# Clay vs Clearbit

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to Clearbit's 13.5 (F) for lead enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-14

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Clearbit's 13.5 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do lead enrichment.

- Clay: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #633 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clay.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clay.json
- Clearbit: grade F, 13.5/100, rank #1056 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/clearbit.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clearbit.json
- Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/lead-data/index.md
- All 171 leads comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lead-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Clay (C)

Good for: Agents building prospect lists and enriching contacts or accounts through many providers at once.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 30
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 0
- Agent ergonomics, 66 against 0
- Security & auth, 48 against 8
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 4

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: API keys carry no scopes and act with the user's workspace access

### Clearbit (F)

Good for: Only for teams that already hold a Clearbit contract.

Watch for: No public API or MCP server an outside agent can call


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clay | Clearbit | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 30 | Clay +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 0 | Clay +84 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 0 | Clay +66 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 8 | Clay +40 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 0 | Clay +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 4 | Clay +71 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 66 | Clearbit +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **13.5 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Clearbit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | HubSpot, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence file | Proprietary service under the Clearbit Terms of Service (30 May 2025), provided by HubSpot, Inc. under the Clearbit brand |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2025-12-08 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | 2025-05-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | 2026-08-31 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |

## Verdicts

**Clay.** A documented Public API with an OpenAPI spec, llms.txt and plan-capped search, plus a JSON-first CLI released several times a fortnight, give agents Clay's people search and multi-provider enrichment. Keys have no scopes, the Claude Code plugin auto-approves most CLI calls, and the privacy policy dates from 2020.

**Clearbit.** There is no public API or MCP server an outside agent can call today. Clearbit's APIs still run for existing customers behind a login, and its free tools and Logo API were retired in 2025. HubSpot's Breeze Intelligence is the route for new buyers, through HubSpot rather than Clearbit.

## Before you call either

### Clay

1. Fetch GET /search/query-mode/reference before writing a search query
2. Poll routine results until a terminal 200, since 202 means still running
3. Expect HTTP 402 when a plan's search cap is hit, and tell the user the reset date
4. Check GET /credits/balance before large batch runs
5. Ask the user before enabling the plugin's auto-approve hook in a shared workspace

### Clearbit

1. Don't plan to call Clearbit. Hand the task to a person with an existing Clearbit account, or use HubSpot's Breeze Intelligence through HubSpot
2. Replace logo.clearbit.com links, which stopped working after 8 December 2025

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Clay or Clearbit?

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Clearbit's 13.5 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Clay and Clearbit need an API key?

Clay takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Clearbit needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Clay and Clearbit without installing anything?

Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0. No hosted endpoint is listed for Clearbit.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "clay", "b": "clearbit"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare clay clearbit`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clay.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/clearbit.json

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