COMPARISON

ZoomInfo vs Clay: B2B Data Compared for RevOps Teams

ZoomInfo is the B2B data incumbent that has dominated enterprise sales intelligence for a decade. Clay is the upstart that lets you pull from 75+ data providers through waterfall enrichment and build custom research workflows. For RevOps, this comparison is about philosophy: do you trust one provider to be your single source of truth, or do you orchestrate across many sources and accept the operational complexity that comes with it?

Quick Verdict: ZoomInfo gives you the largest proprietary B2B database, verified contact data, intent signals, and enterprise-grade CRM sync in one package. Clay gives you broader data coverage through waterfall enrichment, AI-powered research agents, and workflow flexibility that ZoomInfo cannot match. ZoomInfo is easier to operationalize. Clay produces better data if you have the ops skill to build and maintain the workflows. Budget $15K-50K+ for ZoomInfo or $5K-25K+ for Clay depending on credit consumption.

Quick Comparison

ZoomInfo vs Clay at a Glance

Factor	ZoomInfo	Clay
Pricing	$15K-$100K+/year Opaque, aggressive contracts	From $149/mo (credit-based) Credits burn fast at scale
Best For	Enterprise data with intent and technographics	Multi-source enrichment and custom data workflows
Data Approach	Single proprietary database Simpler to manage	Waterfall across 75+ providers Broader coverage
Email Accuracy	~95% verified Higher single-source	Varies by provider; best-match logic across sources
Intent Data	Bidstream + research intent Built-in	Via Bombora or other integrations
Learning Curve	Moderate; standard search UI	Steep Requires ops skill to build workflows
CRM Integration	Enterprise-grade SF/HS sync Strongest	Custom workflow-based CRM push You build it
Contract Flexibility	Annual, auto-renew, hard to exit Lock-in risk	Monthly available Flexible

Feature Breakdown

Detailed Feature Comparison

Feature	ZoomInfo	Clay
Contact Data	321M+ profiles, proprietary verification Largest single DB	Aggregates from 75+ providers Broadest net
Custom Workflows	Predefined search and export	Spreadsheet-style with formulas and AI agents Highly flexible
AI Research	Not available	AI agent scrapes websites and enriches from unstructured sources Unique
Technographics	Detailed tech stack tracking Comprehensive	Via BuiltWith, Wappalyzer, or other integrations
Org Charts	Available on enterprise plans Included	Not available natively
Phone Data	Verified direct dials and mobiles Superior	Aggregated from multiple providers, quality varies
Data Freshness	Continuous updates on proprietary data	Real-time enrichment on demand Always current

Decision Framework

When to Use Which

Choose ZoomInfo When

You need a single, reliable data source with enterprise-grade CRM sync and minimal ops overhead to maintain
Intent data and technographics are critical to your ABM or outbound motion and you want them bundled
Your team does not have the ops skill or bandwidth to build and maintain custom enrichment workflows
Verified phone data (direct dials and mobiles) is a hard requirement for your sales motion
You can negotiate the contract terms and your budget supports $15K+ annually

Choose Clay When

Single-source data is insufficient for your ICP and you need coverage from multiple providers
You have RevOps or data ops capacity to build, maintain, and iterate on custom enrichment workflows
AI-powered research (scraping websites, extracting custom data points) adds value to your prospecting motion
You want to consolidate multiple data vendor subscriptions into one orchestration layer
Contract flexibility matters and you do not want to be locked into aggressive annual terms with auto-renewal

When to Consider Both or Neither

Many teams use ZoomInfo as one of the data providers within Clay waterfall enrichment. This is expensive but produces the highest data quality: ZoomInfo provides a strong baseline, and Clay fills gaps from other providers. If neither fits, Apollo at $49/user/mo offers a solid mid-market database, or build a manual enrichment stack with Lusha, Clearbit, and Apollo as individual sources.

RevOps Perspective

What This Means for Your Stack

RevOps-Specific Considerations

ZoomInfo contract dynamics are the elephant in the room. Auto-renewal clauses, credit expiration, and aggressive account management mean you need to manage the vendor relationship actively. Set calendar reminders 90 days before renewal. Use Vendr or Spendflo benchmarks to negotiate.
Clay credit consumption modeling is essential before committing. Each record can burn 3-10+ credits depending on how many waterfall steps you configure. A workflow enriching 10,000 records per month with 5 providers per record can cost $2,000-5,000/month in credits alone. Model your actual volume.
CRM data quality governance differs significantly. ZoomInfo pushes structured data via native sync with field mapping you configure once. Clay requires you to build the CRM write-back workflow, which gives more control but demands more ops time and has more failure points.
The operational overhead gap is real. ZoomInfo is a search-and-export tool any rep can use. Clay is a data orchestration platform that requires someone who thinks in workflows, conditional logic, and data modeling. Staff accordingly.
Data freshness vs. data completeness is the core trade-off. ZoomInfo updates its database continuously but you are limited to what they have. Clay enriches on demand from live sources, potentially capturing data that no single provider has indexed yet.

Summary

Winner by Use Case

Use Case	Winner	Why
Enterprise data simplicity	ZoomInfo	Single source, native CRM sync, no workflow building required
Data coverage breadth	Clay	Waterfall across 75+ providers beats any single source
Intent data and technographics	ZoomInfo	Bundled intent and tech stack data out of the box
Custom enrichment logic	Clay	Workflow builder with conditional logic and AI research agents
Phone data quality	ZoomInfo	Verified direct dials with higher accuracy rate
Contract flexibility	Clay	Monthly plans vs. rigid annual lock-in

The RevOps Report's Bottom Line

ZoomInfo is the established enterprise data provider that works out of the box for teams that value simplicity and single-source reliability. Clay is the data orchestration platform for ops-savvy teams that want maximum coverage and workflow flexibility. The decision comes down to your team: if you have someone who can build and maintain Clay workflows, the multi-source data quality advantage is real and measurable. If you need reps self-serving data with minimal ops involvement, ZoomInfo is the more practical choice. Just go in with eyes open on the contract terms.

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Disclosure: The RevOps Report may receive affiliate compensation from tools mentioned here. Our analysis is independent. Every claim is based on publicly available data and user feedback.

Last Updated: January 2026