Clay's pricing change is breaking agency margins
Had the same conversation with 3 clay certified agency owners last month
Quick content:
-Clay moved to dual meter pricing in march (credits + actions)
-Bills now swing 30-50% month to month
-Agencies can't confidently price there work anymore
-3 agencies I know moved off Clay last month
The problem isn't that clay is very expensive, actual problem is: agency margins depend on predictable costs
When a workflow costs you $4k one month and $6k the next.. with no obvious change for the client, someone absorbs the difference. Either the agency loses margin or the client questions the invoice, and the biggest change is.. actions.
Every workflow step, AI call, CRM write and automation is billable, specially ****automation heavy agencies, that's where most of the bill now comes from and it's the hardest part to forecast.
These 3 agencies I spoke to:
-Run outbound for early stage saas
-Enterprise account research
-Fractional revops
Totally different ICPs and price points. All 3 rebuilt workflows to reduce action usage first and eventually said they were spending more time managing clay than building for clients.
(I run a clay alternative and 2 of these 3 switched to us. That's why agency owners tell me this stuff. But the advice below applies whether you choose us or any other tool)
Before choosing any tool, ask an agency that's been using it for 6+ months:
-What does your bill actually look like each month?
-Has pricing been predictable?
-Would you choose the same tool again?
That's where you'll learn what owning the tool actually feels like.
I think more then a clay problem, It's what happens when usage based pricing meets service business margins.
Clay was first. I wouldn't be surprised if more gtm tools head the same way.
Anyone else seeing this? Especially curious whether in house revops teams are starting to feel it too or if this is still mostly agencies
