Clay vs ZoomInfo
Sabari Rohith
Last updated on
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The short answer
Clay vs ZoomInfo is orchestration versus ownership: Clay routes enrichment across 150-200+ data providers and suits technical RevOps teams, while ZoomInfo is a proprietary 500M-contact database and GTM suite for sales teams with an annual-contract budget. The two often run together, since Clay can call ZoomInfo as one of its sources, so the real question is which job you’re hiring the tool for.
If you want a real free tier ($0/mo, 500 Actions), transparent self-serve pricing starting at $167/mo, and the flexibility to route enrichment across 150-200+ providers, including ZoomInfo itself, plus AI research agents and outbound automation, Clay fits a technical, hands-on GTM or RevOps team willing to build its own workflows.
If you want one proprietary database (500M+ contacts, with 200M+ verified emails and 120M+ direct dials, and 100M+ company profiles reported) instead of routing across providers, a full product suite spanning Sales, Marketing, Talent, and conversation intelligence, and you have the budget and procurement process for a quote-only, annual-contract sale that commonly lands at $30,000-$60,000/yr all-in, ZoomInfo fits a mid-market or enterprise buyer with a formal sales-intelligence budget.
At a glance
| Clay | ZoomInfo | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 (Kareem Amin CEO and Nicolae Rusan; Varun Anand co-founder/COO since 2021) | 2007 as DiscoverOrg (Henry Schuck); renamed ZoomInfo after a 2019 merger |
| Category | GTM data-orchestration & workflow platform (200+ providers) | Proprietary B2B contact/company database + sales intelligence suite |
| Starting price | $0/mo (Free tier, 500 Actions/mo) | Core platform quote-only (third-party estimates from ~$14,995/yr); GTM.AI has a free pay-as-you-go plan |
| Data model | Waterfall-routes across 150-200+ third-party providers, incl. ZoomInfo | Owns its own first-party database (500M+ contacts, 100M+ companies reported) |
| Review base | ~234 on G2, 151 on TrustRadius, 1 on Capterra (checked October 2026) | 9,189 on G2, 322 on Capterra (checked October 2026) |
| Public rating | G2 4.6/5 (checked October 2026); figures vary by source/date | G2 4.5/5 (GTM Workspace, formerly ZoomInfo Sales); Capterra 4.1/5 (checked October 2026) |
| Best for | Technical GTM/RevOps teams that want self-serve flexibility | Mid-market/enterprise buyers with a formal sales-intelligence budget |
Vendor profile
Clay
Clay is a GTM data-orchestration platform that routes enrichment across 150-200+ third-party data providers in a spreadsheet-style canvas, with AI research agents (Claygent) and outbound automation, and no proprietary database of its own. It was founded in 2017 by Kareem Amin (CEO) and Nicolae Rusan, with Varun Anand joining as co-founder and COO in 2021. The company is headquartered in New York City and expanded its Manhattan office at 11 Madison Avenue to support nearly 500 new roles. Clay describes itself as “infrastructure to get any data, run agentic workflows, and launch GTM plays,” combining access to 150-200+ data providers, AI research agents (“Claygents”) that can browse live company sites, no-code workflow orchestration, and outbound execution in one product. Its own site claims more than 500,000 GTM teams use the product, a self-reported figure that isn’t independently verified; Series D coverage cites 17,000+ customers. Clay was valued at $7.1B in a $115M Series D led by Wellington Management in September 2026, following a $5B employee tender in January 2026 and a $3.1B valuation at a $100M Series C led by CapitalG in August 2025. Earlier rounds included a roughly $1.25B valuation in January 2025 and a $500M Series B in June 2024, so the company has repriced quickly and any figure older than the Series D will understate it. Named customers span AI-native startups like OpenAI and Anthropic through larger scaleups like Canva, Rippling, and Intercom, suggesting fit from high-growth startup through mid-market rather than a strict SMB or enterprise focus.
- Vendor
- Clay (clay.com)
- Founded
- 2017 (Kareem Amin CEO and Nicolae Rusan; Varun Anand co-founder/COO since 2021)
- HQ
- New York, NY (11 Madison Avenue, Manhattan)
- Funding
- $7.1B valuation at a $115M Series D led by Wellington Management (September 2026); $5B employee tender (January 2026); $3.1B at a $100M Series C led by CapitalG (August 2025); $500M Series B (June 2024)
- Notable clients
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Rippling, Intercom, Vanta, Figma, Harmonic
- Public rating
- G2 4.6/5 (234 reviews); TrustRadius 9.3/10 (151 ratings); Capterra 5.0/5 (1 review, too few to compare); checked October 2026
ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo is a public B2B intelligence company (Nasdaq: GTM) built on a proprietary database of 500M+ contacts and 100M+ companies, sold as a go-to-market platform spanning sales, marketing, talent, and conversation intelligence. The company has a dual origin. DiscoverOrg was founded in 2007 by Henry Schuck and Kirk Brown, while the underlying “ZoomInfo” database brand traces back to Eliyon Technologies, founded in 2000 by Yonatan Stern and Michel Decary. DiscoverOrg acquired Zoom Information Inc. in February 2019 and rebranded the combined company as ZoomInfo. Henry Schuck has served as founder, CEO, and chairman since 2007, and was named to Fortune’s “40 Under 40” Class of 2020. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, and trades publicly on Nasdaq under the ticker GTM. Its core asset is a proprietary contact and company database, reported on zoominfo.com/about at 500M+ professional contacts (with 200M+ verified emails and 120M+ direct dials) and 100M+ company profiles, wrapped in a broader suite that spans sales (now branded GTM Workspace, formerly ZoomInfo Sales and Copilot), marketing, talent, and Chorus conversation intelligence. ZoomInfo does not publish pricing for its core platform anywhere on its own site; every dollar figure for that platform in this comparison comes from third-party pricing trackers or spend-benchmarking sources, not a ZoomInfo price list. Its separate GTM.AI product does publish a free, pay-as-you-go plan.
- Vendor
- ZoomInfo (zoominfo.com)
- Founded
- 2007 as DiscoverOrg (Henry Schuck, Kirk Brown); renamed ZoomInfo after the 2019 merger with Zoom Information Inc.
- HQ
- Vancouver, Washington, USA
- Public company
- Nasdaq: GTM
- Notable clients
- Snowflake, Seismic, monday.com, OUTFRONT Media, Nerdio, Syncro
- Public rating
- G2 4.5/5 (GTM Workspace, formerly ZoomInfo Sales; 9,189 reviews); Capterra 4.1/5 (322 reviews); checked October 2026. TrustRadius Top Rated across 7 categories
- G2 ranked #1 in 142 Spring 2026 reports (vendor press release)
- 7 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards, incl. Intent Data and Sales Intelligence
Pricing: what you'll actually pay
Clay publishes its full pricing ladder live (checked October 2026); ZoomInfo publishes none for its core platform, so every ZoomInfo core-platform figure below is a third-party estimate, not a vendor-confirmed number. ZoomInfo’s separate GTM.AI product does publish a free, pay-as-you-go plan. Verify both live before budgeting against them, especially Clay’s tier names, which changed on March 11, 2026 (Free/Launch/Growth replaced an older Starter/Explorer/Pro structure still honored for legacy customers).
| Clay | ZoomInfo | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0/mo (Free: 500 Actions, 100 Data Credits/mo) | Core platform quote-only; estimates start around $14,995/yr (Professional, reported naming). GTM.AI free plan: 1,000 data + 1,000 AI credits, then pay-as-you-go (~$0.38/data credit, $0.05/AI credit), checked October 2026 |
| Entry paid tier | $167/mo (Launch: 15,000 Actions, 3,000 Data Credits per the plan card (Clay’s FAQ says 2,500); headline price, checked October 2026) | ~$24,995/yr reported (Advanced tier, reported naming) |
| Mid/top self-serve tier | $446/mo (Growth: 40,000 Actions, 6,000 Data Credits; headline price, checked October 2026) | ~$39,995+/yr reported (Elite tier, reported naming) |
| Enterprise tier | Custom, annual; SSO, RBAC, SCIM; FAQ cites 200,000+ Actions and 100,000+ Data Credits | Custom, quote-only; no published ceiling. Live page lists Professional, Copilot Advanced, Copilot Enterprise |
| Billing model | Monthly or annual; usage-metered (Actions + Data Credits) | Annual contracts for the core platform (GTM Workspace); GTM.AI is pay-as-you-go |
| Seat minimums | None reported; unlimited seats on every published tier | 3-seat minimum reported by third parties; not shown on zoominfo.com/pricing |
| Typical real-world spend | $167-$446/mo self-serve; usage can spike with Data Credit burn at scale | $30,000-$60,000/yr all-in mid-market reported; median contract $33,500/yr across 1,577 purchases per Vendr, with 5-10% annual escalators cited |
Capability comparison
Clay and ZoomInfo solve different jobs, so a row-by-row table understates how different the two products actually are. Still, on the axes buyers tend to compare them on, ZoomInfo wins on data ownership, review volume, and product-suite breadth, while Clay wins on pricing transparency and workflow flexibility. ZoomInfo’s core platform stays quote-only and annual, but its separate GTM.AI product now offers a free, pay-as-you-go entry. Clay can also call ZoomInfo as one of its 200+ providers, so the two aren’t strictly either-or.
| Service | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| Data ownership | Provider-routing (waterfall across 150-200+ sources, incl. ZoomInfo) | ✓ Owns first-party database (500M+ contacts, 100M+ companies reported) |
| Self-serve signup / free tier | ✓ Free tier, $0/mo, 500 Actions/mo | Core platform is quote-only; GTM.AI has a free, pay-as-you-go plan |
| Published pricing | ✓ Full tier breakdown live at clay.com/pricing | Core platform not published (third-party estimates only); GTM.AI pricing is published |
| AI research agents / agentic workflow | ✓ Claygent (browses live company sites and news) | Partial - AI-driven insights within SalesOS, not an open agent layer |
| No-code orchestration (HTTP API, webhooks, CRM sync) | ✓ Core product mechanic | Partial - CRM enrichment/sync exists but isn’t the core mechanic |
| Product-suite breadth | Single core product (data + workflow + execution) | ✓ Full suite: Sales, Marketing, Talent, Chorus conversation intelligence |
| Review volume/maturity | 234 reviews on G2, 151 on TrustRadius, 1 on Capterra | ✓ 9,189 reviews on G2 (GTM Workspace); 322 on Capterra |
| Learning curve / who runs it | Steeper; needs comfort with tables, APIs, and prompts (RevOps/GTM engineer) | Lower; rep-led search and lookups out of the box |
| Contract flexibility | ✓ Monthly or annual; no seat minimum reported | Core platform annual (3-seat minimum reported by third parties); GTM.AI is pay-as-you-go |
| Named enterprise customers | ✓ OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Rippling, Intercom, Vanta | ✓ Snowflake, Seismic, monday.com, OUTFRONT Media |
| Formal award/recognition volume | Not publicly confirmed in this research pass | ✓ G2 leader across 400+ reports (vendor-reported); 7 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards |
Decision matrix - who fits which side
Clay vs ZoomInfo comes down to whether you want to build your own enrichment workflows across many providers (Clay) or buy one proprietary database and GTM suite (ZoomInfo).
| Criterion | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| Need a proprietary first-party database instead of provider-routing | ✕ | ✓ |
| Reps need to search and export with no RevOps builder | ✕ | ✓ |
| Have a technical RevOps/GTM engineer to build tables and workflows | ✓ | ✕ |
| Want a real free tier or low-cost self-serve entry | ✓ | ✕ |
| Need transparent, published pricing before you talk to sales | ✓ | ✕ |
| Want the largest, most mature third-party review base | ✕ | ✓ |
| Need AI research agents and no-code workflow orchestration | ✓ | ~ |
| Want a full GTM suite (Sales + Marketing + Talent + Conversation Intelligence) | ✕ | ✓ |
| Have a formal annual-contract procurement process and budget | ~ | ✓ |
| Want flexibility to route around a single provider’s data gaps | ✓ | ✕ |
| Are a small team or solo user with a tight budget | ✓ | ✕ |
| Want to use both tools together (Clay orchestrating ZoomInfo as one source) | ✓ | ✓ |
Check = clear edge. Tilde = capable but not the stronger pick. Cross = outside the model.
Strengths & tradeoffs
In Clay vs ZoomInfo, the two aren’t fighting for the same buyer in every case, and each side wins rows the other doesn’t.
| Axis | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| Data model | Provider-routing across 150-200+ sources, including ZoomInfo itself | Owns a first-party database (500M+ contacts, 100M+ companies reported) |
| Pricing transparency | Full tier breakdown published live at clay.com/pricing | Core platform quote-only, with no published price list; GTM.AI publishes pay-as-you-go pricing |
| Entry cost | $0/mo free tier, $167/mo Launch tier | ~$14,995/yr reported entry tier (SalesOS Professional), third-party estimate |
| Contract terms | Monthly or annual; no seat minimum reported | Core platform on annual contracts; 3-seat minimum reported by third parties; GTM.AI is pay-as-you-go |
| Workflow/automation depth | Claygent AI agents plus no-code HTTP/webhook orchestration and outbound execution | AI-driven insights within SalesOS; not built around an open agent/workflow layer |
| Product-suite breadth | Single core product (data, workflow, and execution in one) | Full suite: Sales, Marketing, Talent, Chorus conversation intelligence |
| Review volume | 234 on G2, 151 on TrustRadius, 1 on Capterra; still a newer, smaller sample | 9,189 on G2 (GTM Workspace), 322 on Capterra; more statistical weight |
| Learning curve | Real, review-corroborated learning curve; building tables and workflows takes ramp-up | Reviewers describe it as easy to use for straightforward lookups |
| Cost predictability | Usage-metered Actions and Data Credits can burn faster than expected at scale | Fixed annual contract, but recurring complaints about opaque pricing and aggressive renewal practices |
| Data freshness / non-US coverage | Depends entirely on whichever underlying provider it routes to | Some reviewers report contact records can take close to a year to update after a job change; weaker non-US coverage |
| Named customers | OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Rippling, Intercom, Vanta | Snowflake, Seismic, monday.com, OUTFRONT Media |
| Formal recognition | No confirmed industry award or certification surfaced in this research pass | G2 leader across 400+ reports (vendor-reported); 7 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards |
Ratings & track record
On ratings, Clay vs ZoomInfo is a contest of depth against volume: Clay’s review base is smaller and newer, while ZoomInfo’s spans thousands of reviews.
| Metric | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| G2 rating (checked October 2026) | 4.6/5 | 4.5/5 (GTM Workspace, formerly ZoomInfo Sales) |
| G2 review count (checked October 2026) | 234 | 9,189 |
| Capterra (checked October 2026) | 5.0/5 from 1 review (too few to compare) | 4.1/5 (322 reviews) |
| TrustRadius (0-10 scale) | 9.3/10 (151 ratings, checked October 2026) | 8.2/10 (1,879 ratings, from the search index; live page returned a 404) |
| Founded | 2017 | 2007 as DiscoverOrg; renamed ZoomInfo after a 2019 merger |
| Public company | Private, venture-backed | Public, Nasdaq: GTM |
| Notable signal | $7.1B valuation at a $115M Series D led by Wellington Management (September 2026) | Ranked #1 in 142 G2 Spring 2026 reports; named leader across 400+ reports (vendor press release) |
These figures were read live in October 2026, except ZoomInfo’s TrustRadius score, which comes from the search index because the live page returned a 404. ZoomInfo’s main G2 listing is now “GTM Workspace - Powered by ZoomInfo,” the upgraded version of the former ZoomInfo Sales and Copilot listings, which is why older write-ups quote different review counts. TrustRadius uses a 0-10 composite score rather than a 5-star average, so its scores shouldn’t be read next to G2 or Capterra’s 5-star numbers without converting the scale. On raw volume, ZoomInfo is clearly ahead; on headline score, the two land in similar territory. For a wider view of the category, see our roundup of the best B2B lead generation companies.
Both tools’ data is sourced from publicly available information, verified against vendor pricing pages, vendor case studies, and third-party review aggregators, with ratings and pricing re-checked live in October 2026 (ZoomInfo’s TrustRadius score is from the search index, as the live page returned a 404). Clay’s “500,000+ GTM teams” figure and ZoomInfo’s exact contact-database size are both self-reported by the respective vendor and not independently audited. Neither company’s SOC 2 or ISO certification status could be confirmed either way. This comparison is independent; we take no affiliate or referral fees from either vendor.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Clay and ZoomInfo?
Is Clay better than ZoomInfo?
Can Clay and ZoomInfo be used together?
Which is cheaper, Clay or ZoomInfo?
Clay vs ZoomInfo: which has the better rating?
Is ZoomInfo free?
How much does ZoomInfo cost in 2026?
Is Clay like ZoomInfo?
Where can I find more options beyond Clay and ZoomInfo?
Sources and references
- Clay homepage (accessed August 2026)
- Clay pricing (accessed October 2026)
- Clay customer case studies (accessed August 2026)
- Clay: Anthropic case study (accessed August 2026)
- fwdstart: Clay founder background and valuation (accessed August 2026)
- BldUp: Clay expands NYC headquarters at 11 Madison Avenue (accessed August 2026)
- Sequoia Capital: Clay portfolio profile (accessed August 2026)
- Forbes Australia: Clay valuation coverage (accessed August 2026)
- Warmly.ai: Clay pricing breakdown (accessed August 2026)
- Enrich.so: Clay review (accessed August 2026)
- Enrich.so: Clay comparison (waterfall enrichment) (accessed August 2026)
- G2: Clay reviews (accessed October 2026)
- Capterra: Clay profile (accessed October 2026)
- TrustRadius: Clay reviews (accessed October 2026)
- Wikipedia: ZoomInfo (accessed August 2026)
- ZoomInfo: Henry Schuck leadership bio (accessed August 2026)
- ZoomInfo: about page (accessed August 2026)
- ZoomInfo: case studies index (accessed August 2026)
- ZoomInfo: Snowflake case study (accessed August 2026)
- G2: GTM Workspace (Powered by ZoomInfo) reviews (accessed October 2026)
- Businesswire: ZoomInfo ranks No. 1 in 142 G2 Spring 2026 reports (accessed August 2026)
- ZoomInfo IR: TrustRadius Top Rated Awards press release (accessed August 2026)
- Capterra: ZoomInfo Sales reviews (accessed October 2026)
- ZoomInfo pricing (plan names, core platform) (accessed October 2026)
- Factors.ai: ZoomInfo pricing guide (accessed August 2026)
- Nasdaq: ZoomInfo Technologies (GTM) listing (accessed August 2026)
- Cleanlist: ZoomInfo pricing guide (SalesOS tier figures) (accessed August 2026)
- Vendr: ZoomInfo buyer guide (median contract value) (accessed October 2026)
- The Next Web: Clay raises $115M Series D at $7.1B valuation (accessed October 2026)
- GTM.AI pricing (free plan + pay-as-you-go credits) (accessed October 2026)
- ZoomInfo: about (database size, 500M+ contacts) (accessed October 2026)
- ZoomInfo: Clay vs ZoomInfo comparison (vendor claim) (accessed October 2026)
Want an outside opinion before you commit?
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