Zapier

What it is

Zapier is a no-code automation platform. It connects over 9,000 apps so that when something happens in one tool, data moves automatically into another, without anyone copying and pasting between them. You set up a "Zap": a trigger in one app (a new email, a new row in a spreadsheet, a new deal in a CRM) that fires an action in another app. Once it's built, it runs on its own.

That's the core of what's described in automating repetitive admin work: the hours lost to moving data between apps by hand, sending the same emails, keeping two systems in sync manually, are exactly the kind of task Zapier is built to remove.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

Zapier fits teams and individuals who are already using several separate tools and need them to talk to each other without hiring a developer to build the connection. Its direct integrations with Slack, Gmail, Google Sheets, HubSpot, and Salesforce cover a lot of common business stacks: sales and marketing teams syncing CRM data, ops teams moving spreadsheet data into other systems, anyone who wants a Slack notification when something happens elsewhere.

It's less of a fit if your automation needs are highly complex, with a lot of branching logic, data transformation, or custom routing between steps. Zapier's no-code model is built for straightforward trigger-and-action chains; the more intricate the workflow, the more limited it can feel compared to a platform built around visual, multi-branch workflows. That's worth checking against Make directly, since the two overlap heavily on what they connect but differ in how workflows get built.

Pricing

Zapier is freemium. The free plan includes 100 tasks a month, enough to test a handful of simple automations or run a couple of low-volume Zaps without paying anything. Paid plans start from $19.99 a month for the Professional tier, billed annually, once you need more task volume or more advanced automation features.

Set it up

Official guide: Zap workflows quick start guide

1. Create a Zapier account on the Free plan, which covers 100 tasks per month (a task is one action Zapier completes for you, such as sending one Slack message). Have a Google Sheet and a Slack workspace ready for a test. You now have a Zapier account.
2. In the left sidebar menu, click "Create a Zap". A Zap is a small automation that does a job for you each time something happens. You now see the Zap editor, which shows the steps of your Zap as a flow.
3. Set up the trigger, which is the event that starts the Zap. Choose Google Sheets as the app and the event for a new row. In the "Setup" tab, click "Sign in" and follow the instructions in the new window to connect your Google account. Your Google account is now connected to the trigger.
4. Click "Test trigger", select one of the test records Zapier found, and click "Continue with selected record". You now see a real row from your sheet.
5. Add the action, which is what the Zap does after the trigger. Choose Slack and the event that sends a message, and click "Sign in" to connect your Slack workspace. Write the message and use the data from your sheet row in it. Your message now holds data from your sheet.
6. Click "Test step". The "Data out" tab shows the result of the test.
7. Click "Publish". Publishing switches the Zap on, so it runs each time the trigger happens. The top menu now shows "Published".

When this works, a new row in your sheet sends a Slack message without you doing anything. To check it, add a row to your sheet and look in Slack; each completed action counts as one task, so the check uses one of your 100. To use it for your own work, pick one repetitive hand-off in your week and rebuild this Zap with those two apps.

Strengths and limitations

The strength is breadth and simplicity: with 9,000+ app connections, there's a very good chance the tools you already use are supported, and setting up a basic Zap doesn't require any code. The named integrations, Slack, Gmail, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Salesforce, are all high-usage business tools, so Zapier tends to slot into an existing stack rather than requiring you to switch anything.

The limitation is cost at volume and a complexity ceiling. The free plan's 100 tasks a month disappears quickly if you're automating anything beyond a couple of light workflows, so real usage usually means paying from $19.99 a month upward. Because each task run counts against your plan, automations that touch a lot of data can get expensive faster than they would on a platform priced by operations instead of tasks, which is one of the differences worth checking against Make before committing to either. None of this makes Zapier a bad starting point, it's usually the fastest way to get a first automation live, but it's worth watching your task count once you're running more than a couple of Zaps regularly.