Zapier vs IFTTT: Which One Fits Your Automations?

Pick IFTTT for personal automations — smart home devices, your phone's location, one trigger firing one or two actions. Pick Zapier for business workflows that chain several SaaS apps together. The clearest way to see the split is how each one bills: IFTTT's plans limit how many automations you keep, while Zapier's plans limit how many actions run.

That one difference explains most of the rest:

• IFTTT meters applets, not runs. Its plans page caps the number of applets per tier, and the Free plan lists "Unlimited Applet runs". A few automations that fire constantly is exactly the shape it rewards.
• Zapier meters tasks, not Zaps. Zaps are unlimited on every plan; what counts is each successful action step. Lots of small, rarely-firing workflows is cheap. One workflow that fires thousands of times with many steps is not.
• The integration libraries lean in opposite directions. IFTTT's catalog is weighted toward devices, phones and consumer services. Zapier's is weighted toward CRMs, billing, forms, spreadsheets and team tools.
• Both now have an AI layer, and they converged on similar ideas: describe an automation in plain language, and connect your AI assistant through MCP.

If you're asking "is IFTTT better than Zapier", the honest answer is that they are rarely competing for the same job. Here's how to tell which job you have.

Quick comparison

Integration counts are each vendor's own claim: IFTTT's homepage says "1,000+ services", and Zapier's app directory says 9,000+.

What each billing model rewards

Most comparisons stop at "IFTTT is simpler, Zapier is more powerful." That's true and not very useful. The plan structures tell you more, because each vendor charges for the thing its product is designed to do a lot of.

IFTTT: you pay for how many automations you keep

On the IFTTT plans page, the main thing that changes between tiers is the applet allowance:

So the meter is the count of automations, not their activity. A motion sensor that triggers fifty times a day doesn't push you toward a bigger plan. Adding a twenty-first applet does, on Pro.

That suits personal automation well. Home and phone routines tend to be few and noisy: a handful of rules that fire whenever the door opens, you arrive home, or the weather changes. IFTTT's model lets them fire freely.

It also tells you what IFTTT is less built for. Anything that needs branching logic — "if the email is from a customer, do this, otherwise do that" — needs filter code, and filter code is a Pro+ feature. IFTTT's own plans copy describes it as a way to "Refine the timing and conditions of your Applets using queries and filter code." The logic exists. It sits at the top tier and asks you to write a little code (IFTTT also offers a filter code generator), which is a signal about who the product is mainly built for.

Zapier: you pay for how much work runs

Zapier flips the meter. Per its pricing page, plans differ mainly by monthly task allowance, and Zaps themselves are unlimited. Zapier's help article on how tasks are counted defines a task as "any successful action that runs in Zapier", and lists what doesn't count: triggers and polling, Filter and Paths steps, failed actions, and built-in tools like Formatter, Delay and Storage.

That rewards a different shape:

• Many workflows, each firing occasionally — new form submission to CRM, closed deal to Slack, invoice paid to spreadsheet. Twenty of those cost almost nothing if each fires a few times a day.
• Logic is cheap, actions are not. Because Filters and Paths don't consume tasks, Zapier wants you to filter early and only take the actions you need.

And it punishes the shape IFTTT rewards. A rule that fires on every motion event, every smart plug change, or every location update would burn through tasks for work that isn't worth paying per-action for.

One more structural limit worth knowing: Zapier's Free plan is limited to two-step Zaps (one trigger, one action), per its pricing page. Multi-step Zaps — the reason most people choose Zapier — need a paid plan.

Smart home and phone: IFTTT's ground

If the question is "zapier or ifttt for smart home", it's IFTTT in nearly every case.

The reason is the catalog, not the builder. IFTTT has service pages for devices and phone signals that a business automation tool doesn't prioritise — for example Ring, SmartThings, and Location, which uses the IFTTT mobile app to trigger when you enter or leave an area. Zapier's catalog is broad, but its center of gravity is SaaS apps with business APIs.

Typical applets that fit IFTTT's shape:

• Turn on a light or plug when your phone arrives home
• Get a notification when a camera detects motion while you're away
• Log every workout, location check-in or saved post to a spreadsheet
• Mute or change a device setting on a schedule

Two caveats before you commit to IFTTT for your home:

Device support changes. Integrations come and go as manufacturers change their APIs and partnerships. Check that your exact devices have an IFTTT service page before you plan around them, rather than assuming a big brand is listed.

It's a cloud service. Your automations depend on IFTTT's servers and the device maker's cloud both being up. If you want rules that keep running when the internet doesn't, a local-first hub is the better shape — our IFTTT alternatives guide covers Home Assistant and the other local options.

If your phone is the main trigger and you're on iOS, also look at Apple Shortcuts before either tool. Many personal routines run entirely on-device there, with no account at all — see iPhone automations for which triggers run without asking.

Business workflows: Zapier's ground

The moment your automation touches customer data, money or a team, Zapier is the better fit, and not only because of app count.

Multi-step is the default design. A Zapier workflow is a list of steps you read top to bottom: trigger, filter, look something up, format it, write to three apps. IFTTT can do multi-action applets on Pro, but the product is still organised around a trigger and its actions, not a process.

Branching is built in. Paths let one Zap split into different outcomes, and they don't count as tasks. On IFTTT, conditional behaviour means filter code on Pro+.

The apps are there. CRMs, help desks, accounting tools, form builders, databases — this is where Zapier's 9,000+ directory is deep and IFTTT's is thin.

Shared ownership works. Zapier sells a Team plan for multiple users. IFTTT's plans page lists individual tiers, and its business pitch is aimed at companies with their own connected users rather than at teams automating their work.

If you're comparing Zapier against other business-grade tools rather than IFTTT, Zapier vs Make covers the next decision: tasks versus credits, and linear steps versus a visual canvas.

Where they've converged: AI

Both products added an AI layer, and they landed in similar places.

The MCP piece is the most practical change. Zapier describes Zapier MCP as letting "Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any other AI client take real action in the apps that run your business." It bills inside the same task meter: Zapier's task article lists MCP at "2 tasks per successful tool call". IFTTT's homepage offers the same idea for its side of the world: "Connect your AI tools to IFTTT services and automations with IFTTT MCP."

So the AI layer follows the same split as everything else. Through Zapier's MCP, your assistant reaches business apps and spends tasks. Through IFTTT's, it reaches the consumer and device services IFTTT already connects.

Zapier goes further with Agents, which it pitches as AI teammates that "do work across 9,000+ apps — on command and while you sleep." IFTTT's plans page doesn't list an equivalent. If an AI that runs business tasks on its own is what you're after, that's a point for Zapier.

Which should you pick?

Use both if your life splits that way. Plenty of people run IFTTT for the house and the phone and Zapier for work. The two don't overlap enough to make that wasteful, and each one's plan model is cheapest when it's doing the job it was built for.

Switch from IFTTT to Zapier when you notice you're writing filter code to express business logic, or you need an app IFTTT doesn't list. That's the point where you've crossed from personal into process automation. Zapier alternatives is worth a read before you commit, if self-hosting or cost is a concern.

When the thing you want isn't a trigger

Both tools assume the automation is an event moving between services: a sensor fires, a form submits, an action follows. A lot of what people now want to run doesn't look like that. You saw someone's AI research workflow or agent setup, and the hard part isn't connecting two apps — it's getting their whole setup running at all.

That's the shape Taku is built for. It mirrors an AI app or workflow someone already got working into a desktop workspace where you can run it, edit it and save it as your own. Taku is in Beta, and the Mac app is available now.

FAQ

Is IFTTT better than Zapier?

For personal and smart home automation, usually yes: its catalog leans toward devices and phones, and its plans limit how many applets you keep rather than how often they run. For business workflows with several steps and apps, Zapier is the better tool.

Zapier or IFTTT for smart home?

IFTTT. Its catalog includes device services like Ring and SmartThings plus phone location triggers, and frequent device events don't consume a per-action allowance the way Zapier tasks do. Check your specific devices are listed first, and use a local hub if automations must survive internet outages.

Can IFTTT do multi-step automations like Zapier?

Partly. Multi-action applets are available on IFTTT Pro and Pro+, and queries and filter code — which add conditions — are Pro+ only. It still lacks Zapier-style branching paths without code.

Does Zapier charge when a trigger fires but nothing happens?

No. Triggers, polling, Filter and Paths steps, and failed actions don't count as tasks. You're billed for successful action steps.

Do IFTTT applets have a run limit?

IFTTT's plans page lists "Unlimited Applet runs" on the Free plan; what changes across tiers is how many applets you can have, plus speed and features. Check the plans page for current details.

Can my AI assistant use Zapier or IFTTT?

Yes, both offer an MCP server. Zapier MCP connects AI clients to Zapier's business app catalog and uses two tasks per successful tool call. IFTTT MCP connects AI tools to IFTTT services and automations.

Can I move my IFTTT applets to Zapier?

There's no importer. Applets are short, so rebuilding them as Zaps is usually quick — but check that Zapier supports the devices involved before you move anything smart home related.