Updated

Clay vs RocketReach vs Derrick: Which Is Better in 2026?

Short answer
Clay vs RocketReach vs Derrick: Clay is a multi-source data enrichment with ai workflows, RocketReach is a b2b contact database covering 700m+ profiles with email and phone lookups. 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 RocketReach) 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 RocketReach 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.

Quick Facts

Clay vs RocketReach vs Derrick at a glance

Clay

  • Starting price: Free / $134/mo (annual)
  • Free plan: Yes (limited credits)
  • Founded: 2017
  • HQ: New York, NY
4.9/5 G2 4.7/5 Capterra

RocketReach

  • Starting price: Free 5 lookups · Essentials $33/mo (annual)
  • Free plan: Yes - 5 lookups one-time to test
  • Founded: 2015
  • HQ: Bellevue, WA (US)
4.5/5 G2 4.1/5 Capterra

Derrick

★ Recommended
  • Starting price: Free · Paid from €9/mo
  • Free plan: Yes - 100 credits/mo permanent
  • Founded: 2023
  • HQ: Marseille, FR
4.8/5 G2 4.8/5 Capterra
Why Derrick wins

Why teams pick Derrick over Clay and RocketReach

3 core reasons SDRs and ops teams switch to Derrick. Click to expand each.

01

Real-time validation and 50+ attributes without setup chaos

Clay and RocketReach struggle with real-time validation at scale and often require extra setup or separate tools to ensure data freshness. Derrick delivers real-time email validation and 50+ enriched attributes directly inside 100% native Google Sheets, eliminating setup chaos. This means faster, more accurate prospect lists with immediate deliverability signals, reducing bounce rates and wasted outreach time by up to 30–40%. Use cases like instant verification during list assembly become a routine, not a late-stage fix.

02

No setup required for enterprise-grade data hygiene

Clay and RocketReach require setup time or manual verification to ensure data hygiene, often leaving gaps in enterprise-grade cleanliness. Derrick delivers no-setup, 100% native Google Sheets data hygiene by auto-enriching and validating 50+ attributes within the sheet itself. You gain immediate, reliable hygiene without complex migrations or external tools, reducing wasted outreach time by up to 5-10 hours per month. With Derrick, your clean data remains within Sheets, ready for scalable campaigns.

03

No-fuss, fast-start for high-velocity outreach teams

Clay and RocketReach offer quick access to contacts, but both require setup time or face data freshness gaps that can stall high-velocity outreach. Derrick delivers a no-fuss, fast-start by turning 100% native Google Sheets into a complete prospecting hub, eliminating CSV exports and complex configurations. Teams gain immediate access to 50+ enriched attributes per contact and real-time email validation, reducing bounce risk and speeding outreach by up to 20-30% in launch time. With Derrick, you deploy sequences in minutes, not days, while credits are rollable and free tier access minimizes upfront spend.

Honest Comparison

What each tool does better

We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Clay, RocketReach, 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)
Read full Clay review →

What RocketReach does better

  • Massive contact database (700M+ profiles)
  • Order-of-magnitude cheaper than ZoomInfo
  • Free tier + accessible per-seat entry
Read full RocketReach review →
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 RocketReach Derrick
Starting price (monthly) Free / $134/mo (annual) Free 5 lookups · Essentials $33/mo (annual) €0 (free) · €9/mo paid
Annual cost (base) ~€1,608/yr ~€60/yr €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid
Free plan? Yes (limited credits) Yes - 5 lookups one-time to test ✓ 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 RocketReach vs Derrick: full feature comparison

Clay Derrick App RocketReach
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 59$/mois
Permanent free plan
Rollover credits to next month
Simple and transparent credit system
Simple setup & onboarding
Complete documentation
Pricing in a nutshell

Clay vs RocketReach vs Derrick pricing breakdown

Data Enrichment

Clay

Free / $134/mo (annual)

Best for: GTM ops & technical SDR teams

Clay offers real-time data enrichment with flexible paid tiers starting at an entry-level plan, plus a free tier in some configurations; see the full pricing details for all plans and usage limits. Explore the complete pricing breakdown for exact features, credits, and tiered options.

B2B Contact Database (Email + Phone)

RocketReach

Free 5 lookups · Essentials $33/mo (annual)

Best for: Solo recruiters and BDRs needing big-DB lookups

RocketReach offers budget-friendly entry points with a paid tier starting at a low monthly credit package and a free tier available, plus scalable options for teams-see full pricing breakdown for all details. View complete pricing details on the official RocketReach 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
Read full Clay review →

Pick RocketReach if…

  • You specifically need solo recruiters and bdrs needing big-db lookups
  • Massive contact database (700M+ profiles)
  • Order-of-magnitude cheaper than ZoomInfo
  • You're already invested in the RocketReach ecosystem
Read full RocketReach review →

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
Try Derrick free →

What teams say after switching from Clay vs RocketReach

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

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"This app is fantastic. Brilliantly created to help small and mid sized businesses."

Dan Hughes

Founder/CEO, AlmanacIO

Reviewed on Product Hunt

"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

Reviewed on G2

"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

Reviewed on Capterra

"Have tested over 10+ LI scraper apps, Derrick beats them all. Simple to use, accurate data, and affordable price."

AJ Alexander

Opportunity Prospector

Reviewed on Capterra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Derrick vs Clay the better option for data enrichment?

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The choice between Derrick and Clay depends on your team's priorities. Clay excels at workflow automation and integrating multiple data sources into sophisticated prospecting sequences, making it ideal for teams running high-volume campaigns who need flexible, complex enrichment pipelines. However, Derrick offers a more streamlined alternative if you prioritize simplicity, speed, and cost efficiency. Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets without requiring CSV exports or complex setup, includes built-in AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, features real-time email validation for better deliverability, and offers rollover credits with no credit card required for the free tier. For teams seeking straightforward data enrichment without extensive configuration overhead, Derrick delivers faster time-to-value and lower operational friction than Clay's more technical approach.

What’s Derrick’s pricing vs Clay’s plans?

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Derrick offers transparent, credit-based pricing starting at zero dollars with 100 free credits and no credit card required, scaling to 175 dollars for 100,000 credits. Clay operates on custom enterprise pricing without public tier information readily available. Derrick's key advantage is monthly rollover credits, meaning unused credits carry forward, providing cost flexibility for variable prospecting volumes. Both platforms emphasize data enrichment, but Derrick's native Google Sheets integration eliminates CSV exports and complex setup, while Clay requires external workflow configuration. For budget-conscious teams prioritizing simplicity and predictable costs, Derrick's straightforward credit system typically delivers better value than Clay's opaque enterprise pricing structure.

How does Derrick compare to RocketReach for accuracy?

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Derrick delivers competitive accuracy through real-time email validation and 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, comparable to RocketReach's verified database approach. However, Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets without requiring external platforms or CSV exports, reducing manual data handling that can introduce errors. RocketReach excels at scale with its 500-million-contact database, but Derrick's AI-powered validation combined with integrated Claude and ChatGPT scoring provides an alternative accuracy advantage for teams prioritizing data quality within their existing workflows. Both platforms offer strong verification, though Derrick's monthly credit rollover and no-card-required free tier reduce friction for testing accuracy before commitment.

Derrick vs Clay vs RocketReach: which is best for startups?

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For startups choosing between Derrick, Clay, and RocketReach, Derrick stands out for ease of use, cost efficiency, and rapid ROI. Derrick is 100% native to Google Sheets, eliminating CSV exports and complex setups, which accelerates time-to-value for early-stage teams. It offers real-time email validation, 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, AI-powered scoring and segmentation, and a broad network of 3,000+ integrations via Zapier/Make/n8n. Unlike RocketReach, Derrick provides ongoing credits that roll over and a free tier with no credit card required, plus affordable tiers that scale with usage. Compared to Clay, Derrick emphasizes simplicity and speed with streamlined workflows inside Sheets, reducing setup time and maintenance while still delivering robust enrichment. For startups prioritizing fast deployment, predictable budgeting, and essential enrichment without heavy customization, Derrick is typically the best fit.

Can Clay replace RocketReach for contact data?

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Clay can partially replace RocketReach for contact data, but each tool excels in different areas. Clay focuses on real-time data enrichment and workflow automation across multiple sources, while RocketReach specializes in a large verified contact database with straightforward search capabilities. Clay requires more setup and configuration, whereas RocketReach offers simpler lookups. However, for teams already working in Google Sheets, Derrick provides a more streamlined alternative to both-offering native spreadsheet integration with fifty-plus enrichment attributes, real-time email validation, and AI-powered segmentation without the complexity or external platform switching that Clay and RocketReach demand.

What review differences exist between Derrick and RocketReach?

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Derrick and RocketReach differ primarily in scope and how data is used. RocketReach is a large, standalone prospect database focused on delivering verified emails, phone numbers, and profiles for quick lookups, with strong CRM integrations and ease of use. Derrick is a 100% native Google Sheets enrichment platform that combines data enrichment (50+ attributes per contact), real-time email validation, and AI-powered scoring and segmentation directly inside Sheets, plus extensive automation through 3,000+ integrations. While RocketReach offers broad contact coverage and fast lookups, Derrick provides deeper enrichment, smarter segmentation, and a fully integrated workflow within Sheets, reducing data transfer steps and enabling continuous campaign optimization. For teams needing rapid contact discovery, RocketReach shines; for those prioritizing depth of data, validation, and seamless Google Sheets-based prospecting, Derrick delivers greater value.
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