Clay was built for
spreadsheet campaigns.
Cargo is built for revenue pipelines.
Same enrichment data. Same CRM integrations.50–80% less cost, and no ceiling on how complex your workflows can get.
Built from verified pricing data. Check the math yourself in the calculator below.
The new pricing punishes power users. Most are already looking for the exit.
Clay's price change broke our unit economics. We're moving everything to Cargo.
We hit the Action ceiling in week two. Cargo has no ceiling. That's it. That's the difference.
cheaper work email finds
1.01 credits vs ~4 on Clay
cheaper mobile phones
6.01 credits vs ~14.7 on Clay
cheaper orchestration
0.01 credits vs 1 Action on Clay
workflow complexity
Unlimited actions vs Clay's 40K/mo hard limit
The real difference
Clay is a data marketplace. Cargo is GTM infrastructure.
Clay charges two separate meters, Data Credits for enrichment, Actions for everything else, with hard caps that push you to Enterprise. Cargo uses one credit pool for everything.
Clay
Data Credits , enrichment
Actions , every step, push, branch, AI call
Growth: 40K Actions/mo hard limit. Hit it and you're in Enterprise territory.
Cargo
One credit pool , data + orchestration
Orchestration: 0.01 credits/step , ~1% of your bill
No Action ceiling. No plan upgrade forced by complexity.
Unique to Cargo
What Cargo does that Clay doesn't
Advanced lead routing
Territory management, capacity limits per rep, weighted distribution, fallback rules. Round-robin with real-time capacity tracking, not just a lookup table.
Pipeline governance
Auto-retry policies, run history, version control, role-based access (editor vs admin). Run observability built in, know exactly what fired and when.
Deep CRM write-back
Upsert any field including custom objects. Skip-if-exists logic. Expression-based field mapping. 5 trigger types: manual, real-time, interval, cron, dependency.
Unified data layer
First and third-party data unified into structured data models, contacts, companies, opportunities. Not a spreadsheet. A live operational database that powers your entire GTM.
No record caps
Clay tables cap at 50K rows and 75 columns. Cargo has no table size limits. Run enrichment and orchestration on your full CRM, 500K records, unlimited fields.
Slack AI agent for reps
Reps enrich accounts, qualify leads, run research, and push to CRM, all from Slack. Self-serve access to your GTM infrastructure without touching the platform.
Claude Code & CLI integration
Your AI coding assistant can operate your entire GTM stack. Build and deploy workflows, trigger runs, query your data models, all from Claude Code, Cursor, or the terminal.
Full comparison
Everything on the table
We've marked Clay's genuine wins. No spin.
ClayPricing model
Cost model
Cost model
One credit pool, data + orchestration
Two meters: Data Credits + Actions separately
Orchestration cost
Orchestration cost
0.01 credits per node (~$0.0009)
1 Action per step (~$0.002)
BYOK enrichment
BYOK enrichment
0.01 credits (node only)
1 Action per call, same as managed
Action ceiling
Action ceiling
None, unlimited workflow complexity
15K (Launch) / 40K (Growth) hard limit
CRM integrations (SF/HubSpot)
CRM integrations (SF/HubSpot)
All plans
Growth plan only ($495+/mo)
Records & table limits
Records & table limits
Unlimited rows and fields
50K rows/table, 75 column limit
Top-up pricing
Top-up pricing
Same credit rate
30% premium on extra Data Credits
Enrichment costs
Work email find
Work email find
1.01 credits
~3 Data Credits + 1 Action
Email verification
Email verification
0.11 credits
1 Data Credit + 1 Action
Mobile phone (waterfall)
Mobile phone (waterfall)
6.01 credits
~13.7 Data Credits + 1 Action
Company enrichment
Company enrichment
1.01 credits
~1 Data Credit + 1 Action
Person enrichment
Person enrichment
0.51 credits
~4 Data Credits + 1 Action
LinkedIn profile enrich
LinkedIn profile enrich
0.26 credits
0.25 Data Credits + 1 Action
Platform capabilities
Workflow orchestration
Workflow orchestration
Full, no step limit, no ceiling
Capped by Action limits per plan
Pre-built templates
Pre-built templates
Growing library
100+ ready-to-use table templates
Non-technical UX
Non-technical UX
Code-optional workflow builder
Spreadsheet-first, drag-and-drop
Trigger options
Trigger options
Manual, real-time, interval, cron, dependency
Manual, scheduled
CRM write-back
CRM write-back
Any field, custom objects, skip-if-exists
Standard field mapping
Lead routing & territory mgmt
Lead routing & territory mgmt
Native, capacity, weight, territory rules
Not available
Pipeline governance
Pipeline governance
Retry policies, run history, versioning, RBAC
Not available
Slack AI agent for reps
Slack AI agent for reps
Self-serve enrichment & CRM push from Slack
Not available
Unified data layer (1st + 3rd party)
Unified data layer (1st + 3rd party)
Companies + contacts as structured models
Table-based (spreadsheet)
Claude Code / CLI / SDK
Claude Code / CLI / SDK
Native npm package, TypeScript SDK, MCP
Not available
Human review / approval step
Human review / approval step
Built-in (pause + route via Slack)
Via Slack integration (send for approval)
Native LinkedIn actions
Native LinkedIn actions
Full suite, all plans included
Not available natively
Waterfall enrichment
Waterfall enrichment
150+ providers
150+ providers
Sales Navigator integration
Sales Navigator integration
Native, all plans
Not available natively
Community & ecosystem
Community & ecosystem
Growing community
Large SDR community, strong brand recognition
Pricing calculator
See your exact number
Input your workflow or your current Clay plan. Every figure uses verified live pricing data, no estimates in your favor.
Enrichments / month
Workflow complexity
Your estimated cost
8,840 total credits
Clay34,000 Actions used
66%
cheaper
$1,530
saved / month
$18,360
saved / year
Being straight with you
When Clay is the right call
We'd rather earn your trust than oversell. Clay is a good product for specific use cases.
Low-volume manual campaigns
Below ~500 enrichments/month, Clay's included credits can cover your usage. Their spreadsheet UX is excellent for SDRs running one-off campaigns.
Spreadsheet-first exploration
Clay's table UI lets reps manually drag, filter, and eyeball data row by row. For ad-hoc research where you don't need automation, that hands-on feel is genuinely useful.
SDR teams already fluent in it
Clay has real brand recognition in the SDR community. Tool familiarity has switching costs. If your team lives in Clay for manual prospecting, factor that in.
Engineer your growth now
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