ClayBuild systems to grow revenue
vs
ZendeskAI-powered customer service platform
Comparison · Sales Engagement · weekly run Nov 3
Clay vs Zendesk
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Clay is the stronger AI pick in Sales Engagement: it has a visibility score of 2.9 versus 0.4 for Zendesk.
Choose Clay if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (2.9 vs 0.4)
- You want a free plan to start
- You need ISO 27001 or GDPR or CCPA coverage
- Usage-based pricing suits your budget better than per seat
Choose Zendesk if…
- You want a lower entry price ($19 vs $167)
- AI answers describe it more positively (34% vs 33% positive)
- You need ISO 27001:2022 or ISO 27018:2019 or ISO 27701:2019 or ISO 27017:2015 or ISO 42001:2023 or FedRAMP LI-SaaS or Cyber Essentials Plus coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (5,000+ employees)
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Clay | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 2.9% | 0.4% |
| Change vs last week | down−1.5% | up+0.1% |
| Rank in Sales Engagement | #25 | #40 |
| Share of voice | 1.2% | 0.1% |
| Mentions this run | 9 | 1 |
| Positive in AI answers | 33% | 34% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Clay −1.5000000000000004pp · Zendesk +0.10000000000000003pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Clay leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
ClayZendesk
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Clay ranked higher
0Zendesk ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Clay | Zendesk |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Per seat |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $167 / mo | $19 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Deployment | — | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Integrations | — | 1800+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, CCPA | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27018:2019, ISO 27701:2019, ISO 27017:2015, ISO 42001:2023, FedRAMP LI-SaaS, Cyber Essentials Plus |
| Support | Priority support queue on Growth plan, Dedicated Slack channel on Enterprise plan, Dedicated growth strategist on Enterprise plan | Help Center, Community, Partners |
| Founded | 2017 | 2007 |
| Headquarters | New York City, NY, United States | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | 5,000+ |
| Funding | Series B Expansion | Take-private (Hellman & Friedman, Permira) |
| Best for | GTM engineers and revenue teams that build their own prospecting, enrichment and outbound workflows. | Support teams from startups to enterprises that need omnichannel ticketing with AI automation |
Plans side by side
Clay
Free$0month
Launch$167month (starting price as shown; monthly from $185 per FAQ)
Growth$446month (starting price as shown; monthly from $495 per FAQ)
EnterpriseCustomcustom, annual commitment
Zendesk
Support Team$19agent/month paid yearly
Suite Team$55agent/month paid yearly
Suite Professional$115agent/month paid yearly
Suite Enterprise + CopilotCustomcontact sales
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Clay
Profile in progress.
Zendesk
- Industry leader in omnichannel customer support
- Scalable platform for large enterprise teams
- Mature ticketing operations and SLA management
- Extensive marketplace and broad integrations
- Free trial available for 14 days
- Heavy, slow deployment compared with lighter tools
- High per-agent costs
- AI add-ons billed separately on top of base fee
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Clay vs Zendesk”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/clay-vs-zendesk, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.