Locus product guide · Updated September 29, 2026

Clay alternatives for AI agents: pay per lookup

The best Clay alternative for an AI agent is one the agent can call directly, per lookup, with no seat or monthly plan. Locus Pro lets an agent call Hunter, Apollo and other enrichment APIs from one prepaid balance. Clay stays the better choice for teams that build enrichment in shared tables with CRM sync.

How do Clay, Apollo, FullEnrich, Hunter and Locus Pro compare?

Clay is a workspace for people. The others are data sources or APIs an agent can call. Prices below come from each vendor’s pricing page on September 29, 2026.

How do Clay, Apollo, FullEnrich, Hunter and Locus Pro compare?
Tool	What it is	Pricing model
Clay	GTM enrichment tables that pull from 150+ data providers, with AI runs and CRM sync	Free: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month. Launch: $167 a month for 15,000 actions and 2,500 data credits. Growth: $446 a month. Data credits start at $0.05. Unlimited seats.
Apollo	B2B contact database with prospecting and outreach tools	Free plan, then per-seat plans that include credits
FullEnrich	Waterfall email and phone finder across 25+ sources, with an API	50 free credits. Pro: $55 a month for 1,000 credits. A work email costs 1 credit and a mobile number 10.
Hunter	Email finder and verifier with an API on every plan	Free: 50 credits a month. Starter: $49 a month for 2,000 credits, or $34 a month billed yearly.
Locus Pro	One prepaid balance for enrichment APIs that an agent calls per use	Free plan with no subscription. Each call has its own price, such as $0.013 for a Hunter email lookup.

What does an enrichment lookup cost through Locus Pro?

Most single lookups cost between half a cent and four cents. 1,000 credits equal $1. The table shows fixed Locus catalog prices on September 29, 2026.

Apollo people enrichment and bulk endpoints are variable, so ask for a quote first. ContactOut, Tomba, Ocean.io and other providers run on live-priced rails, with the price set at call time.

What does an enrichment lookup cost through Locus Pro?
Locus endpoint	Credits per call	USD per call
Apollo people search	5	$0.005
Hunter email verifier	8	$0.008
Hunter email finder	13	$0.013
Hunter company enrichment	13	$0.013
Hunter combined person and company enrichment	23	$0.023
Apollo organization enrichment	38	$0.038

When is Clay the better choice?

Clay is better when people, not agents, run the enrichment. Its tables let a GTM team see every row, chain providers without code and sync results to a CRM.

Your team works in spreadsheets and wants to review each row.
You want to try many providers in order, set up in a UI instead of code.
You need CRM auto-sync, which Clay includes on Growth.
You already hold provider keys. Clay runs your own keys for one action and no data credits.

When does a per-call API fit an agent better?

A per-call API fits when an agent does the work inside Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or your own app. The agent searches the catalog, sees the price, calls the provider and moves on. Nobody opens a table.

It also fits uneven volume. Clay Launch costs $167 a month whether you enrich 10 rows or 2,500. Through Locus, 200 Hunter email lookups cost $2.60. You can cap spend per call and per month.

How do I move a Clay workflow to an agent?

Rebuild it column by column and test on a small sample first.

List each Clay column and the provider behind it.
Find the matching endpoint in the Locus catalog and note its price.
Run 20 known rows through both. Compare hit rate and cost per found record.
Write the order of providers into the agent’s instructions. For example, try Hunter first and Apollo if Hunter finds nothing.
Set a per-call cap and a monthly limit before you run the full list.

Frequently asked questions

Does Locus Pro run enrichment waterfalls like Clay?

Not as a table feature. Your agent runs the waterfall itself. It calls one provider, checks the result, then calls the next one if needed. Each call is billed separately.

Is Apollo a Clay alternative?

Partly. Apollo is a contact database with prospecting and outreach. Clay pulls from many providers into one table. Apollo’s people search and organization enrichment are also callable through Locus Pro.

Is there a free Clay alternative?

Hunter gives 50 free credits a month and FullEnrich gives 50 to start. Clay also has a free plan. Locus Pro’s Free plan has no subscription, and you pay only for the calls you make.

How do I give my agent enrichment tools?

Tell your agent: Install Locus Pro by following https://paywithlocus.com/SKILL.md. Then sign up at https://paywithlocus.com/pro and add credits.

Implementation references

Use these first-party references for current request contracts and account requirements. Tool availability, prices, and negotiated terms can change.

Sources

Third-party details were checked on September 29, 2026. Vendors change pricing and features often, so confirm on their site before you decide.