BetterContact vs Clay (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Clay grades higher than BetterContact: 2.8 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Clay grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
BetterContact
Waterfall email and phone enrichment across many data sources
Clay
Data enrichment tables that query 150+ data providers in one place
Which one is for you
Pick BetterContact if
- Fits if you want one tool to try many data sources for an email or phone
- Works for people who only want to pay for contacts that verify
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you need phones: a mobile number costs 10 credits, so Starter buys about 20
- Skip it if you want a free plan, since you only get 50 sign-up credits
- Pricey if you grow: the top plan starts at $799 a month above 20,000 credits
- Watch out: unused credits roll over only up to twice your monthly amount, and phone verification isn't on Starter
Pick Clay if
- Fits if you build lists with odd criteria no single database sells
- Works for teams that want several data providers behind one bill and don't mind building spreadsheet workflows
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you're on your own, as the first paid plan is $167 a month billed yearly, or $185 monthly
- Tight if you're staying free, with 200 rows per table, 100 data credits a month and no phone enrichment
- Watch out: two meters apply, data credits and actions, and extra credits cost 30% more than plan credits
- Skip it if you just want to look someone up, as it's built for building workflows
- Watch out: CRM auto-sync and webhooks start on Growth at $446 a month, and the Clay API is Enterprise only
How we grade them
| 2.4GPABetterContactFair | 2.8GPAClayGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B$15 a month for 200 credits is inside the cheapest quarter on price, but the credits are few: about 20 mobile numbers. $49 buys 1,000. | BLaunch is $167 a month billed yearly with unlimited seats, about $33.40 a head for five, just inside this category's cheaper quarter ($34). It buys 2,500 data credits and 15,000 actions a month. On your own, the whole $167 is yours to pay. |
| Free plan and trial | C50 free credits at sign-up with no card, and no free plan after that. | CA free plan with 100 data credits and 500 actions a month, unlimited seats, waterfalls and Claygent, plus a 14-day trial. But tables stop at 200 rows and there's no phone enrichment. |
| Features | CWaterfall enrichment, built-in verification, a lead finder and an API. Connect Intelligence and phone and catch-all verification aren't on Starter. | AWaterfalls across 150-plus providers, where a lookup that finds nothing costs nothing, plus Claygent for web research, job-change signals, its own sequencer and CRM and warehouse sync. No rival here draws on so many sources. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It's a credit and enrichment-column tool you need to set up. | CNo App Store rating on record, and this is a web app where the work is building the table itself. If spreadsheet formulas make you nervous, expect a learning curve. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with five integrations and an API. | BWeb only, but with HubSpot, Pipedrive, Attio, Outreach, Instantly, lemlist, Apollo.io and Snowflake on the list, and webhooks from Growth. No desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | waterfall email and phone lookups | building custom lead lists from many data sources |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: BetterContact and Clay. How we grade
Price against what you get
BetterContact starts at $15 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Clay starts at $167 a month and scores 3.0.
Clay scores higher, and starts $152 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other lead and email finders on the chart, none scores higher than BetterContact for less, and none scores higher than Clay for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- BetterContact also covers email verification.
- Clay also covers workflow automation and email campaigns.
At a glance
| BetterContact | Clay | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 200 credits, billed monthly | $167 per month for 2,500 data credits, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | 100 data credits and 500 actions a month, unlimited seats and tables, up to 200 rows per table, waterfalls and Claygent. No phone number enrichment. |
| Free trial | 50 free credits at sign-up, no credit card needed | 14-day trial of paid plans |
| Web | ||
| Made by | BetterContact | Clay Labs Inc. |
| Price read from | bettercontact.rocks | clay.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
BetterContact
- A mobile number costs 10 credits, so 200 credits on Starter buys about 20 numbers.
- Connect Intelligence, phone verification and catch-all verification are not on Starter.
- Unused credits roll over, capped at twice the subscribed amount.
- Yearly billing is offered as two months free, and extends credit roll-over to 12 months.
Clay
- Two meters apply: data credits pay providers for data, and actions count each enrichment or export. Both are sized separately on paid plans.
- Data credits start at $0.05 each; extra credits cost 30% more than plan credits on Launch and Growth.
- Actions reset each billing cycle; data credits roll over up to twice the monthly amount on Launch and Growth.
- The free plan has no phone number enrichment and stops at 200 rows per table.
Key features
BetterContact
- Waterfall enrichment
- Requests a person's email or mobile number from more than 20 data sources one after another until valid data is found.
- Pay only for valid data
- One credit buys one verified email and ten buy a verified mobile number. The page says nothing is charged when no result is found.
- Verification built in
- Emails are checked by Bouncer. On Pro and above, catch-all emails are verified at no extra charge and mobile numbers are also verified.
- Connect Intelligence
- Scores each mobile number by likelihood to connect. Only the highest-scoring numbers are charged; scoring the low or bad ones is free.
- Waterfall lead finder
- Searches 7 or more contact databases in one query to build lead lists.
- API and integrations
- A REST API and native integrations, including HubSpot, Google Sheets, Make, Clay and Zapier, on the plans that list them.
Clay
- Waterfall enrichment
- A column asks one data provider after another until a value is found, drawing on more than 150 providers. A lookup that returns nothing costs nothing.
- Claygent
- An AI agent with web research that fills in custom data points a provider does not sell. It is included on every plan, the free one too.
- Audiences and search
- Build lists of companies and people from Clay's search and imports. Paid plans add unlimited search and CSV uploads.
- Signals
- Track job changes, promotions, new hires, company news and social posts from Launch, and website intent from Growth.
- Sequencer and integrations
- Send email from Clay's own sequencer or push leads to Instantly, lemlist, Outreach and HubSpot sequences.
- CRM and warehouse sync
- Growth syncs and enriches CRM records automatically and connects to Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and Postgres.
Plans
BetterContact
Starter$15
per month for 200 credits, billed monthly
200 credits a month: 20 mobile numbers or 200 emails. Waterfall enrichment, email verification, API and chat support.
Pro$49
per month for 1,000 credits, billed monthly
Steps up to 50,000 credits a month. Adds Connect Intelligence, phone and catch-all verification, Clay and Zapier, premium support.
Enterprise$799
per month and up, above 20,000 credits, billed monthly
Sold through sales. Custom volumes and discounts, your own provider API keys and a dedicated account manager.
Clay
Free$0
100 data credits and 500 actions a month, unlimited seats, 200 rows per table, waterfalls, Claygent and your own API keys.
Launch$167
per month for 2,500 data credits, billed annually ($185 monthly)
Plus 15,000 actions a month, phone enrichment, job-change signals and email sending. Data credits alone are $414 a month at 10,000 a month, billed annually.
Growth$446
per month for 6,000 data credits, billed annually ($495 monthly)
Plus 40,000 actions a month, CRM auto-sync, HTTP API and webhook automation, web intent signals, ad audiences and priority support.
EnterpriseCustom
Annual commitment, 100,000+ data credits, Clay API access, SSO, SCIM, role-based access and a dedicated growth strategist.
Ways to pay less
BetterContact
- Annual discount
Two months free on yearly billing
The pricing page says paying yearly means paying for 10 months and keeping all 12, and extends credit roll-over to 12 months.
Clay
- Annual discount
Save 10% with annual billing
Clay's pricing page marks annual billing as a 10% saving: Launch starts at $167 a month billed yearly against $185 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, BetterContact or Clay?
As of Nov 12, 2026, BetterContact is cheaper to start with: $15 a month, against $167 a month for Clay. BetterContact starts at $15 per month for 200 credits, billed monthly, and Clay starts at $167 per month for 2,500 data credits, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, BetterContact or Clay?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Clay has a free plan. BetterContact does not, though it has a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.