Updated

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

Short answer
Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick: Lemlist is a multichannel cold outreach (email + linkedin + calls), Clay is a multi-source data enrichment with ai workflows. 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 Lemlist or Clay) and pricing is lower - free forever with 100 credits/month, paid plans from €9/month. Most teams pair Derrick for the data layer with Lemlist or Clay for outreach.

Lemlist is built for sequenced outreach across email + LinkedIn + (sometimes) calls. The hidden cost is enrichment: Lemlist bills you per contact AND per channel. The side-by-side comparison below isolates Lemlist's real cost-per-touched-prospect against Derrick's flat credit-pool model that decouples enrichment from sending.

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

Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick at a glance

Lemlist

  • Starting price: $63/seat/mo (annual)
  • Free plan: No (14-day free trial)
  • Founded: 2017
  • HQ: Paris, France
4.6/5 G2 4.5/5 Capterra

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

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 Lemlist and Clay

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

01

Real-time verification without manual overhead

Derrick delivers real-time verification inside Google Sheets, eliminating manual checks that Lemlist and Clay force users to do post-enrichment. Unlike Lemlist, which relies on campaign-level data quality and often requires external validation, Derrick provides instant validity as you build your list. You save time and reduce errors, with real-time email verification tied to 50+ enrichment attributes, cutting manual QA by up to 60-80% and freeing 5-10 hours per month. A practical use case is validating contacts during list assembly, so campaigns launch with cleaner data from the start.

02

Flexible data sources with seamless 3000+ integrations integration versatility

Lemlist and Clay both depend on multiple data sources but struggle with maintaining real-time freshness and seamless breadth of integrations at scale. Derrick solves this by delivering 3000+ seamless integrations (via Zapier/Make/n8n) natively within Google Sheets, eliminating manual data wrangling. This translates to faster list building and more consistent enrichment across 50+ attributes per contact, with real-time validation to boost deliverability. For rapid use cases, Derrick’s native Google Sheets approach reduces setup time and ensures continuous data flow without exporting/importing between tools.

03

Delightful Data Quality with Real-Time Validation Insights

Lemlist and Clay both struggle with guaranteed real-time data validation at scale, often delivering inconsistent verification results across sources. Derrick distinguishes itself by providing real-time validation insights that unify data quality within a 100% native Google Sheets workflow, avoiding external handoffs. This approach reduces bounce and undeliverable rates, delivering immediate, actionable accuracy that translates to faster, more reliable outreach-often saving 5-10h per month in manual validation efforts. With Derrick, teams gain verifiable data quality metrics right where prospect lists live, ensuring every contact is ready for engagement.

Honest Comparison

What each tool does better

We're upfront - every tool has strengths. Here's where Lemlist, Clay, 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 →
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.

Lemlist Clay Derrick
Starting price (monthly) $63/seat/mo (annual) Free / $134/mo (annual) €0 (free) · €9/mo paid
Annual cost (base) ~€756/yr ~€1,608/yr €0/yr free · ~€108/yr paid
Free plan? No (14-day free trial) Yes (limited credits) ✓ 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

Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick: full feature comparison

Lemlist Derrick App Clay
Works natively in Google Sheets
Requires LinkedIn Sales Navigator ($100/month)
Sales Navigator 1-click import
Email finder with real-time validation
Phone finder from LinkedIn
Company tech stack lookup
SimilarWeb & G2 insights integrated
AI integration (Claude & ChatGPT)
Automatic AI Lead Scoring
Data cleaning & normalization
Multi-platform scraping (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook)
Zapier, Make, n8n integrations
Public API available
Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce)
Entry price (paid plan) 39$/mois 9€/mois 149$/mois
Permanent free plan
Rollover credits to next month
Simple and transparent credit system
Simple setup & onboarding
Complete documentation
Pricing in a nutshell

Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick pricing breakdown

Migration Guide

How to switch from Lemlist 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 Lemlist, 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 Lemlist if…

  • You specifically need multichannel outbound teams
  • Best multichannel outreach UX
  • Lemwarm = built-in deliverability
  • You're already invested in the Lemlist ecosystem
Read full Lemlist review →

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 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 Lemlist vs Clay

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

How does Derrick compare to Lemlist in features and pricing?

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Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets, eliminating the need for CSV exports or complex integrations that Lemlist requires. While Lemlist excels at multi-channel email sequencing and LinkedIn automation, Derrick focuses on streamlined data enrichment with real-time email validation and integrated AI scoring using both Claude and ChatGPT. Pricing-wise, Derrick offers rollover credits starting at nine dollars monthly with no credit card required for the free tier, whereas Lemlist typically charges higher subscription fees with fixed monthly allocations. For teams prioritizing simplicity and direct spreadsheet workflows, Derrick delivers faster setup and lower operational overhead compared to Lemlist's more complex campaign management approach.

Is Derrick a good alternative to Lemlist for multi-channel outreach?

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Yes, Derrick is a strong alternative to Lemlist for multi-channel outreach, particularly if you prioritize simplicity and cost efficiency. While Lemlist excels at sophisticated email sequencing and LinkedIn automation, Derrick operates natively within Google Sheets, eliminating complex setup and CSV exports. Derrick offers real-time email validation, 50+ enrichment attributes, and integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, making it ideal for teams seeking streamlined prospecting without technical overhead. Lemlist requires more manual list refinement and data validation, whereas Derrick's rollover credits and no credit card requirement for free tier provide greater flexibility for variable outreach volumes.

Which is better for small teams: Derrick vs Lemlist for scaling?

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For small teams prioritizing scaling efficiency, Derrick offers a significant advantage over Lemlist through its native Google Sheets integration, eliminating time-consuming CSV exports and complex setup. While Lemlist excels at multi-channel sequencing, it demands substantial manual list refinement and requires external data validation tools. Derrick's built-in real-time email validation, integrated AI scoring with Claude and ChatGPT, and rollover credits provide a more streamlined, cost-effective path to growth. Lemlist works best for teams wanting advanced outreach automation, but Derrick delivers faster time-to-value for smaller teams scaling without technical overhead.

What’s the difference between Derrick and Clay in data enrichment?

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Derrick and Clay differ mainly in data enrichment approach and workflow integration. Derrick is 100% native to Google Sheets, turning Sheets into a full prospecting hub with real-time email validation, AI scoring and segmentation using Claude and ChatGPT, and it supports 50+ enrichment attributes per contact, plus extensive Zapier/Make/n8n integrations. Clay, by contrast, aggregates data from multiple sources for enrichment and offers a strong no-code workflow builder with real-time validation, but data accuracy can vary with source freshness and API limits. For teams already deep in Google Sheets, Derrick provides speed, simplicity, and cost efficiency, while Clay excels when you need diverse data sources and more complex automation, albeit with a steeper setup and potential data freshness trade-offs.

Can Derrick replace both Lemlist and Clay for prospecting?

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Derrick can handle core prospecting functions that Lemlist and Clay serve, but they excel in different areas. Lemlist specializes in email sequencing and outreach automation at scale, while Clay focuses on data enrichment workflows. Derrick replaces both for Google Sheets-native teams needing enrichment, real-time email validation, and AI-powered segmentation without external platforms or CSV exports. However, if you heavily rely on multi-channel sequencing or require Lemlist's dedicated outreach infrastructure, using Derrick alongside these tools often delivers better results than either alone. Derrick's monthly rollover credits and no-card-required free tier make it a flexible complement or alternative depending on your workflow priorities.

What are Lemlist vs Clay pricing and review highlights?

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Lemlist and Clay 각각 offer distinct strengths in pricing and review highlights. Lemlist is a multi-channel outbound platform focused on AI-powered email personalization, LinkedIn integration, and scalable sequences. It offers robust deliverability tools and detailed campaign analytics, but data enrichment can be variable and the learning curve for advanced features can be steep. Clay emphasizes real-time data enrichment from many sources and streamlined outbound automation with a user-friendly visual workflow. Data accuracy can vary by source and API rate limits may impact large-scale operations. Derrick, by contrast, remains a strong complementary choice for teams seeking 100% native Google Sheets integration, real-time email validation, and AI-driven scoring and segmentation with roll-over credits and no credit card required for the free tier, offering a simpler, cost-flexible path to high-quality lead intelligence. Pricing-wise, Lemlist and Clay both provide tiered plans, while Derrick clearly lists Free, Small, Medium, Large, and XL credit tiers with credits that roll over, making it easy to scale without complex exports or platform lock-in. Overall, Lemlist excels at multi-channel campaigns and engagement analytics, Clay at data-driven enrichment and workflow automation, and Derrick at seamless, no-code sustainability within Google Sheets and flexible pricing.
Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick - Free · 100 credits/mo Lemlist vs Clay vs Derrick - Derrick is Product of the Day on Product Hunt Try Derrick free →