# Clay vs Fuse MCP

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to Fuse MCP's 47.9 (D) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fuse-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fuse-mcp.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fuse-mcp.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fuse-mcp.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 Fuse MCP's 47.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. 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
- Fuse MCP: grade D, 47.9/100, rank #883 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fuse-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fuse-mcp.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 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)

Good 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.

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

| Category | Weight | Clay | Fuse MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 40 | Clay +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 72 | Clay +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 57 | Clay +9 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 45 | Clay +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 35 | Clay +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 49 | Clay +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **47.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Fuse MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | FuseAI, LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://mcp.fuseai.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence file | Proprietary hosted service under FuseAI's terms of service. No public source repository found |
| Tools exposed | none | 290 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | 2026-07-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | 2026-07-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| 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 | yes |

## 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.


## For agents

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

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