Teaser — Apollo.io vs Clay (public sources)

SKU: Free website teaser (SAMPLE)
Job ID: SAMPLE-TEASER-001
As of: 2026-09-18 10:17 PT
Prepared for: getopenbrief.com public sample
Prepared by: OpenBrief Delivery (agent-operated)

OpenBrief delivery note: This brief was produced by OpenBrief’s agent-operated Delivery role using public sources only. It is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Citations are listed so you can verify each claim. SAMPLE — free teaser; not a full paid research pack.

1. What this teaser covers

This teaser records what Apollo.io and Clay disclose on official public product and pricing pages about product positioning, plan/credit structures, and whether fixed prices appear without talking to sales. Audience: US B2B founders, operators, strategy/PMM, and solo CI readers seeking factual orientation only.

Full OpenBrief packs go deeper (feature matrices, terms notes, dated change tracking). This file stays limited to first-party disclosures as of the timestamp above.

2. Side-by-side facts from official pages

Positioning

	Apollo.io	Clay
Public framing	“AI GTM system” / “one connected GTM system” with Data, Intelligence, and Execution; workspace plus “Apollo Anywhere” into CRM and other tools.[1]	“Build systems to grow revenue” / infrastructure to get data, run agentic workflows, and launch GTM plays; blog frames Clay as infrastructure GTM engineers build on.[2][3]
Data emphasis	Large first-party contact/account network and waterfall enrichment on the home page.[1]	Multi-provider waterfalls; pricing FAQ/docs cite 150+ marketplace partners.[4][5]
Execution emphasis	Sequences, dialing, and GTM execution in Apollo or existing tools.[1]	Ads sync, sequencer, CRM enrichment, workflows/functions/agents.[2][4]

Plans, meters, and public price visibility

Apollo.io maintains a pricing page and a credits explainer.[6][7]

• Embedded Offer markup on the pricing URL lists Free ($0), Basic ($49), Professional ($99), and Enterprise (“Contact for pricing”), with Basic/Professional using a monthly billing increment in that schema.[6]
• Credits (About Credits): ≤1 credit per contact for email; phone numbers also consume credits; credits expire at cycle end and do not roll over; they renew on the first day of the billing cycle (annual plans unlock the period’s credits at cycle start).[7]
• Pricing FAQ HTML states trial credit allotments, a free Starter path after trial, in-app credit purchases, and Fair Use ceilings for “Unlimited” plans.[6]
• Per-tier credit packages on interactive plan cards are client-rendered; static HTML on this access date did not stably expose paid-tier allotments, so those figures are not asserted here.

Clay publishes pricing, university docs, and a first-party pricing memo.[4][5][8]

• Two meters: Actions (platform/orchestration) and Data Credits (marketplace data/AI). FAQ: Data Credits start at $0.05 each; Actions start at less than $0.01 each.[4]
• Self-serve tiers (pricing FAQ): Free — 100 Data Credits and 500 Actions/mo; Launch — from $185/mo with 2,500 Data Credits and 15,000 Actions/mo; Growth — from $495/mo with 6,000 Data Credits and 40,000 Actions/mo; Enterprise — custom (annual commitment).[4] Docs repeat Launch/Growth starting prices and bands.[5]
• The pricing UI also offers monthly/annual toggles (e.g., “Save 10%”) that change displayed monthly amounts; read the live toggle.[4]
• Rollover: Actions do not roll over; Data Credits on Launch/Growth can accumulate under published caps; self-serve Data Credit top-ups are described at a 30% premium.[4][5]
• Free comparison row: unlimited seats/tables and waterfalls within row limits; phone enrichment and several signal/CRM items listed on paid tiers.[4]

Visibility snapshot (not a ranking)

Dimension	Apollo.io	Clay
Self-serve dollars	Free + named paid tiers in Offer schema; Enterprise contact.[6]	Free + Launch/Growth starting dollars; Enterprise custom.[4][5]
Usage currency	Single credits system; no rollover.[7]	Split Data Credits + Actions.[4][5]
Seat vs usage	Seat-named paid Offers; credits for data actions.[6][7]	Unlimited seats on Free; spend tied to Actions/Data Credits and feature gates.[4]

3. What public pages do NOT establish

• Cross-vendor meter equivalence (Apollo credits ≠ Clay Data Credits/Actions); no public conversion rate.
• Fit, data accuracy in a buyer’s segment, quality, or total cost of ownership.
• Current Apollo paid-tier credit allotments (not stably readable from static pricing HTML on this date).
• Negotiated Enterprise/legacy discounts (Clay notes some customers remain on legacy plans;[8] Apollo routes custom needs to sales).[6]
• Any purchase, ranking, affordability, or stack recommendation.

4. Citations

1. The AI GTM System for Go-to-Market Teams | Apollo — Apollo.io — https://www.apollo.io/ — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
2. Build systems to grow revenue — Clay — https://www.clay.com/ — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
3. Behind the scenes of Clay’s new homepage — Clay — https://www.clay.com/blog/new-homepage-2026 — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
4. Flexible pricing that fits you — Clay — https://www.clay.com/pricing — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
5. Plans & billing — Clay Docs (University) — https://university.clay.com/docs/plans-and-billing — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
6. Apollo.io Pricing Plans — Apollo.io — https://www.apollo.io/pricing — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
7. About Apollo Credits — Apollo.io — https://www.apollo.io/pricing/about-credits — accessed 2026-09-18 PT
8. The thinking behind our new pricing: our internal memo — Clay — https://www.clay.com/blog/clay-pricing-memo-internal — accessed 2026-09-18 PT