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ZenLists vs Clay

Stop paying for
Clay.  Start using ZenLists.

You live in Excel. You hate bloated CRMs. You just want your data clean, enriched, and shareable — without a $800/mo subscription. That's exactly what ZenLists does.

Clay starter
$149
per month · billed annually
vs
ZenLists
€0
forever free · pay only for credits
Start free — no card required See full comparison ↓

Built for the 99% who live
in spreadsheets

Not for RevOps engineers. For sales and marketing folks who just need their data to work.

🗂️
"Where's the good version of last month's file?"
You produce Excel files every day and lose track of them constantly.
🧩
"My contacts are spread across 12 files."
Deduplication, VLOOKUPs, merge hell. You know the drill.
🤷
"I get why CRMs exist, but..."
They're too complex, too expensive, and nobody updates them anyway.
🔒
"Probably not 100% GDPR but I can't help it."
Data scattered in personal drives, no control, no audit trail.
💸
"Clay looks great but $800/month for my use case?"
Power tools for power users — overkill when you just want clean contact lists.
"I'd love AI enrichment but at a sane price."
Email finders, phone lookups, scoring — without burning a VC budget.

The honest comparison

No marketing fluff. Just what each tool actually does — and doesn't do.

Feature 🏭 Clay ⚡ ZenLists
Pricing & Access
Free tier ⚠️ Very limited Unlimited free use
Subscription required From $149/mo No subscription ever
Pay-per-use credits ⚠️ Bundled in plan Cheapest in market
Team credit sharing Per-seat pricing Each user spends own credits
Import Sources
Excel / CSV import Auto-mapping + memory
Google Sheets / SharePoint ⚠️ Via integration Direct URL, 1-click reload
AI import from PDF / doc / text Native AI extraction
Paste raw text / business cards AI auto-parses anything
Chrome extension page capture Capture from any website or CRM
Remote URL scraping ⚠️ Via Claygent (paid) Built-in, AI-powered
Mapping memory (reuse last mapping) Per-file mapping saved
Data Model
Contact ↔ Company linked model ⚠️ Manual via tables Automatic, always in sync
Propagation: company edit → all contacts Instant cascade
Dual view (contacts + companies) ⚠️ Separate tables Two views, one dataset
Table / Cards / Compact views ⚠️ Table only 3 views + column memory
Enrichment & AI
Email enrichment Waterfall (expensive) Direct, low-cost credits
Phone / mobile enrichment
AI field generation (custom prompts) Claygent (paid) Built-in, credits only
Integrated scoring / ranking ⚠️ Manual formula Native, per-company ranking
AI list analysis & recommendations Auto-triggered post-import
Webcard generation for meetings AI-generated meeting briefs
Sharing & Collaboration
Share list via link ⚠️ Team seats required 1 click, read or edit mode
Granular permissions per user ⚠️ Admin only Per-list, per-user
Each team member uses own credits No shared pool conflicts
API + MCP server access Enterprise plan All accounts
Zapier / n8n / Make compatible Via API & MCP
01 / IMPORT

Every source.
Zero friction.

CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, SharePoint, PDF, raw text, business cards, web pages — ZenLists imports all of it. The Chrome extension lets you capture contacts directly from any website, LinkedIn, or CRM screen. And when you reload a Google Sheet, your mapping is already saved.

📊 Excel / CSV 📗 Google Sheets 🌐 Remote URL 🤖 AI from PDF/text 🔌 Chrome extension
📊
CSV / Excel file
Manual column mapping · auto-saved
📗
Google Sheet / SharePoint
Paste URL · 1-click reload with saved mapping
NEW
🤖
Document / Paste text
AI extracts contacts automatically
🔌
Chrome Extension
Capture from any page · CRM scraping
NEW
02 / DATA MODEL

Contacts & companies,
always in sync.

ZenLists automatically creates two linked views of your data — contacts on one side, companies on the other. Change a company's sector or phone number and every contact inherits it instantly. No VLOOKUPs. No merge formulas. No stale data.

🔗 Auto-linked ⚡ Instant cascade 🔄 Two views, one truth
CONTACTS ← linked to → COMPANIES
Sophie Martin
Agence 33 degrés · DG
✓ Email
Lucas Bernard
Agence 33 degrés · CMO
92
Camille Roux
GetQuanty · CEO
✓ Tel
✏️ Update "Agence 33 degrés" → propagates to 2 contacts instantly
03 / VIEWS

Work your way.
Three views, zero config.

Switch between Table (Excel-like), Cards (visual overview), and Compact (dense list with company logos). Hide columns, freeze panes, sort, filter — all your Excel habits work here. Column layout is memorized per list.

📋 Table view 🃏 Cards view 📌 Compact view 💾 Layout memory
📋
TABLE VIEW
Excel-like grid
🃏
CARDS VIEW
Visual overview
📌
COMPACT VIEW
Dense + logos
💾
MEMORY
Layout saved
04 / SHARING

Share a list.
Keep control.

One click generates a secure link. Set read or edit permissions per user. The best part: each team member uses their own credits to enrich the shared list. No credit pool fights. No surprise bills. You each pay for what you personally do.

🔗 One-click share 🔒 Read / Edit modes 💳 Own credits per user 🌐 API + MCP access
Sophie M.
Edit
Lucas B.
Read
Camille R.
Edit
💳 Each user enriches with their own credits

Free to use.
Pay only when you enrich.

No monthly commitment. No per-seat fees. No surprise at the end of the month.

Clay
$149/mo
Starter plan · billed annually · ~$1,800/year

  • Per-seat subscription required for every user
  • Credits bundled in plan — buy more or lose them
  • Complex workflow builder — steep learning curve
  • No native Excel/Google Sheets feel
  • Chrome extension not included
  • AI import (Claygent) costs extra credits
View Clay pricing →
⚡ ZenLists
€0/mo
Forever free core · credits from €0.10/unit

  • Unlimited lists, contacts, companies — always free
  • All import sources included (CSV, AI, URL, Chrome ext.)
  • All views, filters, sharing — free
  • API & MCP access — free
  • Pay-as-you-go enrichment credits (cheapest in market)
  • Each team member uses their own credits on shared lists
Start free — no card required
Enrichment credit cost comparison (email lookup · indicative)
Clay (Starter plan)
~$0.35 / contact
Clay (Pro plan)
~$0.25 / contact
ZenLists
~€0.10 / contact

Your Excel files deserve
better.

Turn your first list into a living, enriched, AI-powered contact base in under 5 minutes. For zero euros.

No credit card. No subscription. 100 free enrichment credits included.