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Endearist vs Clay
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a Clay engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
Clay (clay.com) is the most powerful B2B sales-prospecting and data-enrichment platform in the market — its "credit"-based architecture lets growth teams stitch together LinkedIn, Apollo, Salesforce, and dozens of other data providers into automated outbound workflows. If you're a growth marketer, RevOps engineer, or sales-development lead, Clay is genuinely category-leading and we say so. It is not, however, a personal CRM in any meaningful sense — its design intent, vocabulary, and pricing are organised around revenue pipelines, not personal relationships. Endearist is being built on the opposite axis: a quiet, local-first journal for the people you actually care about, not a prospecting engine — and it is not released yet. (Note: the older personal-CRM Clay that some readers remember was acquired by Automattic and rebranded to Mesh in 2025 — see our Mesh comparison page.) Endearist is not publicly available yet. The launch list is a notification signup, not app access or a purchase. Platforms and capabilities have separate release approvals.
Where does my data live with Clay versus Endearist?
Clay: hosted on US cloud (AWS) — enterprise-grade compliance posture, but your prospect data and enrichment workflows sit in Clay's database. Endearist: not publicly available yet. The primary copy is intended to stay on your device. End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only.
How does each tool access AI?
Clay uses AI extensively — credits power AI-driven enrichment, message generation, and signal detection across third-party data providers. The AI runs on Clay's infrastructure with prompt + data leaving for OpenAI/Anthropic on every call. Endearist's AI is planned as strictly opt-in: your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. Either way, contact data is meant to leave your device only when you trigger an AI action. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised.
What do Clay and Endearist cost over three years?
Clay Free: $0/month (500 actions + 100 data credits). Clay Launch: from ~$167/month — ~€5,400 over 3 years. Clay Growth: from ~$446/month — ~€14,400 over 3 years. (Clay retired the old Starter and Explorer tiers in its March 2026 overhaul, which also split billing into Data Credits and Actions.) Endearist cannot be bought yet; its proposed prices are a free tier, Pro Lifetime at €69 once, and Pro Cloud at €4.99/month (~€180 over 3 years) or €9.99/month (~€360 over 3 years). Clay is genuinely a different product category — the price gap reflects "enterprise prospecting platform" vs "personal journal". Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local core and data export. The proposed 25-contact limit is not a confirmed entitlement. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local app and AI with your own key (planned for v1). Sync over your own storage is planned for v1. Managed cloud services are not a lifetime feature. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised.
What doesn't Endearist do?
We don't have Clay's credit-based enrichment, multi-provider data pipelines, or outbound automation. Clay is built for revenue teams whose job is to find and qualify leads at scale. Endearist isn't trying to be a sales tool — it is being built as the diametric opposite: a memory for the people you already know.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | Clay |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Designed so the primary copy lives on your device, not on a server. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — all data lives in Clay's US-hosted database (AWS). |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only. | Server-side encryption only; Clay holds the keys. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | Flutter apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for Clay (2026-09-30): Listed platforms: Web. Native availability for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux is unverified. This record is for clay.com, the B2B platform; third-party ChatGPT clients are not native Clay apps. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| Desktop native apps | Native desktop apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for Clay (2026-09-30): Listed platforms: Web. Native availability for iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux is unverified. This record is for clay.com, the B2B platform; third-party ChatGPT clients are not native Clay apps. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| AI features | Planned as strictly opt-in — your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Credit-based AI enrichment + message generation, processed on Clay's servers via OpenAI/Anthropic. |
| Self-host option | No — there is no server component to host; the local store is meant to be the app itself. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — SaaS only. |
| Pricing | Proposed, not purchasable yet: free up to 25 contacts; Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, or Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local core and data export. The proposed 25-contact limit is not a confirmed entitlement. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local app and AI with your own key (planned for v1). Sync over your own storage is planned for v1. Managed cloud services are not a lifetime feature. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Free ($0, 500 actions + 100 data credits/mo). Launch from ~$167/mo. Growth from ~$446/mo. Enterprise custom. |
| Open source code | Comes with a pledge: source released if we shut down or are acquired. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Planned — plain Markdown you can read without any app. Markdown, CSV and vCard export: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. The documented implementation has a separate readable ZIP export with media and a report of omissions; legacy exports remain partial. This is not device or release acceptance. | CSV / API export of table rows; no Markdown export. |
| Voice-note transcription | Planned — on-device, or with your own key. On-device transcription: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — not applicable for a prospecting workbench. |
| Family / multi-vault share | Family sharing: not decided yet. Multiple vaults: not decided yet. | Workspace seats for sales teams; not a household concept. |
| Journal / reflection | Journal, weekly ritual, and appreciation prompts are meant to be built in, not built by you. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — Clay is a data table, not a journal. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | Designed with ready-made fields: how-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | Firmographic and intent fields (company size, funding, tech stack) — not personal-life fields. |
| Calendar / messenger integrations | Deliberately lighter: a read-only calendar overlay and manual share-sheet capture for messenger context are ideas, not decisions. Read-only calendar overlay: scope and availability are not confirmed. Status: not decided yet. Share-sheet capture: scope and availability are not confirmed. Status: not decided yet. | LinkedIn, email-sending tools, and 50+ B2B data providers; no personal calendar / messenger integration. |
When to pick Clay
When is Clay the better choice?
If you're a growth marketer, RevOps engineer, or SDR lead and your job is finding and qualifying outbound prospects at scale, Clay is the right tool — its credit architecture, third-party data integrations, and AI-powered enrichment have no rival in the personal-CRM space because they aren't personal-CRM features. Pick Clay when "relationship management" means "lead pipeline management" and you have a budget that justifies $167+/month. We're not a competitor on this lane and we'd be lying if we tried to compete on enrichment volume. Our scope is the 50-150 people you actually know.
Switching
How do I switch from Clay to Endearist?
Most users do not switch from Clay to Endearist because the use cases don't overlap. If you've been using Clay as a personal CRM in a pinch (some founders do this), export your contact list as CSV from Clay's table view. Endearist is not released yet, so keep that file for now: CSV import is planned for the app, but how Clay columns map to Endearist fields has not been verified. Clay's enrichment metadata has no equivalent in Endearist's design — the names, emails, and notes are the columns worth keeping. vCard and CSV import: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1.
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Prices and positioning verified 2026-09-03.
Platform information updated 2026-09-30; source-check dates are shown in the table.
Sources for the platform review
Endearist is in development.
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