Clay vs People.aiwhich AI sales agent should you pick in 2026?

Clay

Composable agents for enrichment, scoring and outbound orchestration.

💼SalesSemi-autonomousSubscription · from $149

Tool useBrowserRAG

People.ai

Revenue intelligence platform — captures all sales activity automatically and feeds pipeline analytics.

💼SalesAssistantSubscription

Tool useRAGMemory

Clay vs People.ai — specs

Spec	Clay	People.ai
Agent Rank	70 / 100 (B)	72 / 100 (A)
Autonomy	Semi-autonomous	Assistant
Pricing	Subscription · from $149	Subscription · Free tier
Open source	No	No
Capabilities	Tool use, Browser, RAG	Tool use, RAG, Memory
Integrations	4 apps	5 apps
Verified	Verified	Verified
Released	Mar 2025	Jun 2024

Categories: Clay → Sales · People.ai → Sales

Agent Rank breakdown

Clay

Agent Rank

70/ 100

BB-tier

Autonomie: 8
Fähigkeiten: 6
Integrationen: 6
Preise: 5
Reife: 7
Verifizierbarkeit: 10

Automatisch berechnet aus Autonomie, Fähigkeiten, Integrationen, Preisen, Reife und redaktioneller Verifizierung. Bei jedem Deploy aktualisiert. Wie wird das berechnet?

People.ai

Agent Rank

72/ 100

AA-tier

Autonomie: 7
Fähigkeiten: 6
Integrationen: 8
Preise: 9
Reife: 6
Verifizierbarkeit: 7

Automatisch berechnet aus Autonomie, Fähigkeiten, Integrationen, Preisen, Reife und redaktioneller Verifizierung. Bei jedem Deploy aktualisiert. Wie wird das berechnet?

Pros & cons

Clay

Pros

+Composable building blocks beat point tools — enrich + score + route in one
+Strongest data-source coverage among GTM agents (50+ providers)
+Highly programmable; sales ops loves the flexibility

Cons

−Steep learning curve — not a one-day onboarding
−Credit math gets opaque at scale
−Less effective without a sales ops owner driving it

People.ai

Pricing

Clay

Starter

$149/Mo.

Sales ops solo

+Enrichment templates
+5k credits/mo
+CRM exports

Which one should you pick?

Clay

Pick Clay if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place.

Try Clay →

People.ai

Pick People.ai if cost is the main constraint.

Try People.ai →

Affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Frequently asked

Should I pick Clay or People.ai in 2026?+

Pick Clay if you want the highest autonomy and the verification loop is in place. Pick People.ai if cost is the main constraint. Most working teams running both can use Clay for primary work and People.ai for the workflows where its specific strengths matter.

What's the price difference between Clay and People.ai?+

Clay starts at Subscription · from $149; People.ai starts at Subscription · Free tier. People.ai is the cheaper entry option. For team deployments the TCO can differ — use the AI Agent Rank TCO calculator for your specific volume.

Which is more autonomous, Clay or People.ai?+

Clay is the more autonomous of the two (Semi-autonomous vs Assistant). Higher autonomy ships throughput faster but requires verification loops in place — see our autonomous-vs-copilot framing for when each tier wins.

Readers comparing Clay and People.ai also picked

Adjacent agents in the same category with overlapping capabilities — worth a side-by-side glance before you commit.

Qualified Piperv3B62
AI SDR that converts inbound website visitors into qualified pipeline 24/7.
💼SalesSemi-autonomAbonnement
Tool-NutzungMemoryRAG
015. Mai 2025qualified.com
Try Piper AI SDR
Demo · hover to play
11xv2.3A77
KI-Digital-Worker für den Vertrieb — Alice (SDR), Mike (SDR) und Jordan (CSM) übernehmen den vollständigen Outbound-Zyklus.
💼SalesAutonomAbonnement · ab 700 $
Browser-NutzungTool-NutzungMemoryRAG
57k15. Mai 202511x.ai
11x-Demo anfragen
Demo · hover to play
Regie.aiB67
KI-Sales-Agent für Outbound — generiert personalisierte Sequenzen, verwaltet Cadences und bucht Meetings.
💼SalesSemi-autonomAbonnement · ab 60 $
Tool-NutzungMemoryRAG
24k22. Feb. 2025regie.ai
Regie-Demo anfordern
Demo · hover to play

See more alternatives: alternatives to Clay · alternatives to People.ai

Want the real monthly cost at your volume? Run the TCO calculator →

← Build your own comparison