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It's a split decision.
Pick Relay.app if human approvals, edits, or input need to sit inside workflows, and its annual Professional price of $19/month fits your volume. Pick Zapier if connecting a broad app stack matters more: its homepage says it connects 9,000+ apps, and Team starts at $69/month with 25 users. The trade-off is limits: Relay Free allows 200 workflow steps/month, while Zapier Free has 100 tasks/month and only two-step Zaps. Zapier’s task overages are pay-per-task.
01Side by side
| Relay.app | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $19/month annually; $38 monthly | $19.99/month starting rate |
| Free plan | 200 workflow steps; 500 AI credits monthly | 100 tasks; two-step Zaps only |
| Best for | Workflows that need human review | Teams automating across many apps |
| Core strength | Built-in AI and human approvals | 9,000+ app connections |
| Learning curve | Approachable visual workflow building | Easy to use, per review scores |
| Integrations/data | Handles nested and linked data | Connects 9,000+ apps |
| Team/seat costs | 10 seats; $59/month annually | 25 users; starts at $69/month |
| Support | Support details not published | Email and live chat; priority on Team |
Relay.app Choose Relay.app if
- Choose Relay.app if workflows need built-in human approvals.
- Choose Relay.app if you want native AI without external API keys.
- Choose Relay.app if 200 free monthly workflow steps are enough.
Zapier Choose Zapier if
- Choose Zapier if you need connections across 9,000+ apps.
- Choose Zapier if your team needs shared workflows and folders.
- Choose Zapier if IT needs centralized workflow controls.
02Pricing compared
Relay is cheaper at the annual Professional price, but its limits are explicit. Pricing checked November 6, 2026, lists Professional at $19/month billed annually or $38 month-to-month for one user, with 750 workflow steps and 5,000 AI credits monthly. Team is $59/month annually or $118 monthly for 10 included users, 2,000 steps and 5,000 AI credits. Zapier Professional starts at $19.99/month at its lowest task tier; its annual price isn’t published here. Team starts at $69/month for 25 users. Zapier Free includes 100 tasks/month and two-step Zaps; Relay Free includes 200 workflow steps and 500 AI credits. Don’t treat a task and a workflow step as equivalent: the pricing details don’t establish that. Zapier charges per task after the plan limit; Relay’s step overage rate isn’t published.
03Features and depth
Relay’s clearest difference is human review inside a workflow: it can pause for approval, edits or input through email, Slack or in-app notifications. Its built-in AI supports OpenAI GPT-4o, Anthropic Claude and Google Gemini without external API keys. Relay also lists conditional branches, merged paths, subflows, iterators and triggers from app events, schedules, webhooks, manual actions or APIs.
Zapier’s advantage is breadth: its homepage says it connects 9,000+ apps. It lists multi-step Zaps, webhooks, advanced logic and automatic error recovery, plus Zapier MCP for connecting AI tools to business apps without API keys. Its governance features let IT view, audit and disable workflows or agent actions, with granular access controls. Zapier also lists SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, GDPR and CCPA compliance. Choose Relay when review is part of the process; choose Zapier when the larger app catalog or centralized controls matter more.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Both products are no-code workflow tools, but the published details suggest different places to start. Relay describes visual flow controls and built-in human review, so approval steps can be part of the workflow rather than handled separately. Its Free plan allows 200 workflow steps per month, though the included 500 AI credits are a separate limit.
Zapier’s Free plan is narrower: 100 tasks per month and two-step Zaps. Multi-step Zaps are listed under Professional, which starts at $19.99/month. Zapier also offers more advanced logic and governance features, which may take more configuration. Neither product’s published materials publish setup times or formal learning requirements, so we can’t make a measured claim about which is faster to learn.
Questions people ask
What apps does Zapier integrate with?
Zapier’s homepage says it connects 9,000+ apps. The published published material doesn’t include a catalog or specific app list, so check Zapier’s app directory for whether a particular service and action are supported.
Is the Relay app legit?
Relay.app is described as a cloud-based, no-code workflow automation platform with built-in AI and human review. That describes the product, not a full reliability or company assessment. The published review summary also flags unresolved shutdown concerns but gives no detail to verify them.
Are there alternatives to Zapier?
Relay.app is one alternative covered here. It offers human review steps, built-in AI and visual workflow controls; Zapier’s stated strength is its 9,000+ app catalog and governance features. Which fits better depends on whether in-workflow review or app breadth matters more to your team.
What are the key differences between Zapier and Power Automate?
The published published material covers Zapier and Relay.app, not Power Automate, so we can’t make a sourced comparison with Power Automate here. For Zapier versus Relay, the main distinction is Zapier’s 9,000+ app catalog versus Relay’s built-in human review and AI steps.