Zapier Review, Pricing & Features

What is Zapier?

Zapier is a no-code integration software that enables businesses to integrate their suite of software tools. Zapier works by connecting to multiple software applications to automate processes that occur across these applications. For example, you can connect SurveyMonkey and Gmail to automatically send thank-you emails to individuals who have responded to your surveys.

The company has a wide reach with more than 3,000 applications available to connect.

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Table of Contents

• What is Zapier?
• Zapier Review Summary
• Zapier Pricing & Cost
• How Does Zapier Work?
• Zapier Key Features
  • Dashboard
  • Applications
  • Zaps
  • Pre-Built Zaps
• Zapier Customer Support
• Zapier vs. Competitors
• Is Zapier Right For You?

Zapier Review Summary

Zapier is an integration software that was founded in 2011 by Bryan Helmig, Mike Knoop, and Wade Foster. The company is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California.

With nearly 500 employees and more than three million customers around the world, Zapier is a massively popular tool that continues to grow.

Zapier’s purpose is to connect different applications and software tools in order to move data between apps, automate tasks between apps, and automate entire workflows. There are more than 3,000 applications that Zapier currently works with, including some of the biggest applications for small businesses like QuickBooks Online, Slack, Twitter, Gmail, Mailchimp, and more.

Overall, we recommend Zapier to most businesses, regardless of size or industry, due to the value it provides. While it can get extremely expensive, most smaller businesses likely won’t need to pay more than $73.50 per month in order to implement the automations that they want. In most cases, unless you’re a freelancer or a very large business, we recommend the Professional Plan because of its two minute update time, high task limit, and unlimited number of Zaps.

Zapier Pricing & Cost

Zapier pricing begins at $29.99 per month and can cost up to $898.50 per month. There’s a basic free plan that may be beneficial for freelancers or small startups. If you prepay for a year, you’ll receive a 20% discount on the monthly price, and if you’re a non-profit business, you’ll receive an additional 15% off. New customers will receive a free 14-day trial of the Professional Plan.

More specific pricing details can be found in the table below.

Accepted Currencies & Payment Options

Zapier currently accepts payments in 14 different currencies, including USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, and CAD. Depending on which currency you utilize, you’ll be able to pay with a credit card, via PayPal, or with a bank transfer.

How Does Zapier Work?

Before getting into individual features, it’s helpful to learn about how Zapier works, which includes the specific terminology that Zapier uses when referring to their process and workflows. To describe this process, we’ll use the example of connecting your SurveyMonkey account and your Gmail account.

There are two terms that you must understand:

Zapier works by automating one-way workflows. These are tasks that you would have to manually complete otherwise. Each fully automated workflow is called a “Zap.”

Each Zap has one trigger and one or more actions, and each action that is completed is what Zapier calls a “Task.” It’s important to note what Tasks are and how many each Zap completes, because those will count against your plan’s Task limit.

An Example of a Zap: Connecting Survey Monkey and Gmail

Let’s put these terms into practice with a real-life example. Say you connect SurveyMonkey and Gmail in order to automatically send thank-you emails to participants who complete a survey.

In this example, the Zap is the full workflow of automatically sending emails when survey responses have been recorded. The Zap is triggered when someone completes the survey—this is the signal to Zapier that the email should be sent.

Each individual email that is sent out counts as a Task. If 15 people complete the survey, 15 emails get sent and therefore, 15 Tasks were completed with the Zap.

Zapier Key Features

This review discusses Zapier’s features, usability, and customer service availability. We’ll make notes about where the app either shines or falls short in terms of the above three sections. We’ll also include real images of the software to give you a sense of what it’s like to work with the tool.

To learn more about how we research and rate software tools, read about SoftwarePundit’s review methodology.

Dashboard

When first logging into Zapier, you’ll be presented with your dashboard. The dashboard gives you the option to create new Zaps, examine recommended workflows, your current Zaps, your Zap history, and applications that you’ve connected with Zapier.

In the bottom left corner, a bar graph will show you how many Zaps and Tasks you’ve used and how many you have left in your plan.

Applications That Zapier Integrates With

There are far too many applications to name when it comes to Zapier’s integrations—there are more than 3,000 available connections. However, here is a list of the most important and commonly-used applications.

It’s important to note that certain applications are categorized as premium applications, which only the more expensive plans allow access to. Aside from cost, the premium application limit is going to be the most important factor in your plan decision. Check Zapier’s premium applications before you pick a plan.

Zaps

Zaps, or automated workflows, are created using a step-by-step builder. As seen below, you’ll connect two or more apps and dictate which trigger will cause your desired outcome. The workflow builder will notify you if there are any errors with the Zap before it’s implemented.

While some plans allow for one-step Zaps, the more expensive plans enable multiple apps to be connected and multiple outcomes to be executed from one workflow.

Zaps can be scheduled to run at specific intervals—monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly. You’ll be able to set the timezone you’d like Zaps to adhere to, add specific Zaps to folders to organize them, and write brief descriptions of the Zaps that you have.

Zap History

The Zap History tab is used to view all of your past Zaps, the number of Tasks they have completed, and more.

You can sort and search for past Zaps by date, folder, app, status, or keyword. There are Usage and Task logs, which, again, will display tasks that have been completed and how many have been completed. As you can see in the image, each Task will show if it’s been successful or if there were any errors in the process.

Pre-Built Zaps

Zapier makes workflows even easier with its extensive library of pre-built Zaps. This means that you likely won’t even have to set up the workflows yourself—you can just select one that Zapier has already built with a few clicks.

When you search for an app, it will show commonly-used workflows that you can implement by clicking “Try It.” As you can see in the image below, Zapier will also tell you the triggers, actions, and searches that Zapier supports. This lets you know before building or selecting workflows if Zapier can do what you’d want it to.

Zapier Customer Support

Zapier offers many self-help service options for customers such as the Help Center, Webinar library, blog, and Community Center. When first signing up for Zapier, customers will also receive numerous emails over the first few weeks that will guide them through the initial stages of using the software.

One major oversight is that Zapier does not offer live chat, which many software companies do. This limits the direct interaction that customers have with Zapier.

Zapier Alternatives & Competitors

Zapier does not have any true competitors, because it’s the undisputed leader in the space. No tool comes close to its power or number of integrated applications. However, a few other integration applications for small businesses include:

There are a few software tools like MuleSoft that are built for enterprise businesses, but Zapier is the best and most developed integration software for businesses of all sizes.

For one-to-one comparisons between Zapier and its competitors, check out the following articles.

Is Zapier Right For You?

If your team spends a significant amount of time each day completing manual tasks between different software applications, Zapier is the software for you. You can create Zaps to automate these processes, which saves time and eliminates human error.

Based on the balance between cost, update time, and number of Tasks and Zaps, we recommend the Professional Plan for most small businesses. The update time is short at just two minutes, in contrast with the cheaper plans’ 15-minute update time, and it’s significantly cheaper than the premium plans, which are probably best for much larger businesses.

If you are interested in trying Zapier's Professional Plan, sign up for a 14-day free trial.