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Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Clay vs Fuse MCP

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Fuse MCP's 47.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do lead search.

Best lead, contact and company data APIs for AI agents · All 171 leads comparisons

ClayClay Labs Inc. · HTTP API C57.7/100#633 of 1076 Fuse MCPFuseAI, LLC · MCP server D47.9/100#883 of 1076

Which one, for what

Clay C

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

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 45 against 40
  • Schema & documentation, 84 against 72
  • Agent ergonomics, 66 against 57
  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 35
  • Transparency & trust, 64 against 49

Watch for

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

Fuse MCP D

Best for Suited to a salesperson or founder who wants an assistant to build prospect lists, enrich them and run email and LinkedIn outreach inside one Fuse account.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

The only OAuth scope is mcp:tools, so a connection can do everything its user can, including sending email and LinkedIn messages

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runClayFuse MCPEdge
Reliability16%204540Clay +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28472Clay +12
Agent ergonomics13%16.26657Clay +9
Security & auth14%17.54845Clay +3
Payments & pricing10%12.53030even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87535Clay +40
Transparency & trust7%8.86449Clay +15
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 57.7/100D 47.9/100

Facts side by side

FactClayFuse MCP
KindHTTP APIMCP server
VendorClay Labs Inc.FuseAI, LLC
Hosted endpointhttps://api.clay.com/public/v0https://mcp.fuseai.com
TransportsHTTPStreamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence fileProprietary hosted service under FuseAI's terms of service. No public source repository found
Tools exposednone290
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-062026-10-07
Terms last updated2024-05-232026-07-01
Privacy policy last updated2020-09-112026-07-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes

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.

Fuse MCP

The server documents 290 tools with read-only and destructive annotations, OAuth with PKCE and dynamic client registration, and published limits of 60 requests a minute. The single mcp:tools scope grants everything the user can do, sends happen at once with no undo, and no status page, changelog or security contact was found.

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

Fuse MCP

  1. Keep the client's approval prompt on for every tool that is not read-only. Sends, CRM pushes and Slack posts run at once with no undo
  2. Launch a campaign only on an explicit request. Creating one makes a draft, and update_campaign_status_tool starts real outreach
  3. Call get_credits_balance and get_credit_prices first. Every call needs at least 100 credits, and searches cost 2 credits a result
  4. Resolve filter values with lookup_filter_values or get_company_search_enums before search_people or search_companies
  5. Start long work with deep_research_start, then poll deep_research_status. A tool call has 60 seconds, and runs take 5 to 20 minutes

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Clay or Fuse MCP?

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Fuse MCP's 47.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Do Clay and Fuse MCP need an API key?

Clay takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Fuse MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Clay and Fuse MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0 and Fuse MCP at https://mcp.fuseai.com.

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