Clay vs Dex vs Reach: Which Personal CRM is Right for You?

Choosing a personal CRM can be overwhelming. Clay, Dex, and Reach all promise to help you manage relationships—but they take very different approaches.

This guide breaks down what each tool does best and who it's for.

The Quick Answer

Choose Clay if you want AI-powered contact enrichment and don't mind complex setup or extensive permissions.

Choose Dex if LinkedIn is central to your networking and you want deep integration with that platform.

Choose Reach if you want simplicity and privacy above all else.

Now let's dig into the details.

Clay: The Power User's Choice

Clay is the most feature-rich option. It connects to your email, calendar, LinkedIn, and Twitter to automatically build comprehensive contact profiles.

What Clay Does Well

Automatic enrichment. Clay pulls in profile photos, job titles, company info, and social links without manual entry. Your contact cards become rich information hubs.

AI-powered insights. The app surfaces relationship patterns and suggests who to reach out to based on interaction history.

Deep integrations. If you live in Gmail and Google Calendar, Clay can automatically log every interaction.

Where Clay Falls Short

Overwhelming complexity. New users often spend hours configuring the app before it's useful. The learning curve is steep.

Sync issues. User reviews consistently mention problems with duplicate contacts, slow Gmail sync (sometimes 20+ hours), and data inconsistencies.

Privacy tradeoffs. Clay requires access to your email, calendar, and social accounts. All this data is processed on their servers.

Price. At $20/month, it's the most expensive option by a significant margin.

Best For

Power users who want comprehensive contact profiles and are willing to invest time in setup. People who don't mind giving extensive permissions for convenience.

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Dex: The LinkedIn-Focused Option

Dex positions itself as a relationship manager for professional networkers, with strong LinkedIn integration.

What Dex Does Well

LinkedIn sync. Import your LinkedIn connections directly and keep them updated as people change jobs.

Browser extension. Add new contacts from anywhere on the web with a single click.

Relationship indicators. Visual cues show which relationships are strong and which are fading.

Where Dex Falls Short

Performance issues. Multiple user reviews describe the app as "painfully slow," especially on mobile.

Limited mobile experience. While there's an iOS app, it feels like an afterthought compared to the web version.

Sync problems. Like Clay, users report issues with data sync and occasional contact loss.

LinkedIn dependency. If you're not heavily invested in LinkedIn, much of Dex's value disappears.

Best For

Professional networkers whose relationships center on LinkedIn. People who primarily use desktop and don't mind a clunky mobile experience.

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Reach: The Simple, Private Option

Reach takes a minimalist approach. Add contacts, set reminder frequencies, get nudged when it's time to reach out. That's it.

What Reach Does Well

Simplicity. No pipelines, no deal stages, no overwhelming dashboards. Just contacts and reminders.

Privacy. Your data stays on your device and syncs through your personal iCloud. No third-party servers, no email access required.

Speed. Add a contact in seconds. Log an interaction in two taps. The app stays out of your way.

Native iOS experience. Built specifically for iPhone with home screen widgets and lock screen integration.

Where Reach Falls Short

No automatic enrichment. You enter contact information manually. No AI pulling in social profiles.

No email integration. Interactions aren't logged automatically from your inbox.

Simpler feature set. If you want comprehensive analytics or team features, look elsewhere.

Best For

Freelancers and independent professionals who value privacy and simplicity. People who want a tool that helps them remember to reach out—and nothing more.

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Feature Comparison

Privacy Comparison

This is where the three apps diverge most significantly.

Clay requires access to your email, calendar, LinkedIn, and Twitter. All communication data is processed on Clay's servers to build your contact profiles.

Dex requires LinkedIn access and stores your data on their servers. Less invasive than Clay, but still cloud-dependent.

Reach requires nothing. Your contacts stay on your device and sync through your personal iCloud account. The company never sees your data.

For freelancers handling sensitive client information, this difference matters.

Pricing Breakdown

Clay: $20/month ($240/year) Dex: $12/month ($144/year) Reach: Free for 15 contacts, $4.99/month or $39.99/year for unlimited

Reach is the most affordable option, especially for freelancers who don't need hundreds of contacts.

Making the Decision

Ask yourself these questions:

How many contacts do you need to manage? If it's under 50, you probably don't need Clay's power features. Reach or Dex will serve you well.

How important is privacy? If client confidentiality matters, Reach's on-device storage is a significant advantage.

Do you want automatic data entry or manual control? Clay and Dex automate more but require extensive permissions. Reach keeps you in control but requires manual entry.

What's your budget? If price is a factor, Reach's free tier or $4.99/month premium beats the competition handily.

Our Take

We built Reach because we believe personal CRM doesn't need to be complicated. Most freelancers don't need AI enrichment or email parsing. They need a simple, reliable way to remember who to contact.

But we also recognize different people have different needs. If comprehensive contact profiles are essential to your workflow and you're comfortable with cloud storage, Clay delivers genuine value. If LinkedIn networking is your focus, Dex makes sense.

The best CRM is the one you'll actually use. Choose based on your real needs, not feature lists.