Head to head · Business · updated Oct 25, 2026
Clay vs Apollo.io
Clay scores 27 to Apollo.io's 10 on public evidence for sales outreach & lead research, and they rank #2 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
Clay
A data-enrichment spreadsheet that waterfalls through 100+ providers and uses AI agents to research and personalize outreach.
+ Claygent researches each lead on the web and writes a personalized first line at scale.
− Credit consumption is hard to predict and the learning curve is steep.
Apollo.io
A B2B contact database and sales engagement platform with AI-written sequences and lead scoring.
+ Prospecting data, email sequencing and a dialer in one tool, with a usable free tier.
− Contact data accuracy is inconsistent and email deliverability suffers if you send from the platform at volume.
Side by side
public evidence| Clay | Apollo.io | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 27 | 10 |
| GitHub stars | closed source | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 3 | 0 |
| Last activity | 1 days ago | – |
| Pricing | Free tier · Starter from $134/mo billed annually | Free tier · Basic from $49/user/mo |
| Platforms | web | web, chrome-extension, api |
| Maker | Clay | Apollo.io |
Which one?
Pick Clay if
- you want the stronger public evidence (27 vs 10)
Best for enrichment-driven personalized outbound.
Pick Apollo.io if
- you need it on api, chrome-extension
Best for all-in-one outbound prospecting.