Clay pricing in 2026: plans, credits and what one email costs

Clay Launch costs $185 a month ($167 billed yearly) with 2,500 Data Credits, and Growth costs $495 ($446) with 6,000. Clay’s frequently asked questions (FAQ) put a work email from Prospeo or Hunter at 2 credits, about $0.10, though Clay says its common enrichments now cost fewer credits. We read every price on October 4, 2026.

Clay’s plans and what each one includes

Every Clay plan sells two things. Data Credits pay for data from Clay’s providers, and Actions pay for the work Clay runs on your table. The plan price is the sum of both. These are the plans on Clay’s pricing page:

Launch’s $185 is $60 for Actions plus $125 for Data Credits. On yearly billing, it’s $54 plus $113. Clay lists phone number enrichment among the features Launch adds to Free.

What one Data Credit costs

A credit costs less as you buy more of them each month. These are the Data Credit tiers in the Launch plan’s menu, on monthly billing:

Yearly billing lowers the price to between $0.045 a credit (30,000 credits a year) and $0.038 (600,000 a year). Three more rules on the same page change what you pay:

• Top-ups: credits you buy in the middle of a billing cycle cost 30% more, which is $0.065 at the Launch rate.
• Rollover: on monthly billing, unused Data Credits carry over until your balance reaches twice your monthly amount. On yearly billing, up to 15% of the year’s credits carry over.
• Empty results: “If an enrichment returns no result, you’re not charged Data Credits or Actions”

What one email or phone number costs in Clay

Each provider in Clay charges a different number of credits. Clay’s credits FAQ lists seven providers, and Clay’s Icypeas guide puts an Icypeas email at 1 credit. Neither page shows a date.

$0.05 is the Launch rate on monthly billing, and $0.045 is the Launch rate on yearly billing. Clay’s pricing page also says “the most-used enrichments cost 50% fewer credits on average”, so these counts can be higher than today’s. Check the credit cost on the column before you run a large table.

Clay compared with paying per lookup in Kairon

Kairon doesn’t sell data credits. Each lookup comes out of your usage balance. Kairon’s data pricing page lists the most each one cost on October 3, 2026. The Starter plan ($49 a month) includes $10 of that balance.

For work emails, Kairon queries Clay first and Apollo for the ones Clay misses (Apollo pricing covers Apollo’s side). Mobile numbers come from ContactOut.

Data lookups need a Kairon plan. So the next tables show two Kairon columns: the lookups alone, and the lookups with Starter. Starter runs LinkedIn campaigns from Claude or ChatGPT. To send email too, you add your own Instantly account or mailboxes.

The plan price matters more than the price per credit at low volume. This table counts found emails only, uses monthly billing and picks the cheapest Clay credit tier that covers each volume:

Kairon’s columns leave out lookups that find the person but no email. Those cost $0.063 each in Kairon and nothing in Clay. Read the table this way:

• Up to 100 emails a month: Clay’s Free plan covers them at $0 with its 100 credits through Icypeas. With a 2-credit provider, it covers 50.
• A 2-credit provider: Kairon costs less than Clay Launch at every volume in the table, Starter included, counting only lookups that find an email.
• Icypeas at 1 credit: Clay Launch costs less from about 2,080 found emails a month, or from about 1,640 if you count Kairon’s Starter. Above 2,500, Clay’s next credit tier costs $350. Up to about 3,930 emails, that costs more than paying per lookup, unless you top up at $0.065 a credit instead. From about 3,930 (about 3,490 with Starter), Clay costs less again.

Each mobile number found through ContactOut costs less than half in Kairon: $0.325 against $0.75. Each lookup that finds no number costs $0.025 in Kairon and nothing in Clay:

When Clay is the better buy

Clay is a workflow tool, and its plan price pays for more than data. Clay costs less, or does more for the money, when:

• You look up 100 emails a month or fewer through Icypeas, or 50 with a 2-credit provider. The Free plan’s 100 credits cover them.
• You build tables that mix several providers and artificial intelligence (AI) columns. The Actions in each plan pay for that work, and this comparison leaves it out. Syncing your customer relationship management (CRM) system needs Growth, at $495 a month.
• You look up more than about 2,080 emails a month through Icypeas, or about 1,640 counting Kairon’s Starter. Above 2,500 and up to about 3,930 (about 3,490 counting Starter), that holds only if you top up instead of buying the next credit tier.
• You find mobile numbers through the cheapest provider Clay lists. At 2 credits ($0.10), it costs less than Kairon’s $0.325 from ContactOut.
• Your usage changes from month to month. Clay carries unused credits over, while Kairon’s included $10 resets every month.

Past the Free plan’s 100 credits, paying per lookup costs less with a 2-credit provider at every volume in the table. With Icypeas, it costs less below about 1,640 emails a month (2,080 counting lookups alone), and from 2,500 to about 3,490 (3,930) if you don’t top up. It also costs less for mobile numbers from ContactOut. If you pay for Clay, HeyReach and Instantly, Kairon’s pricing page adds up what they cost together, with Sales Navigator.

How we calculated these numbers

Every number on this page comes from these sources and rules:

• Clay’s prices: Clay’s pricing page, its credits FAQ and its Icypeas guide, read on October 4, 2026. The credit tiers are the options in the Launch plan’s menus on that page.
• Price per credit: the tier price divided by its credits, rounded to three decimals ($0.0425 is exact)
• Kairon’s prices: Kairon’s data pricing page, checked on October 3, 2026, and its pricing page for Starter. Providers can change their prices, and Kairon’s agent shows the current price before each lookup.
• Volume tables: monthly billing, found results only, and the cheapest Clay credit tier that covers the credits needed. Every volume fits inside Launch’s 15,000 Actions a month. The Starter columns assume the whole $10 balance goes to data lookups; if your campaigns spend part of it on AI, Kairon costs more.