# Clay vs Crustdata API + MCP

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to Crustdata's 53.4 (D) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-crustdata
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-crustdata.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-crustdata.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-crustdata.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 Crustdata API + MCP's 53.4 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Crustdata API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do lead search.

- 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
- Crustdata API + MCP: grade D, 53.4/100, rank #751 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crustdata.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crustdata.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:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 5
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 67
- Transparency & trust, 64 against 55

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Crustdata API + MCP loses 3 points for them

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

### Crustdata API + MCP (D)

Good for: Agents that monitor companies, people, jobs or posts over time and need change notifications.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 84
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 66
- Security & auth, 56 against 48

Watch for: No status page and no SLA


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clay | Crustdata API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 45 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 89 | Crustdata API + MCP +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 73 | Crustdata API + MCP +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 56 | Crustdata API + MCP +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 5 | Clay +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 67 | Clay +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 55 | Clay +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **53.4 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Crustdata API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | Crustdata |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://api.crustdata.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence file | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | 2025-05-19 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| 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 |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## 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.

**Crustdata API + MCP.** Per-field credit prices, readable per account from `/account/endpoints`, and `X-Credits-Used` on every response. No status page and no SLA.

## 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

### Crustdata API + MCP

1. Always send `x-api-version: 2025-11-01`. Unpinned calls get the latest version
2. Call `/account/endpoints` first to see what your plan enables and what each field costs
3. Ask only for the premium field groups you need, since each one bills
4. Poll `GET /batch/{id}` before submitting more batch jobs. Active jobs count against a cap of 5 to 30
5. Read the `crustdata://catalog` resource before calling MCP tools

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Clay or Crustdata API + MCP?

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Crustdata API + MCP's 53.4 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Crustdata API + MCP leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do Clay and Crustdata API + MCP need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Clay and Crustdata API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0 and Crustdata API + MCP at https://api.crustdata.com.


## For agents

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

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