The best IFTTT alternatives you must try are Relay.app, Zapier, Make, Power Automate, Pipedream, Pabbly Connect, Workato, Zoho Flow, and n8n.
IFTTT is the leader in no-code mobile automation. The software lets you create custom “if this, then that” connections between apps, devices, and services from anywhere.
Even though 900+ brands use IFTTT and the community is 27 million strong, the platform is made for simple workflows and has multiple drawbacks.
In this article, we discuss why companies look for IFTTT alternatives and break down the best ones in detail, including features, pricing, integrations, and tradeoffs.
Let’s do it ⤵️
Why Do You Need an IFTTT Alternative?
There are three major reasons why you might need an IFTTT alternative:
- IFTTT is made for simple automation.
- IFTTT’s free plan is very limited.
- Pricing is unreliable.
Let's discuss each drawback at length and see what verified IFTT customers have to say. ⤵️
1. IFTTT is for simple use cases
For any IFTTT automation, every single link in the chain must function properly, or the entire chain will break.
The more complex an applet (applets are the pre-built automations in IFTTT), the more likely it is to fail, and IFTTT doesn’t allow for rigorous testing.
The platform also provides little information on some applets, making it difficult to know what each applet does.
For complex workflows, it’s recommended to look for an alternative.
2. The Free Plan Only Lets You Create 3 Automations
Many G2 users have complained about the limited free plan, which lets you create only 3 automations.
It also offers basic features and limited integrations. Most notably, only paid users can create multistep applets.
3. IFTTT can be unreliable
Both in its pricing and product, IFTTT is known to make changes that affect its customers.
Updates are a normal part of any technology company, yet customers who need product stability and predictable pricing can be
frustrated by IFTTT’s sudden changes.
9 Best IFTTT Alternatives
- Relay.app – Keep humans in the workflow automation loop.
- Zapier – Helps small and medium-sized businesses automate processes and workflows.
- Make – No-code workflow automation builder.
- Power Automate – End-to-end automation platform.
- Pipedream – Low-code AI-powered automation software.
- Pabbly Connect – Simplifies integrating multiple apps to build workflows.
- Zoho Flow – Create customized workflows and automation across cloud apps and on-premises systems.
- Workato – Cloud-native enterprise iPaaS solution.
- N8n – Enterprise-grade low-code automation software
1. Relay.app
Relay.app is a fast and collaborative alternative to IFTTT that lets you create complex business automations easily.
The platform stands out by allowing for “human-in-the-loop” steps in your workflows, as well as collaborative automations and AI tasks.
It’s the best IFTTT alternative for teams who want to automate anything easily at scale and allow non-technical folks to be involved.
Let’s take a look at Relay.app’s most popular capabilities 👇
Feature 1. Human In the Loop
Not every step in a workflow can be automated. Many workflows require human decision-making or input.
For example 👇
Suppose you send churn emails to customers who opt out of your paid product.
Without humans involved, everyone will receive the same churn email with basic personalization.
Response rate? Likely very low…
With Relay.app, you can fire notifications as soon as the workflow starts and request that someone from Customer Support add context to the email.
Result? More feedback and retention from customers!
The most popular Human in the Loop applications are:
- Approvals: In a sales workflow, managers need to approve newly created contracts. When approved, the workflow automatically sends the customer a Docusign and waits for completion.
- Manual data inputs: In a customer onboarding workflow, the Account Executive (AE) for a closed deal is asked to provide a link to the deal’s summary notes, which will then be automatically shared with the Customer Success Manager (CSM).
- Human decisions: When a new support email arrives in a shared inbox, a support team member needs to classify it as either a complaint or a support request. Depending on the decision, an email will be sent to the customer, or a support ticket will be created in Zendesk.
- Blocking manual tasks: In a sales workflow, after a deal is closed, the sales manager is assigned the task of creating a contract draft. Once the contract is drafted, the document is shared with the other party's legal counsel for review.
Why is Human in the Loop Important?
Some might say having human input slows workflow.
That’s true. However, the effectiveness of your processes goes way up, along with the quality of your customer experience.
Having a human in the loop is crucial for processes like:
- Personalizing semi-automated emails as part of customer onboarding/churn/feedback workflows.
- Human triage of incoming user feedback before automatically filing bugs in Jira/Linear.
- Manually assign customer sales managers within the team to a newly acquired customer by the customer success leader whenever a new deal is closed.
AI can’t do that for you either. Removing humans from automations speeds up workflows but slows down the entire process.
Feature 2. 1-Click AI Assistance
Relay.app’s platform includes purpose-built AI use cases that you can add to processes - in one click ⤵️
For example, you can use AI Autofill to suggest paragraphs for emails or extract information from customer records ⤵️
AI Classify can also guide your automation through conditional logic paths for you.
Click below to set up an automation that uses AI to summarize call transcripts before adding summaries to customer records in your CRM ⤵️
Feature 3. Collaborative Workflows
IT teams manage most workflow tools in silos. Relay.app lets you build playbooks with anyone on your team. The feature is appreciated by go-to-market teams, who can now own their processes without depending on engineers.
The best part - Relay.app can fetch roles from your internal systems and delegate tasks via dynamic role assignments, like looking for the right Support Rep in your ticketing platform. ⤵️
Relay.app Integrations
Relay.app natively integrates with 50+ applications like Asana, Lemlist, Airtable, Calendly, and many more.
The team is constantly adding new ones. Most importantly, apps are easy and seamless to deploy in Relay.app, with little to no oversight needed once published.
Pricing
Relay.app’s free plan gives you 100 free runs and access to all features.
To onboard your team and get more than 100 runs, choose from three paid plans:
- Starter: $18 per month (for up to 2 users)
- Team: Starting at $27 per month ($9 per seat)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
How Does Relay.app Compare to IFTTT
IFTTT is a top choice for simpler workflow needs like cross-posting from Facebook to LinkedIn.
However, it has a limited free version and can’t handle complex flows.
People switch to Relay.app for its ability to build complex workflows collaboratively, unlimited automations, VIP support, and built-in AI capabilities.
Pros and Cons
✅ Gives you 100 free runs and unlimited runs in its paid plans.
✅ Easy for users with no workflow automation experience or technical abilities.
✅ Out-of-the-box AI inputs.
✅ Can pull roles and assignments from internal tooling.
❌ Fewer integrations than market leaders (we’re adding new integrations regularly).
2. Zapier
Zapier is a workflow automation software that helps small and medium-sized businesses automate processes and workflows.
Its easy-to-use interface and no-code automation builder make it a go-to choice for 2.2 million+ companies.
Features
- An intuitive workflow builder allowing you to drag and drop apps, actions, and triggers.
- Connect 6,000+ apps together.
- 70+ pre-built automation templates for lead management, custom service processes, sales pipelines, and more such use cases.
- Easily customize workflows using AI-powered data formatting, code steps, and webhooks.
- Use conversational AI to automate anything using descriptive text-based commands.
Pricing
For creating automation and workflows, Zapier offers a free forever plan and five paid plans:
- Basic: Free forever
- Starter: $29.99 per month
- Professional: $73.50 per month
- Team: $103.50 per month
- Company: Custom pricing
👀 Note: The final price actually depends on the number of tasks you need to automate per month, which can significantly increase the cost of Zapier’s plans.
Pros and Cons
✅ A generous free forever plan with basic and some premium features.
✅ It’s easy to create automations as a beginner.
❌ Zapier’s pricing depends on the number of Zaps you need per month. The tool can be expensive at scale.
3. Make
Make is another no-code solution that gamifies workflow automation thanks to its intuitive visual “drag-and-drop” workflow builder.
Features
- Makes building and testing workflows fun and accessible through a drag-and-drop builder.
- Has thousands of in-app integrations and allows no-code apps to connect via Webhooks or HTTP.
- Offers a rich library of pre-built templates you can easily incorporate into your system.
Pricing
You can try Make for free, but it’s limited to 1000 monthly operations and includes only the most basic features, such as the visual drag-and-drop builder.
If you need more complex functionality and more automations, you can choose between four plans:
- Core: $10.59 per month
- Pro: $18.82 per month
- Teams: $34.12 per month
- Enterprise: Custom Pricing
👀 Note: These are not definitive prices, as they can go up based on the number of automations you need to run per month.
Pros and cons
✅ The visual builder makes building workflows fairly easy.
✅ Allows for creating more complex workflows thanks to data manipulation, flow control, conditional logic, etc.
❌ Building complicated workflows can slow down the interface significantly.
❌ Can get costly for large-scale users.
4. Power Automate
Microsoft’s Power Automate is an end-to-end automation platform.
It helps orchestrate and automate processes across desktops, apps, and websites. It works best for companies who run on Microsoft business products and don’t have automation needs in other applications.
Features
- The AI copilot helps create, edit, and extend process automation using natural language.
- Mix-and-use AI Copilot with robotic process automation (RPA) and digital process automation (DPA) to automate legacy systems and cloud apps.
- Comes with 1,000+ pre-built API connectors and lets you build custom APIs for seamless connection between cloud apps.
- Use AI to get quick recommendations on optimization and automation opportunities.
- Offers built-in security features like governance, admin control, and 360-degree monitoring to scale automation across your organization.
Pricing
Microsoft Power Automate offers a 30-day free trial, after which you can upgrade to one of its paid plans:
- Power Automate Premium: $15 per month
- Power Automate Process: $150 per month
Pros and Cons
✅ Great option for businesses who run on Microsoft 365.
✅ Offers real-time analytics and alerts.
❌ Lacks advanced customization options for creating complex workflows.
❌ Hard to use and manage for teams with software from various providers.
5. Pipedream
Pipedream is AI-powered automation software. Its low-code interface makes it ideal for developers struggling to build and launch automations quickly.
Features
- Lets you add custom logic using Node.js, Python, Go, or Bash to your workflows, allowing complete code-level automation control.
- Access to millions of npm and PyPi packages facilitating workflow customization via Node.js or Python.
- Thousands of pre-built triggers, actions, queues, data stores, and one-click private networks allow you to build simple workflows.
- Hundreds of read-made workflow templates for easy development and quick deployment.
- The AI lets you generate custom blocks of code using simple descriptions of what you want to do.
Pricing
Pipedream offers a free forever plan and three paid plans:
- Basic: $29 per month
- Advanced: $74 per month
- Business: $149 per month
Pros and Cons
✅ Has a vast collection of workflow elements and templates.
❌ Pipedream’s low-code interface has a steep learning curve.
❌ Credit-based pricing is a major turndown for users who need to scale processes.
6. Pabbly Connect
Pabbly Connect is a simple yet robust automation platform that simplifies integrating multiple apps and automating simple workflows without coding.
Features
- The intuitive no-code workflow builder simplifies automation, making it easily accessible to all users.
- Supports more than 1,500+ applications for seamless real-time data transfer from one platform to another via workflows.
- Lets you schedule workflows for a specific day, once a day, or every minute if needed.
- Gives you the ability to create advanced workflows with routers and paths.
Pricing
Pabbly Connect comes with a free plan, but it’s limited to 100 tasks per month.
If you want access to greater limits and premium features, choose from its premium plans:
- Standard: $49 per month
- Pro: $99 per month
- Ultimate: $199 per month
Pros and Cons
✅ Comes with an API to integrate with any application.
✅ Add time delays to workflows.
❌ Setting up complex workflows in Pabbly Connect is hard and limited.
❌ Does not allow for team-based collaboration.
7. Zoho Flow
Zoho Flow is an automation platform that lets you create customized workflows and automation across cloud apps and on-premises systems.
The platform’s highly visual workflow builder canvas lets you build automation without coding knowledge by dragging and dropping apps, logic elements, triggers, and actions.
Features
- Has a gallery of over 850 apps and 1,300+ workflow templates to customize and deploy automation quickly.
- Use Deluge, Zoho's scripting language, to create complex workflows with advanced decision trees, mathematical calculations, or data formatting.
- Get recommendations on the next best alternative paths for your workflows in case of errors or failed steps.
- Zoho Flow’s On-Prem agent lets you securely connect cloud apps with apps on your local network.
- Access and monitor vital metrics, like workflow status, delays, and execution summary, via intuitive dashboards.
Pricing
Zoho Flow provides a 15-day free trial and two paid subscription plans:
- Standard: $29 per month
- Professional: $49 per month
Pros and Cons
✅ A flexible platform with no-code/low-code features for marketers and developers.
✅ Offers real-time collaboration via in-app comments.
❌ Only offers a 15-day free trial.
❌ Clunky interface.
8. Workato
Workato is a cloud-native enterprise iPaaS solution that is best for creating purely automated systems managed by IT.
It excels in automating IT workflows that require single-path automation and enterprise-grade scale.
Features
- A drag-and-drop workflow builder makes it easy to integrate apps, triggers, and action elements for IT and marketing people.
- Comes with an extensive library of ready-to-use accelerators and 1,200+ pre-built connectors for SaaS, databases, ERPs, APIs, and more.
- Workato’s partnership with Slack and MS teams lets you create Workbots to automate in-app workflows and processes.
- The AI-powered tools, like AssistIQ and ReceipeIQ, help you build complex workflows and integrations with ease.
Pricing
Workato doesn’t reveal its pricing online. Contact Workato’s sales team for a quote.
Pros and Cons
✅ Come with several integrations you can use when building workflows.
✅ Smart-versioning allows you to keep track of changes in workflow recipes.
❌ Workato has a steep learning curve.
9. N8n
N8n is an enterprise-grade low-code automation software.
It offers AI-powered workflow building that is best suited to IT, security, DevOps, and sales teams.
Features
- A visual workflow editor with a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to build complex, multi-trigger workflows without coding.
- Offers 800+ ready-made workflow templates tailored for teams in sales, IT, marketing, and security departments.
- Set up custom actions or alternative workflows for when an execution fails, saving time and eliminating bottlenecks.
- Has a library of 990+ native integrations to popular data sources, messaging, e-commerce, and management apps.
- Supports webhooks and APIs, allowing users to integrate their workflows with custom applications and services.
- Real-time data preview alongside visual canvas makes it easy to track, iterate, and monitor workflow changes.
Pricing
N8n offers three paid plans to choose from:
- Starter: $24 per month
- Pro: $60 per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Allows your team to view and edit the same workflow as you.
✅ Complete visibility into workflows with version control using Git and comprehensive audit logs.
❌ n8n doesn’t offer a free plan.
Create Workflow Automations with Relay.app
Your business needs an automation solution that makes life simple for your teams and gives the best possible experience to your customers.
Here are reasons why you would want to switch from IFTTT to an alternative:
- Your workflows are often complex and need more flexibility
- You need enough free breathing room to make an educated decision.
- You want your automation to keep running for a long period of time without oversight.
- You need multiple integrations to create workflows.
- You want to leverage AI in your workflows.
- Different teams need to collaborate and be involved in automated and semi-automated workflows.
All the products listed above are the best IFTTT alternatives you and your team can use to create amazing workflows and run automation at scale.
Which one’s the best for your business?
Only you can answer that, but might as well try the #1 choice! Sign up for Relay.app’s free trial and set up workflows (like this one) in minutes.
