# Clay vs RocketReach API

> Clay scores 57.7 (C) to RocketReach's 51.2 (D) for lead search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-rocketreach
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-rocketreach.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-rocketreach.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clay-vs-rocketreach.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 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.

- 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
- RocketReach API: grade D, 51.2/100, rank #805 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rocketreach.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rocketreach.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:
- 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)

Good 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

| Category | Weight | Clay | RocketReach API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 64 | RocketReach API +19 |
| 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 | 72 | RocketReach API +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 34 | Clay +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 10 | Clay +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 31 | Clay +44 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 58 | Clay +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **51.2 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clay | RocketReach API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Clay Labs Inc. | RocketReach, LLC |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.clay.com/public/v0` | `https://api.rocketreach.co/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Clay Terms of Service. The agent plugin repository carries no licence file | Proprietary service under RocketReach's Terms of Service. The Python SDK on GitHub is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2024-05-23 | 2024-01-31 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2020-09-11 | 2026-09-30 |
| 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 | yes |
| 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.

**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.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Clay or RocketReach API

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