Clay MCP Server Review 2026: Setup, Credits, Limits

Facts checked October 16, 2026. Every Clay fact below comes from Clay's own pages: clay.com/mcp, the MCP for Reps launch post, Clay's changelog, Clay University's MCP docs and FAQ, and Clay's pricing page, each read on October 16, 2026. We did not run a prospecting project through Clay's MCP for this review, so there are no accuracy numbers here.

What is the Clay MCP server?

Clay's MCP server is a hosted connector that lets sales reps use Clay from an AI assistant. Clay's MCP page describes it as a way for reps to find contacts, get emails and phone numbers, and push them to sequences in natural language. Clay's docs give the endpoint as https://api.clay.com/v3/mcp, signed in with OAuth, and Clay does not support self-hosting it.

Clay sells it as "MCP for reps" and pitches it at two audiences. Reps use it for ad-hoc research on 1 to 20 contacts at a time, according to Clay's guide. RevOps teams use the workspace settings to decide what reps can spend and which workflows they can run. For anything above 20 contacts, complex automation or deep CRM syncs, Clay's guide points you back to the Clay app.

When did Clay MCP launch?

Clay shipped its MCP in steps through 2026. These dates come from Clay's changelog, its community announcements and its launch post.

What can Clay's MCP server do?

Clay's pages describe what the server can do and publish no full tool list. From clay.com/mcp and Clay's docs, the server can:

• Find people by job title, seniority, department, company and location, and find companies by industry, funding, size and technology. Search runs against Clay's own company and people database. Since September 7, 2026, Advanced Search also runs one search across people, company and job data.
• Enrich contacts with verified emails, phone numbers, work history and profiles, through Clay's waterfall across its data providers. Clay's MCP page and launch post say 200+ providers; its June 2026 guide says 150+.
• Research accounts for tech stack, funding and hiring trends, with Clay's research agents (Claygent).
• Answer questions about accounts synced to Clay's Audiences, on Enterprise.
• Run Functions: prebuilt workflows your ops team has enabled for MCP, such as lead scoring or account prep. Clay's developer docs name the tool an AI client calls to list them: list_subroutines.
• Check the CRM for duplicates and push enriched contacts to Salesforce and other CRMs, through Functions.
• Draft outreach and push it to a sequencer, again through a Function your ops team builds.

The Function model is the point. A rep types a sentence, and Clay runs the same vetted workflow the RevOps team would run in a table.

How do you set up Clay MCP?

Setup has two halves. An admin prepares the Clay workspace, then each rep connects an AI tool.

For the Clay admin, from Clay's MCP settings doc:

1. Open the MCP settings in your Clay workspace.
2. Add reps as MCP-only users with the Sales Rep permission type, so they reach Clay through their AI tool and not through tables.
3. Enable each Function reps should run by selecting MCP for reps in that Function's settings. Give it a name and description the AI can read, and do not name it after a built-in tool such as "find contacts".
4. Set a default credit limit for new MCP users, and a per-user override for any rep who needs more or less.

For the rep:

Clay also lists Codex, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Glean among its six supported AI tools. Two things block a connection: users with Clay's Viewer role cannot complete the sign-in, and in a ChatGPT workspace the admin who enables Clay must also enable the action run_subroutine_no_mapping, which runs custom Functions. Clay's FAQ says Functions fail silently without it.

Is the clay-mcp GitHub repo Clay's MCP server?

No. The GitHub repository clay-inc/clay-mcp and the npm package @clayhq/clay-mcp belong to Mesh, the personal CRM at me.sh, which was formerly called Clay. It is a separate product from Clay at clay.com. On October 16, 2026, github.com/clay-inc/clay-mcp redirected to mesh/mesh-mcp, which describes itself as "a simple Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Mesh," and clay.earth redirected to me.sh. The npm package was published on April 9, 2025 and last changed on September 10, 2025.

This matters because two of the MCP directories ranking for "clay mcp" list that repository as Clay's server and tell you to run npx @clayhq/clay-mcp or install it through Smithery. Both install Mesh's server. None of that applies to Clay at clay.com: Clay's server is hosted only, at api.clay.com/v3/mcp, and you sign in with OAuth.

How much does Clay MCP cost?

Clay MCP has no surcharge. Clay's docs say an action through MCP costs the same credits as it does inside Clay. A Function that costs 12 credits in a table costs 12 credits from Claude. People and company search are free, and questions about Audiences data use actions, not credits. Clay's ChatGPT guide says each interaction typically uses 20 to 100 credits, depending on the enrichments you request, and its pricing FAQ gives the same range for MCP.

New users get 500 free Clay credits the first time they connect. At Clay's own 20 to 100 range, 500 credits cover roughly 5 to 25 interactions. When credits run out, search still works, without enrichment.

Clay's launch post says MCP with Functions is on "all modern plans." Clay's plans, from its pricing page (unchanged on our October 16, 2026 re-read): Free with 500 actions and 100 data credits a month; Launch at $185 a month ($167 on annual billing) with 15,000 actions and 2,500 data credits; Growth at $495 a month ($446 annual) with 40,000 actions and 6,000 data credits; Enterprise on quote. Every plan includes unlimited seats. Our Clay pricing breakdown explains how actions and data credits interact.

What admin controls does Clay MCP have?

Clay's MCP admin controls are the most complete of any sales-data MCP server we have read about. Clay's docs say credit controls and usage monitoring are on all modern paid plans (Launch, Growth and Enterprise) and Legacy Enterprise. Admins can:

• Set a default monthly credit budget for every MCP user, and override it per rep (setting a rep to 0 blocks them).
• Hard-block further AI-tool actions once a rep hits the cap, until the monthly reset on the 1st at midnight UTC.
• Give reps the Sales Rep role, which allows MCP access only and no access to Clay tables.
• Choose which Functions appear in MCP, with a name and description the AI reads.
• Sync Audiences (Enterprise only), so reps can ask questions about synced data. Clay says those questions consume actions, not credits.

The assistant only reaches Clay tools and Functions an admin has enabled. It cannot browse raw workspace tables.

What are the limits of Clay's MCP server?

Clay's docs name the limits plainly, though two of its pages give different result caps:

• 100 or 1,000 results. Clay's FAQ and its Claude guide say results load in pages of 20, "up to 100 results (5 pages) total." Clay's MCP page says reps can "return up to 1,000 People Search results." Clay shipped Advanced Search on September 7, 2026, and the two pages still differ, so test the cap in your own workspace. Either way, Clay says to use Clay directly "for results beyond 100, or for true bulk processing."
• No CSV upload. Clay's FAQ says "not via a direct upload." In Claude you can share a CSV in the chat, and Claude calls the Function once per row.
• Writes need ops work. To send through a sequencer such as Outreach, "your ops team needs to build a Function that includes the sequencer column." Without Functions, a rep gets search, enrichment and drafts.
• Credits are harder to predict than a fixed per-email price, because the cost depends on which enrichments and Functions a prompt triggers.
• No published rate limit and no full tool list. Clay's docs name two tools, list_subroutines and run_subroutine_no_mapping, and describe the rest by what they do.
• Two connection blockers. Viewer-role users cannot connect, and in ChatGPT, Functions fail silently if the admin leaves run_subroutine_no_mapping off.
• Hosted only. Clay does not support self-hosting the server.

Who is the Clay MCP server good for?

Clay's MCP server is the best pick for a team that already runs Clay and has a RevOps owner. That owner builds the Functions once, sets a credit budget per rep, and every rep gets the same scoring, enrichment and CRM rules from inside Claude or ChatGPT. Nothing else in this category gives an ops team that much control over what an AI assistant can do and spend. Its directory listing in Claude and the 500 free credits also make it easy to try.

It fits less well for a solo founder or a small team without anyone to build Functions, because the strongest features depend on that setup. It is also the wrong tool for large list builds, which Clay itself routes back to tables. For those teams, our Clay alternatives guide sorts ten tools by the Clay job they replace.

Clay MCP vs Clay's Agent Plugin and API

Clay now has three ways in for AI tools and code, built for different people. Clay University compares the first two on one page; the API facts come from Clay's developer docs.

Clay's docs say the Agent Plugin "doesn't include an MCP server," so the two connect separately. Our Clay API guide covers the Public API, the CLI, webhooks and the HTTP API column.

Can Claude Code replace Clay?

Claude Code can run part of a rep's Clay work, and Clay now offers two ways in. MCP for Reps lists Claude Code as one of its six AI tools, so a rep can search, enrich and run Functions from the terminal. For builders, Clay's Agent Plugin brings Clay's skills, the clay CLI and the Public API into Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, generally available since September 15, 2026. Neither replaces the tables. The MCP's result caps (100 in Clay's FAQ, 1,000 on its MCP page) and Clay's own advice that bulk work belongs in Clay mean teams that depend on tables, scheduled runs and CRM write-back rules still need Clay or another table tool. Price both stacks with real volumes: Clay Launch is $185 a month on monthly billing, and the MCP servers below bill per action or per result.

How does Clay MCP compare to Apollo, ZoomInfo and Clu MCP?

The four servers below are the ones B2B buyers ask about most. Clay facts were re-read on October 16, 2026; Apollo and ZoomInfo facts come from each vendor's own docs, read October 1, 2026. For how Clay and Apollo compare beyond MCP, read our Clay vs Apollo breakdown.

Our Apollo MCP server review and ZoomInfo MCP server review cover the other two in the same depth, and the best MCP servers for sales and GTM covers CRM and sequencer servers too. If you also run HubSpot or Gong, our HubSpot MCP and Gong MCP reviews cover their servers.

Where does Clu's MCP server fit next to Clay?

Clu publishes this page, so treat this section as a disclosed vendor entry. Clu gives you AI agents that run your GTM. Clu, our GTM agent, finds buyers across 1B+ profiles, gets verified emails and direct dials from 25+ providers, writes and sends sequences, and syncs to HubSpot or Salesforce. Clu's MCP server at mcp.cleanlist.ai/v1/mcp puts 30+ tools inside Claude and ChatGPT for people and company search, enrichment (verified work email and phone number), lead lists and export, with names such as search_people, estimate_cost and enrich_list. Like Clay, it runs a waterfall: 25+ data providers in sequence, stopping at the first verified hit. Search is free, a verified work email is 1 credit and a phone number 10, and a miss costs nothing, so the price of a session is known before it runs. Our own 500-lead benchmark measured 98% verified work email and 85% phone numbers.

MCP is included from Starter at $49 per seat a month and in the 14-day Pro trial; the Free plan does not include it. Always-on agents and CRM sync start on Pro at $89. Clu has no Functions and no per-rep MCP budgets today, and sending runs through Sequences from your own Gmail or Outlook inbox. The MCP server is not yet in Claude's directory: you add it as a custom connector and paste the OAuth client ID Clu gives you into the advanced settings.

Pick Clay if a RevOps team wants to govern what reps run from their AI tools. Pick Clu if you want verified emails and phone numbers at a fixed credit price, and Clu to find the buyers and send the sequences, without building workflows first. The Clu MCP product page shows the setup, and our plans are on the pricing page.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

What is Clay MCP?

Clay MCP is Clay's hosted MCP server at api.clay.com/v3/mcp, generally available as MCP for Reps since July 14, 2026. It lets reps run Clay's people and company search, waterfall enrichment and their team's Functions from Claude, ChatGPT and four other AI tools, with credit budgets an admin sets per rep. Apollo, ZoomInfo and Clu (our product) also ship MCP servers for sales data.

Is Clay MCP free?

Connecting costs nothing, and new users get 500 Clay credits on first connect. A free Claude or ChatGPT account is enough on the AI side. Searches are free; enrichment and Functions spend Clay credits at the same rates as inside Clay.

Is Clay MCP official?

Yes. Clay runs the server itself at api.clay.com/v3/mcp and made it generally available as MCP for Reps on July 14, 2026. The clay-mcp repository on GitHub is a different product: it now redirects to Mesh, the personal CRM formerly called Clay.

What AI tools does Clay MCP work with?

Clay lists six: Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Codex, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Glean. Clients that register over OAuth when they connect, such as Cursor, VS Code and Claude Desktop, also work, and Clay's consent screen marks them "Unverified application."

How do I add Clay MCP to Claude Code or Cursor?

In Claude Code, run claude mcp add --transport http clay https://api.clay.com/v3/mcp, then type /mcp and sign in to Clay in the browser. In Cursor or VS Code, add the same URL as a remote MCP server. Your Clay admin decides which Functions you can run and how many credits you can spend.

How many results can Clay MCP return?

Clay's MCP page says up to 1,000 People Search results. Clay's FAQ says results load 20 at a time, up to 100. For bulk lists, Clay says to work in Clay directly.

Is Clay MCP the same as the Clay API?

No. Clay MCP lets AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT call Clay inside a conversation, with credit budgets an admin sets per rep. The Clay Public API, generally available since September 15, 2026, is for your own code: it runs Clay routines and searches with an API key. Our Clay API guide covers it.

Does Clay MCP return phone numbers?

Yes. Clay's docs say it enriches contacts with verified emails and phone numbers. The credit cost depends on which providers the waterfall uses.

Can Clay MCP push contacts to Salesforce or a sequencer?

Yes, through Functions. Clay's MCP page lists pushing enriched contacts to Salesforce and other CRMs, and Clay's FAQ says sending through a sequencer needs a Function built by your ops team.

What is the Sales Rep role in Clay?

It is a Clay permission that gives a user MCP access only. A Sales Rep cannot view, edit or create tables in the Clay web app.

Sources

• Clay, Clay MCP, read October 16, 2026
• Clay, MCP for reps, published July 14, 2026, read October 16, 2026
• Clay, changelog entries of January 16, January 26, March 30, June 2, August 31 and September 7, 2026, read October 16, 2026
• Clay Community, Clay MCP now live in Claude and ChatGPT, April 22, 2026, read October 16, 2026
• Clay, What Is Clay MCP? Clay in Claude and ChatGPT, published June 14, 2026, read October 16, 2026
• Clay University, Connect to Clay MCP, MCP in Clay, MCP troubleshooting and FAQs, Using Clay in Claude, Using Clay in ChatGPT, Clay MCP for Reps vs. Agent Plugin and Clay API and CLI, read October 16, 2026
• Clay Developers, Custom functions, read October 16, 2026
• Clay, Agent Plugin use cases, published September 23, 2026, read October 16, 2026
• Clay, Pricing FAQ and pricing page, read October 16, 2026
• Anthropic, Clay connector and Claude Code MCP docs, read October 16, 2026
• Mesh, mesh/mesh-mcp (where github.com/clay-inc/clay-mcp redirects) and the Mesh App Store listing, read October 16, 2026
• Apollo.io, Apollo MCP developer docs, read October 1, 2026
• ZoomInfo, ZoomInfo MCP docs, read October 1, 2026