Clay vs Starnus

Clay

Clay is the tool to reach for when a prospect list needs more than one data vendor and some judgement per row - the waterfall enrichment and the research agent do in one table what used to take three subscriptions and a VA. It is not a cheap or simple tool: the useful plan starts at a few hundred dollars a month, credits are spent per column per row, and CRM sync and webhooks only arrive on the $446 tier. A one-person outbound effort can live on the free plan; a team that already runs sequences will want Growth and a budget for overages.

Pros

• +Waterfall enrichment tries many providers per field, so coverage is higher than any one vendor
• +Claygent runs open web research per row with a prompt, not just database lookups
• +Free plan has unlimited seats and tables, so a team can trial it without buying seats
• +Large integration and template ecosystem, and the company is well funded

Cons

• −Launch at $167 a month still lacks CRM integrations, HTTP API and webhooks - those start at $446
• −Actions and data credits are two separate meters, and the pricing page itself shows two different credit figures for Launch
• −The spreadsheet metaphor hides real complexity; building a reliable table takes learning time
• −Overage billing makes the monthly bill hard to forecast

Starnus

One of the few outbound tools trying to own the whole chain — ICP, list, copy, sending, follow-up — rather than selling one slice of it and expecting you to assemble the rest. The free URL analysis is a fair way to judge list quality before you talk to anyone. The catch is that no price exists in public: the footer's own pricing link 404s, so every buyer goes through a demo call.

Pros

• +Free website analysis returns an ICP and competitor map with no signup
• +Runs LinkedIn and email inside one sequence rather than email only
• +Public API v1 plus a Python SDK, webhooks and real-time streaming
• +Per-campaign dashboard covering leads, sends, accepts and opens

Cons

• −No pricing published anywhere; the footer pricing page returns 404
• −Several linked pages — agents, managed service, about — are missing
• −Automated LinkedIn outreach carries account-restriction risk the site never addresses
• −No public evidence of scale beyond a Product Hunt badge

Is Clay cheaper than Starnus?

Clay starts at $167/mo; Starnus prices on request, so a quote is the only way to compare.

Does Clay or Starnus have a free tier?

Clay has a free tier; Starnus prices on request.

Which has a public API, Clay or Starnus?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.