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Head to head · Lead search · October 2026 research run

Clay vs RocketReach API

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against RocketReach API's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. RocketReach API leads on reliability and agent ergonomics. 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 RocketReach APIRocketReach, LLC · HTTP API D51.2/100#805 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

  • Schema & documentation, 84 against 72
  • Security & auth, 48 against 34
  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 10
  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 31
  • Transparency & trust, 64 against 58

Watch for

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

RocketReach API D

Best for Teams that already hold a RocketReach plan and want an agent to search people and companies, reveal emails and phones, and verify single addresses over MCP.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 64 against 45
  • Agent ergonomics, 72 against 66

Watch for

The pricing page is drawn by script and was not read, and the docs tell users without a paid plan to email for an API plan

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runClayRocketReach APIEdge
Reliability16%204564RocketReach API +19
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28472Clay +12
Agent ergonomics13%16.26672RocketReach API +6
Security & auth14%17.54834Clay +14
Payments & pricing10%12.53010Clay +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87531Clay +44
Transparency & trust7%8.86458Clay +6
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 57.7/100D 51.2/100

Facts side by side

FactClayRocketReach API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorClay Labs Inc.RocketReach, LLC
Hosted endpointhttps://api.clay.com/public/v0https://api.rocketreach.co/api/v2
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence fileProprietary service under RocketReach's Terms of Service. The Python SDK on GitHub is MIT
Tools exposednone9
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-06none
Terms last updated2024-05-232024-01-31
Privacy policy last updated2020-09-112026-09-30
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 textyes
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.

RocketReach API

The hosted MCP server has nine documented tools, OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration and machine-readable error codes, and searches cost no credits. Plan prices were not readable, the docs send API plan requests to email, the terms require a human account holder, and the account tool returns the account's API key to the model.

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

RocketReach API

  1. Search first with person_search or company_search, which cost no credits, then look up only the profile IDs needed
  2. Treat status: "pending" as normal. Poll check_person_status after at least 3 seconds, and polling is free
  3. Do not echo the account tool's output to users or logs. It includes the account's API key
  4. Send the key in the Api-Key header. The api_key query parameter is deprecated
  5. Bulk lookup takes 1 to 100 queries and needs a webhook. Results arrive at the webhook, signed in X-RocketReach-Signature
  6. Do not loop on unknown from email_verify, or on lookup_failed and not_found. The last two are terminal

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Clay or RocketReach API?

Clay scores 57.7 (C) on agent readiness against RocketReach API's 51.2 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. RocketReach API leads on reliability and agent ergonomics.

Do Clay and RocketReach API need an API key?

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

Can an agent call Clay and RocketReach API without installing anything?

Yes. Clay has a hosted endpoint at https://api.clay.com/public/v0 and RocketReach API at https://api.rocketreach.co/api/v2.

Other comparisons with Clay or RocketReach API

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