Cognism vs Clay

Clay uses a waterfall enrichment model that queries multiple external data sources in sequence until a match is found. These sources may include public data, social platforms and third-party B2B data providers. The resulting record is assembled dynamically rather than maintained as part of a single, owned dataset.

While this approach can increase surface-level coverage, it introduces trade-offs around data consistency, provenance and scalability. Each source applies different standards for collection, refresh and compliance, which can create operational complexity, especially for teams selling into Europe.

Cognism operates a proprietary B2B dataset built for European markets, supported by systematic verification and governance. This reduces reliance on stitched-together enrichment and provides a more dependable data foundation for CRM, analytics and AI-driven workflows.

See how Cognism's data enrichment platform funtions in this quick on-demand demo.

Clay supports a wide range of integrations, including connections to third-party data providers and automation tools. Some CRM and sequencing integrations are available only on higher-tier plans and are primarily designed to support custom workflow orchestration.

Cognism integrates directly with core revenue systems, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, Salesloft, Outreach and Zapier. These integrations are included as standard and are designed to embed trusted European data directly into existing CRM and GTM workflows, rather than requiring additional configuration.

Clay states that its platform is GDPR compliant, but responsibility for compliance largely sits with the customer. Because Clay aggregates data from multiple third-party sources through waterfall enrichment, users must assess whether the underlying data sources meet GDPR requirements for their specific use cases, particularly for outbound activity in Europe.

In practice, this means organisations need to apply their own governance, policies and controls to ensure data is used compliantly.

Cognism embeds compliance directly into how its data is collected, verified and delivered. Rather than relying on aggregated third-party enrichment, Cognism maintains a proprietary European dataset with consistent sourcing standards, systematic verification and screening against national preference and do-not-call registers.

This reduces uncertainty around data provenance and allows organisations to scale European outreach with greater regulatory confidence.

Using Clay-enriched data for outbound in the EU requires careful review. Because enrichment may pull from multiple external providers with varying consent models and refresh standards, organisations must validate whether the resulting data meets GDPR requirements for lawful processing and outreach.

For teams selling into Europe at scale, this introduces additional compliance checks and operational overhead.

Clay’s flexibility comes with ongoing maintenance. Teams are responsible for managing workflows, monitoring enrichment quality, handling vendor changes and controlling credit usage as scale increases.

This makes Clay better-suited to RevOps teams, growth engineers and technically inclined users who want to design and maintain custom enrichment and automation workflows.

Enterprise sales teams focused on execution typically prioritise data reliability, compliance and ease of adoption over configurability. In those environments, Clay often requires ongoing technical support to sustain usage.

Cognism is purpose-built for Europe, with deep local coverage, dedicated research teams and verification processes aligned to European regulatory and market complexity.

Clay’s European coverage depends on the third-party providers queried during enrichment, which can result in inconsistent depth and quality across countries.

No. Clay does not provide phone-verified mobile numbers. Mobile data quality depends on the third-party sources used during enrichment and is not systematically verified.

Cognism offers phone-verified mobile numbers through its Diamond Data® dataset, providing higher confidence for European outbound activity.

Cognism delivers faster time to value for most revenue teams. Data is immediately usable within existing workflows, without the need to configure enrichment logic or manage multiple vendors.

Clay typically requires upfront setup, experimentation and ongoing optimisation before consistent value is realised.

In many organisations, Clay is used alongside Cognism rather than as a replacement. Cognism provides the trusted, compliant data foundation, while Clay may be used for specific workflow automation or experimentation use cases.

They serve different roles within the revenue stack.

Clay can be used in enterprise environments, but it typically requires dedicated RevOps or technical ownership. For large, distributed revenue teams, this can create dependency and operational friction.

Enterprise teams often prefer platforms that provide consistency, compliance and ease of adoption by default.

Yes. Cognism is designed to act as a single data foundation, reducing the need for multiple enrichment vendors, contracts and data sources.

By consolidating contact data, company intelligence and verification within one governed platform, Cognism simplifies data operations while improving consistency and control.

For organisations selling into Europe, Cognism is a strong alternative to Clay. It is designed as a single, governed data foundation rather than a workflow assembly layer, with a focus on accuracy, compliance and consistency across European markets.

Cognism’s dataset is purpose-built for GDPR-compliant selling and includes verified contact data, deep local coverage and controls that support predictable revenue operations. This makes it particularly well suited to teams that prioritise data quality and regulatory confidence over experimentation.

Cognism is a strong alternative to Clay for organisations that need reliable, compliant European B2B data rather than highly configurable enrichment workflows.

It provides a single source of truth that supports sales execution, RevOps, and AI use cases without requiring ongoing workflow maintenance.

Customers consistently cite data accuracy, ease of adoption and confidence in compliance as key reasons for choosing Cognism over aggregation-based platforms.