Clay MCP: what the official server does, what it needs, and a pay-per-call alternative

$ Set up https://www.routergrowth.com/SKILL.md, then find 25 heads of sales at B2B SaaS companies with 50 to 200 employees in [country], with a verified work email for each, and show me the price before you run it.

We make RouterGrowth, the alternative described in the second half of this page, so read it as a vendor's view. Everything about Clay was taken from Clay's own pages on 11 October 2026 and is linked at the end. Products change; check the source before you decide.

Two kinds of people search for Clay MCP. Teams that already run Clay want it inside Claude or ChatGPT. Everyone else wants Clay-style prospecting from an agent and is checking whether they need a Clay workspace to get it. The official server is built for the first group. This page covers what it does, what it needs, and what the second group can use instead.

What is Clay MCP?

Clay MCP is Clay's official Model Context Protocol server. It connects a Clay workspace to an AI assistant, so a rep asks in plain language and Clay answers inside the chat. Clay's page lists Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Microsoft Copilot and Glean.

According to Clay, a rep can use it to:

• search Clay's company and people database, with up to 1,000 People Search results for a request
• enrich contacts with emails and phone numbers through a waterfall across Clay's data vendors (its MCP page says more than 200)
• research an account: hiring trends, tech stack, funding and leadership changes
• run Functions, the reusable workflows an operations team builds in Clay, such as lead scoring or account prep
• check the CRM for duplicates and push contacts to a sequencer or CRM, under write rules operations defines

The split of roles is deliberate. Clay describes the product as ops-built workflows, consumable by reps: operations builds and governs the logic in Clay, and reps use it from the assistant without opening Clay.

What do you need to use Clay MCP?

A Clay workspace. An admin invites each rep, and a "Sales Rep" permission type gives MCP-only access without the Clay interface. The admin sets a monthly credit budget per rep and chooses which Functions are exposed. Every request spends Clay credits from the workspace, counted against the rep's limit, which resets on the first of each month.

Clay's docs say credit controls and usage monitoring come with its paid plans (Launch, Growth and Enterprise), and the controls for first-party CRM data, called Audiences, with Enterprise. Its guide says new accounts get 500 free Clay credits on first connect.

When is the official Clay MCP the right choice?

• You already run Clay. The server is included in how you work, your credits are already bought, and your tables and Functions are the asset.
• Operations owns the logic. Scoring, routing and enrichment rules are built once and every rep gets the same answer.
• You need governed CRM write-back. Duplicate checks and write rules are set centrally, which matters once more than a few people prospect.
• You want first-party data in the answer. Audiences bring your CRM accounts into what the assistant can reason over.

If that is your team, use Clay MCP. Nothing below replaces a Clay workspace that people have spent months building.

What is the alternative when you do not have a Clay workspace?

RouterGrowth is an MCP server and API that gives an agent the underlying jobs as calls, paid one at a time from a prepaid balance. There is no workspace to build first and no plan to choose.

An email lookup that finds nothing is not charged, and the agent sees the price of each call before it runs. The waterfall enrichment guide shows the email step in detail, the lead generation tools page lists every call with its providers, and Clay alternatives compares seven tools on price.

What it does not do: there are no tables, no Functions an operations team maintains, and no CRM write-back with central rules. It has fewer data providers than Clay lists. The agent is the interface, so the logic lives in your prompt or your skill file, not in a workspace.

How do Clay MCP and RouterGrowth compare?

Can you use both?

Yes. Both are MCP servers, and an assistant can have both connected. Teams that run Clay keep it for the governed workflows, and add a pay-per-call server for the ad hoc jobs nobody has built a Function for.

Sources

Clay's own pages, read on 11 October 2026: Clay MCP, What is Clay MCP, MCP in Clay, the admin docs, Clay pricing.

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 Clay MCP free?

Clay's guide says new accounts get 500 free Clay credits on first connect. After that, requests spend credits from the workspace's plan. Clay lists a free plan with 100 data credits a month, Launch at $167 a month and Growth at $446 a month.

Which AI tools does Clay MCP work with?

Clay's MCP page lists Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Microsoft Copilot and Glean. In ChatGPT you call it with @Clay, and in Claude you add the Clay connector.

Does Clay MCP work in Cursor or Claude Code?

Clay's pages name Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Copilot and Glean. We did not see Cursor or Claude Code listed on the pages we read, so check Clay's docs before you plan around them.

Is there a Clay MCP alternative without a subscription?

RouterGrowth exposes people search, email finding, verification, company and person enrichment and sending as pay-per-call tools over MCP. You top up a balance and pay for the calls your agent makes.

Can reps overspend through Clay MCP?

Clay lets admins set a default monthly credit limit for every MCP user and an override per person. A limit of zero blocks further spend without removing the rep.