Clay vs Cognism: Assembling Data or Licensing It
Clay vs Cognism sets building enrichment workflows against buying contact data: Clay scores 6.8 on 28 tagged reviews. Cognism scores 8.1 on 94 tagged reviews, and the page names no winner between the two.
Clay6.8
vs
Cognism8.1
Every score on this page validated by the site owner · latest validation Oct 16, 2026 · How we score
Clay and Cognism, side by side
Neither card is tinted: the scores are less than 0.3 points apart, or the tagged reviews are too few to compare them.
- Trial 14-day free trial against none stated for Cognism
Pick Clay if you build the workflow yourself: it lists a Free plan at $0 a month.
Pick Cognism if you want contact data supplied: it scores 8.1 on 94 tagged reviews.
Line by line
A value is marked only when it is clearly higher: by 0.3 on the score or 0.5 on a dimension, with at least 30 tagged reviews behind each of the two values. The fifth dimension changes with the category and stays out of this table.
| Clay |
Cognism |
|
|---|---|---|
| Our score | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Four dimensions, same grid | ||
| Ease of setup | 5.3 | 9.4 |
| Feature depth | 8.1 | 7.6 |
| Value for money | 7.2 | 9.6 |
| Support quality | 6.7 | 8.4 |
| Price and plan | ||
| Entry price | From $185/mo | Quote |
| Free plan | Free plan | No free plan stated |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial | No free trial stated |
| Fit | ||
| Team size | Team · Agency | Team |
| Public reviews | 270+ | 2,000+ |
Team size comes from tagged reviews, or from the vendor's own pages when reviews name none.
Neither is clearly higher on our grid: Clay 6.8, Cognism 8.1 overall. Clay publishes an entry price from $185/mo; Cognism does not publish one.
Entry prices read on each vendor's public pricing page; the older of the two readings dates from Oct 3, 2026. Some of these prices have not been read again for 6 months. Check the vendors' pages before you buy.
What separates the two, in the tagged reviews
Clay vs Cognism pricing: Clay lists a Free plan, Cognism quotes only
Clay lists a Free plan at $0 a month with 500 actions and 100 data credits, then Launch starting at $185 a month for 15,000 actions and 2,500 data credits, read between Oct 3 and Oct 4, 2026. Cognism lists Standard and Pro on quote only, each with 5 seats included, read on Sep 25, 2026. Price level draws 13 negative mentions of Clay's 13, and 2 negative mentions of Cognism's 10.
Clay's learning curve draws 20 negative mentions of 21
Learning curve is the most criticised theme for Clay: 20 of its 21 mentions are negative, and ease of setup scores 5.3 on 18 tagged reviews. Clay's ease of use has 21 mentions, 19 of them favourable. Clay lists workflow orchestration across tools, Claygent enrichment and multi-provider waterfalls, read on Oct 3, 2026. The page holds no fact on onboarding time or on the staff Clay needs.
Cognism's ease of setup scores 9.4 on 61 tagged reviews
Cognism's ease of setup scores 9.4 on 61 tagged reviews, and its results and time saved theme has 188 favourable mentions of 189. Phone accuracy draws 70 negative mentions of 87, and data freshness 67 of 72.
Cognism lists mobile contact data checked by phone and buying-intent signals through Bombora, read on Oct 3, 2026.
Before you choose
Clay lists a marketplace of 200+ data and AI vendors, read on Oct 3, 2026. This page holds no fact on whether the data provider named in the question is among them.
Clay lists a Free plan and Launch starting at $185 a month, read between Oct 3 and Oct 4, 2026; Cognism's two plans are quote only, each with 5 seats. No cost per contact is held for either.
Learning curve draws 20 negative mentions of Clay's 21, and ease of setup scores 5.3 on 18 tagged reviews. This page holds no fact on the staffing Clay needs.
Clay's Launch plan, starting at $185 a month, lists phone number enrichment and multi-provider waterfalls, read on Oct 3, 2026. This page holds no fact that Clay checks numbers itself.
Clay lists a Free plan at $0 and Launch for individuals and small teams; Cognism lists enterprise and mid-market B2B teams, with 5 seats on each plan. No fact here ranks them for two people.
Both tools list native Salesforce and HubSpot integrations, read between Sep 25 and Oct 4, 2026. No fact here says whether teams run both or one instead of the other.
Where to go next
Each tool's review and alternatives, the pages this duel links to, and the method.