Clay vs People.ai (Backstory)
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Clay if you want programmable gtm data platform with ai research agents (claygent) (Supervised agent, freemium); choose People.ai (Backstory) if you want revenue intelligence that captures activity and answers pipeline questions (Copilot, subscription).
| Clay | People.ai (Backstory) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Programmable GTM data platform with AI research agents (Claygent) | Revenue intelligence that captures activity and answers pipeline questions |
| Type | platform | platform |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Copilot |
| Pricing | freemium · Free tier; paid Launch from ~$185/mo (after March 2026 pricing change) | subscription |
| Best for | smb, mid-market, enterprise, developers | enterprise, mid-market |
| Deployment | saas, api | saas, api |
| Modalities | text, browser, api | text, api |
| Models | model-agnostic, gpt, claude | model-agnostic, proprietary |
| Protocols | rest-api, function-calling | mcp, rest-api |
| Integrations | HubSpot, Salesforce, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Slack, Gmail | Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Oracle, Zoom, Slack, Webex |
| Capabilities | 5 documented | 4 documented |
Clay
- +Composable enrichment: waterfalls across 150+ providers in one workflow beat any single-vendor dataset on match rate
- +Claygent plus Navigator can extract bespoke data (and interact with pages) that fixed providers miss
- +Free tier and broad integrations make it accessible, with API and webhooks for programmatic use
- -Steep learning curve; getting value requires building and tuning workflows, not just turning it on
- -Credit-based costs (split into Data Credits and Actions after the March 2026 pricing change) can be hard to predict at scale
People.ai (Backstory)
- +Automatic activity capture genuinely cuts manual CRM entry
- +Mature, decade-long data foundation underpins forecasting and the "answers" pitch
- +Open MCP architecture works with existing AI tools rather than a walled garden
- -Reviewers report limited dashboard customization and non-intuitive UX
- -Capture from some channels (LinkedIn, Slack) can be incomplete and call data can lag
Which should you choose?
Clay is programmable gtm data platform with ai research agents (claygent), best for smb, mid-market, enterprise, developers. People.ai (Backstory) is revenue intelligence that captures activity and answers pipeline questions, best for enterprise, mid-market. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.