody in this footprint prices that way.
Create a record where every field shows which provider said it and when, so a rep can challenge the data mid-call
Create a record where every field shows which provider said it and when, so a rep can challenge the data mid-call.
Create pricing that charges only for records a rep actually works, not seats or credits bought up front
Create pricing that charges only for records a rep actually works, not seats or credits bought up front.
Around Clay, three moves in the last six months: two changelog updates, one launch.
Skip the steps
Docs state enrichment runs on Starter, Professional and Enterprise, and “Data enrichment does not consume HubSpot Credits.”
- HubSpot
- Oct 5, 2026
- changelog
- Docs state enrichment runs on Starter, Professional and Enterprise, and “Data enrichment does not consume HubSpot Credits.”
“MCP & API access” listed on both Standard and Pro, marked “New”
- Cognism
- Sep 29, 2026
- changelog
- “MCP & API access” listed on both Standard and Pro, marked “New”
Hunter ships
- Salesforce
- Sep 11, 2026
- launch
- Hunter ships: it “helps business-to-business salespeople find leads and craft outreach emails”, with most new features generally available
Acquired Pocus, “an enterprise-grade revenue intelligence platform”, toward an “AI-native GTM operating system”
- Apollo.io
- Mar 19, 2026
- launch
- Acquired Pocus, “an enterprise-grade revenue intelligence platform”, toward an “AI-native GTM operating system”
Dominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO
- Cognism
- Sep 9, 2025
- leadership
- Pete Daffern, Interim CEO
- Dominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO
CTO Prabhav Jain is CEO
- 11x
- May 5, 2025
- leadership
- Founder Hasan Sukkar is CEO
- CTO Prabhav Jain is CEO; Sukkar becomes “non-executive chairman”
Agentforce “went into production in the last week of Q3” and was “off to a flying start according to Benioff, with 200 deals”
- Salesforce
- Dec 4, 2024
- launch
- Agentforce “went into production in the last week of Q3” and was “off to a flying start according to Benioff, with 200 deals”
$50M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, $74M total raised
- 11x
- Nov 12, 2024
- funding
- $24M Series A led by Benchmark
- $50M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, $74M total raised
“Breeze Intelligence includes data enrichment via more than 200 million buyers and company profiles and contacts in HubSpot Smart CRM.”
- HubSpot
- Sep 18, 2024
- launch
- “Breeze Intelligence includes data enrichment via more than 200 million buyers and company profiles and contacts in HubSpot Smart CRM.”
$100M Series D at a $1.6B valuation
- Apollo.io
- Aug 29, 2023
- funding
- $100M Series D at a $1.6B valuation; total funding approximately $250M
“$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors
- Cognism
- Jan 13, 2022
- funding
- “$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors
Captello: moving in on Clay’s space from an adjacent market
Qualification moves to the moment of capture, which is the anchor’s own job of showing reps why an account qualified before they work it.
- Intelligence Cards score the lead at the event badge scan or meeting check-in, not after the list syncs.
- Oct 6, 2026 in google-news
Gong: moving in on Clay’s space from an adjacent market
A conversation-intelligence vendor now sells enrichment itself, the anchor’s core job, to the same revenue-team buyer.
- Ships enrichment under a named program, Mission Callisto, aimed at revenue teams.
- Sep 30, 2026 in google-news
Zoom: moving in on Clay’s space from an adjacent market
Buyer intelligence bundled with revenue execution hits the anchor’s system-of-record factor. Zoom isn’t on the established-players file.
- Pitches one revenue OS that unifies buyer intelligence, customer conversations, and revenue execution.
- Sep 15, 2026 in google-news
Clay’s long tail: eight more companies, each with one distinguishing fact.
Skip the steps
Three-person YC team’s AI SDR watches 113M+ accounts for signals
- Three-person YC team’s AI SDR watches 113M+ accounts for signals
- High
Prices a founders-only tier
- Prices a founders-only tier: $89 per seat, up to 2 seats
- Medium
Two founders, 50+ YC customers, first account executive still an opening
- Two founders, 50+ YC customers, first account executive still an opening
- Medium
Five-person team sells a done-for-you tier from $2,999 a month
- Five-person team sells a done-for-you tier from $2,999 a month
- Medium
Explore tier
- Explore tier: $900/mo, “Unlimited users” — no per-seat count
- High
Agents install Fuse as a skill over MCP inside Claude or Cursor
- Agents install Fuse as a skill over MCP inside Claude or Cursor
- Low
Sells 750 emails for $30, pay as you go with no subscription
- Sells 750 emails for $30, pay as you go with no subscription
- Medium
Sells a $99/month self-serve tier
- Sells a $99/month self-serve tier; teams of 5+ get routed to sales.
- Low
Tech opportunities
10 releases from the last six months Clay could build on, most valuable first
Five verified tech opportunities and five reported could move three of Clay’s factors; two of the verified have independent benchmarks.
Skip the steps
Claude Sonnet 5.5, from Anthropic
Anthropic’s new Sonnet 5.5 model. VentureBeat reports 30% lower cost per task, from faster responses and fewer tool calls per job.
- Could cut what each research run costs, so the agent reads more accounts per credit and finishes a list the same day.
- Cheaper, faster tokens trim the cost behind every research and personalization run, and Artificial Analysis independently scores it 56 on its Intelligence Index.
Claude Opus 5.5, from Anthropic
The New Stack tested Claude Opus 5.5 against Opus 5 on reasoning tasks and found it cheaper and faster, though not better.
- Claude Opus 5.5 scores 58 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, well above the median for comparable models. Independent.
- Could trim the cost and the wait on long research runs, without expecting better answers than the older model gave.
- Anthropic says Opus 5.5 runs 40% cheaper than Opus 5 and independent tests put it top of the intelligence index, which could cut the cost of the credit-billed research runs Clay’s buyers pay for.
Intentsify intent data in Clay, from Intentsify
Intentsify’s buyer intent data now lands directly in Clay’s go-to-market workflows, per a Business Wire announcement.
- B2B buyer intent: account-level intent and persona-level signals
- New vendor
- Could let Clay users show reps why an account qualified before they work a list, with account and persona intent sitting in the same table.
- Could fill a why-now field from intent data without the buyer wiring up a separate intent vendor.
- Hits the “why this account qualified” job and the public-signals factor and is live in Clay now, but the gain is vendor-reported with no stated number and adds one provider to a stack of roughly 100.
Agent Ultra, from Exa
Exa launched Agent Ultra, a deep research API that runs a swarm of subagents to build exhaustive lists. Exa already sits on Clay’s integrations page.
- Exa’s new Agent Ultra adds a top effort level for deep research, which Exa says delivers frontier quality at a fraction of the cost. Vendor-reported.
- Deep research results pulled from the web
- From a current vendor
- Could let Clay’s customers fill a list with researched reasons an account qualified, without a data-science team pulling the web by hand.
- Could let Clay route list-building lookups to a research swarm, filling an account list in one call instead of several passes.
- Deep research for list building touches Clay’s research-in-hours and qualified-list jobs, but the only fetched proof is Exa’s own cost adjective with no benchmark, price or availability stated.
Beam, from Reflection AI
Beam is a 501B-parameter open-weight mixture-of-experts model, 23B active, with a 1M-token context window, built for coding, reasoning, tool use and agentic workloads.
- SWE-bench Verified: 80.9 Vendor-reported only.
- Could let Clay run enrichment agents on cheaper open weights, so agents switch on inside the plan the buyer already pays for.
- Agents in the plan
GPT-6 Sol and Luna API price cut, from OpenAI
OpenAI halved API prices for its GPT-6 Sol and Luna models, per Quartz. Same models, lower price per token for anyone calling them.
- Could halve the model bill behind every enriched row, leaving room to run agents inside the plan people already pay for.
- Agents in the plan
- A 50% cut on a frontier API lowers the cost floor under every credit Clay sells, which reaches nearly all its customers.
Agents API, from OpenAI
OpenAI’s managed Agents API handles the plumbing of building and running enterprise AI agents.
- Could let Clay hand more of a play to a managed agent instead of wiring every step on the canvas.
- Autonomous outreach
- A managed agent runtime touches the agent factor directly, but no benchmark, price or speed number is stated.
Qwen3.8-Max, from Qwen
Qwen3.8-Max open-sources with a reported 86.6 benchmark score. The item says it nears Opus 5.
- Could let Clay run bulk account research on open weights, cutting the cost per enriched row.
- Near-frontier open weights could cut bulk research cost, but the 86.6 figure comes from one low-profile publisher.
Mistral Large 4 ‘Le Chonk’, from Mistral
Mistral debuted Large 4, nicknamed ‘Le Chonk’, a one-trillion-parameter text-output model.
- Could give Clay’s research agents a bigger model, so a data pull that took days finishes in hours.
- A one-trillion-parameter frontier model could speed Clay’s research runs, but the gain is vendor-reported and availability isn’t stated.
GPT-6 Sol and Luna, from OpenAI
OpenAI’s GPT-6 Sol and Luna are new API models that cut API costs by half or more.
- Could halve what each enrichment or research call costs, so credits stretch further on the plan they already pay for.
- Usage-based billing
- An independent leaderboard places both models, but no fetched page proves the claimed API price cut, names an availability date, or shows a capability one of Clay’s jobs uses.
Everything else about Clay
What Clay is
Go-to-market data enrichment and workflow tool: a spreadsheet-shaped workspace that pulls from many data providers and runs outbound research and personalization at scale.
- Reps won’t work a list until they can see why an account qualified.
- One data provider leaves gaps, so the buyer wants several stacked without hiring for it.
- Ops wants records that clean themselves instead of pulling lists by hand.
- The buyer wants to retarget in minutes when an experiment flops.
- Ops wants reps off data admin and into real conversations.
- A data-science job that used to take days, the buyer now wants done in hours.
All 8 factors
Skip the steps
The vendor owns the records it sells
Whether contact data comes from the vendor’s own verified database, so one company stands behind a dead number. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
- Apollo.ioCognismHubSpot
- 11xSalesforce
- No one
An agent that runs the play itself
Whether the tool works outreach end to end on its own, or hands over a canvas to wire up first. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
- 11xSalesforceHubSpot
- Apollo.ioCognism
- No one
It’s the system of record, not a side tool
Whether the deal data lives here, or the tool writes into a CRM somebody else owns. Clay is at 1 of 4, on high evidence.
- HubSpotSalesforceApollo.io
- 11xCognism
- No one
Buying signals from what people do in public
Whether the tool watches public activity — GitHub, web visits, job changes — and names the person behind it. Clay is at 2 of 4, on high evidence.
- 11x
- No one
- Apollo.ioCognismHubSpotSalesforce
A price you can read without a call
Whether the entry price sits on the public pricing page, or only arrives after a sales conversation. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
- No one
- HubSpotSalesforce
- 11xCognismApollo.io
AI agents on the plan they already pay for
Whether AI agents switch on inside the current contract, or arrive as a second line on the invoice. Clay is at 3 of 4, on medium evidence.
- No one
- HubSpot
- CognismSalesforce11xApollo.io
Pay for what gets used, not per head
Whether the bill tracks actions and credits consumed, or multiplies by every seat the team adds. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
- No one
- No one
- Apollo.ioHubSpotSalesforce11xCognism
Many data vendors stacked behind one field
Whether one subscription routes a lookup through several providers until the field fills, or ships a single source. Clay is at 4 of 4, on high evidence.
- No one
- No one
- SalesforceCognismHubSpot11xApollo.io
5 established players, with every candidate move
Skip the steps
Clay’s 12K-install CRM target now enriches records itself
- Beats Clay on built-in CRM and own verified data; trails on usage-based billing and many data sources.
- Not stated
- Clay’s 12K-install CRM target now enriches records itself
- Not disclosed
- Oct 5, 2026
- changelog
- Docs state enrichment runs on Starter, Professional and Enterprise, and “Data enrichment does not consume HubSpot Credits.”
- Sep 18, 2024
- launch
- “Breeze Intelligence includes data enrichment via more than 200 million buyers and company profiles and contacts in HubSpot Smart CRM.”
- Seat fees for reps who only read the finished list. HubSpot meters enrichment by credit from $42 per month.
- Headline provider counts matter less once records enrich themselves inside the CRM. HubSpot shipped Breeze Intelligence enrichment on Sep 18, 2024.
- Chasing every GTM department thins focus. HubSpot fields 8,882 full-time employees to cover that surface, and Clay can’t out-staff it.
- Show why each account qualified, not just a filled field. Reps at Intercom won’t work a list without that reason.
- A price the buyer reads without a call. HubSpot publishes a $42-per-month entry price for Breeze Intelligence credits.
- Charge only for enrichment that lands a usable field, refunding credits when every provider comes back empty. Nobody in this footprint prices that way.
The CRM Clay pushes into now ships its own prospecting agent
- Beats Clay on built-in CRM and autonomous outreach; trails on many data sources and usage-based billing.
- The CRM Clay pushes into now ships its own prospecting agent.
- Not disclosed
- Not disclosed
- Sep 11, 2026
- launch
- Hunter ships: it “helps business-to-business salespeople find leads and craft outreach emails”, with most new features generally available
- Dec 4, 2024
- launch
- Agentforce “went into production in the last week of Q3” and was “off to a flying start according to Benioff, with 200 deals”
- Eliminate roadmap talk from the pitch — Salesforce says “The rest will launch by year’s end,” and buyers can’t run a play on a date.
- Reduce agent branding — Salesforce’s page title reads “Best Sales Prospecting AI Agent,” so the word agent no longer sorts one tool from another.
- Reduce spend on prospecting features the CRM now bundles — Salesforce ships a prospecting agent of its own inside Sales Cloud.
- Raise a price you can read without a call — this run’s fetch of Salesforce’s pricing page turns up no quotable number.
- Raise what works without Sales Cloud — Salesforce files its prospecting agent under Sales Cloud, so the agent lives inside the CRM.
- Create a record where every field shows which provider said it and when, so a rep can challenge the data mid-call.
- Create pricing that charges only for records a rep actually works, not seats or credits bought up front.
Sells named digital coworkers you “hire,” not data you query
- Beats Clay on autonomous outreach and public buying signals; trails on public pricing and usage-based billing.
- Sells named digital coworkers you “hire,” not data you query.
- Not disclosed
- May 5, 2025
- leadership
- Founder Hasan Sukkar is CEO
- CTO Prabhav Jain is CEO; Sukkar becomes “non-executive chairman”
- Nov 12, 2024
- funding
- $24M Series A led by Benchmark
- $50M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, $74M total raised
- Drop the headcount-replacement pitch. 11x promises to “Scale pipeline faster than you can hire”; Clay’s buyers keep reps and want them selling.
- Cut demo-gated access. 11x runs no pricing page and no self-serve signup, so an ops buyer can’t try anything before a call.
- Reduce the provider-count headline. 11x courts the same RevOps buyer by naming one outcome, pipeline, not a tally of data vendors to wire up.
- Reduce build-it-yourself setup. 11x offers a 20-minute demo that configures Julian on the buyer’s own scenarios; Clay’s spreadsheet asks ops to assemble plays.
- Raise price legibility. 11x publishes no price and no pricing page, so a number the buyer reads without a call becomes the differentiator.
- Raise vendor continuity. 11x named a new CEO in May 2025 when its founder stepped down; buyers staking a channel want stability proof.
- Raise why-it-qualified evidence. 11x’s homepage sells outcomes — “Digital Workers, Human Results” — and never shows the reason a contact got picked.
- Pay per booked meeting, not per seat or credit — nobody in this footprint prices on the outcome they advertise.
- A record where the agent’s research, its source, and its date ride along with every send, so the rep can inspect it.
Owns the database it sells
- Beats Clay on own verified data and built-in CRM; trails on usage-based billing and public pricing.
- Owns the database it sells: 240M contacts in one platform
- Mar 19, 2026
- launch
- Acquired Pocus, “an enterprise-grade revenue intelligence platform”, toward an “AI-native GTM operating system”
- Aug 29, 2023
- funding
- $100M Series D at a $1.6B valuation; total funding approximately $250M
- Gated first runs look optional: Apollo’s pricing page keeps a Starter plan “free forever,” so buyers start without paying.
- Provider breadth may be over-invested. Apollo bundles its own contact database and sells itself as the single go-to-market “foundation,” not a stack to assemble.
- Headcount-heavy service may be over-built for ops buyers. Apollo runs a team of 800 behind one owned database.
- Readable paid pricing is a gap: Apollo’s fetched pricing page lists a free Starter tier and no paid dollar amount.
- Qualification reasoning is open ground: Apollo’s fetched pages sell database access, while Intercom’s reps won’t work a list without the why.
- Nobody prices data by rows that proved true. A per-verified-row charge, refunding stale records, would let ops buy accuracy instead of credits.
Quote-only pricing
- Beats Clay on own verified data; trails on public pricing and many data sources.
- Quote-only pricing; every plan bundles 5 seats, no amount published
- Sep 29, 2026
- changelog
- “MCP & API access” listed on both Standard and Pro, marked “New”
- Sep 9, 2025
- leadership
- Pete Daffern, Interim CEO
- Dominic Allon as CEO and Chris Evans as CRO
- Jan 13, 2022
- funding
- “$87.5m (£64m)” Series C led by Viking Global Investors
- Seat minimums. Cognism bundles ‘5 seats included’ on both prospecting tiers, so small ops teams pay for chairs nobody fills.
- Sales-gated pricing. Cognism routes both prospecting tiers to ‘Talk to sales’ and publishes no amount, so buyers can’t size spend alone.
- Published coverage proof. Cognism sells ‘verified, compliance-first data’ with no hit rate on the page; buyers want numbers they can check pre-purchase.
- A per-record receipt: where each phone number came from, which provider, what consent basis — so compliance review doesn’t stall the list.