Head to head

Clay vs Ocean.io

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

Clay

$167/mo Free tier 14 day free trial

Waterfall enrichment plus Claygent research columns for GTM and recruiting list work. Free plan exists; paid starts around $167/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

Ocean.io

Sales-quoted

ICP lookalike search that ranks companies from your closed-won deals. Paid plans are sales-quoted. Start free.

Where Ocean.io fits

B2B teams with a CRM full of closed-won deals
RevOps that want lookalikes pushed to Salesforce or HubSpot
Marketers who will send ranked accounts into Clay
GTM teams willing to start free, then talk to sales

At a glance

Detail	Clay	Ocean.io
Starting price	$167/mo	Sales-quoted
Free tier	✓Yes	–No
Free trial	14 day free trial	Not on record
MCP server	✓Yes	–No
Public API	✓Yes	–No
Listed under	Lead generation, Outreach	Email 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 about $167/mo, with Launch from $185/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

Ocean.io

Stands out: It learns your ICP from won deals, then ranks every company in the market against that segment.

Watch out: There is no public paid rate card. Paid plans are a sales conversation after you start free.

Not the right fit for

Buyers who need a printed monthly credit pack
Teams with no won-deal history to seed a search

Pros and cons

Clay

Public start at $167/mo
14-day trial documented
Waterfall plus Claygent in one table

Does not send mail; you still need a sequencer
Launch tier costs more, from $185/mo
Credit burn is easy to underestimate

Ocean.io

Ranks lookalikes from your won deals
Pushes to Salesforce, HubSpot, Clay
Free start, SOC 2 Type II named

No public paid prices
Needs won-deal history to shine
Not a cold-email sender

What each one costs

Clay

$167/mo

Free plan, paid from ~$167/mo. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 7 Sep 2026

Ocean.io

Sales-quoted

Sales-quoted. Homepage offers a free start. No public paid rate card. Paid plans are a sales conversation. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 19 Sep 2026

Common questions

Can you try Clay or Ocean.io for free?

Clay carries a free tier on our listing. Clay offers a 14 day free trial.

Does Clay or Ocean.io have an MCP server?

Clay ships a first party MCP server, so an AI assistant can work the product directly.

Not the pair you wanted?

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Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 7 Sep 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?