Clay vs ZoomInfo
Sabari Rohith
Last updated on
Every agency in this list is independently scored against the same rubric: pricing transparency, pipeline attribution, B2B SaaS specialization, team structure, and verified Clutch / G2 reviews. No paid placements, no editorial swaps.
Learn more about our review methodology →
The short answer
Clay and ZoomInfo get grouped together because both show up when GTM teams search for “sales data tools,” but they aren’t really substitutes. Clay, founded in 2017, is a data-orchestration and workflow platform: it queries 200+ third-party providers, including ZoomInfo itself according to third-party reviews of its waterfall enrichment, in sequence until it finds a match, then layers on AI research agents and outbound automation. ZoomInfo, which traces back to DiscoverOrg’s 2007 founding, is a proprietary B2B contact and company database with its own first-party data asset, wrapped in a full go-to-market suite spanning Sales, Marketing, Talent, and Chorus conversation intelligence. Plenty of teams run both at once: Clay for flexible, self-serve orchestration and workflow logic, ZoomInfo as one of the data sources Clay can call into. The honest framing below is which job you’re hiring for, not which tool wins outright.
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 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 (320M+ contacts 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) | Quote-only; no published starting price (third-party estimates from ~$14,995/yr) |
| Data model | Waterfall-routes across 200+ third-party providers, incl. ZoomInfo | Owns its own first-party database (320M+ contacts reported) |
| Review base | Dozens to low hundreds of reviews across G2/Capterra/TrustRadius | Thousands of reviews; ~12,900+ reported at the seller-rollup level |
| Public rating | G2 reported in the high-4s (4.5-4.9/5); figures vary by source/date | G2 reported 4.5/5 (ZoomInfo Sales); Capterra reported ~4.2/5 |
| 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 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 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. Clay was last valued at $3.1B in a $100M Series C led by CapitalG in August 2025, with Meritech, Sequoia, First Round, BoxGroup, boldstart, and Sapphire also participating. That followed 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 C 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
- $3.1B valuation at a $100M Series C led by CapitalG (August 2025); up from ~$1.25B in January 2025 and a $500M Series B in June 2024
- Notable clients
- OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Rippling, Intercom, Vanta, Figma, Harmonic
- Public rating
- G2 reported in the high-4s (4.5-4.9/5); review count and score vary materially by source and date, so verify live before quoting an exact figure
ZoomInfo
ZoomInfo 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 by third parties at 320M+ professional contacts and 100M+ company profiles, wrapped in a broader suite that spans Sales (SalesOS), Marketing, Talent, and Chorus conversation intelligence. ZoomInfo does not publish pricing anywhere on its own site; every dollar figure in this comparison comes from third-party pricing trackers or spend-benchmarking sources, not a ZoomInfo price list.
- 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 reported 4.5/5 (ZoomInfo Sales); Capterra reported ~4.2/5 (280-321 reviews); 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; ZoomInfo publishes none of its own, so every ZoomInfo figure below is a third-party estimate, not a vendor-confirmed number. Verify both live before budgeting against them, especially Clay’s post-March-2026 tier names, which 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) | Quote-only; third-party estimates start around $14,995/yr (SalesOS Professional) |
| Entry paid tier | $167/mo (Launch: 15,000 Actions, 3,000 Data Credits) | ~$24,995/yr reported (SalesOS Advanced) |
| Mid/top self-serve tier | $446/mo (Growth: 40,000 Actions, 6,000 Data Credits) | ~$39,995+/yr reported (SalesOS Elite) |
| Enterprise tier | Custom, annual commitment; 100,000+ Actions/mo, SSO, RBAC | Custom, quote-only; no published ceiling |
| Billing model | Monthly or annual; usage-metered (Actions + Data Credits) | Annual contracts only; no monthly billing reported |
| Seat minimums | None reported; unlimited seats on every published tier | 3-seat minimum reported on annual contracts |
| 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 per Vendr |
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, self-serve access, and workflow flexibility. 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 200+ sources, incl. ZoomInfo) | ✓ Owns first-party database (320M+ contacts reported) |
| Self-serve signup / free tier | ✓ Free tier, $0/mo, 500 Actions/mo | ✕ Quote-only; no self-serve tier or trial pricing published |
| Published pricing | ✓ Full tier breakdown live at clay.com/pricing | ✕ Not published; third-party estimates only |
| 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 | Dozens to low hundreds of reviews across platforms | ✓ Thousands of reviews; ~12,900+ reported at the seller-rollup level |
| Contract flexibility | ✓ Monthly or annual; no seat minimum reported | ✕ Annual contracts only; 3-seat minimum reported |
| 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; 7 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards |
Decision matrix - who fits which side
| Criterion | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| Need a proprietary first-party database instead of provider-routing | ✕ | ✓ |
| 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
Clay and ZoomInfo 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 200+ sources, including ZoomInfo itself | Owns a first-party database (320M+ contacts, 100M+ companies reported) |
| Pricing transparency | Full tier breakdown published live at clay.com/pricing | Quote-only; no published price list anywhere on the site |
| 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 | Annual contracts only; 3-seat minimum reported |
| 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 | Dozens to low hundreds of reviews across platforms; still a newer, smaller sample | Thousands of reviews, ~12,900+ reported at the seller-rollup level, 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; 7 TrustRadius Top Rated Awards |
Ratings & track record
| Metric | Clay | ZoomInfo |
|---|---|---|
| G2 rating (as reported) | High-4s (4.5-4.9/5); varies by source and date | 4.5/5 (ZoomInfo Sales product) |
| G2 review count (as reported) | Dozens to ~300 (varies by aggregator) | ~9,000-12,900+ (varies by which ZoomInfo listing is pulled) |
| Capterra | ~4.7/5 reported; exact review count unconfirmed | ~4.2/5 (280-321 reviews reported) |
| TrustRadius | No numeric score surfaced; qualitative themes only | Top Rated designation; 1,879 ratings reported on a 0-10 composite scale, not 5-star |
| Founded | 2017 | 2007 as DiscoverOrg; renamed ZoomInfo after a 2019 merger |
| Public company | Private, venture-backed | Public, Nasdaq: GTM |
| Notable signal | $3.1B valuation at a $100M Series C led by CapitalG (August 2025) | Ranked #1 in 142 G2 Spring 2026 reports; named leader across 400+ reports (vendor press release) |
Every review-page URL checked for this comparison, on G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius, for both vendors, returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch. That’s a bot-wall, not a dead page; all of them are live and indexed per search results, but none of the numbers above could be confirmed first-hand, so they’re reported figures rather than screenshotted ones. ZoomInfo also has multiple separate G2 listings (ZoomInfo Sales, ZoomInfo Marketing, GTM Workspace, plus a seller-level rollup), which is why its review counts range so widely depending on which listing gets pulled. TrustRadius uses a 0-10 composite score rather than a 5-star average, so its ZoomInfo score 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, with Clay’s exact number moving the most across sources given how young and fast-growing its review base still is. 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 on 7 August 2026. Direct G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius review-page fetches returned HTTP 403 for both vendors on every URL checked in this pass; the ratings above come from search-indexed snippets and should be re-checked live before relying on them. 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?
Which tool has the better rating?
Where can I find more options beyond Clay and ZoomInfo?
Sources and references
- Clay homepage (accessed August 2026)
- Clay pricing (accessed August 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 August 2026)
- Capterra: Clay profile (accessed August 2026)
- TrustRadius: Clay reviews (accessed August 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: ZoomInfo Sales reviews (accessed August 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 August 2026)
- TrustRadius: ZoomInfo Sales reviews (accessed August 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 August 2026)
Want an outside opinion before you commit?
This comparison is independent — we don't take referral fees from either agency. If you'd like a second read from a B2B SaaS specialist on which fits your stage, PipeRocket is happy to give you an honest one. No obligation.
Book Free Audit