Searchbase vs Clay (2026 Comparison)
2026-09-08
Quick answer: Searchbase searches the same B2B contact databases (Apollo alone: 240M+ people and 30M+ companies, as Apollo states; plus Hunter and more) and the open web from one prompt, with no table to build first: you get companies or people with email and phone where a provider has them, the ads they run, the jobs they post and the social profiles they keep. Describe your ideal customer. Searchbase finds them across Europe in one prompt, with the source on every cell. It works in Italian as well as English, bills in euros, and charges per action rather than per seat (€0 to €199 a month). Clay is the better pick if you want a programmable data layer you assemble yourself, with 200+ providers in one marketplace and waterfall enrichment across them ($0 free, then from $54 a month on annual billing, $167 a month if you pay monthly, up to $446 a month on Growth). Both are free to start.
What each tool actually does
Clay (clay.com) describes itself as "infrastructure to get any data, run agentic workflows, and launch GTM plays". The heart of it is a table that behaves like a spreadsheet with superpowers. You bring or source a list of companies or people, then add enrichment columns. Each column calls a provider, and Clay's marketplace lets you "buy data from 200+ providers in one place" without signing 200 contracts. Waterfall enrichment is the signature feature: Clay tries provider one, and if it comes back empty it tries provider two, then three, so coverage is better than any single vendor. Claygent, its AI research agent, goes and researches target companies and people when a structured provider cannot answer. On top of that Clay adds a native sequencer, CRM enrichment, job change and intent signals, ad audience syncing to LinkedIn, Meta and Google, lead scoring and TAM sourcing. All plans include unlimited seats and tables.
Clay is genuinely a category leader. It is also a builder's tool: the value comes out when someone on your team designs the table, chains the columns and maintains it.
Searchbase (searchbase.org, Europe) starts from the finished answer instead. You write the request in plain words, "every digital agency in Milan with an email and a website", "heads of marketing at Italian furniture manufacturers", "creators in the running niche with over 10k followers and a contact email", "companies advertising kitchen furniture on Meta in Italy", and the agent decides where to look. For standard B2B contacts it queries contact databases, Apollo (240M+ people and 30M+ companies, as Apollo states) and Hunter among them, and enriches companies against Crunchbase and the Italian company registry. For everything a database does not hold it searches, opens the pages, reads them and extracts the rows, streaming them into a table while you watch. There is no workflow to build. Every cell carries a link to the page or provider it came from, a freshness badge and the extraction method, and emails carry the provider's status. If a value cannot be verified it stays n/a instead of being invented. From the people it finds, the agent drafts personalised email and LinkedIn sequences for you to approve.
The short version: Clay gives you a workbench and 200+ providers to wire together. Searchbase gives you the finished table, the databases and the open web behind it, and the receipts.
Side by side
| Searchbase | Clay | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | plain-language prompt | table plus enrichment columns you configure |
| Coverage | B2B contact databases (Apollo alone: 240M+ people and 30M+ companies, as Apollo states; plus Hunter and more) plus any public web page, 12 social platforms, 3 ad libraries (Meta, Google, TikTok), 9 job boards, the Italian company registry, Crunchbase | 200+ providers in one marketplace, plus Claygent web research |
| Output | table of companies or people: email and phone where a provider has them, website, LinkedIn, any column you ask for; source link on every cell | enriched spreadsheet, provider by provider |
| Verification | source link, collection time and method on every cell; provider status on emails; unknown = n/a, never guessed | provider-level, waterfall improves fill rate |
| Ad intelligence | yes, the Meta, Google and TikTok ad libraries | ad audience syncing to LinkedIn, Meta, Google |
| Creators and social | yes, 12 platforms | depends on which providers you buy |
| Languages | English, Italian | English |
| Pricing model | per action, no seats: a 10-person team pays the same as one | actions plus data credits, unlimited seats on all plans |
| Pricing | €0 / €29 / €79 / €199 per month, billed annually; 150 to 12,000 credits | Free $0 (500 actions, 100 data credits a month); Launch from $54 a month annual or $167 monthly (15,000 actions, 2,500 data credits); Growth from $185 a month annual or $446 monthly (40,000 actions, 6,000 data credits); Enterprise custom |
| CRM and export | HubSpot push; CSV, JSON, API, webhooks | CRM sync on Growth and above, HTTP API integrations from Growth |
| Outreach | drafts personalised email and LinkedIn sequences per lead; you approve before launch | native sequencer |
| Setup effort | none, you type a sentence | you build and maintain the table |
| Best for | any team that needs a list a single database cannot give: B2B sales, agencies, recruiters, marketers, European and Italian teams | GTM engineers and RevOps teams who want to build |
Where Clay is stronger
- A programmable data layer. Formulas, conditional runs, HTTP API columns on Growth, CRM auto-sync, data warehouse sync and Claygent prompts you write yourself. A GTM engineer can build a machine in Clay that no prompt-driven tool reproduces, and 200+ providers in one marketplace means a specific vendor's intent signal is usually a column away.
- Waterfall enrichment and volume. Chaining providers until one returns a value is the best trick in the enrichment business, and Clay made it normal. Growth runs 40,000 actions a month and Enterprise goes past 200,000, so industrial-scale motions scale further there.
- Signals and orchestration. Job changes, promotions, intent, lead scoring, TAM sourcing and ad audience syncing to LinkedIn, Meta and Google. Clay wants to be the layer the whole GTM stack sits on, and it is well ahead on that.
Where Searchbase is stronger
- One prompt, every source. Searchbase asks the B2B contact databases, Apollo (240M+ people and 30M+ companies, as Apollo states) and Hunter among them, and reads the open web, 12 social platforms, 3 ad libraries, 9 job boards, Crunchbase and the Italian company registry in the same request. In Clay you design the table, choose the providers and maintain it before you get an answer. For a marketer or an agency owner with no GTM engineer on staff, that is the difference between using the tool and not using it.
- A source on every cell. Clay tells you which provider answered. Searchbase gives you the page, the collection time and the method for each individual value, plus the provider's status on emails, so you can click through and prove it to a client. That is a different standard of evidence.
- Unverifiable stays empty. Searchbase writes
n/arather than a guess. A waterfall is optimised for fill rate, which is a good goal, but a full cell is not always a true cell. - Ad libraries as a search surface. Searchbase reads the Meta, Google and TikTok ad libraries to find who is advertising what, and reads the creatives. Clay's ad features are about pushing audiences out, not about discovering advertisers.
- Creators and social. Twelve platforms, in the product, with follower counts and contact details where they are public. In Clay, social and creator coverage is whatever the providers you bought happen to hold.
- Per action, no seats, and built for Europe. Clay Launch is $167 a month if you pay monthly, or from $54 a month if you commit for a year, and you still pay the underlying providers through data credits. Searchbase Starter is €29 and Business, the top plan, is €199, one meter, whole team included. Prompts, interface and results in Italian as well as English, euro pricing, and a European company on the other side of the contract, so GDPR is the default frame. Clay's product and pricing are in English and dollars, and your European coverage is whatever the vendors you picked happen to hold.
How credits work in Searchbase
You pay per action, not per seat. Reading a page costs about 1 credit, a social profile about 3, a Deep Research report 20 to 40. The Free plan renews 150 credits every month with no card. Starter (€29) gives 1,000 credits, Pro (€79) gives 4,000 with API access and rollover, Business (€199) gives 12,000 with webhooks. Export is JSON on every plan, CSV from Starter, API from Pro, webhooks on Business, with a direct HubSpot push for contacts. Clay splits its meter into two units, actions and data credits, and prices them separately by plan.
Frequently asked questions
Is Searchbase a Clay alternative? For getting a list, yes, and it is faster to a first result because there is no table to build and the databases are already behind the prompt. For running a programmable GTM data layer with 200+ providers, waterfall enrichment and warehouse sync, Clay is the more powerful product and it is not close.
Which one is cheaper? Clay Free gives 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, Searchbase Free gives 150 credits. On paid plans Clay Launch is from $54 a month annually or $167 monthly, Growth from $185 or $446. Searchbase runs €29, €79 and €199. Neither charges per seat, so the comparison is about volume, not headcount.
Do I need technical skills to use Clay? Not strictly, but you get far more out of it if someone on the team enjoys building. Columns, conditions and Claygent prompts all reward that. Searchbase was built for the case where nobody wants to build anything.
Does Searchbase send emails? No. The agent drafts a personalised sequence for each person it found and you approve every message before anything launches. Launching from the campaign wizard is being switched on progressively. Clay has a native sequencer and can automate messaging today.
Can Clay find companies by the ads they run? Clay syncs audiences out to LinkedIn, Meta and Google, which is the opposite direction. Discovering who is currently advertising a product, and reading their creatives, is what Searchbase does with the three ad libraries.
Where does the data come from? Searchbase: B2B contact databases including Apollo and Hunter, plus company sites, 12 social platforms, 3 ad libraries, 9 job boards, Crunchbase, the Italian company registry, reviews and press, with each cell linked to the page or provider it used. Clay buys from 200+ providers in its marketplace and adds Claygent web research when the providers come up empty.
Prices and features checked on 2026-09-08 from https://www.clay.com/ and https://www.clay.com/pricing. Tell us if something changed.