Clay is powerful — if you have a RevOps engineer, a LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscription, and weeks to learn the platform. Conveyor works on day 1.
Launch plan ($185/mo) only gets 2,500 data credits — enough for ~250-1,000 enriched contacts. Growth plan needed for serious use. Setup help costs $2-5K upfront.
Three API calls: search, research, outreach. No workflows to build. No credits to manage.
| Feature | Clay | Conveyor |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $185/mo (Launch) | $299/mo |
| Real cost (functional setup) | $600-1,200+/mo | $299/mo |
| Time to first result | 2-4 weeks (learning + setup) | 5 minutes |
| Technical skill required | RevOps or data engineer | None — 3 API calls |
| Credit system | Dual credits (Data + Actions), failed lookups still charged | No credits — unlimited |
| Enrichment | 150+ data providers (credit-gated) | AI research (pain points, tech stack, talking points) |
| Outreach generation | Not included — need separate tool | AI-written personalized emails |
| Email sending | Not included — export to separate sender | API returns ready-to-send emails |
| LinkedIn dependency | Sales Navigator needed ($99/mo) | No LinkedIn subscription needed |
| Workflow builder | Visual builder (powerful but complex) | Simple REST API — no workflows |
Clay users report it takes 2-4 weeks to understand the platform. One G2 reviewer wrote: "It's not the easiest tool to use. It took me weeks to understand what's what." That's weeks of paying before getting value.
Many teams hire "Clay partners" or agencies for $2,000-5,000 in setup costs. Clay's workflow builder is powerful for data engineers — but if your team is salespeople, not engineers, that complexity is a tax.
Clay's dual credit system charges you for every enrichment attempt — even when providers return nothing. If 3 providers fail to find a phone number, you pay for all 3 attempts. Credit top-ups cost 50% more than base rate.
Clay enriches data — it doesn't send emails. You still need Instantly, Smartlead, or another sender. That's yet another subscription, another login, and another data export step.
Try 5 prospect searches free. No workflows to build, no credits to manage, no engineer required.
No credit card for free trial. Cancel paid plan anytime.
Other comparisons