Comparison
Programmable vs Clay
Both research companies and the people at them. Clay gives you a table to build; Programmable gives you an agent to describe. Here is what each is built for, where each is stronger, and how to move a table over if you want to.
Clay's side describes how Clay works as a product, as of October 2026. Clay changes often; check its own site for prices and limits.
What each is built for
Clay
A spreadsheet for go-to-market data. Rows come in from a search, a CRM or a file, and each column is an enrichment step you configure: a provider, its inputs, a formula or an AI prompt. It rewards people who like building and tuning workflows, and it can model almost any process if you put in the time.
Programmable
A prospecting agent you supervise. You describe who you sell to in a sentence; it finds new companies each run, the right people, researches each company, drafts the outreach and asks before it sends. It rewards people who want the list and the leads without building or maintaining the steps.
The same job, both ways
Each week, find new dental groups in Texas that are hiring, reach the owner, and add them to a campaign with an opener about why now.
Building a table
- Start a table from a company search, filtered to the industry and state.
- Add columns for headcount, locations and job postings, each with its provider.
- Add a condition so only companies that are hiring continue.
- Add people search, then an email waterfall and a verifier.
- Add an AI column for the opener, with a prompt that reads the other columns.
- Connect the sequencer, map the fields, and set the table to run on new rows.
- Keep it in step when a provider, a field or the market changes.
Describing an agent
“Find dental groups in Texas with five or more locations that are hiring. Reach the owner, write an opener about why now, and add them to Instantly every Monday.”
- It's read into a plan: who it finds, what it researches, who it reaches, where results go and when. Anything unclear gets a question, not a guess.
- You confirm the plan, with the cost of each lookup and its source.
- Each Monday it runs the stored plan on companies it hasn't covered, and the leads wait paused for you.
Side by side
| Programmable | Clay | |
|---|---|---|
| How you start | Write one sentence: who you sell to, what to find out, who to reach, where leads go and when it runs. It's read into a plan you confirm once. | Build a table: add a source of rows, then add enrichment columns one by one, each set up with its provider, inputs and conditions. |
| What runs each time | The stored plan. Later runs don't re-plan, take only companies the agent hasn't covered, and behave the same way every time. | The table's columns, run on the rows you choose or set to run automatically on new rows. |
| Data | Up to 427 columns a row, 409 of them from 50 included sources with no keys of your own; 21 public sources to find companies from. | A large marketplace of data providers you pick per column, chained in waterfalls, plus an AI web research agent. |
| Your own keys | Bring keys for 20 providers (Apollo, Hunter, People Data Labs and more) and your own AI. Set the order they're tried in. Your keys cost no credits. | Many providers can run on your own API key instead of Clay's credits; others only through Clay's credits. |
| Pricing model | Credits per researched row: one a row, plus one for each heavier group asked for. 500 included to start; Starter $19/month with 20,000 credits, Growth $49/month with 75,000 credits, Scale $149/month with 300,000 credits. | Plans with a monthly credit allowance; each enrichment spends credits at the rate of the provider behind it. See Clay's pricing page for today's prices. |
| What's stored | Your lists and results aren't stored. Only receipts, agent settings and which companies an agent has covered are kept. | Your tables live in your Clay workspace, with their rows and enriched data, so you can come back and work on them. |
| Sending | Asks before it sends by default: leads land paused in Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, Woodpecker, Reply.io or Apollo, with an optional AI reviewer and one Approvals screen. | Pushes rows to sequencers and CRMs through its integrations; what sends, and when, is set up in the table and the sending tool. |
| From other tools | Every agent has a link: one HTTP step in Zapier, n8n or Make, a Google Sheets formula, or the API. | Integrations, webhooks in and out, and an API on some plans. |
Where each is stronger
Clay is stronger when
- You need a specific provider that only Clay's marketplace has, or many of them side by side.
- Your process has custom logic you want to see and edit cell by cell.
- A team works in the same table and wants the enriched rows kept there to come back to.
- You want a large library of community templates and people who already know the tool.
Programmable is stronger when
- You want results without building or maintaining a table: a sentence, confirmed once.
- You'd rather start with no data vendor accounts: 50 sources and email pattern checks are included.
- You want outreach to wait for you by default, with one screen to approve or discard.
- You don't want your lists and results stored by the tool that built them.
- You sell to online stores: platform, apps, payments, shipping and returns, and speed measured during the run.
Questions
Can I bring my Clay table?
Yes. Export the table as a CSV and upload it under Data, or start an agent from Your list. The website, email or LinkedIn column is found on its own, every column you brought is kept in order, and the research is added alongside. The file isn't stored. Formulas and the table's enrichment steps don't come across: describe what you want added in a sentence instead.
Is Programmable a cheaper Clay?
It's a different shape of tool. If your work is a custom table with many steps you tune by hand, Clay is built for that. If you'd rather describe who you sell to and review what an agent found each week, that's what Programmable is built for, and the price follows from doing less per row: included sources, your own keys at no extra credits, and no table to maintain.
Can I use both?
Yes. Some teams keep a Clay table for one-off deep research and run the weekly prospecting as an agent here, or call an agent's link from a Clay HTTP column. Programmable doesn't need to be the only tool you use.
Is Programmable SOC 2 certified?
No. We don't hold SOC 2 or another certification. What we keep and don't, how keys are encrypted and which services are involved is all on the security page.