The Short Answer
Clay is priced in credits. Plans bundle two kinds: data credits, spent when Clay buys data from a provider, and actions, spent when a workflow runs a step. Your bill is driven by how many rows you process and how many enrichment steps each row goes through.
Last checked October 2026. Clay changes plans and limits often, so confirm the numbers on clay.com/pricing before you budget.
The Plans
Clay offers a Free plan, paid Launch and Growth plans, and a custom Enterprise plan. Paid plans can be expanded to larger credit volumes, and annual billing is discounted against monthly.
Data Credits vs Actions
- Data credits pay for data bought from providers, such as an email or phone lookup. Clay's pricing page states that failed lookups that return no result are not charged.
- Actions pay for running workflow steps. Actions reset each billing cycle and do not roll over. Data credits can roll over within limits that Clay sets by plan.
- Bring your own API key: if you connect your own account with a data provider, a run uses an action but no Clay data credits, because you pay the provider directly.
- Top-ups: extra data credits on paid plans are sold at a premium to the plan rate, so it is cheaper to size the plan correctly than to top up repeatedly.
How to Estimate What You Will Spend
Work backwards from the list, not the plan:
- Rows: how many prospects or accounts will you process per month?
- Steps per row: how many enrichment and workflow steps does each row go through?
- Waterfalls: if you try several providers in sequence until one returns a result, only the successful lookup costs data credits, but every attempt can use actions.
- Filter first: the cheapest credit is the one you never spend. Qualify rows on cheap signals before running expensive enrichment.
When It Makes Sense to Have Someone Run It for You
Clay is powerful and easy to overspend on. A badly built table can burn a month of credits on rows you would never contact. Teams usually bring in help when they want the build done once and documented, when credit spend is climbing without more meetings to show for it, or when no one on the team owns the system. Our Clay consultant engagements are fixed scope, built in your own Clay account and handed over running. We are a Clay partner, so weigh that when you read our advice, and see Clay vs Apollo if you are still choosing a tool.
How does Clay pricing work?
Clay plans include data credits (spent when buying data from providers) and actions (spent when running workflow steps). Costs scale with the number of rows processed and the steps per row.
Do Clay credits roll over?
Actions reset every billing cycle and do not roll over. Data credits can roll over within limits that depend on your plan, so check Clay's current pricing page.
Is there a free Clay plan?
Yes. Clay offers a free plan with a small monthly allowance, enough to test workflows before paying.
Do failed enrichments cost credits?
According to Clay's pricing page, lookups that return no result are not charged.
Can I avoid Clay data credits?
If you connect your own account with a supported data provider, runs use an action but not Clay data credits, because the provider bills you directly.