Automation is not just for businesses, even we can use automation in our personal lives to make us more productive. We all get the same limited number of hours in a day, yet some people seem to achieve much more than the others. Apart from other things, automation plays a big part in creating this achievement gap. Smart work is all about eliminating repetitive tasks and focusing on those that deserve our attention. There are tools that help us automate our lives and Zapier is one of the best among them. But no tool is perfect for all, as every one of us has different requirements and agenda. Also, Zapier’s pricing is not affordable for everybody. So, if you have been looking for automation tools other than Zapier that are free or bring other features, we are here for you. Here are the 10 best Zapier alternatives you should use in 2020.
1. Integromat
This is the service which comes closest to Zapier in terms of UI and usability. The animations are fluid and everything is easy to locate and use. In terms of functionality, I have found it to be more reliable than Zapier, especially when it comes to complex tasks. In fact, in my short time of using Integromat, I can confidently say that it is much easier to set up complex tasks using this than any other services on the list. The best part about using Integromat is that it gives you a full visual profile of the tasks you have created. Every node on the task is represented by a circle which is connected other using dotted lines. It looks like as if you have created a mind map. This gives you a quick overview of what automated tasks (scenarios as they call it) you are running.
I have added a router which allows me to assign different outcomes for the same trigger. I have defined the router to send any iOS article to Evernote and Android article to Google Drive. See how easily I created a path to automate things. Now I have everything I need right in my three favourite places. This is just an example, the possibilities are endless. You have to give it a try to fully understand its use cases.
Automate.io is one of the best Zapier alternatives which offers a similar level of third-party integration while keeping the pricing low for startups and businesses. Earlier, its focus area was only marketing, but now Automate.io offers services in all categories, be it social media, campaigning, payment automation, basic email automation and more. And just like Zapier, with Automate.io, you can create conditional workflows which means you can integrate several web apps and hook them with suitable flowchart. The best part about this process? Well, you don’t need to write a single line of code. As Zapier does it, you can create a number of multi-app workflows by just a few clicks. The APIs are easily understandable and you can get going within minutes.
If you are looking for something which is strictly for personal use, check out this offering from Microsoft. The app is extremely well designed. It is best if you are just getting started, as it has a big assortment of templates with pre-created flows you can use to automate your tasks. It is especially useful if you already use various Microsoft services such as Office 365, OneDrive and OneNote, as with a single authentication you can connect all your apps. In other apps, you will have to give permission to all the apps you are adding one by one, which might be a little time consuming at first. However, this also brings us to one of the drawbacks of this app, you can only login into the app using your Microsoft account, there’s no other way. But this drawback is nullified when seeing its feature set.
Apart from Microsoft apps, it also supports more than a hundred other apps. It might be less if you consider other apps on this list, but is plenty from an individual user’s perspective. You can create multiple step automation defining exact commands which you want. Also, it has an app for both Android and iOS platforms, which are similar to functionality to its web app. I do consider that it’s easier to create and manage your flows on the website, as you get more screen real-estate to work with. Also, did I tell you that it’s totally free? It is the only automation app you will find in the market which is free without any restriction. If you are looking to play the automation game, do give this one a chance.
IFTTT is generally known as a consumer-facing product for automation, but what if I tell you that the company offers a separate platform for businesses too? Well, with its business platform, you can connect more than 600 apps and in the same user-friendly manner as you get on the consumer app. And the best part about IFTTT is that, unlike Zapier, it’s not just limited to web apps. Instead, IFTTT allows you to integrate mobile apps too which makes it even more capable. Since smartphones have become a primary communication device for most of the users, this feature is a welcome addition.
If you are looking for a free alternative to Zapier then I would highly recommend n8n.io. It’s a free and open workflow automation tool that works pretty well across popular web apps and services. To make it clear, it’s an open-source tool but licensed under the Fair-code principle. Simply put, the service is completely free and you can use it for both personal and business purposes without paying a dime. Talking about the workflow, unlike other open-source alternatives to Zapier, n8n offers a seamless and visual editor to create a workflow which is basically called node on this tool. You can search for services and integrate them with webhook in basically 3 to 4 clicks. There is also an option for triggers where you can define multiple conditions as to when and where the actions will be executed.
Visit n8n.io (Free)
Tray.io is not your ordinary integration service, but a full-fledged webhook and automation platform for large businesses and growing startups. On every aspect, it stands head and shoulder above Zapier and brings many of the user-friendly features that Zapier is popular for. Similar to Zaps, here on Tray.io, you have something called a Tray Connector. It uses a drag-and-drop editor to create a seamless workflow visually. This way, you will have a much better idea about what your webhook is supposed to do. Further, you can integrate multiple services into one webhook and automate the task according to your preferences.
7. Zoho Flow
Zoho Flow is yet another Zapier alternative that looks promising and brings many advanced features in a user-friendly interface. Similar to Tray.io, Zoho Flow allows you to integrate your apps and create workflow scenarios on a visual editor. You can build a flowchart of actions, edit them seamlessly using conditional triggers and set the workflow in motion with just a few clicks. You can get emails, files, reports from one service to another in just a matter of seconds. The best part about Zoho Flow is that it allows you to create logic elements to define a variable, in case you want to go deep into the webhook integration. If you are an advanced user, you can surely get the most out of Zoho Flow.
You will notice a trend with all these automation services is that they focus mainly on the business side of things. I just wanted to get that out of the way, as while visiting these services, one might be overwhelmed with their business first approach. Apiant supports over 15000 different apps and which might be overwhelming for some users. But do not worry, you can start with your own small-scale automations and then take it from there.
9. Workato
Workato is again a powerful and advanced automation platform that would easily rival against Zapier. However, it comes at an expensive subscription cost and is primarily designed for corporations and large businesses. Similar to Zapier, Workato has support for multi-instance workflows which is called Recipe. You can either create your own recipe or choose from more than 225,000 pre-made recipes from its library. The main goal of Workato is to make automation easier and usable across departments, no matter if you are from accounts or IT.
PieSync boasts itself as a direct competitor to Zapier, so much so that it has a whole page on its website dedicated to explaining how it is better than Zapier. According to the website, while services like Zapier push data to different apps only one way, PieSync focuses on syncing data between the apps both ways. More than focusing on if this than that functions, PieSync allows your apps to talk to each other by syncing data between then on a real time basis. This is best for a business who has a team working remotely. All their work will be synced across apps giving everyone access to the data instantly. It is also intelligent enough to find and manage duplicate data points and remove them.
