# Exa vs Clay in 2026: one request in place of two tools Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/compare/exa-vs-clay Exa Websets finds companies and people that meet your criteria and bills Websets credits at rates shown inside your account. Clay enriches a table you build from 150+ providers, from $185 a month for 15,000 Actions and 2,500 Data Credits. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Describe the accounts once, and every match that meets each condition reaches your CRM as a row with its people, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, priced before it runs. [Describe your data](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-exa-vs-clay&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=exa-vs-clay&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fask%3Fq%3DB2B%2520software%2520companies%2520in%2520North%2520America%2520with%252050%2520to%2520500%2520employees%2520that%2520are%2520hiring%2520their%2520first%2520RevOps%2520lead%252C%2520with%2520the%2520VP%2520of%2520Sales%2520and%2520a%2520work%2520email%2520for%2520each) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. ## SpecStream, Exa Websets and Clay side by side | | SpecStream | Exa Websets | Clay | |---|---|---|---| | What you send | The accounts you want in plain words, with the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back | A query in plain words, a result count, and optional criteria and enrichments of text, numbers, dates or multiple choice | A table you build. Each enrichment column calls one of 150+ providers on every row | | What you get back | Structured rows, one record per company or person, with facts from many sites joined. Source URL and read time on every value | Items that pass every criterion, with their enrichments, in the dashboard, by API or by webhook. `count` is a target, so the final count can be lower than requested | The values each provider returns, in the columns of your table. A fully enriched record typically takes 6 to 20 Data Credits | | The unit you pay for | A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 by how much the row needs, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone. The same rate on every plan | Websets credits, kept apart from Search API credits. Verified results, enrichments, contact data, imports and API previews each use credits, at rates shown on the billing page inside your account | Two meters. An Action for each record enriched or exported, from under $0.01. Data Credits from $0.05 each, 6 to 20 for a fully enriched record | | How to start | $10 of credit, no card. Pro $19, Scale $99 and Team $499 a month, all spent as credit at the same row rates | Free credits on a new account, with each webset stopped at 25 verified results. The Websets API requires a paid Websets plan | Free: 500 Actions and 100 Data Credits a month, 200 rows per table and no phone enrichment. Launch from $185 a month, Growth from $495 | | The price before a run | The most the run can cost, quoted before it starts and good for 30 minutes. Nothing runs until you approve it | A result count, which is a target. An API preview of a webset uses credits | An estimate for AI columns: Clay says 75% of runs cost less than it. When the Actions run out, you move up to the next Action tier | | What empty work costs | Nothing. Duplicates, rows you already own and rows a page contradicts are not charged, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing | Verified results are billed; a webset returns only the items that pass every criterion | Many actions charge whether or not the provider finds a match, and a run that ends as `Empty response` is not refunded | | A list you already have | Import a CSV, Excel file, Google Sheet or Airtable base of up to 20,000 rows. SpecStream fills in or checks each row and matches it to one identity. Import is free | A CSV with a URL column: LinkedIn profile URLs for people and homepage URLs for companies. Imports use credits, up to a maximum set by your plan | 200 rows per table on Free and up to 50,000 on Launch. Unlimited row bulk enrichment is on Enterprise | | Reruns | Hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢ | A monitor searches for new items on a schedule that triggers at most once a day | Scheduled enrichment runs from Launch. Sources sync once a day on Free through Growth and every 15 minutes on Enterprise | | Into your CRM | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio and more on every plan, plus Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks | People websets export to Salesforce as Leads and to HubSpot as Contacts. Any webset exports to Clay by webhook, which requires a Clay Pro account | CRM integrations, HTTP API integrations and webhooks start on Growth, from $495 a month | | API and agents | MCP server, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs and a CLI, from the same balance as your team | The Websets API on a paid Websets plan. For new list building, Exa's docs point to Exa Agent, from $0.012 to $1.00 a request plus $0.02 an email and $0.07 a phone | Clay API access is on Enterprise, at custom pricing with an annual commitment | ## Why teams choosing between Exa and Clay use SpecStream ### One request does what the two tools split Exa sends websets of any kind to Clay by webhook, on a Clay Pro account: one tool finds the accounts and the other enriches them. SpecStream does both in one request: it finds every account that meets your conditions, joins the facts it reads on many sites into one record, adds the people and their emails, and writes the rows to your CRM. 1,000 accounts with the buying committee cost $150, plus 5¢ for each row with an email. ### Your CRM on every plan Clay's CRM integrations, HTTP API integrations and webhooks start on Growth, from $495 a month, and its API is on Enterprise. Websets documents its Salesforce and HubSpot exports for people websets only. SpecStream writes companies, people and emails into HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Attio on every plan, starting from the $10 of credit a new account gets. ### The rate is on the page and the maximum comes first Websets shows its credit rates on the billing page inside an account. Clay meters Actions and Data Credits, and a fully enriched record typically takes 6 to 20 Data Credits. SpecStream's rates are public: 5¢ for a row with up to 5 facts, 15¢ for up to 15 facts and one set of related records, and $1 for a deep row. Every request gets a quote of the most it can cost, and nothing runs until you approve it. ### Every row meets the conditions you wrote A result that fails one of your conditions is not delivered and not billed, and duplicates and rows you already own are never charged. For any row, `get_find_decisions` returns each condition's answer with its reason, the value, the source and the time it was read. ### Reruns every hour, with each row labeled A Websets monitor triggers at most once a day, and Clay syncs sources once a day below Enterprise. A saved SpecStream request reruns hourly to yearly, and each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. Rechecking 1,000 accounts that did not change costs $10. ### The most accurate web search API in the world The search underneath is measured in public. The SpecStream Search API scores a 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions, with 978 correct, and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The scores and the method are at [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-vs-clay). ## Other tools teams price against Exa and Clay ### Parallel FindAll Finds entities that match criteria, priced per run and per match: from $0.10 a run on `preview` up to $10.00 a run plus $1.00 a match on `pro`, and a cancelled run is charged for the work completed. SpecStream bills only delivered rows, under a maximum you approve first. ### Apollo A contact database of 240M contacts and 30M companies, sold by plan and credits. SpecStream finds accounts by traits no filter lists, from the live web, and writes them to your CRM at 5¢ to $1 a row. ### ZoomInfo A contact and company database sold by annual contract. Vendr reports a median contract of $33,500 a year, from 1,581 purchases. SpecStream has no seats and no annual minimum: $10 of credit to start, then 5¢ to $1 a row. ### Crustdata A company and people data API: new accounts start with $20 in free credits, search costs 0.03 credits per result, and the real time API is from four figures a month. SpecStream delivers finished rows into your CRM, with no code. ## How to move a Websets or Clay job to SpecStream 1. Write the query and criteria you give Websets, or the columns of your Clay table, as one request in plain words. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows. 2. Or import the CSV you exported from Websets or Clay, up to 20,000 rows, and SpecStream fills in or checks each row. 3. Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost. ``` curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"request": "B2B software companies in North America with 50 to 500 employees that are hiring their first RevOps lead, with the VP of Sales and a work email for each", "count": 25}' ``` 4. Connect HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Attio once, save the request, and new accounts reach your CRM on the schedule you choose. Your agent uses the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` from the same balance. [Companies that name Exa as a sub-processor](https://specstream.ai/data/subprocessors/vendor/exa) and [companies that name Clay](https://specstream.ai/data/subprocessors/vendor/clay) on their own published lists, each with the page and the day we read it. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Exa better than Clay? For a team that needs accounts found, enriched and in the CRM, SpecStream does the whole job in one request at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row, plus 5¢ for an email. Websets finds and checks the list, Clay enriches a table you build, and a team that uses both joins them by webhook on a Clay Pro account. ### Exa Websets vs Clay pricing: what does each cost? Websets bills Websets credits for verified results, enrichments, contact data, imports and API previews, at rates shown inside your account, and its API needs a paid Websets plan. Clay Launch starts at $185 a month for 15,000 Actions and 2,500 Data Credits, and Growth at $495. SpecStream starts with $10 of credit and no card, and 1,000 accounts with an email each cost $100 at 5¢ a row. ### Can I use Exa inside Clay? Exa exports websets of any kind to Clay by webhook, and that requires a Clay Pro account. SpecStream finds and enriches in one request and writes the rows straight to HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Attio. ### Which one sends data to my CRM? SpecStream, on every plan: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and Attio, plus Sheets, Slack and Teams. Clay's CRM integrations start on Growth at $495 a month, and Websets exports people websets to Salesforce as Leads and HubSpot as Contacts. ### Do Exa and Clay have APIs? The Websets API needs a paid Websets plan, and Clay API access is on Enterprise. SpecStream's REST API, SDKs, CLI and MCP server work on every account, including the $10 of free credit. ### How often can a saved list rerun? A Websets monitor triggers at most once a day, and Clay syncs sources once a day below Enterprise. A saved SpecStream request reruns as often as every hour, a changed or new row costs half its rate and an unchanged row 1¢. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each figure for Exa, Clay and the other tools comes from that company's own page. - [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets overview](https://exa.ai/docs/reference/websets-overview), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets quickstart](https://exa.ai/docs/websets/quickstart.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets FAQ](https://exa.ai/docs/websets/faq.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets integrations](https://exa.ai/docs/websets/dashboard/integrations.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets CSV import](https://exa.ai/docs/websets/dashboard/import-from-csv.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Websets monitors](https://exa.ai/docs/websets/api/monitors/create-a-monitor.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Clay docs, Actions and Data Credits](https://university.clay.com/docs/actions-data-credits), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Clay docs, credit refunds](https://university.clay.com/docs/credit-refunds), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel pricing](https://docs.parallel.ai/getting-started/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel FindAll generators](https://docs.parallel.ai/findall-api/core-concepts/findall-generator-pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Apollo pricing](https://www.apollo.io/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Vendr, ZoomInfo pricing](https://www.vendr.com/marketplace/zoominfo), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata pricing](https://crustdata.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026