7 Best Clay API Alternatives for Developers (2026)

Developers leave Clay's API when the limits belong to the platform, not to their code. The Public API takes a clay-api-key header and enforces a per-workspace rate limit with no published number (Clay docs, September 2026). Searches return 500 results a request and 1,000,000 per 30 days on paid plans, then a 402 (Clay docs, September 2026).

Function runs take 1 to 100 items a call and return results by polling (Clay docs, September 2026). API calls spend the same Data Credits and Actions as the UI, and credits start at $0.05 each (Clay pricing, September 2026). Tables are read only through the API.

This page ranks seven alternatives for developers who want a price they can compute and a limit they can read. LeadOcean is first because it has one flat price and an MCP server that returns records. For a plain two-column view, see LeadOcean vs Clay or the wider Clay alternatives list.

TL;DR

"1M records" here means 1M person records with a work email, at one credit each or at the vendor's base record price. Coresignal's cell is 1M Base records, not email lookups. Figures are list prices where a plan sells that volume, and the cell says so where none does. For reference, Clay at 6 Data Credits for a fully enriched record is $300,000 at $0.05 a credit, before Actions (Clay pricing, September 2026; LeadMagic, July 2026). Enterprise quotes are lower.

What we evaluated

• Auth and shape: the auth header, the request body and what a search record contains.
• Limits: the default rate limit, page sizes and caps on results per search or per month.
• Bulk export: how you pull 1M rows, by endpoint, batch job or file.
• MCP: whether an agent can search and enrich through the server, or only read documentation.
• Price model: flat, credits or seats, and the list cost of 1M records a month.

We read each vendor's pricing page and docs in September 2026. We ran no accuracy test, so we quote no quality numbers.

1. LeadOcean: best for search, enrich and export at volume

LeadOcean is one dataset behind one REST API and one MCP server. It holds 693M people, 366M with an email and 166M with a phone number, plus 63M companies. You search with 50 people filters and 34 company filters, and counts are free. Enrichment is POST /v1/people/enrich, phones are GET /v2/people/phone, and exports run up to 50,000 rows per request.

Auth is one header, x-api-key, and every plan gets 100 requests per second per key. Search is synchronous and pages 100 people at a time. A search record is thin: identity, current role and company, and has_email and email_status flags. Contact points come from a second call on the people you chose, so you pay for records you want, not records you browsed.

The price does not move with volume. Pro is $499 a month with unlimited searches, enrichments and lookups and 5 API keys. There are no credits and no overage invoice. A very large month is paced down to one request a minute until the reset, not cut off. The MCP server at https://api.leadocean.io/mcp signs in with OAuth 2.1 and exposes 12 tools, from search_leads to find_phone and export_leads.

The same job on both APIs: find CTOs, 100 at a time. Clay takes two calls, create then run. LeadOcean takes one.

SEARCH_ID=$(curl -s -X POST "https://api.clay.com/public/v0/search/query-mode" \
  -H "clay-api-key: $CLAY_PUBLIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query":"select from people where experiences.any(is_current = true and job_title is_similar_to (\"CTO\"))"}' \
  | jq -r '.search_id')

curl -X POST "https://api.clay.com/public/v0/search/query-mode/$SEARCH_ID/run" \
  -H "clay-api-key: $CLAY_PUBLIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"limit":100}'

curl -X POST "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/search" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":["CTO"],"limit":100}'

Clay's documented people result holds a name, a location and matched experiences (Clay docs, September 2026). Contact data needs a separate function run. On LeadOcean, add {"linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe","reveal_email":true} to POST /v1/people/enrich for the emails and phones we hold, for one record.

Pros

• Flat $499 a month at any volume, with no credit meter.
• REST and MCP on every plan, including Free.
• Free counts, and a miss on POST /v1/people/enrich is a free 404.

Cons

• No table workflow builder. You work in the app's Exports page, the API or MCP.
• No waterfall across other providers and no AI research column.
• One dataset, so a niche source needs another tool.

Best for: engineers, RevOps and agents that need volume and a fixed bill.

Pricing: Free is 1,000 records, one-off, no card. Pro is $499 a month, flat (LeadOcean pricing, September 2026).

2. BlitzAPI: best for flat-price search with typed SDKs

BlitzAPI sells B2B data as an API on flat monthly plans. It lists people and company search, email and phone enrichment, jobs data and domain to LinkedIn matching (BlitzAPI, September 2026). Auth is an x-api-key header, and it ships typed Python and TypeScript clients.

The plan ladder is where it gets fiddly. Core is $399 a month and leaves out emails and phones. Plus is $499 and adds verified work emails. Full is $599 and adds US phone numbers (BlitzAPI pricing, September 2026). People search pages 50 results at a time and stops at 50,000 results per query (BlitzAPI docs, September 2026).

Check three things before you commit. The 50 requests per second is tied to accounts opened by September 30, 2026, against a standard 5, and it applies per endpoint (BlitzAPI docs, September 2026). Its MCP server gives an assistant the API documentation, not the data (BlitzAPI docs, September 2026). And we found no bulk export endpoint in its docs index.

We found no bulk or CSV export in BlitzAPI's pricing page, docs index or v2 OpenAPI spec. Data comes through the JSON API with cursor pagination (BlitzAPI docs).

Pros

• Flat monthly price. The 15,000,000 results a month fair-use line is the launch-offer limit for accounts opened by September 30, 2026 (BlitzAPI terms, September 2026). Limits for later accounts are not published.
• Typed SDKs with retries and auto-pagination.
• Jobs data next to people and company search.

Cons

• Three paid tiers, and phones need the top one.
• Phone numbers are US only.
• The MCP server reads docs. An agent cannot search or enrich through it.
• The fast rate limit depends on when the account opened.

Best for: developers who want a flat-price API and write their own pipeline code.

Pricing: Core $399, Plus $499, Full $599 a month (BlitzAPI pricing, September 2026).

3. LeadMagic: best for cheap valid emails behind one REST call

LeadMagic is a credit-based enrichment API. It lists 400M+ people profiles and 25M+ companies, and reaches them through REST, CSV and a hosted MCP server (LeadMagic, September 2026). The email finder is POST https://api.leadmagic.io/v1/people/email-finder with an X-API-Key header (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).

The credit price falls as you climb the plans. Essential is $99 a month for 5,000 credits. Professional is $499 for 50,000. Ultimate is $849 for 100,000, or $0.00849 a credit, and it is the top public tier (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026). A valid email costs 1 credit and a mobile costs 5.

The email finder allows 600 requests a minute. LeadMagic also states that a sustained find rate below 10% can lead to throttling or suspension (LeadMagic docs, September 2026). Search returns up to 50 rows per cursor page, but only 25 rows per page on the zero-credit Professional and Ultimate lane. Daily caps rise by plan (LeadMagic agent guide, September 2026). The MCP server uses OAuth, and a preview_cost call prices a large job first (LeadMagic docs, September 2026).

Pros

• The lowest per-credit list price among the credit vendors here, bar Coresignal.
• No charge when an email is not found.
• Hosted MCP with a cost preview before large operations.

Cons

• The top public plan is 100,000 credits, so 1M a month has no public price.
• A smaller stated database: 400M+ people profiles.
• A minimum find-rate policy can throttle lists with poor match rates.

Best for: developers who enrich a few hundred thousand valid emails a month and want the cheapest credits.

Pricing: Essential $99, Growth $249, Professional $499, Ultimate $849 a month (LeadMagic pricing, September 2026).

4. FullEnrich: best for waterfall emails and mobiles by API

FullEnrich is the nearest thing to Clay's waterfall with the spreadsheet removed. It queries 25+ sources for each contact, and you pay only for data it finds (FullEnrich pricing, September 2026). Auth is Bearer: an API key in the Authorization header (FullEnrich docs, September 2026).

Credits are the meter. A work email costs 1 credit, a personal email 3 and a mobile 10. Pro starts at $29 a month for 500 credits ($0.058 each), and the 1,000-credit tier is $55 ($0.055). The top public monthly tier is 100,000 credits for $3,500 ($0.035), and above that you contact sales. Search costs 0.25 credits per person returned (FullEnrich docs, September 2026).

The API allows 60 calls a minute across all endpoints, with up to 100 contacts in a bulk request. That is 6,000 contacts a minute at most, and higher limits are an Enterprise matter (FullEnrich docs, September 2026). The MCP server can search, enrich and export, and it asks you before it spends credits (FullEnrich help, September 2026).

Pros

• Waterfall across 25+ sources, so one call can cover several vendors.
• Search, enrichment and export in the MCP server.
• Credits roll over for 3 months on monthly plans.

Cons

• Mobiles cost 10 credits each, so phone-heavy pulls get expensive fast.
• The default API limit is 60 calls a minute.
• A credit meter at volume. There is no public price at 1M work emails, and the top public tier is $0.035 a credit.

Best for: developers who want waterfall contact data, mostly emails and mobiles, through an API or an agent.

Pricing: Pro from $29 a month for 500 credits, up to 100,000 credits for $3,500 a month, then contact sales (FullEnrich pricing, September 2026).

5. Crustdata: best for live data and change watchers

Crustdata sells real-time company and people data through APIs for search, enrichment, jobs, posts and watchers. It lists 1 billion+ people and describes its data as continuously re-verified (Crustdata, September 2026). It fits signal work better than bulk list building. Requests use a Bearer key and an x-api-version header (Crustdata docs, September 2026).

Pricing is credit based and the public page shows no dollar price per credit (Crustdata pricing, September 2026). The docs list costs per call. Person search is 0.03 credits per result and person enrichment 1 to 7 credits (Crustdata docs, September 2026). The dedicated contact endpoint needs an enterprise plan, and self-serve keys get a 403 (Crustdata docs, September 2026).

Volume is the catch. Standard search and enrich endpoints default to 15 to 30 requests a minute, and higher limits go through support (Crustdata docs, September 2026). Async batch jobs take up to 10,000 people (Crustdata docs, September 2026). The MCP server at install.crustdata.com/mcp signs in with OAuth or an API key (Crustdata docs, September 2026).

Pros

• Live data and change watchers that a static database lacks.
• Cheap search at 0.03 credits per result.
• MCP server that returns company, people and job data.

Cons

• No public price per credit, so you cannot price 1M records from the site.
• Low default rate limits on standard endpoints.
• Contact data sits behind an enterprise plan on its dedicated endpoint.

Best for: AI SDR and signal workflows that need fresh data more than raw volume.

Pricing: Credit based, with no public price list. Per-call credit costs are in the docs (Crustdata docs, September 2026).

6. Coresignal: best for raw employee, company and job records

Coresignal is a large professional-data provider. It lists 907M+ employee profiles, 70M+ companies and 482M+ job postings (Coresignal, September 2026). Auth is an apikey header (Coresignal docs, September 2026). Employee records carry a professional email and no phone numbers.

Credits are the meter. A Base employee or company record costs 10 credits and a multi-source record 20. Pro is $499 a month for 35,000 credits and 10 requests per second. Elite is $5,000 for 10,000,000 credits (Coresignal pricing, September 2026). So $499 buys about 3,500 Base records, and 1M Base records needs one Elite plan.

Rate limits run from 5 to 100+ requests per second by plan (Coresignal docs, September 2026). Bulk Collect is asynchronous, with up to 10,000 records per request (Coresignal docs, September 2026). The MCP server uses OAuth 2.1 and has 5 tools, and entity_search costs 20 credits a call (Coresignal MCP docs, September 2026).

Pros

• The biggest stated profile count here, plus job postings.
• The cheapest per-record list price at Elite volume: $0.005 a Base record.
• MCP server with OAuth 2.1.

Cons

• The $499 plan buys only about 3,500 Base records.
• No phone numbers in employee records.
• Bulk Collect stops at 10,000 records a request, and the MCP search costs credits.

Best for: data teams that need job postings or raw profile volume and will build their own contact layer.

Pricing: Pro $499 a month for 35,000 credits. Elite $5,000 for 10,000,000 credits (Coresignal pricing, September 2026).

7. People Data Labs: best for a per-match person API and licensed datasets

People Data Labs (PDL) is a long-running person and company data API with bulk licences. A request that returns a person costs one credit, and a miss costs none (PDL pricing, September 2026). Auth is an X-Api-Key header, or an api_key query parameter (PDL docs, September 2026).

The entry price is high per record. Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits, which is $0.28 each, and PDL says profiles cost about $0.20 to $0.28 by volume. Volume above 100,000 records goes through Enterprise and sales (PDL docs, September 2026). The All dataset lists 2.47 billion profiles, 592 million with an email (PDL docs, September 2026).

Enrichment allows 1,000 calls a minute on paid plans, and the bulk endpoint takes 100 records per request (PDL docs, September 2026). Person search defaults to 10 calls a minute (PDL docs, September 2026). Whole datasets ship as licensed files (PDL docs, September 2026). We found no official MCP server in PDL's docs.

none listed in PDL's docs index (PDL docs, September 2026).

Pros

• A fast enrichment API at 1,000 calls a minute on paid plans.
• Bulk person enrichment and dataset licences for your own warehouse.
• The largest stated person dataset in this group.

Cons

• $0.20 to $0.28 a record on self-serve Pro, and no public price at 1M, so volume needs a sales call.
• Search is limited to 10 calls a minute by default.
• No official MCP server found, so agents need a wrapper you host.

Best for: teams that license data into a warehouse or want per-match pricing on a small, steady volume.

Pricing: Free up to 100 records a month. Pro from $98 a month for 350 credits. Enterprise custom (PDL pricing, September 2026).

Comparison table

Sources are linked in each tool section, all checked in September 2026. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on the pricing page before you buy. The 1M column is list price where a plan sells that volume. FullEnrich and LeadMagic sell none, so their cells say so. FullEnrich's top public tier is 100,000 credits for $3,500 a month ($0.035 a credit), and LeadMagic's is Ultimate at $849 a month for 100,000 credits ($0.00849). Coresignal's cell is 1M Base records on Elite. For 1M work-email lookups, Coresignal needs 20M credits, has no public price at that volume and is about $10,000 derived at the Elite rate. PDL publishes no 1M price. Crustdata is 2 credits a person with a business email, at list credit costs.

How to choose

• You search, enrich and export in code or with an agent, at volume: LeadOcean. One flat price, REST and MCP on every plan, 100 requests per second.
• You want a flat-price API from a second vendor: BlitzAPI Plus, if a docs-only MCP server and no export endpoint are fine.
• You buy valid emails by the hundred thousand: LeadMagic, at $0.00849 a credit on Ultimate.
• You need waterfall emails and mobiles: FullEnrich, and budget 10 credits per mobile.
• You need fresh signals and company events: Crustdata, with a rate-limit conversation first.
• You need job postings or raw profile volume: Coresignal, and build the contact layer yourself.
• You license data or need per-match pricing: People Data Labs.
• You like Clay's workflows but not its credit meter: keep Clay and call a flat-price API from an HTTP column, which starts on Clay's Growth plan (Clay pricing, September 2026).

Verdict

LeadOcean wins for developers who search, enrich and export through an API or an agent. It has one key, one flat price, 100 requests per second and an MCP server that returns records. BlitzAPI is the flat-price runner-up if you write your own pipeline code. LeadMagic wins for cheap valid emails and FullEnrich for waterfall mobiles. Crustdata wins for live signals, Coresignal for job postings and raw profiles, and PDL for licensed datasets. Stay on Clay if you need its tables. Otherwise start on the free plan and run the same call.

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