The Zapier Automation Platform designed to integrate data between web apps. It is scaled for small to mid-sized businesses, with a functional but limited free version of the program.
$29.99
per month 750 tasks per month
Zoho Flow
Score 7.2 out of 10
N/A
Zoho Flow allows the user to integrate business apps to automate a workflow.
I've used Zapier and both programs are similar. Zapier has deeper integrations or more apps to integrate with but considering Flow's association with other Zoho apps this does it for us!
Zapier is perfect for simple integrations and setting up generally low-volume accounts that require very little configuration and maintenance. For a distributed structure where a client/outside party is responsible for billing, it’s easy to create an account, put them on a low-cost plan, configure a simple integration and teach them how to alter the setup. Its webhook-based setup is perfect for many simple use cases and there’s no reason to use a more complex or expensive solution.
However, if you have integrations that are increasingly complex (involve parsing, multiple non-linear steps, the integration of non-native APIs), significant in overall volume/data or require additional features (time delays for API limits), Zapier likely isn’t your best choice. Other integration platforms offer higher levels of customization and capability, though they’re typically significantly more complex and expensive.
Zoho Flow helps us greatly in connecting other Zoho apps. We use Flow to connect Zoho Creator with Zoho Books so an invoice is created when a record is entered into Zoho Creator. We use Zoho Flow when certain fields containing data in Zoho CRM to send that data over to the Zoho Creator record. We use it to add a contact from the Zoho Creator record to a list in Zoho Campaigns. Zoho Flow has proved very worthwhile.
Ease of use - multiple people in the organization can set up and run Zaps per their specific use cases without much training.
Connectivity - Zapier is able to connect to multiple applications we use on a regular basis.
Functionality - Zapier provides embedded functionality within the app itself (email, data conversion), but also appropriate triggers and actions for apps it connects to.
Versatile - Zapier can execute complicated and simple tasks and thus has many use cases.
Zapier is very user-friendly. They walk you through each step of the zap-building process in an orderly and easy to understand way. Each step of the zap is tested before moving onto the next step. For simple zaps, you can have them up and running within minutes. For more complicated zaps, it may take some experimentation, but Zapier is there to help you troubleshoot.
Before we purchased Zapier, I contacted support and asked them if Zapier could support my intended workflow (this is actually a selection on their support form - awesome). Within 2 hours, I was contacted by a support team member who seemed sure it would work, but granted me premium access for 2 weeks to try it out for myself. Sure enough, it did! Ever since then, support has replied rapidly to any problems I have experienced and answered my questions within a few sentences.
I've reached out to the support team several times with assistance requests in Zoho Flow. Each time the team has answered my questions promptly and accurately. And because we are mainly integrating other Zoho apps their teams are perfectly positioned to solve our problems.
I've used Zapier and both programs are similar. Zapier has deeper integrations or more apps to integrate with but considering Flow's association with other Zoho apps this does it for us!
It's part of our Zoho One package, so it's hard to comment on this one.
Assuming we did pay full price, I would say the ROI would be justified. For our example of sending invoices to Books from Creator saves us a great deal of time.
It takes a bit of time to configure each Flow but once you get the hang of it the flows really do save time and ensure data quality.
