Credit refunds

Learn when Clay refunds Actions and Data Credits, and which actions refund when a provider returns no data.

Clay charges for an enrichment per record, at the point a data provider charges us for the API call behind it. When a provider can't deliver valid data and refunds Clay, Clay refunds that record's charge back to you.

Actions and Data Credits are the two usage metrics Clay bills against, and a refund returns both. For what each one measures, see Actions & data credits.

How refunds work

Refunds are automatic, so there's nothing to request. Clay settles the refund as part of the run itself, which means the credits are back on your balance once the run finishes.

A refund returns everything that run was charged: the Data Credits for the provider call and the Action for the record. It also comes off the spend counted against workbook and budget credit limits, so a refunded run frees that allowance up again.

Run outcomes that refund

Every run finishes with a status, and that status decides whether the credits come back.

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Actions that refund when no data is returned

Many actions charge whether or not the provider finds a match, because the provider charges Clay either way. The actions below are the exceptions: when one of them comes back with No data, the provider refunds Clay and Clay refunds you.

They're grouped by the kind of data each one returns.

AI and text generation

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Email and phone verification

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Email finding

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Phone finding

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People and contact enrichment

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Company intel

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Buying intent and signals

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Technology and products

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Advertising and website analytics

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Social media and creators

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Utilities

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Checking whether a run was refunded

Open a cell to see its details. A refunded run reads Charged: 0 (Refunded) — the amount shows as 0 rather than the credits that went back.

In a workflow, a fully refunded step shows 0 credits used with nothing marking it as a refund, so it looks the same as a step that cost nothing for another reason.

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FAQs

Why wasn't a run that errored refunded?

Nearly every error refunds, but a couple of outcomes don't. If a provider replies with something Clay can't read as a result, or an export run can't find the destination it was pointed at, the run keeps its charge.

Those two show up as Error in the table above, which is why that row says "in most cases" rather than "yes". If a run looks like it should have been refunded and wasn't, reach out to Clay support with the table or workflow it ran in.

Does using my own API key change what gets refunded?

With your own key connected, the provider bills you directly and Clay charges no Data Credits, so there are none to refund. The Action for the record is still charged, and still refunded on any outcome in the table above.

Can a run be refunded only in part?

Yes. Some actions price on what comes back, so the charge is settled when the run completes rather than when it starts. Where the final cost lands below what was taken upfront, Clay returns the difference instead of the whole amount.

Is a run refunded if it stops because a credit limit was reached?

Yes. Hitting a workbook, budget, workflow, or per-user credit limit stops the run before you get a result, so anything already taken for it comes back.