--- title: "WhoLayer vs Clay (2026): pricing, features, and where each is stronger" description: "A sourced, dated comparison of WhoLayer and Clay: person-level ID, ecommerce, API, MCP, and pricing, plus where Clay is the better pick." url: https://wholayer.com/compare/clay --- Compare · Contact data, enrichment, and MCP # WhoLayer vs Clay Clay in one line: GTM engineering workspace: tables, waterfall enrichment across 150+ data providers, AI research agents, signals, and MCP. WhoLayer identifies website visitors (person-level for US traffic, company-level free) and offers contact data through an API and MCP server, all from one credit wallet, starting with a free plan with 100 credits a month. Pick Clay if you need 150+ data providers with waterfalls that stop at the first validated result. Checked November 4, 2026. Every Clay figure links to its source. ## Side by side WhoLayer compared with Clay |   | Clay | WhoLayer | | --- | --- | --- | | Positioning | GTM engineering workspace: tables, waterfall enrichment across 150+ data providers, AI research agents, signals, and MCP. [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-1) | Website visitor identification, ecommerce shopper ID, and contact data for teams and AI agents. | | Person-level visitor ID | Web intent signals on the Growth plan; person-level data through marketplace providers [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-1) | Yes, US traffic only (1 credit per person, charged once a month); company-level worldwide (free) | | Ecommerce | No ecommerce product found in our research | Yes: Shopper ID sends identified US shoppers to Klaviyo, Customer.io, Mailchimp, Omnisend, Iterable, Braze, ActiveCampaign, or Brevo, with Returning Shopper events for existing Attentive and Postscript subscribers (2 credits per new shopper, 1 credit for shoppers already on your list where the platform can be checked), Growth plan and up | | API | HTTP API and CRM integrations on Growth and up [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-1) | Yes: REST API with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec | | MCP server | Yes, hosted with OAuth [\[3\] third-party, November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-3) | Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5 | | Pricing model | Two meters, actions and data credits; no charge when no data is returned [\[2\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-2) | Monthly or annual plans with credits from one wallet for every product; overage between $0.045 and $0.060 a credit on paid plans | | Entry price | Free; Launch from $185 a month ($167 a month billed annually) [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-1) | Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month | WhoLayer's column is generated from our live pricing and API limits. See [pricing](https://wholayer.com/pricing) and the [MCP docs](https://wholayer.com/docs/mcp). ## Where Clay is stronger An honest list. If one of these is what you need, it may be the better pick. - 150+ data providers with waterfalls that stop at the first validated result - AI web research (Claygent) and a natural-language table builder - Flexible, programmable workflows and ad audience pushes - Unlimited seats on every plan ## Where WhoLayer is different ### Built for agents A data MCP server with 13 tools and a REST API with an OpenAPI spec. Per-key daily caps, a 250-credit default ceiling per call, read-only keys, and idempotent retries keep an agent's spending predictable. ### Contact data with checks Work and personal emails come with a risk grade, mobiles come with a carrier and line-type check, and you can verify lists of up to 1,000 emails per call. ### Company-level ID is free Company identification is free and unlimited on every plan. Person-level ID is US-only and charged once per person per month; repeat visits are free. ### One wallet, published per-result prices Visitor ID, Shopper ID, the Data API, and the MCP server draw from the same credits, and every credit cost is listed on the pricing page. Misses aren't charged. ### Opt-outs honored everywhere Opted-out and suppressed people are never returned, delivered, or charged. Global Privacy Control signals are honored, and the rules we enforce are published as a machine-readable policy. ### Monthly plans, spend caps Monthly plans stop at the end of the billing period, and you can set a hard monthly spend cap so overage never surprises you. ### WhoLayer isn't the right fit if - You need a large global contact database for prospecting by country. WhoLayer's person-level data is US-only. - You need person-level identification of visitors outside the US. WhoLayer identifies people for US traffic only; elsewhere it's company-level, after consent. - You want a full ABM advertising suite, an on-site AI chat agent, or a built-in sequencer and dialer. WhoLayer identifies and enriches; it doesn't run ads, chat, or send email for you. ## Pricing Clay's published entry price, next to WhoLayer's plans. Clay Free; Launch from $185 a month ($167 a month billed annually) [\[1\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-1) Two meters, actions and data credits; no charge when no data is returned [\[2\], November 4, 2026](https://wholayer.com/compare/clay#source-2) WhoLayer WhoLayer plans | Plan | Monthly | Credits | Overage | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free | Free | 100 | None | | Starter | $49 | 1,000 | $0.060 a credit | | Growth | $199 | 5,000 | $0.050 a credit | | Scale | $799 | 20,000 | $0.045 a credit | Example: identifying 1,000 US people a month uses 1,000 credits. The cheapest fit is Starter at $49 a month. Repeat visits by the same person in a month are free, and company-level ID doesn't use credits. [Price your own volume](https://wholayer.com/calculator) ## Use them together Clay is often where WhoLayer data ends up. Send identified visitors to a Clay table with a signed webhook, or call the WhoLayer REST API from a Clay HTTP column. ## Questions ### Is WhoLayer cheaper than Clay? It depends on what you need and how much. Clay's entry price is: Free; Launch from $185 a month ($167 a month billed annually) (as of November 4, 2026). WhoLayer: Free plan with 100 credits a month; paid plans from $49 a month. Use the WhoLayer cost calculator to price your own volume. ### Does WhoLayer identify people outside the US? No. Person-level identification is US-only. Outside the US, WhoLayer identifies the company, and only after the visitor's consent is recorded. ### Do Clay and WhoLayer have MCP servers? Clay: Yes, hosted with OAuth. WhoLayer: Yes: a data MCP server with 13 tools, plus a public docs MCP server with 5. ### When is Clay the better choice? When you need 150+ data providers with waterfalls that stop at the first validated result, or AI web research (Claygent) and a natural-language table builder. ### Can I use Clay and WhoLayer together? Clay is often where WhoLayer data ends up. Send identified visitors to a Clay table with a signed webhook, or call the WhoLayer REST API from a Clay HTTP column. ## Sources - \[1\] [Clay pricing](https://www.clay.com/pricing) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[2\] [Clay: new pricing (Mar 2026)](https://www.clay.com/blog/introducing-clays-new-pricing) (vendor's own page, checked November 4, 2026) - \[3\] [Cleanlist: Clay MCP server review](https://www.cleanlist.ai/blog/2026-10-01-clay-mcp-server-review) (third-party source, checked November 4, 2026) Competitor information is from public sources as of November 4, 2026 and may have changed. Trademarks belong to their owners. WhoLayer wrote this page; if something here is wrong, [tell us](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales) and we'll fix it. [Clay alternatives](https://wholayer.com/alternatives/clay) · [All comparisons](https://wholayer.com/compare) Ready when you are ## See who's on your site this week Install one tag. Your first 100 identified people are free, no card needed. [Start free](https://wholayer.com/signup) [Talk to sales](https://wholayer.com/contact?topic=sales)