Everything you need to know
about ZenLists

Clay bundles credits into subscription plans — you pay the subscription regardless of whether you use credits. ZenLists is pure pay-as-you-go: buy a credit pack, use it across any list, it never expires.

For a team enriching 500 contacts/month: Clay Starter costs ~$149+ in subscription alone. ZenLists costs ~€50 in credits, nothing else.

ZenLists doesn't have a "free trial" — it's free permanently. When you create an account, you receive 100 free enrichment credits to start experimenting with email lookups, phone enrichment, and AI features.

After that, you buy credits if and when you need them. No expiry, no automatic subscription, no upsell pressure.

Yes. Creating a ZenLists account and using all core features (import, manage, filter, share, export, API access) requires no credit card at all. You only need to add payment when you decide to purchase enrichment credits.

ZenLists is the best free alternative to Clay if your primary needs are: importing contact/company lists, enriching them with email/phone/LinkedIn data, and sharing them with your team — without a monthly subscription.

Clay is a powerful GTM engineering platform designed for RevOps teams building complex automation workflows. ZenLists is designed for sales and marketing professionals who live in spreadsheets and want the benefits of data enrichment without the complexity or cost.

Other free alternatives exist (Apollo free tier: 60 credits/mo, Lusha free: 5 contacts/mo, OpenClay: bring-your-own-API-key) but none offer a complete list management + enrichment + sharing platform for free like ZenLists.

For small teams (1–10 people) who don't need Clay's advanced automation workflows, ZenLists is purpose-built for your situation:

• No per-seat fees — every team member gets full access for free
• Each person uses their own credits on shared lists (no shared credit pool conflicts)
• Import from Excel, Google Sheets, PDFs, web pages, or text — no technical setup
• Share lists with a single link with read/edit permissions

The main limitation vs Clay: ZenLists doesn't offer Clay's waterfall enrichment from 150+ data providers or its no-code automation builder. It's a simpler, more focused tool.

This is one of the most common complaints about Clay: the workflow builder, the credit system, and the table logic can take weeks to master. ZenLists is designed to be operational in under 5 minutes for anyone who knows Excel.

You import your file → the column mapping is suggested automatically and memorized → you see your contacts and companies in a familiar grid → you click "enrich" on selected rows. No nodes, no workflow chains, no configuration.

Yes — ZenLists includes a Chrome extension that lets you capture contact data directly from any website, CRM, or LinkedIn page and add it to your ZenLists list. Clay does not offer a built-in Chrome capture extension.

The extension uses AI to parse whatever data is visible on the page and map it to the correct fields in your list automatically.

Choose Clay if you need: waterfall enrichment across 150+ data providers, complex multi-step GTM automation workflows, deep Salesforce/HubSpot CRM integration, or if you have a dedicated RevOps/GTM engineer managing the setup.

Choose ZenLists if you need: free and simple list management with enrichment, Excel-native UX, Chrome capture, AI-powered import from any source, or easy team sharing without per-seat fees.

Drag and drop your .xlsx, .xls, or .csv file into ZenLists. The system automatically suggests column mappings (first name → prenom, company → entreprise, etc.) and memorizes your mapping for future imports of the same file.

A data preview shows the first 5 rows before you confirm. You can also opt to keep all unmapped columns as custom fields — so you never lose data from your original file.

Yes — paste the Google Sheets or SharePoint URL directly into ZenLists. The system fetches the file, parses it, and presents the mapping interface. Recent URLs are saved, so you can reload the same sheet with one click — and the mapping from last time is applied automatically, skipping the mapping step entirely.

For Google Sheets: share the sheet as "View only" (public link) and paste the URL. ZenLists converts it automatically to the CSV export format.

Yes. ZenLists has two AI-powered import modes for unstructured data:

Document import: upload a PDF, HTML, Word doc, or text file — AI extracts structured contact/company data automatically.

Paste text: paste any raw text (email thread, business card scan, copied table, LinkedIn export) directly into ZenLists — AI parses it into structured rows.

This is particularly useful for importing contacts from event lists, conference apps, or web pages you can't export directly.

The ZenLists Chrome extension analyzes the visible content of any web page you're visiting — a company's "About" page, a LinkedIn search result, an event attendee list, a CRM record — and extracts contact/company data to add to your current ZenLists list.

It uses AI to parse the page content and map it to the correct fields. You review the extracted data before confirming the import. It works on any website, CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), or social platform.

By default, unmapped columns are set to "skip" (not imported). But ZenLists has a "Import all as-is" checkbox in the mapping interface — when checked, every unmapped column is preserved as a custom field in your list. This means you never lose data from your original file, even if the column doesn't match a standard field name.

Custom fields are fully visible in the table, exportable, filterable, and accessible via the API.

ZenLists offers the following enrichment types (all pay-per-credit, no subscription):

• Email enrichment: find and verify professional email addresses
• Phone enrichment: find mobile and direct landline numbers
• LinkedIn enrichment: resolve LinkedIn profile URLs
• Company data enrichment: sector, headcount, website, description
• AI field generation: generate any custom field from your own prompt (e.g., "write a personalized intro based on company activity")
• Scoring: calculate a custom ranking score per contact based on your rules
• Webcard: AI-generated meeting preparation card for a contact

ZenLists shows email status directly in the table for each contact. Verified emails are marked ✓ Verified. Catch-all domains (where any email appears valid) are marked ⚠ Catch-all. Invalid or unverifiable addresses are shown as a dash.

Enrichment uses third-party data partners to find and cross-verify professional email addresses. Credits are consumed per contact enriched.

Yes — ZenLists has an AI field generation feature where you write a prompt and ZenLists generates a value for each selected contact based on their data. Examples: "Write a 2-line personalized pitch based on the company's industry and size", "Classify this contact's seniority as Senior/Mid/Junior based on job title", "Translate the job title to English".

Unlike Clay's Claygent (which requires a paid plan), ZenLists AI fields are available to all users and consume credits at a flat per-contact rate.

Yes — ZenLists processes enrichment asynchronously in batch mode. You launch enrichment on a selection (or all contacts), and the system works in the background with real-time progress notifications. You can close the browser and come back later to see the results. Failed items are retried automatically.

When you import a list, ZenLists automatically creates two linked datasets: one for contacts, one for companies. Contacts are linked to their company by name/domain. Both are accessible as separate views within the same list.

The key benefit: if you update a company's sector, website, or phone number, all linked contacts inherit the change immediately. No manual sync, no VLOOKUP, no copy-paste. It's one consistent dataset with two views.

Yes. In the Companies view, you can select one or several companies and use "Find contacts" to search for additional people matching your criteria (job titles, seniority, departments, countries). Results are added directly to your list, automatically linked to the right company.

ZenLists performs deduplication checks on import using matching on both phone number AND full name (phone number alone is not sufficient, since different people at the same company may share a switchboard number). Duplicates identified during import are flagged for review.

ZenLists offers three views, switchable with one click:

• Table view: Excel-like grid with sortable/filterable columns, hidden columns, frozen panes, multi-row selection
• Cards view: visual card layout showing avatar, name, company, and key enrichment status
• Compact view: dense list with company logos, optimized for large lists

Your column layout (which columns are visible, their order and width) is memorized per list.

Click "Share" → a secure link is generated instantly. You set read or edit access per recipient. Anyone with the link can access the list (with the permission you granted) in their browser — no ZenLists account required for read-only access.

Your list stays live and always up-to-date for everyone who has the link. No more "which version did you send me?" emails.

Yes — this is one of ZenLists's most distinctive features. When multiple users have edit access to a shared list, each person's enrichment actions are billed to their own account. If Alice enriches 50 contacts, those 50 credits come from Alice's wallet. Bob's credits are untouched.

This solves a common pain point in team tools where the account owner's credits get consumed by teammates unexpectedly.

No per-seat pricing, ever. Every ZenLists user gets a free account with full access to all core features. Teams collaborate by sharing lists via links. There is no "team plan" to subscribe to — you simply invite people and they sign up for free.

Yes. Every ZenLists list has a secured REST API and MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. This means you can:

• Connect ZenLists to Zapier, n8n, Make, or any automation platform via API
• Access and update your lists from any AI assistant that supports MCP (including Claude, and other LLM-based chatbots)
• Run queries, add contacts, trigger enrichment batches — all programmatically

API access is available on all accounts, including the free tier.

ZenLists integrates AI throughout the platform:

• AI import: extract structured contacts from PDFs, docs, raw text, or web pages
• AI column mapping: automatically suggests and memorizes field mappings
• AI field generation: generate custom field values with your own prompts
• AI list analysis: automatic post-import analysis of your list (typical profile, data gaps, recommended actions)
• AI search: describe contacts in natural language to find them in your list
• AI scoring: calculate priority scores based on rules you define
• Webcard generation: AI-produced briefing card for a contact before a meeting

Yes — ZenLists includes an AI assistant chat panel accessible from any list. You can ask it to analyze your list, find contacts matching a description, suggest enrichment priorities, or explain what actions would be most impactful. It automatically analyzes newly imported lists and provides a structured briefing.

Yes. ZenLists exposes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for each account. Once configured, any MCP-compatible AI assistant (Claude, and others) can read, update, and enrich your ZenLists lists using natural language commands. For example: "Add these 5 leads to my Leads Q3 list" or "Enrich all contacts in my list that are missing an email".

ZenLists is built by Zenbaia SAS, a French company subject to French and EU law. The platform is designed to support GDPR compliance: data isolation per account, deletion on request (Articles 17-18 GDPR), breach notification procedures (Article 33), and a Data Processing Agreement available on request.

Your data is stored on secured infrastructure and is never sold to third parties or made available to other accounts.

No. Your lists are private by default. Only you can see them. If you share a list via link, only the people you explicitly share with can access it. ZenLists employees do not access your list data except for technical support when you request it.

You can delete individual lists from the home screen at any time. To delete your entire account and all associated data, contact support@zenlists.io. Account deletion is processed within a commercially reasonable timeframe in accordance with GDPR Article 17.

ZenLists is built for sales and marketing professionals who manage contact and company data in spreadsheets and want a structured, enrichable, shareable alternative — without adopting a complex CRM or paying for an enterprise GTM platform.

Typical users: SDRs and AEs managing prospect lists, marketers building campaign audiences, business owners tracking customers and partners, event teams managing attendee lists, consultants building targeted outreach lists.

Yes — for many teams, ZenLists replaces the need for a formal CRM. It gives you: organized contact and company data, enrichment, a shared team view, filtering and search, tagging/description fields, and API/export for downstream tools.

It doesn't have CRM pipeline stages, activity logging, or email sequencing. If you need those, ZenLists works well as a data enrichment and management layer that feeds your CRM (Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, etc.) via export or API.

This is one of ZenLists's core use cases. Import each file into ZenLists — the automatic column mapping recognizes your fields even if column names vary across files. ZenLists normalizes the data, deduplicates contacts, and builds a clean unified list. You then have one source of truth instead of 10 scattered files.

Yes. ZenLists has a Webcard feature that generates an AI-powered briefing for a contact — company overview, key people, recent news, context for the meeting. It's designed to help you walk into a meeting informed, even if you had no time to research beforehand.

Yes — if you can use Excel, you can use ZenLists. The entire onboarding flow is drag-drop-click: drop your file, review the suggested mapping, confirm, and you're done. No developer, no documentation, no setup call required. The average time from sign-up to first enriched contact is under 5 minutes.