Zapier charges you per step. We charge for the time it takes.
That sounds like a pricing detail. It is actually the thing that decides what you are allowed to build. When every step costs money on every run, you start merging logic to keep the count down, and the automation you ship is the one your plan can afford rather than the one the process needs.
Zapier is the widest and easiest on-ramp to connecting cloud apps, and its catalogue is bigger than ours. Flomation is for when you have stopped connecting two apps and started running a process, and counting tasks has become the thing you optimise instead of the work.
At a glance
Structural differences rather than feature checkboxes, because the checkboxes converge and the structure does not.
| Flomation | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is billed | By execution time. Every plan includes unlimited workflows and every action. | By task, where each step that runs counts. |
| What that changes | A thirty-step flow costs what it takes to run, so you build the flow the process actually needs rather than the shortest one you can get away with. | Adding a step adds cost on every run, which tends to push people towards shorter flows. |
| Working through a list | Looping over a thousand rows costs the time it takes, not a thousand units. | Each item processed counts against the allowance. |
| What's included | All 3,585 actions and AI nodes on every plan, including the free one. Nothing is held back for a higher tier. | Some apps and features are reserved for higher plans. |
| Forms | Multi-page forms with conditional questions, file uploads, payment, a language switcher, and an embed SDK for your own site. | Available through separate products in the suite. |
| AI agents | Agents hold a conversation over Slack, Telegram and email, remember it, and can call your flows as tools. | AI steps inside automations, plus separate agent products. |
| Human approvals | A first-class step that pauses the flow, asks a person on the channel they already use, and resumes on their answer. | Available, with approvals delivered by email or through the suite. |
| Catalogue size | 3,585 actions, weighted towards infrastructure, data and UK services. | Substantially larger, weighted towards SaaS and consumer apps. |
| Where it runs | Our cloud, or self-hosted on your own infrastructure if you need that. Same product either way. | Managed cloud only. |
Checked against both products on 24 August 2026.
The three that actually matter
Most comparison tables are noise. If you are choosing between these two, the decision almost always comes down to one of these.
You stop designing around the meter
Per-task billing quietly shapes every decision: teams merge steps, skip the error handling, avoid the loop, and end up with an automation nobody can read because the readable version cost too much. Charging for execution time removes that pressure. A clear thirty-step flow and a clever eight-step one cost about the same, so you can build the clear one and still afford to run it.
The whole catalogue is on every plan
All 3,585 actions and the AI nodes are included from the free plan upwards. There is no premium tier holding back the connector you actually need, and no discovering halfway through building something that the last step requires an upgrade.
Processes have people in them
Real work stops and waits for somebody to decide. Flomation treats that as a step: the flow suspends, asks the person on Slack or Telegram, and carries on from their answer. Forms, approvals and conversational agents are built on the same foundation as everything else rather than sold as separate products you wire together.
When Zapier is the better choice
We would rather you picked the right tool than picked ours. Zapier is genuinely the better answer in these cases.
- You want the largest connector catalogue available, particularly for consumer and long-tail SaaS apps. Theirs is bigger than ours and has been for a decade.
- Your automations are short, linear and cloud-to-cloud, where per-task billing is cheap and the simplicity is the point.
- You are one person or a small team automating your own work, and you want something running this afternoon.
- Nobody needs to fill in a form, approve anything, or interact with the automation at all.
- The specific apps you depend on are ones Zapier has covered better than anyone else.
If you do move
There is no import tool, and we would not trust one that claimed to be. What actually happens:
- 01Pick the single Zap that costs the most or breaks the most often, and rebuild that one first. It is usually an afternoon.
- 02Multi-step Zaps usually get simpler, not harder, because there is no longer a reason to compress steps to save tasks.
- 03Your keys move into an environment rather than into the steps, so the same flow runs against test and live without editing.
- 04Run both in parallel for a week. Flomation keeps every run, so you can compare what each produced before you switch anything off.
Other comparisons
Same approach, different product. Each one says where the other tool wins.
Try it against the flow that costs you most
The free plan needs no card and includes every action. Rebuild one automation you already pay for, look at what it costs to run here, and decide from that rather than from a table.
Start freeZapier, Make, n8n and Power Automate are trademarks of their respective owners. Flomation is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Everything on these pages describes how the products are built rather than what they cost, because pricing and packaging change often. Check the current details with each vendor before you decide.