# Clay vs Dropcontact API + MCP

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to Dropcontact's 50.9 (D) for lead enrichment. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-dropcontact
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-dropcontact.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-dropcontact.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-dropcontact.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 Dropcontact API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Dropcontact API + MCP leads on reliability, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. 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
- Dropcontact API + MCP: grade D, 50.9/100, rank #813 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dropcontact.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dropcontact.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:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 41
- Agent ergonomics, 66 against 60
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 18

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

### Dropcontact API + MCP (D)

Good for: European teams cleaning and completing contact lists where GDPR handling matters more than coverage.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 57 against 45
- Security & auth, 59 against 48
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 64

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No OpenAPI spec, llms.txt or changelog


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clay | Dropcontact API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 57 | Dropcontact API + MCP +12 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 41 | Clay +43 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 60 | Clay +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 59 | Dropcontact API + MCP +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Dropcontact API + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 18 | Clay +57 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 71 | Dropcontact API + MCP +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **50.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Dropcontact API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | Dropcontact |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://api.dropcontact.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| 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 | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | 2025-08-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | 2020-06-04 |
| 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 | 3.5/5 (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.

**Dropcontact API + MCP.** Pay on success, with credits refunded when no email is found. No OpenAPI spec, llms.txt or changelog.

## 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

### Dropcontact API + MCP

1. Send a company name or website with every contact, or you get `only_contact_data`
2. Send only documented fields. New accounts get a 400 for unknown ones
3. Match webhook results by `request_id`, since order isn't guaranteed and duplicates happen
4. Poll no faster than every 30 seconds, as the not-ready response asks
5. Post an empty contact to read the credit balance at no cost

## Questions

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

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Dropcontact API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Dropcontact API + MCP leads on reliability, security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

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

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

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

Yes. Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0 and Dropcontact API + MCP at https://api.dropcontact.com/v1.


## For agents

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

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