Clay
- Starting price: Free / $134/mo (annual)
- Free plan: Yes (limited credits)
- Founded: 2017
- HQ: New York, NY
Updated
Clay vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?
- Short answer
- Clay vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick: Clay is a multi-source data enrichment with ai workflows, Octopus CRM is a budget chrome-extension linkedin automation tool for solo prospectors. 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 Octopus CRM) 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 Octopus CRM 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 Octopus CRM vs Derrick at a glance
Octopus CRM
- Starting price: $9.99/mo (Starter)
- Free plan: 7-day free trial
- Founded: 2018
- HQ: United States (remote-first team)
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 Octopus CRM
3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.
01 Get 50+ enriched attributes without Clay/Octopus limits
Clay and Octopus CRM often constrain data enrichment to a limited set of attributes, leading to gaps in lead profiles. Derrick delivers 50+ enriched attributes per contact or company, beyond the scopes typically offered by Clay and Octopus CRM. With Derrick, you gain a native Google Sheets integration that scales enrichment without complex setups, saving 5-10 hours per month. A practical use case: instantly expand prospect profiles in Sheets for targeted segmentation and faster outbound decisions.
02 Real-time validation without data decay for accuracy
Clay and Octopus CRM struggle with real-time validation reliability, often delivering data that decays as sources refresh and limits on validation hinder immediate outreach. Derrick differs by delivering real-time validation within 100% native Google Sheets, minimizing data decay and ensuring up-to-the-minute accuracy for each contact. This translates to clearer deliverability guidance, reducing wasted outreach time by up to 20-30% and preserving list hygiene with instant validation feedback. With Derrick, you gain continuous, auto-synced validation without complex configurations or data drift.
03 Native Google Sheets setup, no CRM export required collaboration
Clay and Octopus CRM require separate data provisioning or complex setups to collaborate across systems, which slows time-to-prospecting and often forces exports or manual syncing. Derrick enables a native Google Sheets setup with no CRM export required, keeping collaboration inside Sheets and eliminating CSV handoffs. Teams save 5-10 hours per month by avoiding export/config friction while enriching 50+ attributes per contact directly within Sheets. A practical use: real-time collaboration on lists where filters and scoring update instantly, with Derrick as the centralized enrichment engine.
Honest Comparison 
derrick
What each tool does better
We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Clay, Octopus CRM, 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 Octopus CRM does better
- Cheapest LinkedIn automation tool worth using
- Genuinely intuitive UI
- Built-in safety controls + smart delays
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 | Octopus CRM | Derrick | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (monthly) | Free / $134/mo (annual) | $9.99/mo (Starter) | €0 (free) · €9/mo paid |
| Annual cost (base) | ~€1,608/yr | ~€120/yr | €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid |
| Free plan? | Yes (limited credits) | 7-day free trial | ✓ 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 Octopus CRM vs Derrick: full feature comparison
| Clay | Derrick App | Octopus CRM | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 9.99$/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 →
Budget LinkedIn Automation (Chrome Extension)
Clay vs Octopus CRM vs Derrick pricing breakdown
Data Enrichment Clay
Free / $134/mo (annual)
Best for: GTM ops & technical SDR teams
Clay offers real-time data enrichment and outreach automation with plans highlighted on its pricing page, including an entry-level option and scalable paid tiers. For full specifics, see the complete pricing breakdown.
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.
Budget LinkedIn Automation (Chrome Extension) Octopus CRM
$9.99/mo (Starter)
Best for: Budget-conscious solo SDRs running basic LinkedIn outreach
Octopus CRM offers affordable starting plans with a free tier and paid options that scale by features and usage; full pricing details are available on the dedicated pricing page-see full pricing breakdown for specifics.
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 Octopus CRM if…
- You specifically need budget-conscious solo sdrs running basic linkedin outreach
- Cheapest LinkedIn automation tool worth using
- Genuinely intuitive UI
- You're already invested in the Octopus CRM 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 Octopus CRM
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
What’s the main difference between Derrick and Clay in data enrichment?
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Derrick focuses on streamlined data enrichment directly within Google Sheets with real-time email validation and AI-powered scoring, while Clay emphasizes workflow automation and multi-source data aggregation across 50+ integrations. Clay excels at building complex prospecting sequences but requires significant setup time and manual configuration, whereas Derrick prioritizes speed and simplicity with 50+ enrichment attributes per contact and rollover credits. For teams seeking straightforward enrichment without technical overhead, Derrick's native Google Sheets approach eliminates CSV exports and complex workflows that Clay demands, making it faster to deploy and more cost-effective for variable prospecting volumes.
Is Derrick a better alternative to Clay for outreach?
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Derrick offers a more streamlined approach to outreach compared to Clay by operating natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for complex workflow setup or CSV exports that Clay requires. While Clay excels at multi-source data aggregation, it demands significant configuration time and technical expertise. Derrick prioritizes speed and simplicity with built-in AI scoring, real-time email validation, and rollover credits, making it ideal for teams wanting faster campaign deployment without extensive learning curves. For straightforward outreach focused on efficiency, Derrick delivers a more accessible alternative, though Clay suits organizations requiring advanced workflow customization and diverse data source integration.
How does Derrick compare to Octopus CRM for pricing?
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Derrick offers more transparent and flexible pricing compared to Octopus CRM, with no credit card required for the free tier and rollover credits that don't expire monthly. Derrick starts at just nine dollars for four thousand credits, while Octopus CRM's pricing focuses on seat-based models that can become expensive for growing teams. Derrick's native Google Sheets integration eliminates costly platform switching and manual data exports, making it significantly more affordable for teams prioritizing simplicity and cost efficiency without sacrificing enrichment depth or data accuracy capabilities.
Derrick vs Clay vs Octopus CRM: which is best overall?
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Derrick is the best overall choice for teams prioritizing speed, simplicity, and native Google Sheets workflow while maintaining strong enrichment capabilities. Unlike Octopus CRM, Derrick offers 100% Google Sheets native operation, real-time email validation, and AI-driven scoring and segmentation, all without LinkedIn dependencies. Compared to Clay, Derrick provides a more streamlined setup, 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, and generous credits with rollover, plus flexible pricing and no credit card needed for the free tier. For organizations needing broad data enrichment, automation, and seamless integration across 3000+ apps, Derrick stands out as the most versatile, cost-efficient option.
Which is cheaper for small teams: Clay vs Octopus CRM?
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Clay and Octopus CRM both offer affordable options for small teams, but they serve different needs. Clay's pricing starts around $99/month for basic data enrichment and prospecting automation, while Octopus CRM is generally cheaper at entry-level, starting under $50/month for LinkedIn-focused sales automation. However, Derrick provides the most cost-effective solution for small teams with its free tier offering 100 credits at zero cost and paid plans starting at just $9/month with rollover credits, requiring no credit card upfront. If your team prioritizes simplicity and works primarily in Google Sheets, Derrick eliminates the need for expensive external platforms entirely.
Can Derrick replace both Clay and Octopus CRM for workflows?
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Derrick cannot fully replace both Clay and Octopus CRM for every workflow need, but it covers many core workflow and prospecting tasks in a simpler, native Google Sheets environment. Derrick excels at real-time email validation, 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, AI scoring and segmentation, and seamless automation through 3,000+ integrations, all without complex setup. Clay offers richer multi-source enrichment and a no-code workflow builder, while Octopus CRM shines in LinkedIn-focused automation and basic CRM tasks. For teams seeking simplicity with strong enrichment, Derrick can be a robust centerpiece, though specialized enrichment (Clay) or LinkedIn-focused automation (Octopus) may still be needed for niche needs.
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-oneOctopus CRM vs Derrick - solo duel
Drop the third-party context and see how Octopus CRM 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
