ClayFree plan
Paid from
$185 a month
View plans and limitsUpdated 4 September 2026 · Independent comparison
Clay vs Microsoft 365 Copilot:
which should you use?
Clay and Microsoft 365 Copilot, side by side. Find the one that fits what you need to do.
Find your best fitThe 30-second answer
Clay a spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work.
Pricing, simplified
Start free. Upgrade when you need more.
Microsoft 365 CopilotPaid only
Paid from
$25.2 a month
View plans and limitsThe 30-second comparison
If you only read one section, make it this one. Rows where both sides say the same thing are left out — the point is where they differ. Where each row came from is listed underneath.
| Category | Clay | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | A spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon. | Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit. | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| Fit for business, finance & professional work | Strong fit | Built for this | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| Free plan | Yes. Free plan with no strings attached: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, unlimited seats and tables, up to 200 rows a table, multi-provider waterfalls, Claygent enrichment and your own API keys | No. Paid from the start. | Clay |
| Cheapest way to pay | $185 a month. | $25.2 a month. | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| What the paid tiers cost |
|
| Tie |
| What to watch out for | Credits, not seats, so the bill tracks how much you run rather than how many people use it. The paid rates are starting points that the action and data-credit selectors push upward. Easy to spend a lot without noticing. | An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again. | Tie |
| Made by | Clay — New York, US. | Microsoft — Redmond, US. | Tie |
Microsoft 365 Copilot is ahead on 3 of the 7 rows compared, 1 of them about how well it does the job itself, against 1 to Clay. It is a single row of daylight, so read Clay’s column before deciding.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
✓ The job is mainly business, finance & professional work
✓ Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
✓ You want the cheaper paid plan, $25.2 against $185
✓ It is built for business, finance & professional work
A spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon.
Clay is the better answer when the job is what it was built for rather than what the pick above does broadly.
✓ A spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon.
✓ You want to start without paying anything
✓ Free plan with no strings attached: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, unlimited seats and tables, up to 200 rows a table, multi-provider waterfalls, Claygent enrichment and your own API keys
✓ It is aimed at working professionals
How we know
Every row that separated these two, and where it came from. Nothing here is a hands-on test — if a line rests on a vendor’s own pricing page, it says so and links it.
| Row | Favours | Weight | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | Microsoft 365 Copilot | How well it does the job | From this site’s own catalogue record for each product — compiled by hand, not imported. How a product gets listed |
| Fit for business, finance & professional work | Microsoft 365 Copilot | How well it does the job | Both products are listed under business, finance & professional work in the catalogue, and this is the fit recorded against each listing. Everything listed under business, finance & professional work |
| Free plan | Clay | How well it does the job | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
| Cheapest way to pay | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Everything else | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
The prices
Clay. Read by hand off clay.com on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. clay.com/pricing
Microsoft 365 Copilot. Read by hand off microsoft.com on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/pricing
The ratings
The category these two share. Business, Finance & Professional Work — both are listed there in the catalogue, and the fit recorded against each listing is a judgement made here, by hand.
The nine-category grid below. Derived from what each product is listed for, by one script, once per build — so the same pair always reads the same. It is a derivation, not a review.
What this is not
Neither product was run side by side to produce this page. Nobody was paid to appear on it and nothing here is ranked by commission.
To put the same question to both and read the answers yourself, run them side by side — that is a live test, and this is not.
Choose based on what you’re doing
All ten categories, including the ones where neither of these is the answer. These ratings are derived from what each product is listed for, not from running it — a rating here is a reading of the record, and the record is linked.
01
General-Purpose AI Assistants
Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.
Clay
Not a good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
02
Search, Research & Academics
Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Clay
Not a good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
03
Writing, Communication & Language
Emails, reports, essays, editing, summarizing, translation, presentations.
Clay
Not a good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
04
Coding, Data & Technical Work
Programming, debugging, data analysis, spreadsheets, math, engineering, technical research.
Clay
Bad fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
05
Business, Finance & Professional Work
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.
Clay
Good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Built for thisBest choice: Microsoft 365 Copilot
06
Image & Design
Image generation, photo editing, logos, graphics, product design, advertising creatives.
Clay
Bad fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
07
Video
Video generation and editing, clipping, subtitles, avatars, animation and motion capture.
Clay
Bad fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
08
Audio, Voice & Music
Voice generation, transcription, music, dubbing, sound cleanup and podcast production.
Clay
Bad fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
09
Marketing & Content Creation
Social media, SEO, advertising, copywriting, content ideas, scripts, brand development.
Clay
Not a good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
10
Productivity, Automation & Personal Life
AI agents, workflows, scheduling, meetings, organization, shopping, travel, personal finance.
Clay
Not a good fitMicrosoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
A spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon.
New York, USA spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon.
You want to start without paying anything
Free plan with no strings attached: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, unlimited seats and tables, up to 200 rows a table, multi-provider waterfalls, Claygent enrichment and your own API keys
It is aimed at working professionals
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
by MicrosoftThe job is mainly business, finance & professional work
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
You want the cheaper paid plan, $25.2 against $185
It is built for business, finance & professional work
Pricing, simplified
The plans people actually compare, read from each vendor’s own page.
PricingSimple, up-to-date plan overview.
Clayby Clay
Microsoft 365 Copilotby MicrosoftFree version
Clay
Yes — Free plan availableFree plan with no strings attached: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, unlimited seats
Microsoft 365 Copilot
No — paid from the startPaid from the start
Individual plans
Clay
Launch
$185 / month$167 / month (annual)
Growth
$495 / month$446 / month (annual)
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
—
Business plans
ClayNot sold to teams
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $25.20 / user / monthFrom $21 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot, Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot
Enterprise
Clay
Custom pricing
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $30 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot, the enterprise seat
Tell us what you use AI for
Pick your main job and the verdict below changes to match. Every answer is on the page already, so this works as a reader, not a lookup.
The verdict for that job
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is built for business, finance & professional work; Clay does it well without it being its focus; only Clay has a free plan; Microsoft 365 Copilot is cheaper to start paying for, $25.2 against $185.
7 rows compared
Frequently asked questions
Is Clay or Microsoft 365 Copilot better?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is ahead on 3 of the 7 rows compared, 1 of them about how well it does the job itself, against 1 to Clay. It is a single row of daylight, so read Clay’s column before deciding. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work; Clay does it well without it being its focus; only Clay has a free plan; Microsoft 365 Copilot is cheaper to start paying for, $25.2 against $185. Clay: A spreadsheet where each row can call data providers and models, which makes research that used to take a week into an afternoon. Microsoft 365 Copilot: Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.
Is Clay or Microsoft 365 Copilot cheaper?
Microsoft 365 Copilot — paid plans start at $25.2 a month against $185 a month.
Do Clay and Microsoft 365 Copilot both have free plans?
Clay does — Free plan with no strings attached: 500 actions and 100 data credits a month, unlimited seats and tables, up to 200 rows a table, multi-provider waterfalls, Claygent enrichment and your own API keys. Microsoft 365 Copilot does not.
What should I watch out for?
Clay: Credits, not seats, so the bill tracks how much you run rather than how many people use it. The paid rates are starting points that the action and data-credit selectors push upward. Easy to spend a lot without noticing. Microsoft 365 Copilot: An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again.
Read more
Clay
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Best AI for Business
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.