Zapier alternatives
The short answer: what you should use instead of Zapier depends on why you are leaving. If the bill is the problem, Make and n8n both price the same work differently and n8n can be self-hosted for free. If maintaining the Zaps is the problem, Sanaf replaces the automation with a hire you brief in words instead of a path you draw. If you only want a nicer canvas, Make is the closest like-for-like. Zapier still has the largest connector catalog of any of them, and if the app you depend on is only supported there, that alone is a reason to stay.
Last updated 2026-09-04. Every product here is described by its pricing model, not its current plans or prices; check their own site for those.
Zapier has been the default answer for over a decade, and the connector catalog is the reason: whatever obscure tool your business runs on, Zapier probably talks to it. Nothing on this list matches that breadth.
What sends people looking is usually one of two things. Either the task-based bill grows faster than the value, or the Zaps quietly stop working and nobody notices for a month. Those two problems have different answers, which is why this is a list rather than a recommendation.
4 options, and who each one suits
Make
A visual automation platform billed by credits consumed per module action, with unlimited users on its tiers.
- Best for
- Teams who want the same kind of automation with a more visual canvas and a billing model that does not charge per person.
- How it is priced
- Credits consumed per module action, on a free tier and paid plans, with unlimited users and an enterprise tier quoted by their sales team
n8n
A workflow automation platform with a large node library and a self-hosted community edition you can run yourself.
- Best for
- Technical teams who want control, and anyone who needs the automation running on infrastructure they own.
- How it is priced
- Paid plans priced by monthly workflow executions regardless of complexity, an enterprise tier quoted by their sales team, and a free self-hosted community edition
Sanaf
That is usOne AI employee for the whole workspace, hired into jobs with a written description, working in Slack, Microsoft Teams and its own chat across the apps you already run.
- Best for
- A business that wants one colleague to delegate to, with rules per kind of action and a record of everything it did.
- How it is priced
- Free to start with $120 of credit and no card, then credits from $20 as you need them. They never expire, and you pay for the work, not per seat
Tasklet
You describe a task in plain words and it builds an agent to run it, including driving a browser when a tool has no API.
- Best for
- People who think in tasks and want each one turned into something that runs, without drawing a workflow.
- How it is priced
- A free tier, then plans with a monthly credit allowance and one-time credits when usage runs over
Why people look elsewhere
- The bill grows with task volume in a way that stops matching the value.
- Nobody owns the Zaps, so they break quietly and stay broken.
- The work needs a decision on the way through, and a trigger-based path cannot make one.
- They want to run the automation on their own infrastructure.
Stay with Zapier if
- You depend on a connector that only Zapier has, which for long-tail tools is common.
- Your automations are stable, someone owns them, and they simply work.
- The work genuinely is trigger-shaped, which is what Zapier is best in the world at.
- Moving would mean rebuilding dozens of working Zaps for a saving you have not actually calculated.
Frequently asked
What is the best Zapier alternative for a business that does not want to build flows?
Is there a free Zapier alternative?
Why would an AI employee replace an automation platform?
Will I lose integrations if I move off Zapier?
Leaving something else?
Not ready to hire yet?
Follow along instead. Field notes on what an AI employee can take off a team, what it costs to run, and where it still needs a person.