TIL: You can use Clearbit's API via Zapier on the free tier for basic lead enrichment.

Okay, so I was setting up a new lead capture workflow for a side project and hit the usual wall: our free HubSpot tier gives us basically zero enrichment. I really didn't want to spring for a paid Clearbit plan just to get company name and industry on a few dozen signups a month.

Turns out, you can actually call Clearbit's "Person" and "Company" APIs directly through Zapier on their free plan! The trick is using Zapier's built-in "Webhooks by Zapier" step with a "GET" request. Clearbit's APIs don't require a paid Zapier premium app—just your API key.

Here's the basic flow I set up:
1. New form submission in, say, Typeform or a simple webhook.
2. Zapier step to extract the email domain.
3. Webhooks by Zapier step: "GET" request to ` https://person.clearbit.com/v2/people/combined?email={{the_email}}`. You add your API key in the "Headers" section as `Authorization: Bearer [your_secret_key_here]`.
4. Then you can map the JSON response (like `person.company.name` or `person.employment.role`) into your CRM or spreadsheet.

The catch is Clearbit's free API tier has pretty low rate limits (like 50 lookups/month), but for a small, early-stage list it's perfect. It's way better than having totally naked leads. Just remember to handle cases where Clearbit returns no data—you'll want a filter step to avoid empty fields breaking your zap.

Honestly, it feels like a cheat code for bootstrapped ops. Makes me wonder what other freemium API + Zapier combos I'm missing out on for basic data hygiene. Anyone else patching together a martech stack with duct tape and free tiers? 😅