ALTERNATIVESTO ZAPIER

Almost nobody switches because Zapier works badly. It works well, which is why everyone tries it first. There are three other reasons. Cost comes first: these platforms charge per operation, not per seat. A flow running on every row of a file changes the scale of the bill on its own. Then data: once customer records or documents travel through, somebody asks where they are processed. Coverage comes third, and in the UK it is rarely the reason to leave.

• Make

  The closest thing to Zapier in how it feels, built around a visual editor. You can pick a European data region, which is the main reason it is here.

• n8n

  Hosted by them, or installed on a server of your own. Installed, the data stays with you and the cost follows the machine, not the operations. Somebody has to patch and back up that server.

• Power Automate

  Worth a look when the business already lives inside Microsoft 365: identity, permissions and files are there already. Licensing terms vary between agreements, so have yours checked against your own contract.

• A written integration

  A piece of code that calls the two APIs and does that one thing. It costs more on day one and almost nothing after. With no subscription, it is the right route when the flows are few and they matter.

• Staying where you are

  Few flows, data that isn’t sensitive, every connector present: switching is work with no return. I’ve said that to people who wrote already convinced otherwise.

• Where the data is processed

  A European supplier is not the answer on its own. What counts is the region the service runs in, and where the execution logs sit. Ask before you subscribe: afterwards the answer costs a migration.

• The processing terms

  Once personal data moves through the flows, the supplier is acting as a processor. You need signed terms, the list of sub-processors, and the mechanism covering transfers out of the UK. It belongs in your record of processing.

• How it bills you

  Most of these tools invoice from abroad, often in dollars, on a company card. It’s an extra line for whoever does the books. Check the invoice carries the right company details.

• Support hours, not support quality

  Support is competent and usually several time zones west. If the flow that stops is the one issuing invoices, response time matters more than the feature that won you over.

• The software nobody has heard of

  The catalogues cover the mainstream well. What they never cover is your sector system, or the internal database built years ago. Reach those through an API, or a scheduled export: check this first.

You pay per operation, not per person

A flow that runs on every row of a file multiplies the bill on its own. Count the operations in a real month, not a quiet one.

Maintenance is not included

When a connected service changes its authentication or its API version, the flow stops. The time to get it back up is yours or mine, never the platform’s.

The access has to be yours

Connections are created under somebody’s account. When that person leaves, every flow they authorised stops at once. Service accounts are set up at the start.

Migration is not an export

Flows don’t move between platforms at the press of a button: they get rewritten. That line is missing from every comparison of two subscriptions, and it is the dearer one.

The number of flows is the real ceiling

Ten flows can be held in your head. Eighty, built by different people over two years, are an undocumented system. At that point the question isn’t which subscription.