Compare/Head to head

Clay vs LeadOcean

Same facts, side by side: starting price, free tier, MCP, API and what each one is actually built for.

Starting price

Clay

$185/mo Free tier 14 day free trial

Waterfall enrichment plus Claygent research columns for GTM and recruiting list work. Free plan exists; paid Launch starts at $185/mo, with a 14-day trial.

Where Clay fits

  • Sourcers building enriched spreadsheets
  • Teams chaining many data vendors
  • Desks that want Claygent research columns
  • RevOps pushing clean rows to a sequencer or ATS

LeadOcean

$97/mo Free tier

A developer-first B2B data API: search 693M people and 63M companies, enrich a LinkedIn URL or email into a full record with verified work emails and phones, and run it all from Claude or ChatGPT through a hosted MCP server. No credits, paid plans from $97/mo set your speed, and the free tier gives 1,000 records once.

Where LeadOcean fits

  • Recruiters and sourcers who run searches through Claude or ChatGPT
  • Agencies enriching large candidate or lead lists without per-contact fees
  • RevOps and GTM engineers feeding a warehouse or CRM from scripts
  • Builders adding people data to their own product or agent

At a glance

DetailClayLeadOcean
Starting price$185/mo$97/mo
Free tier✓Yes✓Yes
Free trial14 day free trialNot on record
MCP server✓Yes✓Yes
Public API✓Yes✓Yes
Listed underLead generation, OutreachEmail finders, Lead generation, Sourcing

Where they pull apart

Clay

Stands out: 150+ provider waterfall plus Claygent on every row, with MCP and API.

Watch out: Not a sender. Paid plans start at $185/mo on Launch, CRM sync needs Growth from $495/mo, and credit burn adds up.

Not the right fit for

  • Teams that need Clay to send the email
  • Buyers who want a cheap single-finder

LeadOcean

Stands out: The pricing model: instead of buying credits per contact, you pay for a pace, and reaching it slows requests rather than cutting you off, so a Solo plan can enrich up to 50,000 people a week for $97. Phone numbers and CSV export are included on every paid plan, and the MCP server signs in with your account instead of a pasted key.

Watch out: It is an API and agent tool set, not an app with a search screen, sequences or a Chrome extension, so non-technical recruiters will need Claude, ChatGPT, Clay or a workflow tool in front of it. The 1,000 free records are one-off, signup needs a work email, and the company is young with no outside reviews yet.

Not the right fit for

  • Recruiters who want a point-and-click search app or LinkedIn extension
  • Teams that need built-in email sequences
  • Users without a work email domain

Pros and cons

Clay

  • Free plan, then Launch from $185/mo
  • 14-day trial documented
  • Waterfall plus Claygent in one table
  • Does not send mail; you still need a sequencer
  • CRM sync needs Growth, from $495/mo
  • Credit burn is easy to underestimate

LeadOcean

  • No credits: paid plans are paced by speed, not per contact
  • Phone numbers and CSV export included on every paid plan
  • Hosted MCP server that signs in with your account
  • API only, no search app or Chrome extension
  • Free records are a one-off 1,000
  • Young company with no outside reviews

What each one costs

Clay

$185/mo

Free plan with 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions a month. Launch starts at $185 a month (2,500 Data Credits, 15,000 Actions, job change and signal tracking). Growth starts at $495 a month and adds CRM sync, HTTP API and webhooks. Enterprise is custom with an annual commitment. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 2 Oct 2026

LeadOcean

$97/mo

LeadOcean prices by pace, not credits: every plan reaches the whole database and every feature, and the price sets speed and headroom. Free costs nothing and gives 1,000 records once (not monthly), 5 requests a second and one key; it needs a work email. Solo is $97/mo for one person, with 10,000 enrichments every 5 hours (50,000 a week), 100,000 search records every 5 hours, phone numbers and bulk CSV export. Agency is $497/mo with 1M enrichments a day, 25M search records a month, 5 keys and rights to use the data for clients. Platform is $1,997/mo with a resell and embed licence. A record is each person or company returned, so a search page of 25 counts 25; empty enrichments cost nothing, and hitting the pace slows requests rather than stopping them. Cancel any time. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 20 Oct 2026

Common questions

Is Clay cheaper than LeadOcean?
LeadOcean starts lower, at $97/mo against $185/mo for Clay. That is the entry plan on each side, so the real number depends on seats and the tier you land on.
Can you try Clay or LeadOcean for free?
Clay and LeadOcean carry a free tier on our listing. Clay offers a 14 day free trial.
Does Clay or LeadOcean have an MCP server?
Clay and LeadOcean ship a first party MCP server, so an AI assistant can work the product directly.

Not the pair you wanted?

All Clay alternatives All LeadOcean alternatives Every Lead generation tool

Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 2 Oct 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?