What changed at Unify and Clay in 2026?
Both tools changed how they sell in 2026: Unify opened self-serve plans priced per seat, and Clay split its credits into two meters.
- Unify (unifygtm.com). In a post published on 24 June 2026, co-founder Austin Hughes wrote that "Unify is now like Claude for outbound sellers" and that plans start at $20 a month with self-service sign-up. As of 20 October 2026, Unify's pricing page lists Free, Base at $20 a seat a month and Pro at $60 a seat a month, both billed monthly, and Business at a custom price billed annually.
- Clay (clay.com). On 11 March 2026, Clay published the internal memo behind its new pricing. It separated Actions, which measure orchestration work, from Data Credits, which buy data from its marketplace of more than 150 partners, and said it was cutting the cost of marketplace data by 50 to 90%. Clay says the new Growth plan, from $495 a month, is more than $300 cheaper than its legacy Pro plan at $800.
- Clay's legacy plans. Clay's legacy plans doc says any plan change after 10 April 2026 moves a legacy customer to the new plans, legacy customers don't get the lower data prices, and some newer features stay on legacy Starter, Explorer and Pro plans only until 31 December 2026.
How do Unify and Clay work differently?
Unify is a chat-led prospecting tool priced per seat, and Clay is a table-and-workflow builder priced per workspace. Both pull data from many sources, so the difference is in how you work and how you pay:
- Unify says it covers more than 1.1 billion people and 65 million companies across 40+ data sources. Every plan, including Free, lists multichannel sequencing and a click-to-call dialer, with one mailbox per seat on Free, Base and Pro and up to 100 records per search. Pro adds read-only HubSpot and Salesforce sync and Slack notifications. Unify's pitch is that a rep can run outbound from a single chat, from list to written sequence.
- Clay says it connects to more than 150 data providers, runs multi-provider waterfalls and uses Claygent, its AI agent with web research. Launch adds signals on job changes, promotions, new hires, company news and social posts, plus email sending through Clay's sequencer or an integration. CRM integrations and the HTTP API start on Growth. Its strength is flexibility: you can combine providers, bring your own API keys and build repeatable workflows, with unlimited seats on every plan.
What does Unify call a credit, and what does Clay call an action?
Unify sells one currency, credits; Clay sells two, Actions for platform work and Data Credits for data and AI bought from its marketplace. This table puts each vendor's published rates side by side, checked 20 October 2026:
| What you pay for | Unify | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| The unit | Credits, spent on data points and actions; Unify says most actions take 1 to 2 credits | 1 Action per enrichment, AI run or record sent to another tool (CSV export is free), plus Data Credits for the data itself |
| A work email | About 1 credit per record on average, in rare cases up to 10 | 1 Action plus Data Credits; 0.5 Data Credits in Clay's worked example |
| A phone number | About 4 credits on average, in rare cases up to 20 | 1 Action plus Data Credits; Clay's docs say phone numbers are expensive compared with emails |
| AI | Model costs passed through in credits, with no separate AI fee | 1 Action per AI run plus Data Credits: a flat number for 80% of models, by tokens for heavier ones |
| Who shares the allowance | Each seat on Free, Base and Pro; the whole workspace on Business | The whole workspace, with unlimited seats |
| Buying more | One-off top-ups on paid plans, shared by the team; unused top-up credits carry over for up to 12 months | Data Credit top-ups at a 30% premium; more Actions only by moving up a tier |
| Running out | Credit-using actions pause instead of charging you | Top up or upgrade Data Credits; move to a higher Action tier for Actions |
For a work email, the two come out close. Unify Base and Pro both work out at 2.5 cents a credit ($20 ÷ 800 and $60 ÷ 2,400), so an average email costs about 2.5 cents. On Clay Launch billed monthly, a Data Credit costs 5 cents ($125 ÷ 2,500) and an Action 0.4 cents ($60 ÷ 15,000), so an email at the rate in Clay's example costs about 2.9 cents (0.5 × 5 + 0.4). Both figures rest on vendor averages and examples, and real costs vary by data provider.
What do Unify and Clay cost for one, three and five people?
Unify's bill grows with every seat and Clay's stays flat, so headcount decides which is cheaper. In US dollars a month, checked 20 October 2026:
| Team size | Unify Base ($20 a seat) | Unify Pro ($60 a seat) | Clay Launch (any number of seats) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $20, 800 credits | $60, 2,400 credits | $185 monthly or $167 billed yearly |
| 3 people | $60, 2,400 credits | $180, 7,200 credits | $185 or $167 |
| 5 people | $100, 4,000 credits | $300, 12,000 credits | $185 or $167 |
| 10 people | $200, 8,000 credits | $600, 24,000 credits | $185 or $167 |
Arithmetic: seats × $20 with 800 credits each, or seats × $60 with 2,400 each. Clay Launch includes 15,000 Actions and 2,500 Data Credits a month for the whole workspace. Against Clay Launch billed monthly ($185), Unify Pro costs more from the fourth seat ($240) and Unify Base from the tenth ($200). Against Clay's yearly price ($167), three Pro seats ($180) already cost more. Unify bills Base and Pro monthly only, with no yearly commitment listed; Clay's yearly option saves about 10% ($167 against $185).
CRM sync changes the sums. Unify Pro includes read-only HubSpot and Salesforce sync, so three seats with CRM sync cost $180 a month. Clay's CRM integrations start on Growth, at $495 a month or $446 billed yearly, and Clay describes them as auto-sync and enrich. If Unify only needs to read your CRM, Pro is the cheaper route; if you need records written back, compare Clay Growth with Unify's custom-priced Business plan, which lists read-write sync.
Where do the Unify and Clay pricing pages contradict themselves?
Both pricing pages contradict themselves on points that affect what you can do on the cheaper plans, checked 20 October 2026:
- Unify's Free plan. The Base card lists job change and hiring signals, phone and email enrichment and AI email copywriting under "Everything in Free, plus". The comparison table on the same page ticks email and phone enrichment, new hires and open roles, and AI copywriting for Free as well.
- Clay's credit rollover. The pricing FAQ says unused Data Credits on Launch and Growth can build up to twice the monthly amount, and ties a 15% rollover to Enterprise customers who renew. The comparison table, on yearly billing, shows 15% of annual credits for Launch and Growth and lists Enterprise as custom. Clay's help docs say monthly plans roll over up to twice the monthly limit and yearly plans get 15% if you renew on the same or a higher tier.
Confirm both in the product or with the vendor before you count on enrichment from Unify Free or on rollover from a yearly Clay plan.
Unify or Clay: who should pick which?
Unify suits reps who want to prospect by typing a request, and Clay suits teams with someone who builds data workflows. Our recommendations by use case:
- A founder or single rep who wants to describe a list in plain words and get emails and a sequence back: Unify Base at $20 a month, or Pro at $60, which has a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
- Two or three sellers who want Unify to see their HubSpot or Salesforce records: Unify Pro, $120 to $180 a month, with read-only CRM sync.
- A team of four or more, or one with a person who likes building workflows: Clay Launch at $185 a month, or $167 billed yearly, for everyone, though Unify Base stays cheaper up to eight seats ($160). Our guide to buying signals for small teams covers which signals to track first.
- A team that already pays a data provider: Clay, which lets you connect your own API keys. That skips Data Credits for that provider, though each enrichment still uses one Action.
- A legacy Clay customer: list which of the time-limited features you use (Audiences, Workflows, Sequencer v2 via Audiences, and MCP, CLI and API) before that access ends on 31 December 2026, when most of them step down to their free-plan versions.
If what you need is the outreach itself, Siela's AI SDR finds and verifies each person's work email and emails only deliverable addresses.
How to trial Unify and Clay in 14 days
Run the same brief through both 14-day trials and compare the cost of each usable contact.
Write one test brief
Fifty target accounts, two job titles and one signal, such as hiring for the role your product replaces.
Run it in Unify Pro's trial
The 14-day trial needs no credit card. Ask for the list, contacts and a first email, and note the credits used per contact with a verified email.
Run the same brief in Clay's trial
Build the list, add an email waterfall and note the Actions and Data Credits on the Usage page in Settings.
Send a small sequence from each
Use the same two-step email for both lists so the data is the only difference. Our guide to multichannel outreach covers when to add LinkedIn or calls.
Decide on cost per usable contact and seats
Divide each monthly price by the contacts with a deliverable email. Then check seats: up to three Pro seats cost less than Clay Launch billed monthly, and from four seats Clay's flat price is lower on either billing cycle.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Unify cost per seat?
As of 20 October 2026, Unify Base costs $20 a seat a month with 800 credits a seat, and Pro costs $60 a seat a month with 2,400 credits a seat, both billed monthly. The Free plan costs nothing, includes limited credits and allows up to three seats. Business is priced on request and billed annually.
Does Clay charge per seat?
No. Every Clay plan, including Free, includes unlimited seats and tables, according to its pricing page checked 20 October 2026. You pay per workspace: Launch costs $185 a month or $167 billed yearly, and Growth $495 or $446. The Actions and Data Credits in the plan are shared by everyone in the workspace.
What does one Unify credit buy?
Unify says email enrichment averages 1 credit per record, rarely up to 10, and phone enrichment averages 4 credits, rarely up to 20. Signals start at about 1 credit for sources such as web intent or technographics and cost more for complex or niche ones. AI model costs are also paid in credits. On Base, 800 credits for $20 makes each credit 2.5 cents.
What happens when you run out of credits in Unify or Clay?
Unify enforces a hard cap: when seat credits and the account pool are both used up, credit-consuming actions pause instead of charging, and paid plans can buy a top-up. In Clay, you can buy more Data Credits as a top-up at a 30% premium or move to a higher tier, but Actions can't be topped up; you raise them by moving to a higher Action tier or plan.
When did Clay switch to actions and data credits?
Clay published the memo explaining its new pricing on 11 March 2026. Its docs say that after 10 April 2026 any plan change moves a legacy customer to the new plans, and that legacy Starter, Explorer and Pro plans keep some newer features only until 31 December 2026. Legacy customers do not get the lower data prices.
Sources
- Unify pricing (checked 20 Oct 2026)
- Unify: Announcing Unify's Next Chapter (Austin Hughes) (published 24 Jun 2026)
- Clay pricing (checked 20 Oct 2026)
- Clay Docs: Actions & Data Credits (checked 20 Oct 2026)
- Clay: The thinking behind our new pricing, our internal memo (published 11 Mar 2026)
- Clay Docs: Legacy plans (checked 20 Oct 2026)