Zapier, IFTTT, and Relay.app are powerful no-code workflow automation tools designed to optimize workflows, reduce manual effort, and maximize time.
While Zapier and IFTTT are popular automation tools, Relay.app is quickly becoming a go-to product due to some stand-out features.
While we'd love you to try Relay.app, the tool isn't for everyone.
So you can pick the best option for your business, we’ve put on our objective hats and broken down the differences in features, pricing, integrations, and reviews between Zapier, IFTTT, and Relay.app.
Here’s the bottom line:
Relay.app is for you if you want to automate human-in-the-loop workflows, collaborate with your team, and reach large volumes at a fair cost.
Zapier excels in offering customized options and a wide range of app integrations.
IFTTT is great for simple workflows, like social media and home automation.
Note: If you’d rather try Relay.app than read our comparison, sign up to try it for free. No coding experience is needed.
Features: Zapier vs IFTTT vs Relay.app
All three tools integrate with many apps for building automated workflows.
That one, you expected.
However! Each tool has unique capabilities that sets it apart from the others.
Let’s explore the unique features for each product ⤵️
Relay.app’s features
Relay.app is an automation tool designed for modern teams who want to create best-in-class workflows without technical expertise.
Its intuitive user interface makes navigating and creating workflows easy, even for those new to automation.
Relay.app has capabilities that go far beyond basic “trigger-action” workflows. Let's explore them in detail:
Human in the loop
If you've ever received an email that feels bland and templated, it's likely the result of a fully automated process.
Relay.app’s human-in-the-loop steps allow you to easily incorporate human actions into automated workflows.
This feature is unique to Relay.app. People are key to many workflows, especially if you want to:
- Improve output accuracy by catching errors that automated processes might overlook.
- Ensure the quality and relevance of outputs through content moderation, data validation, and compliance checks.
- Provide nuanced understanding and context, especially in tasks requiring subjective judgment or cultural sensitivity.
- Deliver personalized responses and tailored solutions to enhance customer experience.
Human-in-the-loop steps are particularly useful when dealing with:
Complex decision making: For example, when stock levels reach a critical threshold in an inventory management workflow, the inventory manager may need to adjust pricing or manually prioritize certain products.
Once a decision is made, the workflow can automatically trigger a notification to the relevant stakeholders, informing them of the decision.
Review/Approval: Before an important article is published, a marketing director might need to review and approve it.
Once the article is approved, the writer and marketing teams are notified and the article is moved automatically to the “ready” column in a Trello board.
Tasks: In a customer support workflow, when a ticket reaches a high priority and needs to be escalated, a task is triggered for the supervisor to review and resolve the issue.
Data input: In the below example, we need a sales reps to log the next steps in our CRM before the account manager is notified via Slack.👇
Why is human in the loop important?
The human-in-the-loop approach acknowledges that not all workflows should be fully automated and that human insight at certain points in a workflow can lead to more meaningful and impactful outcomes.
Here's a detailed example of how you can leverage this approach:
Imagine you are a hiring manager who has just selected new candidates. Instead of sending a generic congratulatory message, you want to make a strong first impression by personalizing it.
With Relay.app, you can trigger a notification within the hiring workflow, prompting you or your team to craft a personalized message. This approach sets a positive tone for the candidate's experience.
Additionally, Relay.app allows you to approve tasks on the go directly from Slack or email for straightforward tasks such as expense reimbursement. This streamlines the process and saves you time.
AI Autofill
AI undeniably has the power to optimize our work, but it often requires skillful prompting. Unlike Zapier and IFTTT, Relay.app eliminates this barrier with smart contextual autofill within each step of your playbook.
For example, you can ask AI to summarize call transcripts and automatically add the summaries to customer records in your CRM, as illustrated below:
Similarly, you can use AI Autofill in Relay.app to extract information inline, like a Calendly invitee's job title to personalize outreach, or the name of a vendor in an invoice.
Multiplayer workflow automation
With Relay.app's multiplayer features, you don't have to work on your playbooks alone.
Not only can everyone create and manage workflows without any technical knowledge, but also you can involve team members by:
- Dynamically assigning tasks to the right person using data from your current go-to-market tools (e.g. assign a task to an account’s AE from your CRM)
- Mentioning them by name in your automation (using “@”)
- Collaborating together on playbooks live
- Assigning them human-in-the-loop steps
- Using Roles to send email and Slack messages to the right person in every run
Zapier’s features
Zapier is a no-code workflow automation tool that lets you create automated processes known as "zaps" by connecting different apps together.
Zaps can perform tasks such as sending emails, updating spreadsheets, creating calendar events, and more, based on “triggers and actions”.
Here are Zapier's standout features:
Zapier AI
Zapier AI lets you create automations from written descriptions, unlike Relay.app and IFTTT.
You describe your desired workflow, and the AI suggests steps. It can also generate notes about the zap's process, making complex zaps easier to understand and set up.
If you encounter issues with your zap, the AI can also troubleshoot.
Custom logic, conditions, and filters
Zapier provides custom logic, conditions, and filters that make it easy to create advanced workflows.
Custom logic is implemented through "Paths," which allow users to define steps based on trigger data.
Conditional statements guide the automation flow, while filters control the data that is processed.
In contrast, IFTTT offers conditions and filters but is best suited for straightforward trigger actions and lacks Zapier’s granularity.
Relay.app has the same complexity as Zapier when it comes to filters and conditions but makes it easier to add collaboration and human steps.
Formatter
Zapier offers a built-in Formatter step to modify data into new formats, like:
- Text
- Numbers
- Dates
- And many more data types
For instance, you can remove uppercase from text data, trim white space, or replace characters, which can be pretty handy.
IFTTT does not offer this step. Relay.app offers some of these formatting options on data.
IFTTT’s features
IFTTT (If This Then That) is a popular web-based service that allows users to create automated workflows, known as applets, that integrate with various apps and devices.
As the name suggests, it lets you set what happens in one app when an action happens in another app.
Mobile-friendliness
In the introduction, we mentioned that IFTTT is best for home automation and social media.
Its mobile application is a key reason.
IFTTT offers apps on both iOS and Android devices, allowing you to create, manage, and monitor your multi-step “applets” directly from your smartphone or tablet.
Integrations with voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant lets users control smart home devices using voice commands, enhancing convenience and accessibility.
While Zapier and Relay.app support similar automations, they don't offer dedicated mobile apps.
Pre-made automation templates
IFTTT's pre-made “applets” are automation recipes that other users have created or that IFTTT itself has created. They are readily available for anyone to use.
Applets are convenient. They serve as pre-built connections between apps, services, or devices, helping users save time and effort when setting up simple workflows.
While both IFTTT and Zapier provide automation templates, IFTTT has a larger library of single automation options that are simpler and easier to set up.
💡 Note: While IFTTT has a larger library of automation options, Zapier has more app integrations overall.
Relay.app, on the other hand, does not offer pre-made applets. Instead, it focuses on helping users create workflows optimized for their own connected data.
IFTTT Automation Assistant GPT
Like the Zapier GPT plugin, IFTTT offers an Automation Assistant GPT plugin.
It allows users to access over 800 digital tools directly within the ChatGPT interface.
For example, people can connect ChatGPT with IFTTT and trigger actions such as creating Google Calendar meetings, sending Slack messages, or publishing blog posts.
Unlike Zapier, the IFTTT plugin can perform more personal assistant roles, such as retrieving user information and providing access to all connected IFTTT accounts.
Relay.app offers similar functionality to IFTTT's GPT plugin: Relay.app's AI steps allow users to select from a list of models including GPT 3.5, GPT 4, and others to build custom prompt steps and actions.
Integrations: Zapier vs IFTTT vs Relay.app
Let’s take a look at each platform’s third-party integrations ⤵️
Relay.app integrations
Relay integrates with apps across many categories, including Sales, Marketing, Support, and Engineering. They include popular apps like HubSpot, Calendly, Fillout, Trello, Notion, Airtable, Slack, Zendesk, Google Drive, and many more. The team is constantly adding more.
Each Relay.app integration is thoughtfully engineered with an understanding of the underlying data model, which helps ensure that apps are easy to set up and use.
Zapier integrations
Zapier connects with an impressive 7,000+ apps, including popular services like Google Drive, Slack, Trello, Salesforce, Microsoft Outlook, Asana, and HubSpot.
This huge variety enables users to link apps from different categories such as productivity, communication, marketing, CRM, and project management, making Zapier the dominant automation platform.
IFTTT integrations
IFTTT integrates with over 900 apps, including smart home devices such as Philips Hue, Nest, and Ring. It enables the automation of lighting, heating, and security, making it an excellent choice for home use.
IFTTT also supports social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, making it easy to automate posting and sharing activities.
It lacks deeper integrations like Shopify and Microsoft suites.
Pricing: Zapier vs IFTTT vs Relay.app
Relay.app’s pricing
Relay offers a simple tiered pricing plan—and it starts at Free:
Free: 2 seats and 200 automations/month
Professional: $9/month for 2 seats and 10k automations/month
Team: $59/month for unlimited seats and 25k automations/month
Enterprise: Custom pricing for unlimited seats, unlimited automations, and custom integrations
Zapier's pricing
Zapier recently reduced its starting price from $29 to $19.9 per month and simplified its paid plans from four to three.
The new prices (billed annually) are:
Professional: $19.99/month
Team: $69/month
Enterprise: On-demand, contact sales
While the new plans look more affordable, the cost can increase significantly as the number of your executions rises and your automation needs grow.
IFTTT's pricing
IFTTT offers simple free and paid plans.
Its free plan provides unlimited runs but limits users to creating just two applets.
If you want to access additional features, you can sign up for one of its two paid annual plans:
IFTTT Pro: $2.92/month
IFTTT Pro+: $12.50/month
What are customers saying?
Here are some unbiased reviews of each of the tools from real users.
Relay reviews
Despite not being tech savvy, this user found Relay.app more user-friendly than Zapier and IFTTT.
“It is very easy to navigate. I tried a few workflow automation tools and this one has by far the best UX. They have very useful how-to guides and the BEST customer support in case you have any questions navigating the tool. They have loads of integrations and are constantly adding more.” - verified G2 Review
This user also commended the user-friendliness of Relay.app’s interface. He also highlighted the responsiveness of the support team:
The tool is flexible and powerful, allowing us to extend workflows in a lot of different directions. The team and support is great—they listen to our needs and help solve our problems quickly.
Best of all is the user-friendliness. Our team is lean. Relay is intuitive and allows all members of our team to build powerful automations so they can do more with less. Before Relay, we used Zapier which was good, but not nearly as easy, which prevented it from being rolled out broadly. - verified G2 Review
This user switched from Zapier to Relay.app and commended the unparalleled customer support he received from Relay.app's team members ⤵️
Zapier reviews
While this user appreciates Zapier's range of integrations, ease of use, and triggers, he finds it complex to set up multi-step Zaps.
He’s also concerned about price increases at scale, which is repeatedly mentioned in reviews.
Another customer appreciates Zapier for its app selection but complains about frequent server errors that result in clients losing access to their leads. Additionally, they find Zapier's support difficult to reach.
IFTTT reviews
Although this user appreciates IFTTT's simplicity, the free plan’s limitations pose a challenge.
This user appreciates IFTTT's ease of use and social media integrations but finds it less useful for multi-step workflows.
Wrapping up
While Zapier and IFTTT are popular automation platforms, they may not be the best choice for your business processes. The same applies to Relay.app, even though it’s a powerful automation tool.
We've compared the three tools based on features, range of integrations, pricing, and customer reviews to help you make an informed decision.
Here’s the gist of it:
Relay.app is the right choice if you want to work on automated flows with your team, automate human-in-the-loop workflows, and execute high automation volumes at a reasonable price.
If you choose Relay.app, you'll enjoy the following benefits:
- An excellent user experience
- Deep well crafted integrations
- Seamless collaboration with your team with human-in-the-loop actions
- In-context AI support, no prompting skills required
- Free to get started and generous automation limits on all paid plans
Zapier is a robust platform that is ideal for advanced and custom workflows. If you have a wide range of automation needs or are looking for an integration with a specific, perhaps less commonly used tool, Zapier is the automation tool for you.
IFTTT is great for simple automations. It’ll serve you well in social media, blog and home automation.
Ready to get started? Start automating with Relay.app for free—no credit card required.
