Relay.app vs Zapier — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Relay.app starts at $38/mo. Zapier starts at $29.99/mo. Zapier is $8.010000000000002/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Relay.app.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Relay.app (Hybrid) — Relay.app is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $38/mo plus metered usage on top. Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
- Zapier (Per Usage) — Zapier bills purely on usage — Tasks/month. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
AI-native workflow automation platform — workflows can pause for human approval and use AI to draft any step. Pricing: Free (400 runs/mo), Pro $9/user/mo (5K runs), Team $59/mo (5 users, 20K runs), Enterprise custom. Positioned as the AI-native alternative to Zapier and Make for teams that want human-in-the-loop workflows.
The category-defining workflow automation platform ("if X then Y") supporting 7,000+ apps. Distinctive for the sheer breadth of app support — if a SaaS tool exists, Zapier probably connects to it. Priced by task volume rather than user count, which surprises teams running high-volume automations. Free tier includes 100 tasks/month; paid tiers scale to millions. Losing power-user share to Make (Integromat) and n8n (self-hostable open source), but still the default for non-technical users.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Relay.app monthly | Relay.app annual | Zapier monthly | Zapier annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | Professional | $38 | $19 | $29.99 | $19.99 |
| Teams | Team | $118 | $59 | $103.5 | $69 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Relay.app is worth it if… g. AI drafts a customer email, human reviews before sending.
Zapier is worth it if… Zapier is worth it as the default no-code automation platform for anyone (solo entrepreneurs to enterprise) that wants to connect apps without engineering — particularly if you value the widest integration catalog and simplest UX in the category. Free covers basic solo use; Starter, Professional, Team, and Company scale by tasks/mo and team features.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Relay.app is hybrid, Zapier is per usage.
Choose Relay.app over Zapier if…
Choose Relay.app if…
- You're fine with a base subscription plus metered usage on top (from $38/mo).
- You match the profile Relay.app is built for: Relay.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
Choose Zapier if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, from $29.99/mo).
- You match the profile Zapier is built for: worth it as the default no-code automation platform for anyone (solo entrepreneurs to enterprise) that wants to connect apps without engineering — particularly if you value the widest integration catalog and simplest UX in the category.
- You need a general-purpose developer & infrastructure option rather than a vertical-specific one.
At a glance
| Relay.app | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | $38/mo | $29.99/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Hybrid | Per Usage |
| Last verified | September 20, 2026 | September 11, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 20, 2026. Tracked daily.