# Clay vs Prospeo API + MCP

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

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-prospeo
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-prospeo.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-prospeo.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-prospeo.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 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.

- 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
- Prospeo API + MCP: grade D, 50.9/100, rank #814 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prospeo.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prospeo.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 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)

Good 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

| Category | Weight | Clay | Prospeo API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 35 | Clay +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 61 | Clay +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 79 | Prospeo API + MCP +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 54 | Prospeo API + MCP +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Prospeo API + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 34 | Clay +41 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 42 | Clay +22 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **50.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | Prospeo API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | Prospeo |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://api.prospeo.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| 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 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 8 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.prospeo/prospeo-mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-06-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 641 npm/wk |
| 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.

**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.


## For agents

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

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