We were spending ~$3,000/month on Clay enrichment at one point. Last month we cut that by ~50%… by replacing…
The play
Replace Clay's native enrichment API with a cheaper Google search API for high-volume data pulls, keeping Clay for orchestration.
How it works
- Identify high-volume workflows using Clay enrichment: trigger event searches, funding signals, competitor lookups, tech stack checks, podcast guest finding, local market pulls
- Set up HTTP requests in Clay to call the cheaper API instead of Clay's native enrichment
- Route Google search-based queries through the alternative API at $0.0001 per run versus Clay's $0.025
Result reported by Troy
Reduced enrichment costs by approximately 50% while maintaining same data output and quality.
- Tools mentioned
- ClayGoogle search API
- Good for
- Outbound teams running thousands of daily enrichments with Clay
Try this first
Audit Clay workflows to identify which are pure Google search queries versus true enrichment needs.
Breakdown by RunAgents from Troy's original post, shown below.
The original post
Troy
@troyaitken_
We were spending ~$3,000/month on Clay enrichment at one point. Last month we cut that by ~50%… by replacing one layer with a $0.0001 API.
Here’s the full story:
Clay is a GREAT product and I still think most teams should use it. But we completely overlooked one thing:
their native enrichment pricing. $0.025 per run.
Meanwhile https://t.co/CbCaqZoJqp is sitting there at $0.0001.
Same Google search results.~250x cheaper.
When you’re running thousands of enrichments per day, that difference quietly becomes one of the biggest cost leaks in your entire outbound system.
We didn’t replace Clay. We just stopped overusing it.
So we moved a few workflows over.
Nothing crazy.Just the obvious stuff:
> trigger event searches
> funding / hiring signals
> competitor lookups
> tech stack checks
> finding podcast guests
> local market pulls
Basically anything that’s just…a Google search with extra steps.
Setup? ~5 minutes using Clay’s HTTP request feature.
No new tools. No complex system.
With Clay doing everything:~$3K/month
After the switch:~50% lower cost
same output
same data
And this is the part that annoyed me: we weren’t paying for better data we were paying for convenience
Once we made that shift, it became obvious:
Clay should be used for:→ orchestration
→ workflows
→ chaining enrichments
Not raw high-volume data pulls.
Most teams don’t realize this and just keep scaling usage which means they keep scaling cost for no real gain
If you’re running outbound and your costs are creeping up there’s a good chance this is happening to you
Reply “fix” and I’ll show you exactly where you’re overpaying and what to change in your setup
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