Zapier has lots of different productivity functions, including AI tools under beta. It’s aimed at making life easier for workers, whether they are tech-savvy or tech-agnostic.
If you’ve been looking into tools to automate your workflow, Zapier has probably popped up somewhere along your search. It’s a productivity whizz, particularly useful for under-resourced teams, start-ups and anyone who wants to streamline their litany of work apps.
In fact, that’s where Zapier excels. It has a lot of integrations with other apps that teams use – according to its website, the total number of integrations is more than 7,000. It works well with all the usual suspects such as Google Calendar and Slack, but you’ll find more specialist app integrations too depending on what industry you’re in.
Think e-commerce apps like Shopify; Flodesk and Klaviyo for email marketing; QuickBooks Online and Xero for accountants and GitHub and Twilio for techies.
Speaking of specialist industries, like a lot of companies making tools that seek to go the extra mile, Zapier lists different use cases, which you’ll find under the Solutions tab along the top banner of the home page. It can be used by customer support teams to automate ticket and incident responses or by IT teams to take care of project management. That’s just two examples you’ll find.
AI features
Zapier has its share of AI features, too. From creating chatbots to AI plugins, there is a lot of AI-related tech for enthusiasts. Here is a useful guide to get you started on familiarising yourself with these.
Some of these tools – such as the Zapier Copilot and Zap Builder – are still in beta. (According to the company, this means they are available for use but may change as they are still in active development.)
What is a Zap builder, we hear you ask. A ‘zap’ is Zapier’s term for an automated action; the builder tool lets you harness AI to automate a task. You can customise the process yourself using the Zap builder template or the copilot and you don’t need technical language to do so. It’s designed to be as fool-proof as any other AI-powered tool. Just input your prompts using the copilot and AI will do the rest.
For beginners
Of course, you don’t have to go all high-tech right away if you don’t want to. If you need to go back to basics, or you haven’t a clue what you’re doing with Zapier, it has a good beginners’ guide here. This will introduce you to some of its basic features and concepts and it explains everything in plain language. The tool is designed to make work easier, after all, not make it more of a head melt so it has resources, tools and pricing plans designed for all kinds of users – whether they are tech-savvy or tech-agnostic.
How much?
A word on pricing, now. You can get most basic Zapier features for free. The free plan is aimed at “individuals starting out with automation”. Then, there are starter, professional, team and company plans – each incrementally more expensive.
With the free plan, you get unlimited zaps, which is pretty good. But for more advanced features like premium app integrations, advanced zap settings and unlimited users, you’ll need to opt for the pricier plans like professional (starting at €45.97 per month) or teams (starting at €64.73 per month).
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