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Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Clay vs Prospeo API + MCP

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Prospeo API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prospeo API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing. 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 Prospeo API + MCPProspeo · HTTP API D50.9/100#814 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 35
  • Schema & documentation, 84 against 61
  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 34
  • Transparency & trust, 64 against 42

Watch for

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

Prospeo API + MCP D

Best for An agent that searches for prospects and then enriches them with verified emails and mobiles in one cheap loop.

Ahead on

  • Agent ergonomics, 79 against 66
  • Security & auth, 54 against 48
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

No status page, SLA or changelog

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runClayProspeo API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%204535Clay +10
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28461Clay +23
Agent ergonomics13%16.26679Prospeo API + MCP +13
Security & auth14%17.54854Prospeo API + MCP +6
Payments & pricing10%12.53040Prospeo API + MCP +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87534Clay +41
Transparency & trust7%8.86442Clay +22
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 57.7/100D 50.9/100

Facts side by side

FactClayProspeo API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorClay Labs Inc.Prospeo
Hosted endpointhttps://api.clay.com/public/v0https://api.prospeo.io
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence fileMIT
Tools exposednone8
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
MCP registrynot listedio.prospeo/prospeo-mcp-server
Last release2026-10-062026-06-01
Terms last updated2024-05-23couldn't be read
Privacy policy last updated2020-09-11couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textcouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waiveryescouldn't be read
Popularitynone0 stars, 641 npm/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.5/5 (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.

Prospeo API + MCP

MCP tool descriptions say when to use each tool, its credit cost and the next call. No status page, SLA 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

Prospeo API + MCP

  1. Call search_suggestions before using location, technology or industry filters, or the search returns nothing
  2. Pass person_id values from search into bulk_enrich_person, 25 at a time
  3. Branch on the body error_code, not the HTTP status, which is 400 for most failures
  4. Set enrich_mobile only when needed. A mobile costs 10 credits against 1 for an email
  5. Use Enrich Person. The old Email Finder endpoint was removed in March 2026

Questions

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

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against Prospeo API + MCP's 50.9 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prospeo API + MCP leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing.

Do Clay and Prospeo API + MCP need an API key?

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

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

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

Other comparisons with Clay or Prospeo API + MCP

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