← Back to home
Comparison · Marketing

Clay vs Umbraco CMS

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clay and Umbraco CMS — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Clay vs Umbraco CMS: at a glance

FeatureClayUmbraco CMS
SectorMarketingMarketing
Velocity score5.06.3
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesgtm data, enrichment, workflows, enterprise admincms, dotnet, reusable-content, search
Last editorial update3d ago1d ago
Website—Visit →

What is Clay?

Clay lets teams publish workflows as templates and adds healthcare data.

Clay is a go-to-market data platform that combines enrichment, audiences, ads and outbound sequencing. Late October brought Claygent Auto-mode, which picks a model per row for cost, plus MCP client allowlists and per-workflow credit caps. The week of November 2 added Workflow Templates that anyone can copy, a Definitive Healthcare integration, Salesforce traffic through a customer's own proxy, and tags for Audiences segments.

Read the full Clay trajectory →

What is Umbraco CMS?

Umbraco 19 reaches its first release candidate on .NET 11 GA.

Umbraco 19.0.0-rc1 arrived on 12 November, two weeks after the first beta, and moves the release onto .NET 11 GA. The beta brought reusable Library content to every block editor and search into core; rc1 adds Entra ID SQL authentication, action groups in menus, an API switch that lets code block schema changes per environment, and a fix that admits one request per process into the content write path on load-balanced sites. The 18.3 and 17.8 candidates are still on rc2, which resolved seven security advisories.

Read the full Umbraco CMS trajectory →

Clay vs Umbraco CMS: editorial side-by-side

C
Clay
MARKETING
5.0

Clay lets teams publish workflows as templates and adds healthcare data.

◆ Current state

Clay is a go-to-market data platform that combines enrichment, audiences, ads and outbound sequencing. Late October brought Claygent Auto-mode, which picks a model per row for cost, plus MCP client allowlists and per-workflow credit caps. The week of November 2 added Workflow Templates that anyone can copy, a Definitive Healthcare integration, Salesforce traffic through a customer's own proxy, and tags for Audiences segments.

◆ Where it's heading

Clay ships a weekly roundup that alternates between widening its data sources and adding the admin controls larger customers ask for. Workflows have become its main unit, now with budgets, triggers from signals and, with templates, a way to share them between workspaces.

◆ Prediction

Expect templates to grow into a shared gallery and more vertical data providers like Definitive Healthcare to follow.

U
Umbraco CMS
MARKETING
6.3

Umbraco 19 reaches its first release candidate on .NET 11 GA.

◆ Current state

Umbraco 19.0.0-rc1 arrived on 12 November, two weeks after the first beta, and moves the release onto .NET 11 GA. The beta brought reusable Library content to every block editor and search into core; rc1 adds Entra ID SQL authentication, action groups in menus, an API switch that lets code block schema changes per environment, and a fix that admits one request per process into the content write path on load-balanced sites. The 18.3 and 17.8 candidates are still on rc2, which resolved seven security advisories.

◆ Where it's heading

The 19 cycle is moving quickly from beta to candidate, and rc1 is about hardening rather than new editor features: dependencies on GA, environment-level permissions and load-balancing performance. The 17 and 18 lines are kept in step on security fixes while 19 matures.

◆ Prediction

Expect 18.3 and 17.8 to go stable, followed by further 19 release candidates and a 19.0.0 stable release built on .NET 11.

Alternatives to Clay and Umbraco CMS

Other Marketing products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Clay or Umbraco CMS.

See all Clay alternatives → · See all Umbraco CMS alternatives →

Recent activity from Clay and Umbraco CMS

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 1d agoUmbraco CMSUmbraco 19 RC1: .NET 11 GA, Entra ID SQL auth, schema locks
  2. 5d agoClayWorkflow Templates, Definitive Healthcare data, Salesforce proxy
  3. 12d agoClayWorkflow credit caps, MCP client allowlists, Audiences hard delete
  4. 17d agoUmbraco CMSUmbraco 19 beta: .NET 11 and reusable content in every block editor ⚡
  5. 18d agoUmbraco CMS18.3 rc2 resolves seven security advisories
  6. 18d agoUmbraco CMS17.8 rc2 carries the same seven security fixes
  7. 18d agoClayAuto-mode for Claygent
  8. 26d agoClaySCIM provisioning, Audiences upsert, signals into workflows
  9. 29d agoUmbraco CMS18.3 rc: ImageSharp update can fail Release builds
  10. 1mo agoClayClay redesigns home, centralizes Audiences exports
  11. 1mo agoClayPer-workflow credit budgets and Clay Ads in the CLI
  12. 2mo agoUmbraco CMSUmbraco 18.2.0 release candidate

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Clay and Umbraco CMS?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Umbraco CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Clay better than Umbraco CMS?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Umbraco CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Marketing products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Clay?

Top Clay alternatives in Marketing are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clay alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clay for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Umbraco CMS?

Top Umbraco CMS alternatives in Marketing are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Umbraco CMS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/umbraco for the full list with editorial commentary on each.