What is Zapier & the Best Zapier Alternatives? (2024)

Mohsin Farooqui 6 March 2024

Zapier is a popular automation platform to connect apps. But is it the best integration software for you? In recent years, lots of Zapier alternatives appeared. But it’s pretty hard to find info and compare them at face value.

We are going to compare Zapier with other automation tools based on integrations, features and pricing. First, let’s have a look at Zapier and what it does.

What is Zapier?

Zapier is middleware. It connects over 6000+ web apps. Think about email marketing software, marketing automation tools, ecommerce platforms, SMS marketing services, landing page builders and much more. Like Gmail, Slack, Hubspot, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Mailerlite, and GetResponse.

Zapier is an automation tool that: 

• Connects your favorite apps and business software
• Automates your workflows
• Imports/exports data

By connecting apps and syncing data, you automate processes to be more efficient. Zapier also provides users access to their task history.

Research shows that a small business uses 69 apps on average. Moving data and making sure everything’s up-to-date becomes time-consuming fast. You are trying to grow your business, you don’t want to deal with repetitive, time-consuming work. Your energy is better spent on meaningful business work. Like working on your strategy, email marketing or getting new clients.

This is where Zapier steps in. Zapier will automate your business workflows. So you can focus on growth.

Zapier Quality Score:

Main Benefits and Features of Zapier

The main benefits of Zapier are its powerful automation, easy-to-navigate dashboard, full task history, and flexible pricing. Here are the details:

Powerful automation
You can create a blueprint for tasks called a “Zap” which lets you automate a certain task. Zaps make the app do repeated tasks without you touching anything.

Select the specific fields on the trigger software, this will start your automation. Then you can set up multiple actions that the system will run when the trigger event happens. Custom fields, tags and static texts are available as well.

There are lots of premade integrations for every app. So you don’t have to start from scratch. Here’s an example Zap that sends contact data from an Unbounce form to ActiveCampaign.

Convenient for users
Zapier has a clean and easy-to-navigate interface to manage your Zaps and apps. You don’t need to wait for apps to create native integrations. And you don’t need help from developers to create a custom integration with API. Set it up with Zapier without writing a single line of code.

Extensive task history
One powerful feature of Zapier is its task history which displays all the activities of your Zaps. You see which tasks were executed successfully and which failed. You can run failed tasks again automatically or manually.

Flexible pricing
Zapier has flexible pricing. It has a free version, 3 plans, and a custom plan that’s tailored to fit any budget and requirements. Pricing starts at $29.99/mo for the Starter plan with 750 tasks. You can get a 14-day free trial for every plan. This and the free version are more than enough to test and see if you can set up the automations you’d like.

What are the Pros & Cons of Zapier?

The Best Zapier Alternatives & Competitors

Zapier is great, but it isn’t for everyone. Here are the top Zapier alternatives that have similar functionality. All these tools are for automation and data sync but they differ in how they work. Let’s compare the top features, pricing and app library for each.

Comparison Summary

1. Zapier vs. Make: Is this the best Zapier alternative?

Make is an advanced online automation software. It lets you automate your processes similar to Zapier with a visual drag-and-drop builder. With Make, you can set up simple integrations between apps. But the tool also has multi-step automations and conditions. 

Our favorite Make features

1. The drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to set up and navigate more complex automation flows.
2. Integrate 1500+ apps, like ActiveCampaign, Pipedrive, Hubspot, AWeber, Mailerlite, and Brevo.
3. Set up an execution schedule according to your preferences, and execute any scenario up to every minute.
4. 1500+ ready-to-use templates to help with the initial setup
5. Built-in routers, error handlers, aggregators and iterators, live execution, execution history, and scheduling.

Make Pricing

Make has a free plan with 1000 operations, 1000+ apps, unlimited users, and 2 active scenarios. In the free Zapier plan you only have 100 tasks, so this is much better value.

Monthly prices start at $10.59/mo for 10K operations, unlimited scenarios, and the API.

Comparison Summary

Here’s our quick comparison between Make & Zapier and why it’s a good Zapier alternative:

What we like about Make

We like the visual editor and real-time reporting. It also has mobile apps and some great advanced features which make it a great Zapier alternative for complex automation. From the pricing standpoint, Make is more affordable compared to Zapier.

Sign up to Make for free here

2. Zapier vs IFTTT Review

IFTTT stands for If This Then That. It’s a platform for chaining conditional statements called applets.

For example, this applet publishes a new post on WordPress every time you upload a new video to your YouTube channel. IFTTT is a really simple alternative to Zapier. 

Our favorite IFTTT features

1. IFTTT is free to use and helps your apps and devices talk to each other.
2. Connect over 900 apps, like Mailchimp, Notion, Buffer, Airtable, and Salesforce.
3. Set up complex workflows with multi-step automation and conditions.
4. The interface is really easy to navigate.
5. Android and iOS apps are also available, so you can automate on the go.

IFTTT Pricing
You can set up 2 Applets (workflows) in the free plan. It’s enough to test the tool and set up some light automation. But you’ll outgrow it quickly if you want serious automation.

The Pro plan costs $2.92/month with 20 Applets, multi-step automation, and customer support. The Pro+ plan costs $12.5/month with unlimited Applets, multiple accounts, conditions, and priority support. The Pro and Pro+ plans have a 7-day free trial, so you can take them for a test drive.

Comparison Summary

Here’s our quick comparison between IFTTT & Zapier and why it’s a good alternative to Zapier:

What we like about IFTTT

The best part about IFTTT is that it’s a free alternative to Zapier and comes with a mobile app. Plus it has the cleanest interface making it not just easy but fun to use.

Get started with IFTTT for free

3. Zapier vs. Hubspot Operations Hub

Hubspot Operations Hub is an automation software that connects apps, collects and cleans data, and automates business processes. It’s a great tool to make your processes more efficient and aligned with your business goals.

Our favorite Hubspot Operations Hub features

1. Use the free plan to test to the software before committing.
2. Custom field mapping, filtering and syncing for your sales and marketing data.
3. Save time by automating data clean-up jobs.
4. Connects with 1000+ apps.

Hubspot Operations Hub Pricing

Hubspot Operations Hub has a free plan that supports all third-party app integrations and two-way data sync. If you want to test all the features, go for a 14-day free trial.

Operations Hub pricing starts at $20/mo for the Starter plan with default field mappings, historical sync, and 1000 custom properties per object. The Professional plan cost $800/mo with scheduled triggers, programmable automation, duplicate management, data health trends and AI-powered data formatting.

Comparison Summary

Here’s our quick comparison between Zapier & Hubspot Operations Hub and why it’s a good Zapier alternative:

What we like about Huspot Operations Hub

Programmable automation is a great feature that lets you Javascript actions to execute in Hubspot. This gives you high control over your workflows and doesn’t leave you dependent on out-of-the-box solutions.

Try Hubspot for free here or read our full review

4. Zapier vs. Coupler

Coupler is a data analytics and automation platform for syncing information across apps. Use it to create dashboards, and reports, and collect information in one place. The best part is you can build custom views in Google Sheets, Excel, and BI tools.

Our favorite Coupler features

1. Automate integration workflows
2. Connect with apps that support JSON API
3. The interface is easy to use
4. Custom scheduling for automated data refreshes and backups
5. Supports 100,000+ rows/import (on the business plan)

Coupler Pricing

Coupler has a 14-day free trial with all data sources, unlimited users, and 15-minute automatic data refresh.

Coupler pricing starts at $64/month for the Starter plan with 2 users, 500 runs, and email support. The Squad plan costs $132/month for 5 users, 4000 runs, webhooks, and a 30-minute guided onboarding.

Comparison Summary

Here’s our quick comparison between Zapier and Coupler and why it’s a good Zapier alternative:

What we like about Coupler

Coupler cuts a lot of time in importing and refreshing data. Its ability to directly integrate with Google Sheets makes it a powerful tool for quick and easy data transfer and reporting.

How does Zapier work?

Your integrations in Zapier are set up via Zaps that perform the workflow automation for you. You make Zaps using 2 main components: triggers, and actions. The trigger will start your automation and there’s only 1 for each Zap. The action is what your Zap does after the trigger occurs.

Creating a Zap involves choosing a trigger, adding one or more action steps, testing the Zap, and finally, turning it on. Once your Zap is set up, Zapier takes care of the rest. They’ll regularly check your triggers app for new data and they will automatically run your action.

That sounds quite simple, right? Yes, it’s simple once you understand this simple terminology. A Zap is a blueprint for a workflow you want to do over and over automatically.

For example, a Zap has broadly 2 steps: 

1. Setting up a trigger:

1. Choose an App – Pick the app to be the trigger (i.e. Gmail, Mailerlite, ActiveCampaign, etc.)
2. Choose the Trigger – Pick the specific trigger for that app.
3. Choose an Account – Pick the specific account for that app that you want the Zap to use. 
4. Specify Trigger Options – Some triggers have different options that you can customize. 
5. Test the Trigger – In this step, your Zap will try to get a sample item from the trigger, which makes it easier to match up fields and test actions.

2. Setting up an Action:

1. Choose an App – Just like with triggers, you’ll pick the app that will have the action performed in it.
2. Choose an Action – Pick the specific action for that app.
3. Choose an Account – Same as triggers, pick the account for that app that you want the Zap to use.
4. Set up Action Template – Specify what details will be sent for each field.
5. Test the Action – In this step, your Zap will try to send a sample action to the app to make sure everything is coming through properly.

The Best Zapier Integrations That Will Help You Grow Your Business

Most of us waste far too much time doing busy work. Instead of focusing on the most important parts of our job, we fritter the hours away sending emails, checking apps for updates, copying data back and forth, and scheduling meetings.

Zapier cures the busy work by doing those tasks for you automatically. With custom automated workflows, you can send emails, get updated about changes, copy data between your business tools, and even schedule meetings automatically. No more distractions.

Here are some popular Zaps:

Share Blog Posts to Your Social Channels: Instead of manually sharing your blog posts or interesting articles you’ve found online, use these Zaps to share items from an RSS feed directly to social media.

Keep Your Notes with Your Tasks: You likely have a favorite notes app and a favorite to-do app. Save your ideas and your tasks both in one place to make sure you never forget to act on an idea.

Collect Feedback and Other Info from Forms: Forms are a great way to collect all sorts of data from your customers and the internal team. Once someone has filled out your form, you can put it to use in your other favorite apps in minutes with the help of automation. Send that form information to apps like Trello, Dropbox, or Google Sheets where you can put it to work.

Automatically Send Survey Thank Yous: Personalized responses are time-consuming to create from scratch. Instead, these workflows reach out and thank individuals for their input automatically.

Create an Email List: One of the most popular ways to keep in touch with your customers and new leads is through email newsletters. But often that information is siloed in different apps. With these Zaps, you can automatically add new contact information to an email list.

Get Notifications and Reminders About Everything in Slack: For many teams, Slack is the information central. Simplify sharing by sending notifications from other apps to Slack.

Turn Your Emails into To-Dos: With the daily flood of email, your inbox isn’t the best place for your tasks. Yet many emails are actionable. Never let an email task get buried, let Zapier send it to the proper place so you remember to take action.

Save Email Attachments to the Cloud: Don’t let the files and photos people send you over email get lost in your inbox. Instead, save those attachments to your favorite cloud storage service so you’ll always know where they are.

Concluding Zapier Alternatives

Zapier is a popular automation platform and for good reason. It has 6000+ apps and a fairly user-friendly interface to set up your automations. But many companies are looking for Zapier alternatives with features it doesn’t have or are more affordable. 

Zapier doesn’t have a mobile app. Many customers requested mobile apps years ago, but they didn’t make any to date. Both Make and IFTTT have apps for iOS and Android.

Make is also much better value. Zapier costs $29.99/mo for 1,000 tasks, while Make costs only $10.59 for 10,000 tasks. And if you’re looking for light automation, IFTTT’s Pro+ plan has unlimited tasks for $12.5/month.

Frequently Asked Questions about Zapier Alternatives

About Mohsin Farooqui

A progressive digital marketing expert with 7+ years of work experience in Email Marketing & Modern Deliverability with an adept understanding of Campaign Management, CDP/CDAP, Cross-Channel Orchestration & Customer Success/Support space.