LeadOcean + Clay: fill rows first, pay providers only for the gaps

You get a Clay table that asks LeadOcean for each person first and spends Clay Data Credits only on rows that come back empty. The link is one HTTP API column calling POST /v1/people/enrich with a LinkedIn URL. Clay's HTTP API needs the Growth plan or higher (Clay pricing, September 2026). LeadOcean needs a free key.

This fits one job: you already have LinkedIn URLs in a table and want email and job data at a flat price. If you want to drop Clay entirely, see the Clay alternative.

How it works

1. Create a LeadOcean key. Sign up at app.leadocean.io/register. The free plan has 1,000 records, one-off, and no card. Copy the key from the dashboard.
2. Add a LinkedIn URL column. Your table needs one column holding each person's LinkedIn profile URL. Name it LinkedIn URL.
3. Add an HTTP API column. Choose the HTTP API enrichment, then set method POST and the endpoint https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich.
4. Set the headers and body. Add x-api-key and content-type headers. Send one identifier in the JSON body, the LinkedIn URL column.
5. Choose the field paths to return. List the response paths you want as output, for example data.contact_data.email_status. Clay uses dot notation for nested values (Clay docs, September 2026).
6. Set the rate limit. Clay lets you cap requests per time window. LeadOcean allows 100 requests per second per key (LeadOcean docs, September 2026), so the Clay setting is rarely the bottleneck.
7. Gate the paid providers. On each paid email or phone enrichment column, open Run Settings and set the "Only run if" formula to run when the LeadOcean email column is empty.
8. Test on five rows. Run five rows before you run the table. Check that hits fill the columns and that misses leave the paid providers running.

Configuration

Clay's HTTP API column takes a method, a URL, headers, a JSON body and field paths. Set them like this. In the body, /LinkedIn URL is Clay's column reference (Clay docs, September 2026).

Method:   POST
URL:      https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich
Headers:  x-api-key: <your LeadOcean key>
          content-type: application/json
Body:     {
            "linkedin_url": "/LinkedIn URL",
            "reveal_email": true
          }
Field paths to return:
          data.contact_data.email_status
          data.contact_data.has_email
          data.contact_data.contact_emails
          data.contact_data.contact_current_experiences

Paste the key into the header field in Clay. Do not put it in a shared table column.

Test the same request from a terminal first. This is what Clay sends per row.

curl -X POST "https://api.leadocean.io/v1/people/enrich" \
  -H "x-api-key: $LEADOCEAN_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe","reveal_email":true}'

Send exactly one identifier per request. LeadOcean returns a 400 if you send two (LeadOcean docs, September 2026). reveal_email costs no extra record.

For the run condition, use a formula in plain Clay syntax such as {{LeadOcean email status}} is empty. The "Use AI" button in Run Settings writes the formula from a sentence (Clay docs, September 2026). Clay's HTTP API doc shows dot notation for Field paths and no array index syntax (Clay docs, October 2026). So return the whole contact_emails list and pick the work entry in a Clay formula.

Field mapping

The response nests data under data.contact_data and data.contact_current_experiences. Map these into flat Clay columns.

Do not treat catch_all as verified. The safe rule is to accept verified and catch_all_valid, and send everything else to a paid provider.

Cost at 10,000 rows

At 10,000 rows, LeadOcean costs $0 on the first 1,000 records and $499 flat on Pro. Clay costs depend on how many rows LeadOcean misses.

LeadOcean. A hit counts as one record. A miss is a 404 and costs nothing (LeadOcean docs, September 2026). So 10,000 rows use at most 10,000 records. The Free plan covers 1,000 of them, one-off. Pro is $499 a month with no per-record price, so the same run costs $499 that month.

Clay. The column needs Growth or higher. Growth includes 40,000 Actions and 6,000 Data Credits a month, and Data Credits start at $0.05 each (Clay pricing, September 2026). An HTTP API call uses one Action per row, so this column takes 10,000 Actions (LeadMagic, July 2026). Growth starts at $495 a month, or $446 a month billed yearly (Clay pricing, September 2026).

The saving is on paid providers. A fully enriched Clay record costs 6 to 20 Data Credits (LeadMagic, July 2026). At the low end, 6 credits at $0.05 is $0.30 a row. The table below is arithmetic, not a measured fill rate. Your hit rate will differ.

Every 1,000 rows LeadOcean fills removes about $300 of Clay credits at the low end of the range. Add the LeadOcean cost and compare. Pro at $499 pays for itself once it fills roughly 1,700 rows you would otherwise buy at 6 credits. Run the five-row test first, then size a full run from the real hit rate.

Troubleshooting

FAQ