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It's a split decision.
Choose Relay.app when a workflow needs a person to approve, edit or supply information before it continues. Its built-in AI and visual branching suit business processes where unattended actions carry risk. Choose Zapier for broader app coverage, with 9,000+ apps and 66,000+ triggers and actions, or when your team needs shared workflow governance. Both are cloud-based web services; weigh Relay’s workflow-step and AI-credit limits against Zapier’s task-based pricing and overage billing.
01Side by side
| Relay.app | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Annual: Professional $19/month; Team $59/month | Monthly starting prices: Professional $19.99; Team $69 |
| Free tier | 200 workflow steps and 500 AI credits monthly | 100 tasks monthly; two-step Zaps only |
| Open source and licence | Closed-source and proprietary | Licence not published |
| Self-hosting | No self-hosting option | Vendor does not publish a self-hosting option |
| Integrations | 100+ native integrations | 9,000+ apps; 66,000+ triggers and actions |
| Deployment model | Cloud-based SaaS | Hosted workflow automation service |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Limits and scaling | Workflow-step and AI-credit plan limits | Task limits; pay-per-task overages |
Relay.app Choose Relay.app if
- Choose Relay.app if human approval belongs inside the workflow.
- Choose Relay.app if built-in GPT-4o, Claude or Gemini steps fit your process.
- Choose Relay.app if visual branches, subflows and iterators matter.
Zapier Choose Zapier if
- Choose Zapier if your workflows need broad app coverage.
- Choose Zapier if shared folders and 25-seat Team plans fit.
- Choose Zapier if central workflow governance and granular permissions matter.
02Pricing at real usage
Relay.app’s Free plan includes one user, 200 workflow steps and 500 AI credits per month. Professional is $38 monthly or $19 per month billed annually, with 750 steps and 5,000 AI credits. Team is $118 monthly or $59 annually per month, with 10 users, 2,000 steps and 5,000 credits. Additional 5,000-credit blocks start at $11 per month billed annually; seat and step overage rates are not published.
Zapier Free allows 100 tasks per month and two-step Zaps. Professional starts at $19.99 per month and Team at $69, both at the lowest task tier; Team includes 25 users. Zapier says annual billing saves 33%, without listing those annual prices here. Pay-per-task billing applies after a task limit is reached, at a higher per-task rate. Compare your expected workflow steps and AI credits with Relay, and completed tasks with Zapier.
03API, SDKs and integration
Relay.app describes over 100 native integrations, including Gmail, Slack, HubSpot, Notion, Webflow, Airtable, Stripe, Jira and Google Workspace. Workflows can start from app events, schedules, webhooks, or manual and API triggers. Its connectors handle nested and linked data, and its visual editor supports conditional branches, merged paths, subflows and iterators. Built-in steps use OpenAI GPT-4o, Anthropic Claude and Google Gemini without external API keys.
Zapier’s listed catalog is much larger: 9,000+ apps and 66,000+ triggers and actions. Zapier MCP connects AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor to business apps through one secure connection, without API keys. The vendor also describes multi-step Zaps, webhooks and workflow governance. Neither product’s published technical details specify SDK languages or a CLI. Relay describes API triggers and webhooks; Zapier’s MCP is the clearest stated route from AI tools to app actions. Check each vendor’s current documentation before committing to a custom integration.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Relay.app is closed-source and proprietary, and does not offer a self-hosted deployment. It runs as a cloud SaaS application in a web browser. Zapier’s open-source licence and self-hosting options are not published by the vendor. Both products therefore put workflow execution in a hosted service rather than a codebase you can deploy yourself.
That architecture makes connectors and workflow logic dependent on each platform. Relay’s native tables, credentials and visual workflows, and Zapier’s Zaps, Tables and shared folders, are built around their respective services. The vendors do not publish data-export and migration details in the stated product information. Before adopting either for critical processes, ask how to export workflow definitions, records, run history and credentials, and what can be migrated to another platform. Treat credentials separately: they may need to be reconnected even if workflow logic can be exported.
Questions people ask
What apps does Zapier integrate with?
Zapier says it connects to 9,000+ apps and provides 66,000+ triggers and actions. Its homepage names apps such as Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor among the AI tools that can connect through Zapier MCP. Check the app’s available triggers and actions before designing a workflow around it.
Is Relay.app legit?
Relay.app is a cloud-based workflow automation service with a web app, native integrations and built-in AI steps from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Its stated features include human review checkpoints. That establishes what the product offers, not its uptime or suitability for a particular production workload; verify operational requirements with the vendor.
Are there alternatives to Zapier?
Relay.app is one alternative for teams that want no-code workflows with built-in AI and human approval steps. It offers a smaller stated integration catalog than Zapier. Compare the connectors you need, workflow limits, pricing at expected usage and export options before moving existing automations.
What are the key differences between Zapier and Power Automate?
The stated product details here cover Zapier and Relay.app, not Microsoft Power Automate. To compare Zapier with Power Automate, check the connectors your stack needs, workflow limits, deployment and governance options, pricing at your task volume, and how each handles export and migration. Confirm those specifics against Microsoft’s current documentation.