CRM · head to head
Bigin vs Clay
Bigin
CRM
Zoho pipeline CRM for small businesses, priced well below Zoho CRM itself
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Bigin the plan limits are the product boundary, not a soft guideline: three pipelines on Express and thirty automations will constrain any business with more than a couple of distinct sale types, and the only fix is to pay up a tier.; Clay two separate meters run at once, actions and data credits, and a plan can exhaust either independently
- They diverge on capability: Bigin covers Multiple pipelines, Clay covers Data enrichment.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Bigin and Clay actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (CRM).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Bigin
- Multiple pipelines
- Teampipes
- Built-in telephony
- Email integration
- Mobile apps
- Zoho ecosystem
- Free onboarding
Only in Clay
- Data enrichment
- Contact management
- Integration
- API access
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- Zapier
- Slack
Both cover
- Workflow automation
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Bigin
- A five-person sales team wants a real CRM for under 50 US dollars a month total and will never use the territory management or forecasting depth in Zoho CRM.not Clay
- A business already running Zoho Books or Zoho Mail wants a CRM in the same account with native links rather than a bridged third-party tool.not Clay
- A services firm wants to run client onboarding and delivery as pipelines alongside sales, which is what Teampipes exists for, without buying a separate project tool.not Clay
- A buyer evaluating Zoho CRM Standard should price Bigin first, because for straightforward pipeline selling it is roughly a third of the cost on the same platform.not Clay
Clay
- Data enrichment and intelligencenot Bigin
- Growth campaign automationnot Bigin
- CRM workflow integrationnot Bigin
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Bigin
- The plan limits are the product boundary, not a soft guideline: three pipelines on Express and thirty automations will constrain any business with more than a couple of distinct sale types, and the only fix is to pay up a tier.
- Outgrowing Bigin means migrating to Zoho CRM, a different product with different objects and configuration, so the cheap start becomes a project later rather than a plan upgrade.
- The free plan is one user with 500 records and no automation, which makes it a trial rather than a usable free tier of the kind Zoho CRM competitors offer.
- Reporting and analytics are basic compared with Zoho CRM, with no serious forecasting, territory management or custom module building, so sales operations functions have nothing to work with.
- Zoho runs two overlapping CRMs and has an obvious incentive to keep Bigin limited, so features that would make it a genuine competitor to Zoho CRM are unlikely to arrive however much customers ask.
Clay
- Two separate meters run at once, actions and data credits, and a plan can exhaust either independently
- Data credit overage is sold at a 30% premium over the plan rate, so exceeding the allowance costs more per unit than planning for it
- The free plan allows 500 actions, 100 data credits and 200 rows per table
- The entry paid plan starts at $167 a month, and both paid prices are starting figures rather than fixed
- The free plan cannot buy overage at all, so hitting the limit stops work rather than billing for it
Pricing, plan by plan
Bigin
Free- FreeFree
- One user only
- 500 records
- One pipeline
- Express$7/month
- Three pipelines
- 50,000 records
- 30 workflow automations
- Premier$12/month
- Five pipelines
- 100,000 records
- 50 workflow automations
- Bigin 360$18/month
- Fifteen pipelines
- One million records
- 100 workflow automations
Clay
Free- FreeFree
- 500 actions per month
- 100 data credits per month
- Unlimited seats
- Launch$167/month
- 15000 actions per month
- 3000 data credits per month
- Phone enrichment
- Growth$446/month
- 40000 actions per month
- 6000 data credits per month
- CRM sync
- Enterprise$null/custom
- Unlimited capabilities across most features
- SSO
- Role-based access control
Which should you pick?
Choose Bigin if
- You need multiple pipelines.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, macOS, watchOS.
- You also want teampipes.
Choose Clay if
- You need data enrichment.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want contact management.
Questions people ask
- Is Bigin or Clay better?
- Neither clearly leads. Bigin starts at Free and Clay at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Bigin or Clay?
- Bigin starts at Free and Clay at Free.
- Does Bigin or Clay run on more platforms?
- Bigin runs on Web, iOS, Android, macOS, watchOS. Clay runs on Web.
- Can I use Bigin for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Bigin best used for?
- Bigin is most often used for a five-person sales team wants a real crm for under 50 us dollars a month total and will never use the territory management or forecasting depth in zoho crm., a business already running zoho books or zoho mail wants a crm in the same account with native links rather than a bridged third-party tool., a services firm wants to run client onboarding and delivery as pipelines alongside sales, which is what teampipes exists for, without buying a separate project tool., a buyer evaluating zoho crm standard should price bigin first, because for straightforward pipeline selling it is roughly a third of the cost on the same platform.. Of those, a five-person sales team wants a real crm for under 50 us dollars a month total and will never use the territory management or forecasting depth in zoho crm. and a business already running zoho books or zoho mail wants a crm in the same account with native links rather than a bridged third-party tool. are not what Clay is typically brought in for.
- What can Bigin do that Clay cannot?
- Bigin covers Multiple pipelines, Teampipes, Built-in telephony, Email integration. Clay covers Data enrichment, Contact management, Integration, API access. Both handle Workflow automation.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Bigin: Is Bigin the same as Zoho CRM?
No. It is a separate, cheaper product on its own domain with its own pricing, aimed at small businesses, and it is deliberately capped so it does not compete with Zoho CRM.
Clay: Can I use Clay for free?
Yes, Clay's free plan includes 500 actions and 100 data credits per month with unlimited seats and tables (200 rows max per table).
SourceBigin: How much cheaper is it?
Express is 7 US dollars per user per month annually against Zoho CRM Standard at a higher rate, and the gap widens against the upper Zoho CRM tiers.
Clay: How much can I save with Clay's annual billing?
Clay offers significant annual discounts: Launch tier drops from $167/month to $54/month, and Growth tier drops from $446/month to $185/month when billed yearly.
SourceBigin: What happens when I outgrow the pipeline limits?
You move up a Bigin tier to five or fifteen pipelines, and beyond that you migrate to Zoho CRM, which is a data and configuration migration rather than a switch.
Clay: What happens when I exceed my monthly actions or data credits on Clay?
Actions and data credits cost less than $0.01 each when purchased at scale, with unused data credits rolling over up to 2x monthly allocation on paid plans. Customers can bring their own API keys to avoid data credit costs.
SourceBigin: Is the free plan usable?
Only for one person with a very small contact list. It is one user, 500 records, one pipeline and no automation.
Clay: Does the Growth plan limit the number of users or team members?
No, Clay's Growth plan supports unlimited seats with 40000 monthly actions, 6000 data credits, and CRM sync, designed for teams with CRM-based workflows and growth campaigns.
SourceRelated pages
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