Here are 10 alternatives to Clay to consider:
- Apollo.io
- ZoomInfo
- Freckle.io
- Exa Websets
- HubSpot Breeze Intelligence
- Persana AI
- Floqer
- FullEnrich
- Cognism
- Airscale
- DIY with N8N
1. Apollo.io
Apollo.io is an all-in-one platform that handles prospecting, enrichment, and outreach. The platform includes a database of 275M contacts and 73M companies, allowing teams to search and build lists directly without importing from external sources.
Apollo now supports waterfall enrichment, trying Apollo's database first then falling back to providers like Prospeo, ZoomInfo, or Lusha. Teams can bring their own API keys for backup providers to pay those vendors directly. The platform includes buying intent filters that categorize leads by high, medium, or low intent based on online activities.
The engagement suite enables multi-channel sequences combining emails, LinkedIn touchpoints, and phone calls. Apollo's AI can generate personalized openers based on enriched data like job title, company news, or tech stack. The platform also includes a built-in dialer with local area code matching, smart number rotation, and spam status indicators to boost connect rates.
Recent updates include an AI Assistant that runs multi-step GTM workflows from natural language prompts, email warmup for building sender reputation, parallel dialing, and a mobile app for managing pipeline on the go. Apollo integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. Pricing starts at $49/month for the Basic plan with unlimited email credits.
2. ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo launched GTM Studio in May 2025, adding a visual canvas for Clay-like orchestration on top of their massive B2B database (300M+ contacts, 100M+ companies). The platform unifies planning, data, and activation in a single workspace where teams can design, enrich, and launch GTM plays instantly.
GTM Studio includes an AI Data Agent for describing enrichments in plain English, plus access to 25+ signals including CxO changes, funding rounds, technology adoption, and intent data. The "Scoops" feature provides intel gathered directly from surveying knowledge workers about upcoming projects and initiatives at their companies.
ZoomInfo Copilot works alongside GTM Studio to auto-draft personalized emails based on signal data, though it requires human review before sending. The platform connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, Salesloft, and other sales engagement tools. Real-time triggers can automate routing, assignments, and CRM updates based on buyer behavior signals.
The main limitation is enterprise pricing with no self-serve option – expect $25K+/year for GTM Studio on top of existing ZoomInfo contracts. Demo calls are required before accessing the product.
3. Freckle.io
Freckle.io is built for simplicity – instead of choosing specific data sources, users describe what they want in natural language and Freckle handles the logic of querying 40+ data providers automatically. The platform's AI research agent scours the web to find ultra-specific data like ISO certifications, job openings, and LinkedIn URLs.
The platform connects directly to HubSpot and Salesforce with two-minute sync times (compared to 24 hours on some competitors), keeping the CRM as a single source of truth. Users can create tables from lookalike lists, Google Maps searches, CSV imports, or CRM records. Pre-built waterfalls handle email and phone enrichment with verification across multiple providers.
Freckle includes custom ICP scoring where users describe their ideal customer in plain English and the AI scores every lead automatically. The platform can work with incomplete data – even just a personal email address – to find what's needed. Recent updates include Apollo integration for people search directly within Freckle tables.
Pricing starts at $99/month for 2,500 credits with a free tier offering 500 credits. Freckle currently offers Clay customers a 1:1 credit exchange for remaining Clay credits.
4. Exa Websets
Exa Websets uses AI to search for people or companies using natural language queries like "VP of Sales at fintech startups in NY." The platform includes custom transformer models and a proprietary vector database that intelligently determines which data sources to query without manual configuration.
Users can add enrichment columns by describing what they need, and Exa handles the data sourcing automatically. The platform integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce for syncing enriched data back to CRM. Company searches tend to be highly accurate, while people searches may have slight lag for recent job changes.
Exa releases new features almost weekly and has developed multiple AI models (Exa Fast, Exa Deep) for different use cases. The platform lacks signal-based orchestration for monitoring job changes or company events – it's primarily focused on search and enrichment rather than workflow automation.
Pricing is credit-based: 10 credits per matching result, plus 5 credits for email or phone enrichment. Free tier includes 1,000 credits; paid plans start at $49/month for 8,000 credits.
5. HubSpot Breeze Intelligence
HubSpot Breeze Intelligence offers company enrichment for existing HubSpot customers. Basic enrichment (revenue, employee count, industry, keywords) is included for Starter, Professional, and Enterprise users at no additional credit cost.
The "Smart Properties" feature allows custom AI-powered fields using natural language prompts – for example, creating a field that identifies a company's target customer or tech stack by having AI search public web data. Smart Properties can also pull from existing HubSpot data like call transcripts to summarize prospect objections or deal context.
Workflow integration enables automatic enrichment when new companies enter the CRM or reach certain lifecycle stages. Scheduled auto-fills can run daily, weekly, or monthly on specific database segments.
The major limitation: Breeze Intelligence doesn't enrich phone numbers or email addresses – it enriches around contact info rather than providing it. LinkedIn-based enrichments also get filtered out due to legal restrictions. Credit packs start at $30/month for 100 credits; Smart Property fills cost 10 credits per record.
6. Persana AI
Persana AI offers full GTM orchestration with 75+ integrated signals including job changes, hiring trends, funding rounds, website visits, and keyword intent. The platform's autonomous AI agent "Nia" can automate up to 90% of the sales development process, handling everything from prospecting to follow-up management.
The Autopilot feature watches for signal triggers and automatically takes action – pushing contacts to email sequencers like Instantly or SmartLead, updating CRM records, or sending Slack alerts. The "Enrich Full Person Profile" feature generates AI-powered columns like career highlights, intro lines, personality-based selling tips, and icebreakers.
Persana aggregates data from 75+ sources through its waterfall enrichment system, achieving higher match rates than single-provider tools. The platform integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. Enterprise features include Voice AI and industry-specialized AI agents for verticals like logistics, fintech, and SaaS.
Pricing starts at $68/month (annual) for 24,000 credits/year. Phone numbers cost 10 credits each. Demo calls are required to access the platform – no self-serve trial available.
7. Floqer
Floqer offers GTM orchestration with CRM enrichment, job change monitoring, and workflow automation. The platform integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, and other major CRMs for automatic data cleaning and enrichment.
AI agents can scrape custom data sources – for example, extracting company names and booth numbers from a conference exhibitor page. Intent signal templates like "companies hiring aggressively" or "new executives hired" help identify prospects showing buying signals. Lists update automatically as new companies match the criteria.
Workflows chain everything together: when a signal fires, the system can enrich the contact, check company size filters, and kick off an email sequence through integrations with tools like Instantly. Floqer has 80 data providers compared to Clay's 150+.
Pricing isn't published – sales calls are required for quotes.
8. FullEnrich
FullEnrich specializes in waterfall contact enrichment across 15+ data providers including Apollo, Hunter, Lusha, and ContactOut. The platform runs providers sequentially until finding a match, achieving 80%+ find rates compared to 40-60% with single-source approaches.
The interface is straightforward: upload a CSV with names and companies, and FullEnrich returns enriched contact data with clear verification indicators. Triple email verification across three different services ensures low bounce rates. The platform automatically selects the best data sources based on geographic location.
Recent updates include personal email enrichment for recruiting purposes, custom monthly credit limits per team member, reverse email lookup API, and integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Clay, and n8n. The platform is GDPR and CCPA compliant.
Pricing is pay-per-result: 1 credit per email found, 10 credits per phone number. Starter plan is $29/month for 500 credits with a free trial of 50 credits. Credits roll over for 3-12 months depending on plan.
9. Cognism
Cognism specializes in European contact data with phone-verified mobile numbers. The platform employs real people to call and verify contact information, delivering 95-98% email deliverability rates and 7x more leads from verified mobile numbers compared to unverified data.
The AI Search feature enables building targeted lead lists through text or voice commands. Cognism integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Outreach, and other CRMs for automatic enrichment – when new leads enter the CRM with incomplete data, Cognism fills in missing contact details in real-time.
Unlike waterfall solutions, Cognism is a single proprietary database – either they have the contact info or they don't. The "Sales Companion" AI assistant provides account research and insights. Strong GDPR compliance makes it suitable for EU-focused sales teams.
Pricing isn't transparent; custom quotes are required. The platform tends to be on the pricier side but includes unrestricted access to contact data, technologies, and sales event triggers.
10. Airscale
Airscale offers strong value with robust list-building features. At $49/month for 4,000 credits ($0.01225/credit), it's roughly 6x cheaper than Clay's $0.0745/credit. Phone numbers cost as low as $0.20 each.
The platform includes multiple list-building options: extract Sales Navigator search results, scrape LinkedIn post likers and commenters, extract leads from Apollo, or use the Google Maps scraper for local businesses. Users can also find company lookalikes and build lists from scratch.
Airscale has 30 integrations including Crunchbase, BuiltWith, and Similarweb. The platform offers pay-per-result contact enrichment where users only pay when valid contact information is found.
The UI isn't as polished as Clay or Freckle, and some features like job posting search may have reliability issues. No native CRM integration is available – data works through CSV exports. The free trial is limited; enriching contacts requires a paid subscription. Pricing starts at $49/month for 4,000 credits.
11. DIY Approach with N8N
For maximum control and minimal SaaS costs, a DIY system using N8N, Google Sheets, and various APIs can replicate Clay-like functionality. This approach can scrape 250+ leads/day from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, enrich with AI-generated company descriptions, validate emails via waterfall, and auto-draft personalized emails.
The tool stack includes: N8N for automation (free self-hosted or $20/month cloud), Apify for LinkedIn scraping (~$0.10 per 100 leads), Perplexity AI for company context (~$0.002 per enrichment), Prospeo + Scrap.io for email waterfall (~$0.02-0.03 per email), and OpenRouter GPT for email drafts (~$0.01 per draft).
For 5,000 leads/month fully enriched with AI-drafted outreach, total cost runs roughly $150-200 in API credits – compared to $800+/month for similar usage in Clay.
The tradeoffs include setup time (~4 hours), technical skills required for APIs and N8N workflows, and ongoing maintenance when APIs break or change. There's no fancy UI – just Google Sheets. This approach works best for teams comfortable with technical setup who want maximum flexibility.
Which One Should You Choose?
- Best overall value all-in-one platform: Apollo.io
- Enterprise all-in-one platform: ZoomInfo
- Easiest to use: Freckle.io or Exa Websets
- Company enrichment for HubSpot users: HubSpot Breeze Intelligence
- Signal-based GTM orchestration: Persana AI or Floqer
- US contact data enrichment: FullEnrich
- European contact data: Cognism
- Best value alternative: Airscale
- DIY approach: N8N + Google Sheets + APIs
Frequently Asked Questions
What is waterfall enrichment and why does it matter?
Waterfall enrichment runs multiple data providers sequentially until one finds a match. For example, FullEnrich tries 15+ providers in order – if Apollo doesn't have an email, it tries Hunter, then Lusha, and so on. This dramatically improves match rates: single-source tools typically achieve 40-60% find rates, while waterfall approaches can reach 80%+. Apollo, Freckle, Persana, and FullEnrich all support waterfall enrichment.
What's the difference between simple enrichment and GTM orchestration?
Simple enrichment tools (FullEnrich, Cognism, Exa Websets) focus on finding contact data – emails and phone numbers. GTM orchestration platforms (Apollo, ZoomInfo GTM Studio, Persana, Floqer) add signal monitoring, workflow automation, and outreach capabilities. They can watch for triggers like job changes, funding rounds, or hiring patterns and automatically take action – updating CRM records, pushing contacts to sequences, or sending alerts.
What are intent signals and which tools have them?
Intent signals indicate when a company might be ready to buy – job postings, funding rounds, technology changes, content consumption patterns, or executive hires. ZoomInfo tracks 25+ signals plus "Scoops" from surveying knowledge workers. Persana has 75+ signals including website visits and keyword intent. Apollo offers basic intent through buying intent filters. Floqer provides templates like "companies hiring aggressively." Tools like FullEnrich, Cognism, and Exa Websets focus on contact enrichment only without intent tracking.
Which alternatives offer a free trial without a demo call?
Apollo.io, Freckle.io, Exa Websets, FullEnrich, and Airscale all offer self-serve trials. ZoomInfo, Persana, Floqer, and Cognism require demo calls before accessing the product. HubSpot Breeze Intelligence is available to existing HubSpot customers on paid plans.
Which alternatives support CRM integration?
Apollo.io supports Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive with automatic enrichment rules. ZoomInfo integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Salesloft. Freckle.io works with HubSpot and Salesforce with two-minute sync times. Cognism has broad CRM support including Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, and Outreach. FullEnrich integrates with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. Exa Websets connects with HubSpot and Salesforce. Airscale currently lacks native CRM integrations – data works through CSV exports.
Can any of these alternatives send emails automatically?
Apollo.io has built-in email sequencing with automatic sends, A/B testing, and email warmup. ZoomInfo's Copilot drafts emails but requires human review before sending. Persana and Floqer integrate with dedicated sequencers like Instantly or SmartLead – they handle the orchestration and enrichment while external tools handle actual sending. Most other tools (Freckle, Exa, FullEnrich, Cognism, Airscale) focus on enrichment only.
How do Apollo's limitations compare to Clay?
While Apollo has waterfall enrichment, it's not as flexible as Clay's data orchestration. Apollo doesn't allow customizing waterfall sequence order (Apollo decides for you), building conditional enrichment logic ("if company has 50+ employees, use ZoomInfo"), chaining multiple data sources creatively, using custom formulas to parse and manipulate data, or building complex multi-step enrichment workflows with branching logic. For pure data enrichment flexibility with full control over waterfall logic and data transformations, Clay remains more configurable.
What typical sequence does Apollo support for outreach?
A typical Apollo sequence might include: automatic email on Day 1, LinkedIn connection request on Day 3, manual email (reviewed before sending) on Day 5, phone call task on Day 7, LinkedIn message on Day 9, and a final breakup email on Day 11. Each morning, Apollo shows exactly what to do – which calls to make, which emails to personalize, which LinkedIn tasks to execute. Automatic emails fire on their own while manual steps create tasks for completion.
How does ZoomInfo's GTM Studio workflow actually work?
The workflow follows this pattern: (1) RevOps builds a workbook in GTM Studio from CRM data, CSV, or ZoomInfo search, (2) enriches with signals, intent, and firmographics, (3) filters and scores for best-fit accounts, (4) publishes the list to specific sales reps, (5) contacts appear in each rep's Copilot workspace with pre-drafted personalized emails, (6) rep reviews the drafts, tweaks if needed, and sends. The rep isn't starting from scratch – Copilot already did the personalization using GTM Studio enrichment data.
What data does ZoomInfo's "Scoops" feature provide?
Scoops is intel gathered directly from surveying millions of knowledge workers to understand projects and initiatives their companies are launching in coming months. Unlike intent data from content consumption, Scoops provides human-verified information about upcoming buying decisions, budget allocations, and strategic priorities – essentially insider knowledge about what companies are planning before it becomes public.
What makes Freckle different from Clay?
Freckle indexes on usability with less configurability around workflow rules. Users can get started in minutes without complex setup or training. Key differences include: natural language enrichment instead of choosing specific data sources, two-minute CRM sync times (vs. 24 hours on some tools), ability to query any CRM field, transparent one-credit-per-output pricing, and no need for embedded experts or external agencies. Freckle has 40 data sources compared to Clay's 100+, so niche enrichments may be less reliable.
Why doesn't HubSpot Breeze Intelligence enrich contact data?
Breeze Intelligence focuses on company enrichment (revenue, employee count, industry, keywords) and AI-powered custom fields. It doesn't provide phone numbers or email addresses – users enrich around contact info rather than getting it directly. Additionally, LinkedIn-based enrichments get filtered out due to legal restrictions. For contact data enrichment, HubSpot users need to pair Breeze Intelligence with a dedicated contact enrichment tool like FullEnrich or Apollo.
What does Persana's "Enrich Full Person Profile" include?
This feature generates AI-powered columns including: "highlights" (career achievements), "intro lines" (AI-generated conversation starters), "how to use their personality for sales" (tactical selling tips), and "icebreakers." The enrichment analyzes LinkedIn profiles, company news, job posts, and social activity to extract actionable talking points. This is convenient for crafting personalized outreach messages – a feature not available in simpler enrichment platforms like Freckle or Airscale.
How does FullEnrich's triple email verification work?
FullEnrich uses three different email verification services to detect high-confidence emails before delivering them. If one provider sends an invalid email, no credits are charged and enrichment continues until a valid email is found. This approach keeps bounce rates low (users report under 2%) and protects sender domain reputation. The platform also handles catch-all emails – typically unsafe to send – by verifying up to 80% of them to connect with prospects other tools would skip.
What makes Cognism better for European data?
Cognism employs real people to call and verify contact information, resulting in phone-verified mobile numbers with 95-98% email deliverability rates. This human verification process delivers higher accuracy for EU contacts than automated-only approaches. The platform also has strong GDPR compliance and do-not-call screening for regions like Australia and Canada. While waterfall tools aggregate multiple sources, Cognism bets on the quality of their single proprietary database, particularly for European markets where they specialize.
What are the actual costs for the DIY N8N approach?
For 5,000 leads/month with full enrichment and AI-drafted outreach: N8N is free (self-hosted) or $20/month (cloud), Apify costs ~$0.10 per 100 leads scraped (~$5), Perplexity API runs ~$0.002 per enrichment (~$10), Prospeo costs ~$0.02 per email found (~$100), Scrap.io fallback runs ~$0.01 per lookup (~$50), and OpenRouter GPT charges ~$0.01 per email draft (~$50). Total: roughly $150-200/month in API costs, compared to $800+/month for similar Clay usage.
What technical skills are needed for the DIY approach?
Building a DIY system requires understanding APIs, N8N workflow configuration, and basic scripting. Setup takes approximately 4 hours. Ongoing maintenance is needed when APIs change, rate limits are hit, or providers update their systems. There's no fancy UI – everything runs through Google Sheets. This approach suits teams with technical capabilities who want maximum control and flexibility, but isn't plug-and-play like SaaS alternatives.
