Free tool · Lead enrichment

Clay Cost Calculator: the real cost per enriched contact

Q: How much does Clay really cost per contact?

Beyond the subscription, basic enrichment is about 14 credits (~$0.22–$1.05) and full enrichment about 34 credits (~$0.54–$2.55); multi-provider waterfalls increase it further, so per-contact cost dominates the bill at scale.

Q: Do I need my own API keys?

For enrichment functions (Business plan) you add each provider's key, which keeps per-contact cost low. AI formulas include credits and need no key.

Clay's headline price hides the credit burn. Estimate Clay's true monthly cost — subscription plus per-contact credits — and compare it to running the same enrichment in Google Sheets with GPT for Sheets.

Your enrichment volume

Contacts to enrich / month 1,000

Enrichment depth

Clay plan base $

Clay 2026 plans run ~$149–$800/mo. Edit to match yours.

Clay cost per contact $

Auto-set by depth (basic ~$0.30, full ~$1.20). Credit "waterfalls" can push this higher.

Estimated monthly cost

Clay (subscription + credits)$949

GPT for Sheets + your provider keys$100

Clay cost per year$11,388

$10,188

saved per year — 89% cheaper than Clay

Run this in your own Google Sheet →

GPT for Sheets = flat Business plan + cheap direct keys (Hunter, Prospeo, LeadMagic, Apollo) — no Clay credit markup.

Why Clay gets expensive — and how Sheets is cheaper

Clay's monthly fee is only the entry ticket. Real enrichment spends credits per action — find email, verify it, find phone, pull firmographics — and a "waterfall" can hit several paid providers per contact. That's why a 500-contact full-enrichment run can cost hundreds in credits on top of a $495/mo plan.

GPT for Sheets is a lightweight Clay alternative inside Google Sheets: you connect the same data providers (Hunter, Prospeo, LeadMagic, Apollo) with your own API keys and call them with formulas like =HUNTER_DOMAIN_SEARCH() or =LEADMAGIC_FIND_EMAIL(). You pay each provider directly at their rate — no platform markup — on a flat add-on subscription.

FAQ

How much does Clay really cost per contact?

Beyond the subscription, basic enrichment is ~14 credits (about $0.22–$1.05 depending on plan) and full enrichment ~34 credits (about $0.54–$2.55). Multi-provider waterfalls increase this further — which is why the per-contact cost dominates the bill at scale.

Is GPT for Sheets a Clay alternative?

Yes — it runs lead enrichment, company research, and email finding/verification directly in Google Sheets using the same providers, at a flat subscription plus your own (cheaper) provider keys.

Do I need my own API keys?

For enrichment functions (Business plan), yes — you add each provider's key, which is what keeps the per-contact cost low. AI formulas (=GPT, =CLAUDE…) include credits and don't require a key.

Are these numbers exact?

They're editable estimates. Adjust the plan base and per-contact cost to match your real Clay usage; the comparison updates live.

More free tools

AI Content Cost Calculator · LLM API Cost Calculator · GPT for Sheets — AI & lead enrichment in Google Sheets