Clay
- Starting price: Free / $134/mo (annual)
- Free plan: Yes (limited credits)
- Founded: 2017
- HQ: New York, NY
Updated
Clay vs ContactOut vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Clay vs ContactOut vs Derrick: Clay is a multi-source data enrichment with ai workflows, ContactOut is a linkedin-focused email and phone finder for recruiters and individual sdrs. Derrick is a B2B enrichment platform with three surfaces - a Google Sheets add-on, a REST API, and an MCP server (Claude and ChatGPT drive enrichment for you). Hit rates are noticeably higher (more emails + phone numbers returned per query than Clay or ContactOut) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Clay or ContactOut for outreach.
Email + phone finders like Clay live on data freshness and source diversity. The side-by-side comparison below pits Clay's coverage by region, free-tier ceiling and credit-burn rate against Derrick's flat-credit pool that funds email + phone + LinkedIn + firmographics from one wallet.
Free plan Yes - 100 credits/mo
Starts at €9/mo
Setup time 30 seconds
Where it lives Google Sheets
✓ Free forever · ✓ No credit card · ✓ Cancel anytime · ✓ Your data stays in your Sheet
Trusted by 31,000+ users worldwide.
CURSOR Quick Facts
Clay vs ContactOut vs Derrick at a glance
ContactOut
- Starting price: Free 4 emails/day · Email $49/mo (annual)
- Free plan: Yes - 5 emails + 5 phones + 5 exports per day
- Founded: 2015
- HQ: San Francisco, CA
Derrick
★ Recommended- Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
- Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
- Founded: 2023
- HQ: Marseille, FR
Why Derrick wins 01
02
03
Why teams pick Derrick over Clay and ContactOut
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Real-time validation without setup complexity in Sheets
Clay and ContactOut struggle with real-time validation inside Sheets due to separate workflows and setup friction that slow validation before outreach. Derrick delivers real-time validation directly in Google Sheets without any complex configuration, keeping everything 100% native. This saves teams 5-10 hours per month by eliminating manual data checks and re-verifications, while ensuring immediate accuracy at point of entry. A practical use case is validating emails on the spot during list-building to improve deliverability without leaving Sheets.
02 No-code ROI: automated data enrichment without manual normalization
Clay and ContactOut offer data enrichment and contact discovery, but both require substantial setup, external tools, or accept data quality gaps for high-precision lists. Derrick provides a no-code ROI by automating enrichment directly inside Google Sheets, removing manual normalization steps and complex configurations. Users typically save 5–10 hours per month while achieving consistent 50+ attributes per contact with real-time validation, all within a native Sheets workflow. A quick use-case: enrich a lead list and instantly segment with AI scoring without leaving Sheets or exporting data.
03 Fast, scalable data quality with zero setup complexity
Clay and ContactOut struggle to deliver fast, scalable data quality with zero setup, often hampered by setup complexity, data freshness, and limited real-time validation. Derrick eliminates these frictions by being 100% native to Google Sheets, removing CSV exports and complex integrations. By enabling real-time validation and enrichment directly inside Sheets for 50+ attributes per contact, Derrick reduces QA time and speeds up pipeline-saving up to 5–10 hours per month for teams. A typical use case: instantly validate and enrich a prospect list without leaving Sheets or wrestling with rate limits.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Clay, ContactOut, and Derrick each genuinely win.
What Clay does better
- Best-in-class waterfall enrichment
- Claygent AI for research at scale
- Open architecture (HTTP API + custom functions)
What ContactOut does better
- Best personal email coverage in the category
- Dead-simple Chrome extension UX
- Triple email verification reduces bounces
What Derrick does better
- Free forever - €0/mo with 100 credits permanent in Google Sheets
- 100+ data points per lead - verified emails, phones, LinkedIn, tech stack, SIRET
- Zero LinkedIn ban risk + real-time email verification built in
- Pair with any sequencer - LaGrowthMachine, Smartlead, Lemlist, HeyReach
Real Annual Cost
True cost over 12 months
Headline pricing rarely tells the whole story. Here's the real cost of running each tool for a year.
| Clay | ContactOut | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $134/mo (annual) | Free 4 emails/day · Email $49/mo (annual) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€1,608/yr | ~€48/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (limited credits) | Yes - 5 emails + 5 phones + 5 exports per day | ✓ Forever - 100 credits/mo |
| Setup cost | Hours to days | Hours to days | 30 seconds via Marketplace |
| Switching cost | CSV export + retraining | CSV export + retraining | Zero - works alongside any stack |
💡 Most teams pay 2-5x more on add-ons (extra seats, phone credits, integrations) than on the headline base price. Derrick keeps everything in one transparent tier.
Feature-by-Feature
Clay vs ContactOut vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| Clay | Derrick App | ContactOut | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works natively in Google Sheets | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month) | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Sales Navigator 1-click import | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email finder with real-time validation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phone finder from LinkedIn | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Company tech stack lookup | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Automatic AI Lead Scoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Data cleaning & normalization | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Zapier, Make, n8n integrations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public API available | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Entry price (paid plan) | 149$/mois | 9€/mois | 40$/mois |
| Permanent free plan | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollover credits to next month | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple and transparent credit system | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Simple setup & onboarding | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complete documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Pricing in a nutshell Data Enrichment derrick
best value for money
Results first.
Discover Derrick →
LinkedIn Recruiter Email + Phone Finder
Clay vs ContactOut vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Data Enrichment Clay
Free / $134/mo (annual)
Best for: GTM ops & technical SDR teams
Clay offers tiered pricing with a free starter tier and paid plans that scale with usage, plus a comprehensive pricing page for all details. See full pricing breakdown for exact plan levels, credits, and addons.
Results first.
Complexity removed.
Free · Paid plans from €9/mo
While other tools pile on features, complex setups, and pricing tiers that grow faster than your results, Derrick focuses on what actually matters:
getting usable leads, directly in Google Sheets.
No heavy workflows, No endless configuration. No learning curve.
LinkedIn Recruiter Email + Phone Finder ContactOut
Free 4 emails/day · Email $49/mo (annual)
Best for: Recruiters needing personal emails from LinkedIn at scale
ContactOut offers tiered pricing with a free entry point and paid plans scaling by monthly credits, designed for enterprise-scale outreach; see full pricing breakdown for all details and exact plan costs. Pricing details are available on the dedicated Pricing page.
Migration Guide
How to switch from Clay to Derrick in 3 steps
Derrick is a Google Workspace app - no formulas to learn, no pipelines to migrate, no engineering work. Add it to Google Sheets and you're enriching in under a minute.
1
~30 sec Install Derrick from Google Workspace Marketplace
Click the install button on our Marketplace listing and grant Google Sheets access. No credit card required - you start with 100 free credits per month.
2
~30 sec Open any Google Sheet → Extensions → Derrick
Open a Sheet with your prospect list (paste a CSV from Clay, scrape from LinkedIn Sales Navigator, or import from your CRM). Click Extensions → Derrick and the sidebar opens with all enrichment features ready to use.
3
~1 min Enrich your list with one click
Select the column with names, LinkedIn URLs, or company domains. Pick what you want - emails, phone numbers, LinkedIn data, company info, tech stack - and click "Enrich". Derrick fills the columns directly in your Sheet. No exports, no pipelines, no waiting.
Install Derrick free →
100 free credits / month · No credit card · Cancel anytime
Decision in 60 seconds
Which one is right for you?
Pick Clay if…
- You specifically need gtm ops & technical sdr teams
- Best-in-class waterfall enrichment
- Claygent AI for research at scale
- You're already invested in the Clay ecosystem
Pick ContactOut if…
- You specifically need recruiters needing personal emails from linkedin at scale
- Best personal email coverage in the category
- Dead-simple Chrome extension UX
- You're already invested in the ContactOut ecosystem
Pick Derrick if…
- You want B2B enrichment directly in Google Sheets
- You need a usable free plan (100 credits/mo, no card)
- You don't want long contracts, lock-in, or sales calls
- You need 100+ data points per lead in one tool
What teams say after switching from Clay vs ContactOut
See what our customers say about Derrick.
"This app saved me so much time and effort. Great for anyone looking to build a contact list or network at scale quickly. As a start-up it's been invaluable."
Alex Clark
Director | SaaS GTM Leader
"Working pretty nifty compared to Snov.Io. Price wise it does give a fair shake, and IMO better interface since it's google sheets."
David Sire
Mortgage Broker at Zero Point Mortgage
"Derrick is a very simple and user-friendly app to enrich your contacts database. Best thing: you can test it for free. And then the price is so low, it's a no brainer."
Etienne Grange
CEO Form'actions
"Super easy to enrich linkedin urls using this tool. Both personal and company url data can be easily enriched with a click of a button."
Zaid Bilal
RevOps Professional
"Amazing Tool, I would like to advocate this to my colleagues. So that you can get more users. Keep it Up. 5 Stars!"
Asif Hanzala
Lead Generation Specialist at IdeaPeel
"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."
Dan Hughes
Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO
"I have been using other expensive apps or freemium like phantombuster, but Derrick has replaced them all. I love the simplicity of the Google sheet add-in, but what is best is the efficiency it delivers."
Julien Walon Cohen
CEO & Co-founder @ Diffly | B2B Sales Advisor
"The LinkedIn scraping and email finder combo is incredibly powerful. I can build a complete prospect list with contact info in under an hour. Absolute must-have for outbound."
Michael Kim
SDR Team Lead at CloudScale
"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."
AJ Alexander
Opportunity Prospector
Frequently Asked Questions
Derrick vs Clay: which is better for simple workflows?
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For simple workflows, Clay requires significant setup time and configuration complexity, making it less ideal for teams seeking quick implementation. ContactOut focuses primarily on contact verification rather than comprehensive enrichment, limiting its utility for broader prospecting needs. Derrick stands out by operating natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for external platforms or CSV exports. This native integration means you can enrich data, validate emails in real-time, and leverage integrated AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT directly within your spreadsheet, all without technical setup. For teams prioritizing speed and simplicity over complex automation, Derrick's straightforward approach delivers immediate value with minimal learning curve.
Is Derrick a strong alternative to Clay for recruiters?
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Yes, Derrick is a strong alternative to Clay for recruiters, particularly if you prioritize simplicity and speed over complex workflow automation. While Clay excels at building sophisticated multi-step enrichment sequences, it requires significant setup time and technical expertise. Derrick streamlines the entire process directly within Google Sheets with no CSV exports or configuration complexity, saving five to ten hours monthly. Both platforms offer real-time email validation and data enrichment, but Derrick's integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, combined with rollover credits and no credit card requirement for the free tier, makes it more accessible for recruiting teams seeking faster deployment and lower operational friction than Clay's more advanced but demanding approach.
Derrick vs Clay vs ContactOut: which is the best comparison?
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Choosing between Derrick, Clay, and ContactOut depends on your team's priorities. Clay excels at workflow automation and multi-source data aggregation but requires significant setup time and technical expertise. ContactOut specializes in verified email discovery with strong accuracy for individual contacts, though it scales expensively for high-volume teams. Derrick stands out for teams already using Google Sheets, offering native integration without CSV exports, real-time email validation, integrated AI scoring, and rollover credits at transparent pricing. If you prioritize simplicity, cost efficiency, and seamless spreadsheet workflows, Derrick delivers faster implementation with minimal learning curve compared to both competitors.
How does Clay compare to ContactOut on pricing?
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Clay pricing emphasizes a flexible, feature-rich data enrichment and outbound automation platform, often with higher ongoing costs for high-volume users. ContactOut tends to skew higher-priced as well, focusing on verified contact data and outreach features. Derrick, by contrast, offers a cost-efficient model with scalable credits (free tier plus affordable Small/Medium/Large plans), 100% native Google Sheets, and credit rollovers, plus free access without a credit card for the free tier. For teams prioritizing simplicity, speed, and predictable budgeting, Derrick typically delivers stronger value at lower effective cost.
What’s the Derrick pricing difference versus ContactOut?
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Derrick offers significantly more flexible pricing than ContactOut, with plans starting at just nine dollars monthly for four thousand credits, compared to ContactOut's higher per-contact costs that scale aggressively with volume. Derrick's standout advantage is rollover credits, meaning unused credits carry forward monthly, whereas ContactOut charges based on consumption without flexibility. Additionally, Derrick requires no credit card for the free tier, provides native Google Sheets integration eliminating CSV exports, and includes built-in AI tools with Claude and ChatGPT, delivering more comprehensive value for budget-conscious B2B teams managing variable prospecting volumes.
Can Derrick replace both Clay and ContactOut for data enrichment?
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Derrick cannot fully replace both Clay and ContactOut for every data enrichment need, but it can cover many common requirements more efficiently. Derrick provides 100% native Google Sheets enrichment, real-time email validation, 50+ enrichment attributes, AI scoring and segmentation, plus wide app integrations, all without complex setup. Clay excels at multi-source data aggregation and automation, while ContactOut shines in verified professional emails and phone numbers. If your needs are broad data enrichment with deep source variety, you may still pair Derrick with specialized tools for optimum accuracy and depth.
One-on-one
Clay vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Clay compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → One-on-oneContactOut vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how ContactOut compares to Derrick alone.
Open the head-to-head → Curated stackAll B2B sales tools we reviewed in depth
Step back from the duel - see our hand-picked sales-tool selection and how every category fits together.
See the full curation → Keep Exploring
