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A list of companies is a starting point. Your next job might be checking which ones fit, buying verified contact data, or keeping a CRM up to date. Those jobs call for different comparisons.
Retriever AI (rtrvr.ai) is a free browser agent with the AI included. It reads company websites, gathers evidence, and fills forms in sites you are signed into. Clay organizes research, enrichment providers, and GTM processes around tables.
Current access and costs
Checked September 22, 2026: Clay offers Free, Launch, Growth, and Enterprise plans. It separates Actions from Data Credits. Its FAQ lists Launch from $185/month and Growth from $495/month; annual billing and configurable quantities change the displayed price. The page currently contains differing starting-credit figures, so confirm the selected package before buying. Clay pricing
Retriever’s supported AI and Cloud browser time are included in ad-supported Free Mode within the daily allowance. Purchased data and managed proxies can cost credits separately. An API key is optional, not a requirement for free entry. Retriever pricing
Which result are you buying?
| Your task | Start by evaluating |
|---|---|
| Read a directory and collect company websites | Retriever’s data-collection workflow |
| Explain which companies meet specific criteria | Retriever’s prospect research, using sources you can check |
| Combine several contact-data providers | Clay’s provider waterfalls and enrichment tables |
| Keep CRM enrichment and GTM signals in one system | Clay’s plan-specific CRM and signal features |
| Fill an authorized portal from approved records | Retriever’s form-filling workflow |
Clay’s provider, CRM, and signal capabilities are documented in its plan comparison. These are fit recommendations, not a claim that one tool cannot perform a job in the other column.
Separate research from enrichment
Start with ten companies. Write down the three facts that make a good customer. Ask for evidence from each company’s website and an explicit unknown where the answer is absent.
Research these ten companies using public pages only. Check [three criteria]. Return evidence, source links, fit reasons, and missing information. Do not purchase contact data. Draft a note for the strongest matches, but do not send it.
Only after reviewing the shortlist should you decide whether contact enrichment is worth buying. A missing email is not permission to invent one.
The Bright Data case study shows a different, paid-data workflow: 500 attendees narrowed to ten prospects, with about $1.25 in dataset lookups. That lookup cost is not the total price of every comparable run, and the example is not an entirely free task.
Repeat the research across your list
In Retriever, save your criteria and output format in a skill. Use a Sheets workflow to apply the same request to each company. Keep the claim, supporting text, source URL, and date together so you can check or refresh the research later.
Run the saved instructions yourself in Free Mode within its allowance. Unattended schedules require a paid plan. Both products support repeatable processes; the choice depends on which websites, data providers, and follow-up actions your process needs.
When Clay is the better fit
Evaluate Clay first if your team already operates from enrichment tables and needs a shared system for providers, signals, and CRM updates. Moving that process just to save on a few browser tasks may create more work than it removes.
Use Retriever AI for the website steps around that process: find records, verify claims, prepare forms, and gather the evidence behind a shortlist. You can also use both products where each has a clear job.
Try before expanding
Review the ten-company result for accurate facts, useful fit reasons, and missing sources. Track cost per usable record, including paid lookups. This article uses current documentation and an existing case study; it does not report a new Clay-versus-Retriever benchmark.
Free Mode in the Chrome extension involves sponsored content. In Cloud, it also includes a license to use anonymized task records and derived products, as described in the Terms and Privacy Notice. See Free Mode and paid plans.
