Clay API: what it does, what it costs, and the API-first alternatives

$ Set up https://www.routergrowth.com/SKILL.md, then find 25 [job title] at [type of company] in [country], get a verified work email for each, and tell me the cost per verified contact.

We make RouterGrowth, one of the API-first alternatives on this page, so read it as a vendor's view. Everything about Clay was taken from Clay's own documentation and pricing page on 24 October 2026, and every other vendor's figures from its own pricing page the same day. All links are at the end.

Clay used to be a spreadsheet you drove by hand, with API access reserved for its top plan. That changed: Clay now ships a developer platform, a Plugin with a CLI for coding agents and a Public API for your own apps, on every plan including the free one. This page covers what that API can and cannot do, what it costs, and the tools developers pick when they want an API without the Clay workspace around it.

What is the Clay API?

The Clay API is the Public API of Clay's developer platform. With it, your code or your agent can search Clay's GTM dataset for people and companies, call enrichment functions from more than 200 vendors in Clay's data marketplace, trigger Claygents and Workflows, and read Clay's Audiences and tables. It sits next to two other developer surfaces:

The older "HTTP API" integration on the Growth plan is a different thing: it lets a Clay table call other people's APIs. The Public API is the reverse, your code calling Clay.

How much does the Clay API cost?

No extra charge. Clay says API and CLI calls consume the same credits and actions as the same work done in the product. So the cost of the Clay API is the cost of a Clay plan, which bills on two meters: actions for platform usage and data credits for enrichment.

Both meters can be scaled separately on Launch and Growth. At the Launch entry tier, 2,500 data credits cost $125 a month on monthly billing, about $0.05 a credit; how many credits one enrichment uses depends on the vendor behind it.

Search results through the API are capped by plan, across the CLI and the Public API together:

Going over a limit returns HTTP 402 with the name of the limit you hit.

What can you not do with the Clay API?

• Write to tables. Tables are read-only through the API and the CLI: you can query rows, not create tables, add fields or write records. Structured queries past 100 rows need API table sync, an Enterprise feature, and Clay says there are no current plans for table building from the API.
• Set credit budgets. Budgets are not available on the developer platform yet; you see consumption per run in the Workflows view.
• Rely on Workflows in production. Building Workflows from the CLI is in beta. Clay points to managed and custom functions as the stable option.
• Run natively on Windows. The CLI and API tooling run on Mac and Linux; Windows goes through WSL.
• Skip the workspace. Every call draws on a Clay plan's actions and credits, so the API is a way into Clay, not a way around it.

What are the API-first alternatives to Clay?

These are tools whose primary interface is an API, with pricing that does not start from a platform plan. Each figure is from the vendor's own pricing page.

RouterGrowth

An API and MCP server that turns GTM jobs into calls: people.search for a lead list, contact.find for a work email through a waterfall of providers, contact.verify, person and company enrichment, hiring and funding signals, SERP and social data, then email.send or a LinkedIn invitation. The agent sees the price before every call and pays from one prepaid balance; an email lookup that finds nothing is free. A found work email starts at $0.0187.

What it does not do: no spreadsheet interface, no Claygent-style research agent built in (your own agent does that part), no native CRM sync, and a far smaller provider list than Clay's marketplace.

FullEnrich

A waterfall of more than 20 providers for work emails, mobiles and personal emails, with an enrichment API, a search API and an MCP server on every plan. Pro is $55 a month for 1,000 credits; a work email is one credit, a mobile ten. Credits are used only when data is found. Prices per found email are compared in the cheapest waterfall enrichment API.

People Data Labs

A data API for person and company records, built for products that embed the data. The free tier gives up to 100 credits a month with contact fields obscured; Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits with contact data included, monthly or annual (20% off annually). Enterprise adds data licensing and bulk delivery.

Icypeas

An email finder and verifier with an API and an MCP server: $19 a month for 1,000 found emails, down to $499 for 100,000. One credit per found email, and credits never expire. It is one finder, not a waterfall.

Apollo API

Every Apollo plan includes API access, with credits drawn per endpoint: a person enrichment with an email is one credit, a mobile number eight more. Credits come with seats, from $49 per seat a month billed annually. The full breakdown, rate limits included, is in Apollo API pricing.

When should you use the Clay API?

Use it when your team already runs Clay and wants agents or scripts to drive what the workspace does: its marketplace of more than 200 vendors, Claygent research, Audiences, the sequencer. The API keeps all of that and adds code on top, at no extra price. If your Clay tables are the system of record, nothing on this page replaces them.

Pick an API-first tool when there is no Clay workspace to start from, when the job is narrow (emails, records, one database), or when the work runs in an agent and a platform plan with two meters is more than the job needs.

How do you run Clay-style enrichment without Clay?

A typical Clay table for outbound is four columns, and each is one call:

1. Source the list: people.search by title, company and location.
2. Find the email: contact.find, a waterfall in one call.
3. Verify it: contact.verify before anything touches your sending domain.
4. Send: email.send from an inbox you own, or a LinkedIn invitation.

The prompt at the top of this page runs the four steps from an agent and reports the cost per verified contact. The full field of Clay alternatives, tables included, is in Clay alternatives, and Clay's MCP server in Clay MCP.

Sources

Read on 24 October 2026: Clay Plugin, API and CLI documentation, Clay HTTP API integration, Clay pricing, FullEnrich pricing, People Data Labs pricing, Icypeas pricing, Apollo API pricing and credits.

What does each call cost?#

Prices below are the starting price per successful call. /v1/inspect returns the exact figure before the run and reserves it against your balance; failures and unbilled no-matches release the hold in full.

One prepaid balance covers every row. Capabilities marked coming soon are listed but not yet executable.

FAQ#

Is the Clay API free?

The developer platform is available on every Clay plan, including Free, and API calls cost no more than the same work in the product. On the Free plan that is 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, and 100 search results per 30 days through the API.

Does Clay have a REST API?

Yes. The Public API is called with an API key created by clay api-keys create, and Clay documents it at developers.clay.com. The CLI is the other route, for coding agents.

Can I write data into Clay tables with the API?

No. Tables are read-only through the API and the CLI. Clay builds logic through Workflows and functions instead, and says table building from the API is not planned.

Does Clay have an MCP server?

Yes, MCP for Reps, configured by an admin and separate from the Plugin and CLI. The Plugin installs Clay skills and the CLI into a coding agent but does not include the MCP server.

What is the difference between the Clay API and Clay HTTP API integration?

The Clay API lets your code call Clay. The HTTP API integration, on the Growth plan, lets a Clay table call another service's API. They are opposite directions.