Signado vs Clay
The Clay alternative that tells you when to reach out, not just what you know
Clay enriches your data across 150+ providers. Signado monitors your target companies for real buying signals (funding rounds, key hires, leadership changes) and generates AI-personalized outreach the moment a buying window opens. Without building workflows or burning credits on silence.
What Clay gets right
Clay solved a real problem: no single data provider has complete coverage. Its waterfall enrichment chains requests across 150+ providers (Clearbit, Apollo, Hunter, PeopleDataLabs, and dozens more) so if one source misses a phone number or email, the next one picks it up. Data coverage jumps dramatically compared to any single vendor.
The spreadsheet-like interface lets technically-minded users build custom data workflows visually. Pull in a list of companies, enrich each row with firmographic data, filter by criteria, then push results to your CRM or outreach tool. Claygent, Clay's AI research agent, can browse the web, summarize company pages, and extract custom data points on demand.
The integration ecosystem is genuinely impressive: Salesforce, HubSpot, Outreach, Slack, and dozens more via native connectors plus webhooks. For teams that need custom data pipelines, Clay offers flexibility that most point solutions cannot match.
Pricing starts at $0 for 1,200 credits/year, scaling to $720/month (billed annually) for 600,000 credits/year on the Pro plan. Enterprise plans are custom.
Where enrichment ends and timing begins
Clay answers one question well: 'What do I know about this company right now?' It enriches existing data. But enrichment is a snapshot. It tells you the current state, not when something changed.
The gap appears when you try to use Clay for signal detection. You can technically build a workflow that checks for recent funding rounds or job postings. But now you're building a monitoring system from scratch: scheduling recurring runs, deduplicating results across executions, handling API rate limits, managing credit consumption on every refresh, and patching workflows when providers change their response formats.
Running a daily monitoring workflow across 500 companies consumes credits on every execution, whether or not anything changed. On the Pro plan ($720/month annual, 600K credits/year), monitoring 500 companies daily across 3 signal types burns through your credit budget fast, with nothing to show for most runs.
Then there's the learning curve. Clay's own community acknowledges a 3–6 month ramp to proficiency for complex workflows. An entire services category ('Claygencies') exists because most sales teams don't have the technical bandwidth to build and maintain these workflows themselves.
The fundamental tension: Clay is an enrichment and automation tool being stretched into a signal detection role it wasn't designed for. You can build it. But you're maintaining infrastructure instead of acting on signals.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Clay | Signado.io |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Function | Data enrichment + workflow automation | Buying signal detection + AI outreach |
| Signal Detection | DIY workflows (build, schedule, maintain) | Built-in: 7 signal types, always-on monitoring |
| Monitoring Frequency | Manual or scheduled (credits per run) | Daily (Priority) · Weekly (Watchlist) · flat rate |
| AI Outreach | Claygent for research + outreach drafting | AI-personalized messages referencing specific buying signals |
| Time to Value | 3–6 months for complex workflows | Import list → monitor → signals in days |
| Pricing Model | $0–$720/mo (annual) · Credit-based · scales with usage | $149–$649/month flat · No per-usage fees |
What changes when signal detection is purpose-built
With Clay, detecting one buying signal means: build a table, configure enrichment providers, set up scheduled runs, parse responses for changes, deduplicate against previous runs, manage credit budgets, and maintain the workflow when things break. Seven signal types across 200 companies? That's seven separate workflows running on a schedule, burning credits on every execution.
With Signado, it means: import your contacts, assign companies to Priority or Watchlist, and wait.
Signado monitors daily (Priority) or weekly (Watchlist) across all 7 signal types simultaneously: funding rounds, hiring activity, leadership changes, company news, product launches, executive LinkedIn activity, and partnership announcements. When a signal fires, you get the event details, a relevance score, and an AI-generated outreach message referencing the specific event.
No workflow building, no credit math, no maintenance.
You stop spending hours configuring data pipelines and start spending minutes reviewing signals and sending outreach that references what actually happened at the prospect's company this week.
You shouldn't need an agency to detect a funding round.
An entire services category ('Claygencies') exists because building and maintaining signal detection workflows in Clay takes 3–6 months of technical ramp. Signado detects 7 signal types out of the box. Import your contacts, set priority, and start monitoring. No workflow logic, no scheduled runs, no agency retainer.
Credits shouldn't burn on silence.
Clay charges credits for every enrichment call, whether it finds a new signal or not. Monitoring 500 companies weekly across multiple providers means thousands of credits consumed when nothing changed. Signado charges a flat monthly rate. If nothing happens at your target companies this week, you pay the same. Your budget goes toward signals detected, not API calls made.
What each platform actually costs
Clay charges per credit consumed. Signado charges a flat monthly rate. Signal monitoring and AI outreach included.
| Clay Free | Clay Starter | Clay Explorer | Clay Pro | Signado Free | Signado Starter | Signado Growth | Signado Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $134/mo (annual) | $314/mo (annual) | $720/mo (annual) | $0 forever | $149/mo | $349/mo | $649/mo |
| Per-user fees | — | — | — | — | No | No | No | No |
| 5-person team cost | $0 | $134/mo | $314/mo | $720/mo | $0 | $149/mo | $349/mo | $649/mo |
| Contact database | 1,200 credits/yr | 24K credits/yr | 120K credits/yr | 600K credits/yr | — | — | — | — |
| Signal monitoring | Manual only | Manual only | Manual only | Manual only | 9 companies (lifetime) | 75 companies | 150 companies | 300 companies |
| AI-personalized outreach | No | No | No | No | 12 messages (lifetime) | 75/mo | 150/mo | 300/mo |
| Buying signal detection | DIY workflows | DIY workflows | DIY workflows | DIY workflows | All 7 signal types | All 7 signal types | All 7 signal types | All 7 signal types |
Competitor pricing shown is from 2025 and subject to change. Please verify current pricing on their website.
The pricing models reflect different jobs. Clay charges per data operation: every enrichment, every lookup, every API call consumes credits. Run a monitoring workflow daily, and you pay daily whether anything changed or not. Signado charges per workspace at a flat rate: monitor 25 to 100 priority companies with daily signal detection, unlimited signal types, and AI-generated outreach included.
Here's the math. A team using Clay for signal detection across 200 companies with 3 providers per signal type would consume roughly 4,200 credits per weekly run (200 companies × 3 providers × 7 signal types). On Clay Pro at $720/month (annual) with 600K credits/year, that's 50K credits/month, and a weekly monitoring run of 4,200 credits adds up to ~16,800/month just for signal detection. That's a third of your Pro credit budget consumed on monitoring alone, before any enrichment work. And it doesn't include building the workflows, maintaining them, or generating personalized outreach.
The same team on Signado Starter pays $149/month for 500 contacts, 25 priority companies monitored daily, and AI-personalized outreach included. Many teams use both: Clay for enrichment, Signado for always-on signal detection. The tools solve different problems.
Which tool fits your workflow
Stay on Clay if:
Your primary need is data enrichment and custom data pipelines. You chain multiple providers to maximize coverage on phone numbers, emails, technographics, and firmographic data. You have a RevOps engineer who can build and maintain Clay tables. Your use case is enrichment-first: you want better data on contacts you already have, and timing isn't the bottleneck. Clay's waterfall enrichment and 150+ provider integrations are purpose-built for that job.
Add Signado if:
You already have contacts from Clay, Apollo, LinkedIn, or your CRM, and your problem is knowing when to reach out. You tried building signal detection workflows in Clay but hit the wall: credit consumption, maintenance overhead, and latency make it impractical for always-on monitoring. Your SDRs need ready-to-send outreach timed to real events, not raw data they have to interpret. Signado adds the timing and messaging layer: continuous signal monitoring across 7 event types, relevance scoring, and AI-generated outreach included. Keep Clay for enrichment. Add Signado for signals.
How to add signal detection to your Clay workflow
Enrich your list in Clay
Use Clay's waterfall enrichment to build a high-quality contact list with verified emails, phone numbers, and firmographic data from 150+ providers.
Export and import into Signado
Export your enriched list as CSV. Upload to Signado. The platform extracts every unique company and deduplicates automatically.
Set monitoring priority
Assign your highest-value targets to Priority (monitored daily) and the rest to Watchlist (monitored weekly). Signado begins scanning for 7 buying signals: funding rounds, hiring activity, leadership changes, company news, product launches, executive LinkedIn activity, and partnership announcements.
Act on signals, not enrichment schedules
When a buying event is detected, Signado surfaces the company with the specific signal, a relevance score, and an AI-generated outreach message. Export to Instantly, Smartlead, Lemlist, or CSV. No workflows to maintain. No credits consumed per check.
Common questions
What's the difference between Signado and Clay?
Clay is a data enrichment and workflow automation platform with 150+ data providers, designed for building custom data pipelines. Signado is a buying signal detection platform that monitors target companies for real-time events (funding rounds, key hires, leadership changes, company news) and generates AI-personalized outreach when signals are detected. Clay answers 'what do I know about this contact?' Signado answers 'when should I reach out, and what should I say?'
Can I use Signado and Clay together?
Yes, and most teams do. Use Clay's waterfall enrichment to build a high-quality contact list with verified emails and firmographic data. Import that list into Signado for continuous signal monitoring. When Signado detects a buying signal, it generates a personalized outreach message you can export to your email platform. Clay handles data quality. Signado handles timing.
Can I build signal detection in Clay instead of using Signado?
Technically, yes. You can build Clay tables with scheduled enrichment runs that check for funding rounds, job postings, or news mentions. In practice, this means managing scheduled runs, deduplication logic, credit budgets per execution, and workflow maintenance when provider APIs change. Most teams find it impractical for always-on monitoring. Signado provides all 7 signal types out of the box with daily or weekly monitoring at a flat rate, no workflows to build or maintain.
Does Signado provide data enrichment like Clay does?
No. Signado is not a data enrichment tool. We don't chain data providers or do waterfall lookups for emails, phone numbers, or firmographics. Signado monitors companies for buying signals and generates outreach. If you need enrichment, use Clay. If you need signal detection and AI outreach, use Signado. The combination covers the full workflow: quality data from Clay, timely signals from Signado.
Keep Clay for enrichment. Add Signado for signals.
You don't have to choose one. Enrich your data with Clay. Detect buying signals with Signado. Send outreach that's timed to real events, not enrichment schedules.