Attio vs Clay
A straight comparison of Attio and Clay for B2B teams. We sell our own product, Creator, and we say so up front. Every price on this page was read on the vendor's own pricing page, with the date and the link next to it.
The short answer
Attio and Clay are not interchangeable. Attio suits startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline. Clay suits technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale. On price, Attio starts at $44 on its Plus plan (per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats) and Clay starts at $185/mo on its Launch plan (starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month), both read on the vendor pricing pages on 10 September 2026.
Startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline.
Technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale.
Attio vs Clay at a glance
The price, free plan and scaling rows come off the vendors' own pricing pages. Category and best for are our own read. Where a cell says not verified, it is blank on purpose: we had no figure we could stand behind, and a months-old number is worse than a gap.
| Attribute | Attio | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| Category (our read) | CRM | Data enrichment |
| Entry price (vendor page) | $44Plus plan, per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats | $185/moLaunch plan, starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month |
| Free plan (vendor page) | Yes. A free plan at $0 per user per month for up to 3 seats, 3 objects, 50,000 records, and 100 seat credits per user per month. | Yes. A free plan at $0 with 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per table. |
| How the price scales | Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace. | Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work. |
| Best for (our read) | Startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline. | Technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale. |
Pricing, plan by plan
Every figure below carries the plan name it belongs to, the basis the vendor states, a link to the page it came from, and the date we read it. Currencies appear exactly as each vendor publishes them. We never convert one currency into another, because a converted price is a price nobody will ever be charged.
Attio pricing
Checked 10 September 2026- Freeper user/month, up to 3 seats$0
- Plusper user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats$44
- Plusper user/month, billed annually, up to 10 seats$35
- Proper user/month, billed monthly$99
- Proper user/month, billed annually$79
- Enterprisebilled annually, quote on requestCustom
Free tier: Yes. A free plan at $0 per user per month for up to 3 seats, 3 objects, 50,000 records, and 100 seat credits per user per month.
What the price is per: Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace.
Worth knowing: Attio publishes dollars, euros and pounds itself. We publish the dollar figures and never derive one currency from another.
Source: attio.com/pricing, read 10 September 2026.
Clay pricing
Checked 10 September 2026- Free100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month$0
- Launchstarting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month$185/mo
- Launchstarting price with the annual toggle on$167/mo
- Growthstarting price billed monthly, 6,000 Data Credits and 40,000 Actions a month$495/mo
- Growthstarting price with the annual toggle on$446/mo
- Enterpriseannual commitment, 100,000+ Data Credits and 200,000+ Actions a monthCustom
Free tier: Yes. A free plan at $0 with 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per table.
What the price is per: Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work.
Worth knowing: The pricing page is a configurator, not a fixed table, and it defaults to the annual toggle. The starting prices above are the ones the page states in its own FAQ.
Source: www.clay.com/pricing, read 10 September 2026.
What each vendor publishes about its own product
This section is quotation, not opinion. Each line comes off the vendor's own pricing page on 10 September 2026. We list only what a vendor states. Silence on a feature is not evidence a tool lacks it, so nothing here says a tool cannot do something.
Attio
Attio is a CRM you shape yourself. It syncs your email and calendar, builds contact and company records out of that history, then layers on custom objects, workflows, sequences, call intelligence and real-time reporting.
- · Seat limits run up to 3, up to 10, unlimited and unlimited across the four tiers.
- · Object limits run up to 3, up to 5, up to 12 and unlimited.
- · Record limits run 50,000, 250,000, 1,000,000 and custom.
- · Seat credits run 100, 500, 1,000 and 2,500 per user per month, with workspace credits at 250, 1,500, 10,000 and custom.
- · Extra workspace credits sell in blocks, for example 5,000 a month.
Clay
Clay is a GTM data platform. You build spreadsheet-style tables of companies and people, then enrich each row through 150+ data providers in waterfall order and through an AI research agent called Claygent.
- · Data Credits start at $0.05 each and Actions start at less than $0.01 each.
- · Seats are unlimited on every plan, including the free one.
- · Each paid card carries two sliders, one for Actions and one for Data Credits, and the headline price is the sum of both at the base tier.
- · Moving the sliders takes the bill as high as $540 a month of actions and $2,125 a month of credits on the monthly cadence.
Which tool for which job
Most comparison pages rank two tools on a single line and call it a verdict. That is not how the decision works. The right answer changes with the job in front of you, so here is the matchup, job by job. Rows built on a vendor figure say so. Rows built on our opinion say that too.
| The job | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You want to try it without a card | Either | Both publish a free plan. Attio: Yes. A free plan at $0 per user per month for up to 3 seats, 3 objects, 50,000 records, and 100 seat credits per user per month. Clay: Yes. A free plan at $0 with 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per table. |
| One person, one account, smallest bill | Attio | Attio opens at $44 (Plus, per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats). Clay opens at $185/mo (Launch, starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month). Same currency, so the numbers compare directly, but read the unit too. |
| You are adding a second and third user | Read the unit, not the headline | Attio: Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace. Clay: Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work. |
| You mainly need CRM | Attio | That is the category Attio sits in. Our read: Startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline. |
| You mainly need data enrichment | Clay | That is the category Clay sits in. Our read: Technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale. |
| You need content, DMs, lead capture and pipeline in one place | Creator | That job spans more than either tool covers on its own. Creator installs the whole loop and runs it for you, which is a different purchase from buying software. |
Two different categories, two different purchases
Attio is CRM. Clay is data enrichment. That is the first thing to settle, because a lot of the arguments people have about these two are really arguments about which job they are buying for.
CRM
A CRM is where the relationship lives after the first reply. The question is not which one has the most fields, it is which one your team will keep current. Look at how records get created, whether email and calendar sync without babysitting, and how much structure you can change later without a migration.
Data enrichment
Enrichment tools take a thin list and make it usable. They append emails, phone numbers, firmographics and signals. Coverage and accuracy vary by region and by company size, so run a sample of your own list through a trial before you commit. Pricing here is almost always metered rather than per seat, which means the bill follows your volume, not your headcount.
How to choose between them in an afternoon
You do not need a six-week evaluation. You need five answers, and four of them come off the vendor sites in under an hour.
- 1. Write down the one job you are buying for. Not three jobs. One. If the sentence needs the word and twice, you are shopping for two tools, and you should say so out loud before you compare anything.
- 2. Check the pricing unit, not the headline number. Attio bills like this. Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace. Clay bills like this. Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work. Run both against the number of people and accounts you will have in six months, not today.
- 3. Find the cheapest tier that still has the feature you came for. Entry prices are usually gated. The plan you actually need is often one or two tiers above the number in the ad, and that gap is where budgets break.
- 4. Run one real list through the trial. Not a demo list. Fifty of your own prospects, your own copy, your own sending times. Two days of that tells you more than every comparison page on the internet, including this one.
- 5. Ask what breaks when you stop paying. Sequences, data, inbox history and reporting all live somewhere. Find out what you can export and what you lose, before you have anything worth losing.
Our read on each
Everything below is our own assessment from running LinkedIn pipelines for B2B firms. It is opinion, not vendor documentation, and we label it that way so you can weigh it against the vendor sections above.
Attio
A CRM you shape around your own data model.
- + Free plan covers 3 seats and 50,000 records, enough to run a real pipeline
- + Records build themselves from synced email and calendar, so setup is short
- + Custom objects mean the CRM bends to your business, not the other way round
- − Credits meter both per seat and per workspace, so automation raises the bill
- − Object and record ceilings step up plan by plan
- − No LinkedIn content, publishing or DM tooling of any kind
- − Prices are published in USD, EUR and GBP, and the page shows you your local one
Clay
Data enrichment and AI personalization for outbound.
- + A free plan that lets you build real tables before paying
- + Waterfall enrichment across the 150+ data providers its pricing page lists
- + Claygent researches what no database has a field for
- − Both paid plans are configurators, so the headline price is only the floor
- − Not a standalone tool - requires a sequencer to send messages
- − Steep learning curve for non-technical operators
- − No content engine, no inbound, no pipeline attribution
Four ways this comparison goes wrong
We have watched a lot of teams pick between tools like these. The same four mistakes account for most of the regret.
The entry tiers of Attio and Clay are not the same product shape. Attio: Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace. Clay: Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work. At one user those numbers look comparable. At five they usually are not.
Every tool in this space demos well. What separates them is the hundredth time you do the routine task, whether that is approving a sequence, editing a draft or answering a reply. Ask a current user what they do every Monday, not what impressed them in week one.
Neither Attio nor Clay decides who you target, what you say or why anyone should reply. Software makes a working motion faster and a broken motion faster to fail. Get the offer and the list right first, then automate them.
Most stacks are strong at sending and thin at everything after it. Replies land in an inbox, someone has to qualify them, and the handoff into a calendar is where pipeline quietly leaks. Decide who owns that step before you pick either tool, or the tool will decide for you.
If neither one covers the job
Attio and Clay each solve one slice. Content, DMs, lead capture and pipeline reporting still have to meet somewhere, and in most firms that somewhere is a person with no time. Creator is the install that closes the loop: we set the whole thing up and run it, and you own it.
Built for B2B founders, consultants and agencies who use LinkedIn as their main pipeline channel. See the system and the results.
Frequently asked
- What is the main difference between Attio and Clay?
- Attio is positioned as a CRM you shape around your own data model and sits in the CRM category. Clay is positioned as data enrichment and AI personalization for outbound and sits in the data enrichment category. In practice Attio suits startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline, while Clay suits technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale.
- How much does Attio cost?
- Free at $0 (per user/month, up to 3 seats); Plus at $44 (per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats); Plus at $35 (per user/month, billed annually, up to 10 seats); Pro at $99 (per user/month, billed monthly); Pro at $79 (per user/month, billed annually); Enterprise at Custom (billed annually, quote on request). Read on https://attio.com/pricing on 10 September 2026. Yes. A free plan at $0 per user per month for up to 3 seats, 3 objects, 50,000 records, and 100 seat credits per user per month.
- How much does Clay cost?
- Free at $0 (100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month); Launch at $185/mo (starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month); Launch at $167/mo (starting price with the annual toggle on); Growth at $495/mo (starting price billed monthly, 6,000 Data Credits and 40,000 Actions a month); Growth at $446/mo (starting price with the annual toggle on); Enterprise at Custom (annual commitment, 100,000+ Data Credits and 200,000+ Actions a month). Read on https://www.clay.com/pricing on 10 September 2026. Yes. A free plan at $0 with 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month, unlimited seats and tables, and up to 200 rows per table.
- Is Attio or Clay cheaper?
- Attio opens at $44 on Plus (per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats). Clay opens at $185/mo on Launch (starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month). Compare the unit before the number: one vendor may charge per seat while the other charges per account or a flat fee, and the currencies are published as each vendor publishes them. Both figures were read on 10 September 2026.
- Can I use Attio and Clay together?
- Yes. Attio covers CRM and Clay covers data enrichment, so they sit at different points in the same pipeline and plenty of B2B teams run both. The cost is two subscriptions, two logins and a handoff between them that nobody owns.
- Which should a solo founder pick, Attio or Clay?
- Start from the unit. The Attio entry tier is Plus at $44, per user/month, billed monthly, up to 10 seats. The Clay entry tier is Launch at $185/mo, starting price billed monthly, 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions a month. A solo founder is buying one seat and one account, so the tool with the lower entry tier and the smaller learning curve usually wins. Our read: pick Attio if this describes you. Startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline. Pick Clay if this describes you. Technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale.
The verdict
The money question resolves cleanly. Attio opens at $44 on Plus, Clay at $185/mo on Launch, both checked 10 September 2026. The unit matters more than the headline. Attio: Priced per user, per month, with a credit meter per seat and per workspace. Clay: Two meters, not seats. Data Credits when Clay buys data for you, Actions when Clay runs platform work.
Attio is the pick if this describes you. Startup GTM teams that want a CRM built around their own objects and reporting rather than a fixed sales pipeline. Clay is the pick if this describes you instead. Technical growth and sales ops teams that want to pull data from 150+ sources and auto-personalize outreach at scale. If you read both descriptions and neither matches the job in front of you, the problem is probably bigger than a tool choice, and that is the case Creator exists for.
One caveat we will repeat: pricing pages move. The figures here were read on 10 September 2026 and each one links back to the page it came from. Click through before you sign anything. If a number on this page no longer matches the vendor's page, tell us and we will fix it.
How this page was sourced
We run one rule on every comparison we publish. A fact about a named company's product, pricing or features appears here only if we read it on that company's own page. Every figure carries the plan name it belongs to, the basis the vendor states, the URL it came from, and the date we read it.
Two things follow from that rule, and both are visible on this page. Where a vendor publishes in euros or pounds, the price stays in euros or pounds. We do not convert, because a converted number is a number nobody will ever be charged. And where we have no verified figure, the page says so and leaves the space empty rather than filling it with a price from months ago.
We also do not infer absence. If a vendor's page does not mention a feature, that is not evidence the tool lacks it, and you will not find a line on this page claiming otherwise. The opinionated parts, the categories, the pros and cons, the recommendations, are labelled as ours so you can weigh them separately from the sourced parts.
Last pricing pass: 10 September 2026. We sell a competing product, Creator, and we take no affiliate commission from any tool named on this page.
Key terms
- ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)An ICP is a written description of the exact customer who would benefit most from a product. and is most likely to buy, stay, and refer.
- B2B Lead GenerationB2B lead generation is the process of identifying and capturing potential business customers. typically other companies or their decision-makers.
- Booked CallA booked call is a scheduled meeting on a sales calendar. usually a discovery, demo, or qualifying conversation with a prospect.
- Cold OutreachCold outreach is contacting a prospect who has had no prior relationship or interaction with the sender. typically via cold email, cold DM, or cold call.