Clay Cost Tuning

Overview

Reduce Clay data enrichment spending by connecting your own API keys (70-80% savings), optimizing waterfall depth, improving input data quality, and implementing budget controls. Clay's March 2026 pricing split credits into Data Credits and Actions, changing the optimization calculus.

Prerequisites

• Clay account with visibility into credit consumption
• Understanding of which enrichment columns are in your tables
• Access to Clay Settings > Plans & Billing

Instructions

Step 1: Connect Your Own Provider API Keys (Biggest Savings)

This is the single most impactful cost reduction. Clay charges 0 Data Credits when you use your own API keys: