When comparing Zapier vs. Workato vs. Relay.app, there’s no simple answer to which automation solution is the best—it all comes down to your specific needs.
As a team that deeply understands the power of workflow automation, we know how important it is to find the tool that will match your requirements to a T.
And although we’d love to meet as many different users’ needs as possible, our solution isn’t the best fit for everyone.
So, in this unbiased review, we carefully compare Workato, Zapier, and our own solution, Relay.app, to give you a clear idea of what each software can and cannot do.
In a nutshell, our findings show that:
- Relay.app is an excellent pick if you want to add a human touch to automations while keeping all the benefits of automating and streamlining processes.
- Zapier is for you if you want a user-friendly tool with a vast library of pre-built automations.
- Workato is an excellent choice for technical teams who need extra customization options.
Read on for a detailed breakdown of each tool’s key features, integrations, pricing, and use cases, and decide for yourself.
👀 Not much of a reading type? Try Relay.app for free - no credit card is required.
Features - Relay.app vs Zapier vs Workato
While all three solutions excel at workflow automation, they differ in specific functionality, execution style, ease of use, etc.
So, let’s dive straight into the features that distinguish Relay.app, Zapier, and Workato from other workflow automation tools.
Relay.app Features
Relay.app provides users with the best of both worlds.
We combine human insight and precision with the speed and efficiency of automation, enabling individual and multiplayer experiences with equal ease.
All combined with a highly intuitive user interface (our team worked on Gmail at Google).
Customers choose Relay.app over tools like Zapier and Workato for advanced features like these:
- Human-in-the-loop
- 1-Click AI assistance
- Collaborative playbook creation
1. Human-in-the-Loop
There’s no denying that automation is terrific for boosting productivity and saving valuable time on tedious tasks—if it weren’t, you wouldn’t be here in the first place.
However, there are critical tasks you simply can’t delegate to technology, no matter how “smart.”
Certain matters require human judgment, assessment, and insights that no solution can have.
Having that in mind, we created a feature that lets you keep all the benefits of automation without giving up on adding a touch of human intelligence to the winning formula (try it below).
There are 4 distinct Human-in-the-Loop functionalities:
- Completing tasks—The automated workflow will pause until a task is manually completed by the assigned person. For example, after a deal is closed according to a CRM update, the sales manager is assigned a Task to create a contract draft. Once the manager drafts the contract, the workflow continues, and the document is shared with the other parties' legal counsel for review.
- Manual data inputs - This option adds a dash of originality and personalization to a certain workflow step. For instance, your Outreach Manager could be assigned to write personalized email subjects for each lead, instead of sticking to the same old generic automated email chain.
- Approvals - Some decisions must be approved by a senior executive before the workflow can continue. In deal-closing business workflows, leave it to the manager to approve a contract once it has been automatically created. When approved, the workflow sends the customer a Docusign and waits for completion.
- Human decisions - While Relay.app can set up complex conditional steps, there are instances when you’ll want a person to decide what to do based on the context. This is perfect for customer support requests when a support team member decides whether to email the customer or create a support ticket in Zendesk.
Why is the Human-in-the-Loop feature Important?
Traditional automation platforms do only what they were created for - automating various operations from start to finish, excluding actual humans from the entire process.
This allows mistakes and glitches to go undetected while significantly reducing customization and personalization options.
In the end, this means that some of the time you’ve saved on using these solutions will have to be spent on:
- Checking your workflows every now and then to ensure everything is going as it should.
- Pausing automations to add manual changes.
- Opting to manually run sensitive processes to stay in control, personalize, etc.
When was the last time an automated support email was more relevant than one tailored by a support rep?
With the Human-in-the-Loop feature, you’ll have peace of mind, knowing that Relay.app will notify you or assigned team members whenever you want a human to take charge. At the same time, you'll enjoy the perks of automating repetitive tasks, tedious business processes, and more.
Here’s a simple example to help you better grasp how it works 👇
2. 1-Click AI
AI is another productivity booster that has gained traction over the past few years. However, mastering it often requires knowing how to fine-tune it by giving it appropriate prompts.
With Relay.app’s 1-Click AI feature, there’s no need to go full prompt engineer mode because we’ve included pre-built AI tools to help you manage everyday tasks, such as:
- Summarizing things like meeting notes, Notion content, and more.
- Generating in-context sentences and whole paragraphs in your emails and other types of content.
- Guiding your automation through conditional logic paths intuitively.
- Detecting errors in workflows and helping you fix them, etc.
3. Collaborative Playbook Creation
You know the saying “No man’s an island”?
This is particularly true in business operations and projects that require joint efforts.
It often happens that a particular team member should manage specific workflow steps without disrupting the entire automated process.
This is one reason why Relay.app is many teams’ favorite choice, as it allows for frictionless and intuitive collaboration on shared projects (see how easy it is below ⤵️).
Dynamic role assignments make it easy to assign tasks to adequate team members, ensuring that every task is delegated to the right person on your team.
This way, you’ll be able to streamline processes like:
- Assigning tasks to the right Account Manager.
- Forwarding customer support requests to the appropriate representative.
- Getting approval from specific decision-makers before sending contracts to clients.
Your imagination is the only limit here. Thanks to Relay.app’s functionality, any collaborative scenario can be configured.
Zapier Features
Zapier is one of the first automation tools to appear on the market, disrupting how people think of workflow management, productivity, and efficiency.
It boasts a very user-friendly interface and thousands of app integrations.
Some of Zapier’s key features include:
1. A vast library of pre-made automation templates. These templates can easily be tweaked to fit your purpose and deployed within minutes.
2. The option to create tables and interfaces. Tables allow you to store, manage, pull, and consolidate data from various apps and sources through a single point of reference while simultaneously enabling the automation of processes.
With interfaces, you can build data-capturing forms, simple apps, web pages, and more without coding. You can also integrate interfaces with tables and plug them directly into Zapier’s automation platform.
3. A drag-and-drop no-code visual workflow builder that makes creating workflows super simple and easy, regardless of how tech-savvy you are (or aren’t).
4. Conversational AI workflow builder that will create workflows based on text prompts like “Send new invoices to a Slack channel.”
Workato Features
Workato is a cloud-based automation platform geared at technical teams (think various IT-related departments) that excels at creating completely automated systems at scale.
Features that help Workato do its magic are:
1. A depository of ready-made automations called “Recipes.”
Similarly to Zapier, Workato has a community library of automation templates where users freely share their recipes with other users. This lets you avoid building workflows from scratch, provided you find the automation you need.
2. Integrated AI-powered tools such as Copilot. Copilots are generative AI models that allow you to create, customize, and change workflows and app integrations by describing what you want to do in plain English.
💡 Remember, though, that coding expertise is necessary for creating integrations this way.
3. The option to build custom connectors, in addition to having a library of pre-built connectors.
Connectors allow Workato to interact with a particular app through triggers and related actions. Its SDK platform helps create custom connectors for complex integrations. Reiterating – you must have appropriate coding experience or app development.
Integrations - Relay.app vs Zapier vs Workato
Relay.app
Relay.app integrates with a wide range of popular applications, including all the crucial ones, such as:
- HubSpot
- Google Suite apps (Gmail, Google Docs, Google Forms, etc.)
- Jira
- Slack
- OpenAI
- Salesforce, and more
Most importantly, all the integrations are seamless and easy to deploy and support across workflows.
However, since we’re the new kid on the block, we don’t have as many integrations as Zapier and Workato.
Still, we find that most Zapier and Workato customers leverage the same apps and don’t need tens of thousands of connectors.
Zapier
Zapier, being a pioneer of workflow automation, integrates with probably the broadest range of applications of all automation tools.
It has over 7,000 apps, including Stripe, Notion, Shopify, Airtable, etc.
Workato
Workato also has a relatively rich depository of app integrations, although it cannot compare to Zapier’s.
It includes more IT and DevOps apps than most other tools, such as Fullstory, LoyJoy, Oracle Fusion, etc., and apps geared at sectors including HR, finance and accounting, operations, and more.
As mentioned before, Workato also allows the creation of custom connectors. It enables universal connectors such as HTTP, Data Parser tools, and more, to help users build their own integrations.
It’s an excellent option for developers who need more room for customization.
Integrations in a nutshell
Regarding the sheer number of integrations, Zapier leads in automation software, probably since it’s been on the market the longest.
Workato doesn’t have as many integrations but compensates by offering users with technical expertise the option to create custom integrations. It also includes niche IT apps in its library.
Finally, Relay.app has fewer integrations than these two platforms, but constantly adds new ones and has key advanced features that make long-tail app libraries irrelevant.
Pricing - Relay.app vs Zapier vs Workato
Price can often be a deciding factor when choosing the right automation software since no one wants to break the bank. It’s not an issue at first, but can quickly become one as you scale your processes.
Therefore, in the following section, we’ll break down each tool’s pricing in detail.
Relay.app
Relay.app lets you run 100 automations for free, including access to all its features.
I repeat – all features.
If you need unlimited automations, which Zapier and Workato don’t offer aside from on their Enterprise plans, you can choose from three paid options:
- Starter: $18 per month (2 users included)
- Team: Starting at $27 per month ($9 per seat, includes 3-20 users)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing for business users requiring 20+ seats
As you can see, Relay.app has simple and straightforward, exclusively seat-based pricing.
In short, this means you get unlimited automations with any plan you opt for without incurring additional costs.
This is a major difference from most automation platforms, which usually base their pricing on volume, which can skyrocket your costs before you know it.
Zapier
Zapier has a free-forever plan with 100 monthly automations, limited to 2-step workflows.
For users needing more, Zapier offers a decent range of pricing plans:
- Professional: Starting from $29.99
- Team: Starting from $103.50
- Enterprise: Custom price
Unlike Relay.app, Zapier doesn’t include unlimited automations in its plans.
This means that the final price will depend on how many tasks per month you need to automate, easily making Zapier a very costly solution for large-scale users.
Moreover, you should expect additional costs if you want to use Zapier’s Tables and Interfaces beyond basic features.
Workato
Workato doesn’t offer free plans or trials, so you’ll have to pay to try it out.
The company chose not to publish its pricing structure on the website, stating that each workspace gets unlimited users and automations.
If you want more details, contact their team directly and request a quote.
In our experience, however, when a company’s pricing policy is not publicly available, it usually means one thing - it’s pretty expensive and opaque 🤷.
What Are the Users Saying?
Insights from users with firsthand experience are invaluable. They offer a comprehensive picture of each platform’s automation capabilities, pros and cons, and use cases.
So, without further ado, let’s spotlight the customers and hear what they have to say.
Relay.app Reviews
“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 constantly adding more.” - G2 Review
“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.” - G2 review
Very functional and cost-effective! The AI features are neat! - Product Hunt Review
Zapier Reviews
Judging by the user reviews, many customers complain about Zapier’s price and task number limitations.
“There are lots of benefits to Zapier but few points needed to be looked before use like -
1. There is a limited number of tasks that can be created for a project.
2. The price is high for the paid version.” - G2 Review
“I don't care for the pricing scheme. It seems to take a big jump from one to the next and I have accidentally slid into that higher payment one a few times just testing some zaps.” - G2 Review
Users also agree that Zapier is a helpful, easy-to-master, and versatile.
“Zapier has drastically increased our productivity by providing automation in posting, emailing, and commenting on all of our social media accounts. It has provided a large number of actions to perform at the same time from generating text to saving it on databases. Now we don't need any dedicated team to manage and post our updates on the internet, Zapier does all of our actions with great accuracy and speed.” - G2 review
Workato Reviews
Most users point out that Workato has a steep learning curve, especially for non-technical users.
“For beginners, the platform may feel overwhelming due to its extensive capabilities, and a simpler onboarding process could be beneficial. Some users may find the pricing structure of Workato complex, and there might be a desire for more transparent and straightforward pricing plans.” - G2 Review
Also, quite a few users commented on Workato's benefits for developers, illustrating that the platform is indeed best suited for users with technical expertise.
“It is a low-code integration platform, As I don't have to take tension syntax or functional errors or jar file import errors when compared to any coding language.
It is faster compared to coding in the development phase, and the testing phase is very easy and as short as just clicking a button.
They have HTTP connections, custom SDK connectors, and coding editors..... which makes it easy to customize.” - G2 Review
The pricing model also seems to be an issue. Still, apart from that, Workato is a powerful solution capable of meeting technical users’ needs and dealing with complex automations.
“Workato helps us with operational efficiency flows and information parity, as well as generalized automation flows that help serve internal audiences on varied internal communication platforms.” - G2 Review
Wrapping Up
As we said from the get-go, we know we’re not the best choice for everyone, which is why we aimed to be as objective and unbiased as possible in this review.
In short, our research showed that if you’re looking for:
- A powerful yet budget-friendly solution that delivers efficiency while keeping a human touch to workflows, then Relay.app is perfect for you.
- An integration-rich, easy-to-use, highly versatile tool (that can get a bit expensive as you increase the volume of automation), then Zapier is the way to go.
- A platform that lets you build customized workflows & integrations from the ground up - provided you can code - then you should go for Workato.
Ultimately, you know what’s best for your company and its teams.
That being said, we’re the best fit for teams and individuals who need to:
- Boost efficiency and productivity while keeping the option to add human touches whenever necessary.
- Collaborate on projects and workflows.
- Make the most of AI-powered functions without dealing with prompt engineering or coding.
- Get unlimited automations without breaking the bank.
If this sounds like you, don’t hesitate - sign up for Relay.app’s free trial.
Need more product details? Watch this full Relay.app walkthrough with our partner SmartSuite 👇
