Clay
Relay.app
| Feature | Clay | Relay.app |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $149/mo | Free / from $16/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.3 / 5 |
| Best For | growth-teams, revenue-operations, sdrs, agencies | operations-teams, agencies, small-businesses, compliance-teams |
| Founded | 2017 | 2021 |
| Data Enrichment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ai Messaging | ✓ | ✗ |
| Waterfall Lookups | ✓ | ✗ |
| Integrations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automated Workflows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Lead Scoring | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflow Builder | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Steps | ✗ | ✓ |
| Human Approvals | ✗ | ✓ |
| Multiplayer Editing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Conditional Logic | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Clay Pros
- 75+ data enrichment sources
- AI message personalization
- Powerful waterfall enrichment
- Flexible workflows
✗ Clay Cons
- Expensive for small teams
- Learning curve for setup
- Credit consumption fast
✓ Relay.app Pros
- Human-in-the-loop approvals
- AI steps built in
- Collaborative workflows
- Clean modern interface
✗ Relay.app Cons
- Fewer integrations than Zapier
- Newer platform
- Limited advanced logic
The Verdict
Clay is built for growth teams and revenue operations, with a focus on data-enrichment and ai-messaging. Relay.app targets operations teams and agencies and leads with workflow-builder and ai-steps.
On pricing, Relay.app is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $16/mo compared to $149/mo for Clay. That $133/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Both tools are a solid fit for agencies — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.