If you’re running B2B outreach, sales, or marketing — especially with limited resources — choosing the right data and enrichment tool can make or break your lead generation strategy. Two names you’ll often see in discussions are Clay and ZoomInfo. Both promise access to company and contact data, but they approach the problem very differently.
This post dives deep into Clay vs ZoomInfo — how they collect and present data, pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and which one works for what kind of team. My goal here is to give you a balanced, human-friendly breakdown — so you don’t have to sift through marketing jargon and “best-tool” hype.
Quick Overview: What Are Clay and ZoomInfo
What is Clay?
Clay is a modern data-enrichment and GTM (go-to-market) automation platform that doesn’t rely on a fixed internal database. Instead, Clay connects to 100+ external data sources (public web, social profiles, company websites, other enrichment vendors, etc.) and offers a credit-based model to “enrich” leads with as much info as you need.
With a spreadsheet-like, no-code interface, Clay lets you build custom workflows: enrich leads, scrape websites, aggregate data, and then export or sync to CRMs or sheets of your choice.
It’s geared toward flexibility, personalization, and teams who want to build their own data stack rather than buy a pre-made database.
What is ZoomInfo?
ZoomInfo is one of the oldest, largest, and most widely used B2B databases. It provides a massive pre-compiled database of company and contact information, with millions (or hundreds of millions) of records — including phone numbers, firmographics, technographics, buyer intent signals, and more.
ZoomInfo is built as an all-in-one enterprise-grade tool: data, filtering, intent signals, CRM integrations, and outreach capabilities, all under one roof. It’s designed for larger sales teams, enterprises, or organizations that need breadth, reliability, and volume.
Comparison:
Data, Enrichment & Automation
Data Sources & Approach
Clay: Rather than owning its own data, Clay aggregates from many third-party sources (web, social, enrichment APIs, etc.). That means you can combine multiple sources — giving you flexibility and potentially broader coverage, especially for niche or non-standard info.
ZoomInfo: Uses its proprietary, curated database — meaning data is pre-collected, maintained, and verified by ZoomInfo. Large scale, standardized, and ready to use.
Enrichment & Automation Capabilities
Clay : lets you build custom enrichment workflows: automatically pull in fresh info, run web scraping, enrich contacts and companies, and export results — all without code. Great for teams that want control over what data they capture and when.
ZoomInfo: Offers built-in workflows, intent data, filtering, and lead signals — making it easier to quickly segment and identify prospects.
CRM & Integration Support
Clay: supports native integration (or export) with CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive — as well as with sales-engagement tools like Salesloft. Its HTTP-API support also lets you connect custom tools if you have API access.
ZoomInfo: ZoomInfo provides official integrations with major CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Dynamics 365.It also connects with platforms like Salesloft to sync enriched contact and intent data.Features vary by plan, but the core integrations are accurate and supported.
Pricing & Cost Structure
Pricing is one of the biggest dividing lines between Clay and ZoomInfo — and a major reason why different kinds of teams choose one over the other.
Clay Pricing
- Clay uses a credit-based system. At a basic level, you get a free plan 1200 credits/ year (100 credits/month) — good for testing and small-scale tasks.
- Paid plans begin around $134/month for 2400 credits/ year. As usage scales (more credits), cost per contact/enrichment goes down.
- Because it’s usage/credits-based and not per-user, costs remain predictable and scalable depending on how much data you enrich — which can be a big plus for small teams or lean operations.
- There is also a Custom Credits option, which is best for large teams
ZoomInfo Pricing
- ZoomInfo does not publicly list simple pricing. Instead, pricing tends to be custom, enterprise-level, often with annual contracts and per-seat/user model.
- Users and reviewers often report that the start cost tends to be five-figures per year — making it a significant investment upfront.
- Because of this, ZoomInfo tends to become more cost-effective (relatively) only for large teams with high data volume needs, frequent outreach, or enterprise pipelines.
Pros & Cons
Clay
Pros:
- Highly customizable — build enrichment workflows tailored to your business.
- Great for budget-conscious teams — credit-based, scalable, no big upfront cost or per-seat fees.
- Flexible integrations — you can plug in many data sources and connect to CRMs or spreadsheets.
- Good for smaller teams, startups, or those doing personalized/outbound outreach rather than mass lists.
Cons:
- Not a ready-made, all-in-one end-to-end tool: you’ll likely need external tools for outreach (email sequencing, dialers, etc.) if you want full outbound workflows.
- For very large volumes or highly structured enterprise workflows, it may require more manual setup.
ZoomInfo
Pros:
- Massive, quality-checked B2B database — company info, contact data, firmographics, intent signals, and more, all ready to use.
- Built-in intent data, buyer signals, robust filtering and segmentation
- Smooth integrations and CRM-native workflows — good for teams needing end-to-end outreach
- More enterprise-grade: mature structure, likely to have compliance, support, and established workflows for bigger teams or regulated industries.
Cons:
- High cost and usually requires yearly contract commitment
- Less flexibility for custom workflows or enrichment beyond what’s built-in: you get what’s in the database, not necessarily customizable or enriched fields.
When to Use Clay and When to Use ZoomInfo
Clay if
- You care about cost efficiency and want to pay-as-you-go rather than commit big upfront.
- You want to customize enrichment, use multiple data sources, build your own workflows, or combine different tools for prospecting.
- You are focused on niche or personalized outreach, or want to enrich leads from non-standard sources (e.g. emerging markets, small companies, obscure domains).
ZoomInfo if
- You need massive data coverage, with structured, verified, and global B2B data.
- You want built-in intent data, filters, CRM sync, and outreach support all in one unified tool.
- You’re comfortable with higher pricing, long-term contracts, and paying for full-feature enterprise tools.
Realistic Trade-offs — What Neither Tool Solves Alone
It’s important to keep expectations realistic. Both Clay and ZoomInfo have strengths — and blind spots.
- While using Clay, you might get flexibility and cost-efficiency — but you’ll likely need additional tools for outreach (email sequencing, CRM, dialer), data hygiene, or compliance if you scale big.
- If you’re using ZoomInfo, you may get breadth, power, and convenience — but for smaller teams or niche targeting, you may end up overpaying or underutilizing many features.
- Clay is ideal for teams that want control, customization, and efficient lead enrichment without a big upfront cost. It’s especially suitable for startups, niche outreach, experimentation, or lean GTM operations.
- ZoomInfo is a robust, enterprise-grade, all-in-one solution — ideal for organizations needing scale, consistency, global data, built-in intent signals, and integrated workflows.
- For many GTM teams, a hybrid approach works best: use Clay when you want flexibility, testing, enrichment of niche lists; use ZoomInfo when you need broad market coverage, large-scale outreach, and stable enterprise data.
There’s no “one-size-fits-all winner.” The right choice depends on your team size, budget, outreach volume, and how structured or flexible you want your processes to be.
If your team is small or just starting out — I’d lean toward Clay. If you scale, grow fast, or need enterprise-grade support and data — ZoomInfo makes sense.
Looking for a Smarter, Budget-Friendly Alternative? Try Lighteningly.
It combines real-time data sourcing, AI-powered enrichment, and multi-channel workflows in one streamlined platform. You get a flexible setup—without needing multiple tools or expensive annual subscriptions.
With Lighteningly, you can:
- Build custom lead-gen workflows without complexity
- Source fresh, active leads from real-time channels
- Enrich, verify, and score leads automatically
- Run targeted email and LinkedIn outreach from the same workflow
- Get predictable, transparent pricing—no long-term contracts
Whether you’re a startup trying to scale outbound or a growing team wanting fresher, higher-quality leads, Lighteningly gives you a fast, cost-effective way to run your entire lead engine.