# Clay vs Hunter API + MCP

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to Hunter's 56.5 (C) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-hunter
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-hunter.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-hunter.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-hunter.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 Hunter API + MCP's 56.5 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Hunter API + MCP leads on reliability, schema & documentation, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. 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
- Hunter API + MCP: grade C, 56.5/100, rank #670 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hunter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hunter.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:
- Agent ergonomics, 66 against 54
- Security & auth, 48 against 33
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 63

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

### Hunter API + MCP (C)

Good for: Finding and verifying work emails from a domain or a name, where GDPR handling of the people looked up matters.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 50 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 84
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 64

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

Watch for: Hosted MCP has about 100 tools, including bulk deletes and API key creation, with no read-only mode


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Clay | Hunter API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 50 | Hunter API + MCP +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 90 | Hunter API + MCP +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 54 | Clay +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 33 | Clay +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Hunter API + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 63 | Clay +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 78 | Hunter API + MCP +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **56.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Hunter API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | Hunter |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://api.hunter.io/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence file | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 107 |
| 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 | no date given |
| 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 | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 9 stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (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.

**Hunter API + MCP.** Returns 451 for people who asked not to be processed. Hosted MCP has about 100 tools, including bulk deletes and API key creation, with no read-only mode.

## 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

### Hunter API + MCP

1. Treat 451 as final. The person opted out and retrying won't help
2. Back off on 403 with a rate-limit message. 429 means the plan's credits are gone
3. Send the key in `X-API-Key`, never as `?api_key=`
4. Use `test-api-key` to check request shapes without spending credits
5. Use the hosted MCP at mcp.hunter.io/mcp, not the deprecated local npm package

## Questions

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

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Hunter API + MCP's 56.5 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Hunter API + MCP leads on reliability, schema & documentation, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

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

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

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

Yes. Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0 and Hunter API + MCP at https://api.hunter.io/v2.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Clay or Hunter API + MCP

- [Apollo API + MCP vs Clay](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-clay.md)
- [Apollo API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apollo-vs-hunter.md)
- [Clay vs Coresignal API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-coresignal.md)
- [Clay vs Crustdata API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-crustdata.md)
- [Clay vs Enrich Layer API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-enrich-layer.md)
- [Clay vs Explorium AgentSource](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-explorium-agentsource.md)
- [Clay vs FullEnrich API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fullenrich.md)
- [Clay vs Fuse MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fuse-mcp.md)
- [Clay vs Gojiberry](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-gojiberry.md)
- [Clay vs LeadMagic API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-leadmagic.md)
- [Clay vs Lusha API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-lusha.md)
- [Clay vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Clay vs Prospeo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-prospeo.md)
- [Clay vs RocketReach API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-rocketreach.md)
- [Clay vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [Coresignal API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coresignal-vs-hunter.md)
- [Crustdata API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crustdata-vs-hunter.md)
- [Enrich Layer API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enrich-layer-vs-hunter.md)
- [Explorium AgentSource vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/explorium-agentsource-vs-hunter.md)
- [FullEnrich API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullenrich-vs-hunter.md)
- [Fuse MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fuse-mcp-vs-hunter.md)
- [Gojiberry vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gojiberry-vs-hunter.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs People Data Labs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-people-data-labs.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs ZoomInfo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-zoominfo.md)
- [Clay vs Clearbit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-clearbit.md)
- [Clay vs Dropcontact API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-dropcontact.md)
- [Clay vs FullContact](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-fullcontact.md)
- [Clearbit vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clearbit-vs-hunter.md)
- [Dropcontact API + MCP vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dropcontact-vs-hunter.md)
- [FullContact vs Hunter API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fullcontact-vs-hunter.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs LeadMagic API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-leadmagic.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs Lusha API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-lusha.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs Prospeo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-prospeo.md)
- [Hunter API + MCP vs RocketReach API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hunter-vs-rocketreach.md)