12 tools that do a similar job, and what makes each one different.
Zapier is an automation service that connects separate apps so an event in one triggers actions in another. Those workflows are called Zaps, and they sit alongside Tables, Forms, Chatbots, Agents and Canvas in the product line. The app directory lists more than 10,000 connected apps, and Agents can be grounded on uploaded FAQs, docs and public links. Billing runs on tasks, and what counts as a task is narrower than it first looks. Trigger steps never consume tasks, even though polling can run many thousands of checks a month. Filter and Paths steps, failed or halted actions, and Formatter, Delay, Looping, Digest, Storage and Zapier Manager steps also consume none. Some features cost more than one: Zapier MCP consumes 2 tasks for each successful tool call, and Lead Router consumes 5 for each lead routed successfully. The free plan includes 100 tasks a month, limits a Zap to two steps and checks for new data every 15 minutes. Professional shortens that check to 2 minutes, and Team and Enterprise to 1 minute. Other limits move with the plan in the same way: Tables hold 2,500 records on Free, 100,000 on Professional and 500,000 on Team, Agents allow 400 activities a month on Free and 1,500 on Professional and Team, and Code by Zapier gets 1 second of runtime on Free, 30 seconds on Professional and Team and 2 minutes on Enterprise. Paid pricing is tiered by task volume rather than sold as a flat seat price. Professional covers one user and, billed annually, costs 19.99 USD a month for 750 tasks, 49.00 USD for 2,000 tasks and 129.00 USD for 10,000 tasks; the monthly-billed equivalents are 29.99, 73.50 and 193.50 USD. Team covers 25 users at 69.00 USD a month for 2,000 tasks or 169.00 USD for 10,000, billed annually. Annual billing costs 33% less than monthly, and non-profits receive a further 15% discount, which does not apply to pay-per-task billing. Professional comes with a 14-day free trial. On the security side, Zapier is hosted on Amazon Web Services in the United States, encrypts data at rest with AES-256 and web application traffic with TLS 1.2 or above, holds SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 certifications, and maintains GDPR and CCPA compliance. Accounts support two-factor authentication, and SAML single sign-on, SCIM provisioning and domain capture are available.
