Apollo vs Clay for outbound
A seat-priced database and sequencer against a credit-priced list builder, with plans read on both sites in September 2026.
Choose Apollo when you want one seat-priced tool that finds contacts and sends sequences. Choose Clay when your edge is custom list building across many data sources and you're happy to pay by the action.
The short answer
- Apollo costs $0 (Free), $49 (Basic), $79 (Professional) and $119 (Organization, 3-seat minimum) a seat a month billed annually, per apollo.io/pricing, checked September 2026.
- Clay costs $0 (Free), from $167 (Launch) and from $446 (Growth) a month, with Enterprise on custom annual terms, per clay.com/pricing, checked September 2026.
- Apollo's credits scale with seats: 30,000 a seat a year on Basic.
- Clay's credits scale with the plan: Launch includes 15,000 actions and 3,000 data credits a month.
Apollo vs Clay at a glance
Apollo per seat, Clay per plan. Monthly price.
| Dimension | Apollo | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing unit | Per seat, billed annually | By plan, with actions and data credits |
| Free plan | $0, 900 credits per seat a year | $0, 500 actions and 100 data credits a month |
| Entry paid plan | $49 (Basic), 30,000 credits per seat a year | From $167 (Launch), 15,000 actions and 3,000 data credits a month |
| Next plan | $79 (Professional), 48,000 credits per seat a year | From $446 (Growth), 40,000 actions and 6,000 data credits a month |
| Top plan | $119 (Organization), 3-seat minimum, 72,000 credits | Custom, annual commitment, 200,000+ actions |
| Core job | Find contacts and run sequences | Build and enrich lists from many sources |
Figures checked on apollo.io/pricing and clay.com/pricing, September 2026.
What each one does well, and where it costs you
Apollo
- Contact data and sequencing in one seat, from $49 a month billed annually
- Credits are granted upfront for the year on paid plans
- Credits scale with seats, so a large team pays per person for data
- Organization needs at least 3 seats at $119 each
Clay
- Priced by actions and data credits, not by seat
- A free plan with 500 actions a month to build and test a flow
- The first paid plan starts at $167 a month
- Cost follows actions and data credits used, so heavy enrichment moves you up a plan
How to choose for your outbound motion
Look at where your list comes from today. If you pull contacts from one good database and send a sequence, Apollo covers the job in one seat. If your list needs signals from several sources, like hiring data plus tech stack plus a custom scrape, Clay's workflow builder is the tool for it.
Then count people and volume. Apollo's price rises with every seat you add. Clay's price rises with the actions and data credits your workflows use, so a heavy month moves you up a plan.
Other data tools? Compare Apollo vs ZoomInfo and Apollo vs lemlist, or see how a CRM data bank holds the list once it's built.
Questions outbound teams ask
- Should I use Apollo or Clay for outbound?
- Use Apollo if you want a contact database and email sequencing in one seat-priced tool. Use Clay if you build custom lists from many data sources and pay by actions and data credits. Apollo Basic is $49 a seat a month billed annually; Clay Launch starts at $167 a month, both checked September 2026.
- How do Apollo credits compare with Clay credits?
- Apollo grants credits per seat per year: 900 on Free, 30,000 on Basic, 48,000 on Professional and 72,000 on Organization. Clay grants actions and data credits per plan: Launch includes 15,000 actions and 3,000 data credits a month. Both figures were read on the vendors' pricing pages in September 2026.
- Can I use Apollo and Clay together?
- Yes. Clay pulls from many data providers to build and enrich a list, and Apollo then sequences the contacts you choose. You pay for both, so check that your Clay list work actually needs more than Apollo's own database before adding the second bill.
- Is there a free plan for either?
- Both have one. Apollo Free is $0 with 900 credits per seat a year, and Clay Free is $0 with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, per their pricing pages in September 2026. Either is enough to test your list-building flow before you pay.
- Where do the leads go after Apollo or Clay?
- Into a CRM. SalesCrew's Data Bank takes a CSV import with column mapping, fills in contacts it already holds without overwriting them, and feeds segments and cadences, with unlimited seats from $299 a month. Disclosure: SalesCrew is our product.