The third perspective on Clay vs ZoomInfo
Clay vs ZoomInfo: both miss 13,549,104 US SMBs.
ZoomInfo is a database. Clay is a workflow that routes to databases. Both lean enterprise, and below 50 employees the records thin out fast.
We lose to ZoomInfo on Fortune 500 outbound. We win when your buyers are the businesses neither tool maps at the company grain. That is the whole comparison.
Three products, three jobs
ZoomInfo is the database. Clay is the workflow. Orbital is the row.
A comparison only helps when the tools do the same job. Clay and ZoomInfo overlap on the word data and little else. Read this before the table.
What Clay is
A spreadsheet-shaped orchestration layer over 150+ data providers.
You build a table, route lookups across providers in a waterfall, then run AI agents to score and personalise the rows. Pricing is public and credit-based; Launch is 185 and Growth is 495 dollars per month after the 2026 repricing, plus per-credit consumption.
Best for: a RevOps lead at a 20 to 200 person team who wants to compose their own enrichment stack instead of buying a black box.
What ZoomInfo is
A licensed enterprise sales-intelligence database.
Org charts on Fortune 1000 and mid-market, Bombora intent topics, scoops on hiring and projects, and years of native Salesforce and HubSpot integration. It tells a 200-seat enterprise team which large companies to call this quarter, who reports to whom, and what they are researching.
Best for: enterprise revenue teams that need org-chart depth and intent at scale.
What Orbital is
A map of every US small business at the company grain.
We start from Google Maps, Yelp, and Yellow Pages to build the company set, then run a 51-source agent (Better Business Bureau, corporate directories, legal filings, Dun & Bradstreet, Secretary of State, the business website, news) to find the owner. We find one about 80% of the time, then attach the custom signals you score on, per account. Emails are validated across providers; phones are validated against Twilio.
Best for: teams that sell into single-shop SMBs, trade contractors, healthcare practices, and restaurants, where the buyer is an owner with no LinkedIn page.
The honest comparison
Clay vs ZoomInfo: ten rows, three winners, no hand-waving.
Where a row goes to Clay or ZoomInfo, we say so. Where it ties, we say that too. The rows we win sit in the bottom half, where SMB and long-tail coverage decide the deal.
| Dimension | Clay | ZoomInfo | Orbital | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise firmographics & org charts | Routes to LinkedIn-anchored providers. Org-chart depth is whatever the underlying source returns. No proprietary tree. | Deep org charts on Fortune 1000 and mid-market, reporting trees, C-suite direct dials. Their core product. | Basic firmographics on large US companies. No multi-level org tree at 10,000-employee firms. | ZoomInfo |
| Intent data & buying signals | Composable. You can wire Bombora, G2, 6sense, or proprietary signals into a Clay table, but you bring the source. | Bombora topic intent plus proprietary website-visitor and project signals, integrated into their workflow. | Per-account research agents instead of third-party intent. You define the signal, an agent attaches it. | ZoomInfo |
| Workflow flexibility & ICP composition | Spreadsheet-shaped, infinitely composable, 150+ providers waterfalled, AI agents on every column. Their core product. | Platform-shaped. You work inside ZoomInfo's UI, lists, and CRM widgets. Less composable, more turnkey. | Pre-built around SMB ICPs. You filter, we run the enrichment and signals. Less composable than Clay, more SMB-native than ZoomInfo. | Clay |
| Pricing transparency | Public tiers: a free plan, then Launch at 185 and Growth at 495 dollars per month (2026 repricing), plus per-credit consumption. You see the unit cost. | Opaque. Sales-led, annual platform contracts, customer-reported floors around 15,000 dollars per year and up. | Public sub-dollar-per-record on a no-contract basis. You buy a defined account set, not a multi-seat platform. | Clay & Orbital tie |
| CRM integration breadth | HubSpot push, Salesforce sync, webhooks, no in-CRM enrichment widget. | Native Salesforce and HubSpot apps, Outreach, Salesloft, Marketo plugins. Deep in-CRM workflow surface. | CSV export plus direct HubSpot push. No native Salesforce app. | ZoomInfo |
| Time to first useful list | A few hours if you know what providers to route to. Days if you do not. The table is blank until you build it. | Same-day, once the seat is provisioned. Lists pre-exist inside the platform. | Same-day. You name the vertical and the filters, we send a sample of around 100 records. | ZoomInfo & Orbital tie |
| SMB coverage (sub-50-employee, long-tail) | Provider-dependent. Routes to LinkedIn-anchored sources that thin out the same way ZoomInfo does. Teams report reaching roughly half their SMB TAM through Clay, with email the weakest field. Composability does not fix a missing record. | Built around the marketed-mid-market and enterprise set. The long-tail single-shop operator is mostly a blank row. | 13,549,104 US small businesses mapped at the company grain. Single-shop operators, no-website practices, owner-only businesses all included. | Orbital |
| Decision-maker contacts at single-location SMB | Waterfalls across LinkedIn-anchored providers. If the owner is not on LinkedIn, the waterfall hits the floor. | LinkedIn-anchored contact match. If the owner is not on LinkedIn, the record thins out fast. | Two paths per company: decision-makers matched from LinkedIn, plus business-level contacts sourced from the business itself. | Orbital |
| Per-account custom research signals | You write the prompt and column. Powerful and fiddly. Costs credits per row. | Scoops are catalog-driven (project, hiring, technology) and pre-built, not configurable per ICP. | Agents research each account for signals you define: recently incorporated, opening a location, hiring, runs paid ads, software in use. | Clay & Orbital tie |
| Brand recognition & procurement comfort | Hot in 2025 to 2026 RevOps circles. Less known to enterprise procurement and legal. | Public company. Known line item. Already approved at most large enterprises. | Newer vendor. Procurement at large companies will ask for a security review and references. | ZoomInfo |
Methodology: Orbital figures from a curated company-grain pull, April 2026, US sourced. Clay and ZoomInfo figures cited from each vendor’s published documentation and pricing pages as of 2026-06.
When to pick each
Three clean tests. Run them before you buy a seat.
Pick the tool whose limits you can live with. Most teams selling into SMB end up running more than one.
Pick Clay if
- Your RevOps lead wants to compose the data stack instead of adopting a black box.
- Your ICP is mid-market and you want spreadsheet-shaped flexibility on top of LinkedIn-anchored providers.
- You can spend credits experimenting with provider waterfalls and AI agents until the workflow lands.
Pick ZoomInfo if
- You sell to Fortune 500 or mid-market IT, security, or finance buyers and need org-chart depth on 10,000-employee firms.
- You run on Bombora-style intent topics and pre-built scoops to prioritise enterprise outbound.
- Your sales motion lives inside the ZoomInfo Salesforce app and your reps will not adopt anything that breaks that surface.
Pick Orbital if
- Your ICP is single-shop SMBs, trade contractors, dental practices, med spas, restaurants, or roofers.
- Your loudest complaint about Clay or ZoomInfo is empty rows below 50 employees.
- You want to pay per-record for a defined account set instead of a multi-seat contract or a credit meter that never stops.
Where the long-tail row sits
Coverage Clay and ZoomInfo thin out on. The numbers, with sources.
companies across 5 live SMB verticals
Aggregate of the dental, HVAC, med spa, restaurant, and roofing pages. A subset of the 13,549,104 total Clay and ZoomInfo thin out on.
of US dental practices we track are single-location
54% run without a website. 74% have no decision-maker on LinkedIn. The shape of the long-tail SMB row a profile-built database does not have. See the dental TAM report.
of US restaurants we track are single-location
82% have no LinkedIn company page. Owner-operators reachable through direct sourcing, not the LinkedIn anchor Clay and ZoomInfo are built around.
Source: Orbital data, April 2026. The 1,366,523 figure aggregates small-business coverage across the live email-list verticals, a subset of the 13,549,104 total US small businesses Orbital maps. Vertical breakdowns also published in the Dental TAM report and the HVAC TAM report.
The argument
A spreadsheet of empty cells is still a spreadsheet of empty cells.
Most Clay vs ZoomInfo content frames this as workflow versus database, and that framing holds. ZoomInfo sells a licensed database with org charts, Bombora intent, and a Salesforce widget. Clay sells a spreadsheet that routes lookups across 150+ providers so you compose the same answer yourself. Both are good tools for the customer they were built for.
What the comparisons skip is what happens when you point either tool at a single-shop HVAC contractor in Phoenix, an independent dentist in Tulsa, or a four-table restaurant in Asheville. ZoomInfo returns a thin row. Clay waterfalls across the same LinkedIn-anchored providers and returns that thin row through a different door. Composability is powerful. It still cannot fix a record that was never there. When the owner is not on LinkedIn, the waterfall hits the floor.
We built Orbital the other way. The denominator is 13,549,104 US small businesses, pulled at the company grain from Google Maps, Yelp, and Yellow Pages, with a 51-source agent finding the owner across the Better Business Bureau, legal filings, Dun & Bradstreet, Secretary of State, the business website, and news. We attach contacts two ways: matched from professional profiles where they exist, and sourced from the business itself where they do not. The honest trade: we do not have ZoomInfo's enterprise org charts or Clay's spreadsheet flexibility. If you need either, this stays a two-horse race.
Questions
Before you sign a seat on either
Is Clay or ZoomInfo better?
Different products. ZoomInfo is a licensed database, deepest on Fortune 1000 and mid-market, with org charts and Bombora intent. Clay is an orchestration layer that stitches 150+ providers together for enrichment. ZoomInfo wins enterprise depth. Clay wins flexibility for teams that compose their own stack. Neither is built around the long-tail SMB, which is the part Orbital covers.
How much does Clay cost compared to ZoomInfo?
Clay publishes its pricing: a free tier, then Launch at 185 and Growth at 495 dollars per month after the March 2026 repricing, with legacy Starter, Explorer, and Pro plans (149 to 800) open to existing customers only. On top of that you pay consumption from the providers Clay routes to. ZoomInfo does not publish prices. Customer reports put annual contracts at 15,000 dollars and up, locked to a multi-seat deal. Clay is cheaper to start. ZoomInfo can win on per-record cost at enterprise scale once the contract is signed.
Does Clay use ZoomInfo as a data source?
No. ZoomInfo is not one of Clay's default routed providers. Clay routes to vendors like Apollo, Cognism, Datagma, ContactOut, RocketReach, and FullEnrich, then layers AI agents on top. If you already pay for ZoomInfo, you can paste its records into Clay tables or push from its exports. Clay does not resell ZoomInfo.
Where does Orbital fit in the Clay vs ZoomInfo decision?
Both Clay and ZoomInfo route to the same enterprise-leaning sources, and both thin out below 50 employees. Orbital is the third option when your ICP is the 13,549,104 US small businesses neither tool maps at the company grain: single-shop HVAC contractors, independent dentists, owner-run restaurants, county-by-county roofers. If your ICP is mid-market or enterprise, this stays a two-horse race.
Can Clay enrich SMB and long-tail accounts?
Clay can enrich any row you put in a table, but the providers it routes to are LinkedIn-anchored and enterprise-leaning. For single-location businesses with no LinkedIn company page, the waterfall returns mostly empty cells. Clay's flexibility is high. The data ceiling for SMB comes from the vendors it routes to.
Does ZoomInfo cover small businesses?
ZoomInfo has firmographic records across the size spectrum, but the depth drops fast below 50 employees. Single-shop operators, owner-run trades, and no-website practices show up as blank rows or stale records. The product is built around marketed enterprises with hiring pages and a PR footprint, not the 4-person HVAC contractor who runs the business from a phone.
Which one integrates with Salesforce and HubSpot better?
ZoomInfo, on breadth and depth: native Salesforce app, in-CRM enrichment widgets, Outreach and Salesloft plugins, Marketo, a deep in-CRM surface. Clay has CSV export, HubSpot push, Salesforce sync, and webhooks, but the in-CRM experience is shallower. If your reps live inside the ZoomInfo Salesforce app, moving to Clay changes how they work.
Can I get a free sample of Orbital data before deciding?
Yes. Tell us the SMB vertical or metro you sell into and we send around 100 records to check against your Clay output and ZoomInfo records. Compare on the long-tail single-location side, not the enterprise side, where neither of us is the answer.
See the rows Clay and ZoomInfo return blank.
Tell us the SMB vertical or metro you sell into. We send a free sample of around 100 records you can check side by side against Clay output and ZoomInfo exports. No commitment.
Get a free sample