Zapier

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If you use a wide range of business and , you need a way to connect them all. Zapier (which rhymes with happier) is an online tool that helps you create interlinked functions across such services. You can chain commands with an "If X happens, do Y" structure, where X and Y can be practically any app. The real selling point of these automations (which Zapier calls Zaps) is that you can easily combine together multiple actions and services. We wish Zapier offered dedicated mobile apps, but it's an Editors' Choice winner regardless, thanks to its flexibility and unique capabilities. If your automation needs to involve smart home devices, however, IFTTT is a better alternative and another Editors' Choice winner.

Zapier vs. IFTTT

Zapier focuses mostly on business and productivity apps, though there is significant overlap between these two categories. On the productivity side, it supports , Google Calendar, Evernote, Todoist, and so forth. More business-focused apps include GitHub, QuickBooks Online, Slack, Toggl Track, and Wrike. Zapier also includes some functionality for delaying actions, executing code, filtering data, and translating text.

IFTTT supports all the common productivity apps but also embraces smart home devices, including doorbells, , security systems, thermostats, and more. In terms of voice assistants, Zapier works with Alexa but not Google Assistant or Siri. IFTTT supports all three.

Another key differentiator is that IFTTT offers apps for both Android and iOS. Zapier doesn't maintain mobile apps for any platform. Thus, if you intend to create and automate tasks from your phone, IFTTT is the better choice. That's not to say that Zapier doesn't offer some mobile functionality; you can use it to send texts to your phone, for example.

Zapier supports multi-app Zaps, meaning you can create a chain of events across more than two services. For example, you can instruct Zapier to send a message to the team channel in Slack after someone completes a task in Asana and then add the project name to a public Google Sheets spreadsheet of completed projects. A Pro IFTTT plan lets you do something similar, though this wasn't always the case.

How Much Does Zapier Cost?

Zapier offers a free level of service, albeit with some limitations. With this account, you can perform up to 100 tasks per month (any action or trigger within a Zap counts toward that quota). For the full breakdown of how Zapier counts tasks, visit this . The free tier doesn't support Premium Apps, and Zaps run only every 15 minutes. Premium Apps are simply those that Zapier decides to keep behind its paywall. They include Amazon S3, Facebook Lead Ads, GoToWebinar, MySQL, , Quickbase, Salesforce, SQL Server, Xero, Zendesk, Zoho CRM, and many others.

With the free plan, you can't use the Autoreplay or Filters & Paths (conditional workflows) features. Failures happen from time to time for a variety of reasons, such as when a third-party API is temporarily unavailable. Autoreplay means Zapier automatically retries the task in case of this kind of failure. Interestingly, Zapier staggers each rerun of the Zap over a 10-hour period, increasing the time interval between each attempt. For free accounts, Zapier sends you an email notification when a Zap fails, and you need to rerun it manually.

Basic versions of the Interfaces, Tables, and Chatbots features are available with every plan (we explain these a bit later). The free tier includes a 14-day trial of premium features and it's fairly functional even when that access expires, so it should be enough to give you a taste of how Zapier works.

The Professional tier, which starts at $29.99 per month, includes Premium Apps, as well as the Autoreplay and Filters & Paths features. At this rate, you can create up to 750 tasks per month, but you can add more if you’re willing to pay more (but note that the price scales very quickly). You can create as many Zaps as you want, which run every two minutes. While Free accounts allow only two-step Zaps, Professional accounts support multistep ones.

Team accounts start at $103.50 per month for 2,000 tasks per month. It allows for an unlimited number of users, shared app connections and workspaces, and more. The polling time for Zaps decreases to 1 minute, as well.

An Enterprise plan is also available, but you need to contact Zapier for pricing. This unlocks advanced admin permissions and app controls, user annual task limits, and SSO functionality.

Free and Professional subscribers (at up to the 2,000 per month task level) get just email support, while higher-tier Professional and Team users get live chat and priority support. Enterprise users benefit from a technical account manager.

For comparison, IFTTT also has a feature-limited free tier. Its Pro and Pro+ paid plans are significantly less expensive than Zapier's, at $3.49 and $14.99 per month, respectively. That makes sense, however, given its non-business focus.

Getting Started With Zapier

To sign up for Zapier, you need only provide an email address, name, and password. You can also use an existing Google account. We like that Zapier supports .

Zapier's web interface features a clean design with distinct layout elements and colorful icons for apps and services. The Home page's left-hand menu provides easy access to (in order) Discover, Zaps, Tables, Interfaces, Chatbots, Canvas, Apps, and Zap History sections. The Chatbots and Canvas features are in beta.

From the Home page, you can check the status of your most recent Zaps, search for apps and pre-built Zaps, and start building various automations. The Discover section lets you browse all the available apps and services Zapier supports.

Click the Zaps section to find all of the Zaps that you have created, even if they aren't active. We like that you can organize your Zaps into folders. Previously, there was a “Task History tab” that showed a complete log of your Zap activity. You can now find these details in the Zap History section, which lets you sort by date, name, and status. Clicking on an individual Zap brings you to a separate page with details on its input and output data. If your account includes it, you can enable the Autoreplay feature here.

Zapier Tables is a no-code database tool that lets you store, edit, automate, and share data. For instance, you can copy data from a Google Sheet, records from AirTable, or import emails from Gmail. Multiple templates are available, including those that allow you to capture a contact list, collect and respond to customer reviews, create meeting minutes for your team, and manage inventory.

The Interfaces section enables you to create apps, forms, and web pages for your business. For instance, you could create a form for customers to submit support tickets, which, when filled out, trigger a new support ticket in your help desk software. Or, you could create a web page on which your team can request time off. You could then configure this to update the shared calendar and send approval notifications.

From the Apps section in the menu, you can view the apps you have connected to your Zapier account. Rounding out the interface are the Chatbots and Canvas sections. Click on the former to create an AI-powered chatbot that resolves issues and answers questions from your customers, or the latter to build diagrams for planning, documenting, and improving your workflow. The sample Chatbot Zapier provides works well enough in testing, though you have to dive into the AI instructions to create one specific to your needs.

Setting Up Zaps

Zapier has simplified the Zap editor over time. The interface includes a slim menu on the left that gives you access to (in order) Details, Notes, Change History, Zap Runs, Status Check, and other sections. The actual Zap and all its steps appear in the middle of the screen.

Zapier's interface is not quite as friendly as IFTTT's, but it is far more flexible. IFTTT has users click on If+ and That+ links and then select from a variety of cards to build the task flow.

You can think of a Zap as consisting of two main elements: the trigger (When This Happens) and the action (Then Do This). The first step, of course, is to choose a trigger app and associated action. Let's say you want Zapier to send you the weather forecast every day via SMS. To start, you select the built-in Weather by Zapier service as the trigger app and choose the trigger event, in this case, today's forecast. If you choose a trigger app that requires a sign-in, you need to enter your credentials at this stage. You might also need to fill in additional information before moving on to the next step. For instance, with this weather forecast example, you enter latitude and longitude values as well as choose the units of measurement. Zapier even gives you the option to test this initial action before you continue.

The next step is to choose an action app and a related action. Continuing with the weather example, you select SMS by Zapier and then Send SMS as the action event. Next, you provide sender and receiver details and specify the content of the actual message. The message can contain text and any fields that Zapier pulls from the trigger app (available via the Insert a Field button). Options vary based on the trigger app you chose. Options for the weather forecast include humidity, summary, UV index, and wind speed.

Thanks to Zapier's Copilot integration (not the Microsoft one), you can alternatively type in what you want to do and let the AI create the steps for you. You can do this directly from the Home page. It’s up to you to actually configure the steps, but it’s an easy way to get started.

That's just one example of a Zap. You can combine any number of services to work together in ways that benefit you. For example, you can link together Slack and to help communicate goals and assign tasks more efficiently. Maybe you want to share new time entries from Toggl Track to Asana. However simple or complex your needs, Zapier likely offers some combination of functions that can help. You can add as many steps to a Zap as you want by simply hitting the plus button below the last action you created.

Advanced Zap Options

If you add more advanced options to your Zap, you might have to do some testing to confirm that the changes have the desired effect. Start by setting up a Zap in a way that you think will work. If it doesn't, try walking through everything from the beginning and changing one variable at a time.

One advanced feature that might take some time to understand is Zapier's Filters & Paths tool, which allows you to define conditional logic between two steps. Think of it this way: If Step 1 occurs and it has X quality, then choose Path A. If Step 1 occurs and has Y quality, then choose Path B. In the context of our weather example, you could customize the SMS message Zapier sends you depending on whether the temperature is above or below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

Here's how that works in practice. After setting up your trigger app, hit the plus button and choose Paths. Click the options icon on Path A to rename it something relevant, such as Above Freezing. Next, choose the Rules, or conditions, for the path to run. In our example, pick Temperature Min, (Number) Greater Than, and 32. You can add any additional AND or OR statements to the ruleset, but make sure they don't contradict each other. Before you move on, Zapier tests the conditions against a sample data set and tells you whether the path would have run.

If everything checks out, the next step is to choose an Action app and related action for this path, the same way you did for the first example. So, for this weather Zap, you choose SMS by Zapier, Send SMS, and whatever recipient and sender options you want. You should change the message portion to reflect the Path's purpose. For instance, you could write something as simple as "It is above freezing today. The low temperature is [Temperature Low]." For Path B, you would adjust settings accordingly for the conditions when the minimum temperature is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and change the message.

By default, Zapier generates two paths, but you can add however many more you want. A third path could handle a special case. For instance, you could set up another rule case for temperatures less than 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Just make sure to adjust Path B by adding OR statements that require a value greater than 0 but less than 32.

Other tools include Filter, which allows a Zap to continue only in the event of a certain condition, and Delay, which lets you control when the Zap runs. The Filter tool lets you define absolute conditions for continuing a Zap, similar to those for a Path's logic. The difference here is that there are no branching logic chains (a Zap must meet those conditions to continue). You can configure the Delay helper to make the Zap wait until a certain date and time to run or to delay it for a certain amount of time.

Zapier can also be of help if you want to integrate webhooks into your Zaps. This allows you to trigger a Zap when multiple trigger events occur in a supported app. Another tool you can use is Formatter, which formats text in the way you need it for later steps.

Verdict: A Flexible, Business-Friendly Automation Platform

Zapier is a wonderful tool for automating business and productivity tasks. It supports pretty much every app you might use and provides lots of helpful suggestions on how to combine services in useful ways. Multistep app chains and complex logic paths make it superbly versatile, as well. Zapier is an Editors' Choice winner for productivity apps alongside IFTTT, which extends similar functionality to smart home devices and has the advantage of dedicated mobile apps.