Cold email & GTM · By Moonlaunch Studio · Updated October 2026
Smartlead and Clay integration
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Clay is a data enrichment and workflow platform. Smartlead is a cold email sending platform. Clay has a built-in Smartlead integration that pushes enriched rows from a Clay table into Smartlead campaigns. This guide covers what the integration can and can't do and which plan you need on each side, based on Clay's documentation and pricing page and Smartlead's help center and pricing page.
Pricing checked October 2026 from the vendor's site; confirm current pricing on their site.
Quick summary
- Direction: Clay to Smartlead. Clay can add, look up, update, recategorize, and remove leads in Smartlead campaigns.
- Campaigns must already exist: Clay's docs say campaigns can't be created from Clay.
- Clay plan: Launch or higher. Clay's integration page lists the plan as “Launch+”, and its pricing table excludes email-campaign integrations from Free.
- Smartlead plan: Pro or higher. The integration connects with your Smartlead API key, and Smartlead's pricing table doesn't include API & Webhooks on Base.
- Minimum cost on both sides: $279/month on monthly billing (Clay Launch $185 + Smartlead Pro $94), or $245/month on annual billing ($167 + $78). This is our arithmetic from the published prices.
The six actions
| Action | What it does | Returns |
|---|---|---|
| Add lead to campaign | Adds a lead (email required; name, phone, website, LinkedIn URL, location, company, and custom fields optional) to an existing campaign | Only confirms success; no extra output fields |
| Lookup lead in campaign | Finds a lead in Smartlead by email address | Smartlead lead ID, contact fields, custom fields, unsubscribe status, and the campaigns the lead is in |
| Lookup lead status in campaign | Checks a lead's progress in one campaign | Number of steps, emails sent so far, and status (for example, IN_PROGRESS) |
| Update lead in campaign | Changes a lead's details in a campaign | Only confirms success |
| Update lead category | Sets the lead's Smartlead category | Only confirms success |
| Remove lead from campaign | Removes a lead from a campaign | Ok: true when removed |
Two settings on Add lead to campaign are worth knowing:
- Allow Duplicate Leads Across Campaigns? is off by default. Clay's docs say a lead won't be added if it's already in another Smartlead campaign unless you turn this on. Either way, a lead can be in each campaign only once.
- Allow Leads from Community Bounce List? is on by default. Leads are added even if they appear on Smartlead's community bounce list, unless you turn it off. Clay calls the default “recommended for most use cases.”
Clay's run settings also offer Auto-update, which pushes new rows automatically and is recommended for trigger-based workflows, and Only run if conditions, for example, only adding rows with a verified email.
What it can't do
- Create or configure campaigns. Clay's docs say all Smartlead actions need an existing campaign, set up in Smartlead first.
- Update or remove by email alone. Update, category, and remove actions need Smartlead's internal Lead ID, not a Clay row ID. Clay's docs say to run Lookup lead in campaign first and map its
Idoutput. - Return data when adding. Add lead to campaign only confirms success. Run a lookup afterward if you need the Smartlead ID or status in your table.
- Send Smartlead events back to Clay as an action. The six actions are all initiated from Clay. Clay's Smartlead docs don't describe a trigger that sends replies or other Smartlead events into a Clay table. Clay lists webhook-based signal automation on Growth and above.
Plans you need on each side
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Works with the integration? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Free | $0 (500 actions, 100 data credits/month) | $0 | No. Email-campaign integrations aren't included on Free |
| Clay Launch | $185/month (15,000 actions, 2,500 data credits/month) | $167/month | Yes (“Launch+”) |
| Clay Growth | $495/month (40,000 actions, 6,000 data credits/month) | $446/month | Yes, and adds CRM sync, HTTP API, and webhooks |
| Smartlead Base | $39/month | $32/month | No API & Webhooks on Base, per Smartlead's pricing table |
| Smartlead Pro | $94/month | $78/month | Yes (API & Webhooks included) |
| Smartlead Unlimited Smart | $174/month | $144/month | Yes |
| Smartlead Unlimited Prime | $379/month | $315/month | Yes |
Clay prices shown are the starting tier of each plan; higher action and data-credit tiers cost more. Clay's FAQ says each action you run counts against your Actions, including sending data to a third-party system, and that bringing your own API key for data providers skips Data Credits but still uses Actions. Clay's annual toggle is labeled “Save 10%.” Smartlead says yearly billing saves 17%. Clay offers a 14-day trial, and Smartlead advertises a free trial.
Setup
- Get your Smartlead API key. Clay's docs point to
app.smartlead.ai/app/settings/profile. - Connect it in Clay. Smartlead's help article describes Settings > Connections > Add Connection, search “Smartlead,” paste the key, and save. Clay's docs also let you add the account the first time you pick a Smartlead action.
- Create the campaign in Smartlead before running anything from Clay.
- Add the action. In a Clay table, choose Add enrichment, search “Smartlead,” and pick an action. Smartlead's article also describes Actions > Export > Smartlead. Select the campaign, map the email column and any other fields, and add custom fields as name and value pairs.
- Set run conditions (Auto-update, Only run if), then save and run.
Drawbacks of each
Smartlead
May suit: teams that already build lead lists in Clay and want a sending platform with unlimited email accounts on every plan, per Smartlead's pricing page.
Pros
- Clay's integration covers add, lookup, status, update, category, and remove
- Duplicate protection across campaigns by default
- Unlimited email accounts on every plan, per Smartlead
Cons
- API & Webhooks not on Base, so the integration needs Pro ($94/month) or higher
- Campaigns must be built in Smartlead first
- Community bounce-list leads are added by default unless you turn that off
Clay
May suit: teams that enrich and qualify leads from several data providers before sending, and want that pipeline to feed Smartlead automatically.
Pros
- Conditional runs and Auto-update for trigger-based pushes
- Unlimited seats and tables on every plan
- Bring-your-own API keys skip Data Credits
Cons
- Free plan can't use email-campaign integrations; Launch starts at $185/month billed monthly
- Every action run uses Actions, which count toward your plan's limit
- Update and remove actions need a lookup step first to get the Smartlead Lead ID
- Webhooks and HTTP API start at Growth
Comparing cold email senders more broadly? See Instantly vs lemlist vs Apollo and Smartlead white label.
Sources
Checked in October 2026. Confirm current details on the vendors' sites.
- Clay, Smartlead integration docs: https://university.clay.com/docs/smartlead-integration-overview
- Clay, Add Lead to Campaign with Smartlead.ai (plan requirement): https://www.clay.com/integrations/action/add-lead-to-campaign-smartlead-ai
- Clay pricing, plan comparison, and FAQ: https://www.clay.com/pricing
- Smartlead, Integrating Smartlead With Clay (help center): https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/148-integrating-smartlead-with-clay
- Smartlead pricing and plan table: https://www.smartlead.ai/pricing