Increase productivity, reduce workload, and create scalable automated workflows at the same time? Yes, with iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service), previously isolated tools are linked together to enable automated data exchange and the creation of lean, recurring and efficient processes.
The iPaaS market is still young and very fragmented, with many platforms offering different focuses. In our comparison, we’ve reviewed five key players:
Although not directly comparable, these platforms share enough similarities to warrant a closer look. We’ll cover what iPaaS is, its benefits, and goals, along with each platform’s interface, pricing, connectivity, and top features.
Disclaimer: In our iPaaS comparison, we only focus on key details and special features, with links to more detailed comparisons and reviews.
iPaaS stands for "Integration Platform as a Service" and is the name of a platform that links applications with each other, integrating them and allowing automatic data exchange between local or cloud-based systems. It enables the automation of digital processes, often without coding and through user-friendly tools.
As a cloud integration tool, iPaaS competes with RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and offers a more suitable solution, in our eyes, for managing, controlling, and integrating cloud apps via a central console.
It has long been common practice for companies to use many different applications for various functions. These isolated solutions can lead to data silos and susceptibility to errors, especially with shared data like master records, that must be kept up to date in many places. This can easily lead to discrepancies or duplicates.
iPaaS solutions connect these systems with each other, enabling seamless communication and automating entire workflows based on predefined triggers, conditions, and actions. This eliminates manual routine tasks.
As of 2024, Workato is a Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant™ for Integration Platform as a Service for the 6th consecutive year, recognized as one of the best iPaaS technologies and for its focus on enterprise solutions.
Workato stands out by connecting enterprise, cloud, and on-premise systems, making it appealing for a wide range of companies. In addition, Workato places a lot of emphasis on compliance and security, which makes it ideal for larger organizations. Read our comprehensive review of Workato here.
Workato’s interface, especially the dashboard, is extremely user-friendly and clear. It follows a familiar flowchart-like structure, starting with a trigger to build workflows, known as “recipes”.
In addition, Workato offers numerous functions and filters that allow the creation of extremely complex and realistic workflows. The usability of Workato is top-notch, making it easy for newcomers to quickly find their way around. A provided demo also offers a quick overview.
Workato supports over 1,000 connectors, SaaS apps, databases, and ERPs. The connectivity is further extended through HTTP integrations. In addition, you can easily create your own connectors through Workato's Connector SDK.
As already mentioned at the beginning, Workato has a special feature: on-premise solutions are also supported. Since iPaaS is strictly speaking geared towards cloud applications, no other iPaaS tool in this comparison offers this level of convenience.
Workato’s pricing differs from other iPaaS tools as it doesn’t offer predefined packages. It offers “Workato for your business”, divided into “Required” and “As Needed”.
The Required plan provides a good start with its own workspace, which includes unlimited apps, connections, recipes, and users. The As Needed plan allows you to add on tasks, which are units of work done by Workato on behalf of their customers. These include API proxy requests and Developer API requests, for example.
“Workato for your product” lets you embed Workato into your own product and connect to apps, get customer insights, and access 24/7 support. For all pricing options, a definite price is not mentioned. However, a 30-day trial is available free of charge.
Next in the iPaaS comparison is Make, an iPaaS platform from the Czech Republic on its way to the top. We ourselves use Make on a daily basis as an automation agency and can therefore provide the most insights into this tool.
Here, you can find out what exactly Make is, or read on in our detailed comparison of Make and Workato.
Make has been around in the world of cloud automation for some time now and does it quite well. What makes Make special is that it can map very complex scenarios through countless functions and filters. Admittedly, these require some practice. But once you know the possibilities of Make, you will love it.
One challenge with Make is its interface. Its dashboard merely shows you the number of operations (i.e., individual steps within a process) you have used in the last month and how much data volume was transferred.
The processes themselves are created in a modular view where each app, or process step, is represented as a circular icon and can be arranged as desired.
While this layout clearly shows process flow and where branches occur, beginners may find configuring apps and using advanced functions overwhelming. Fortunately, Make provides videos and training material in the Make Academy to help you get started with the platform.
Make offers a large number of apps, over 1,900 at the moment. In addition, numerous other applications can be connected through webhooks and HTTP requests.
As an experienced programmer, you can also develop your own apps in Make. Alternatively, as a certified Make partner, we are also able to develop apps for you in Make.
At Make, pricing is based on requirements. As is usual for most iPaaS tools, there are different price packages. These are primarily based on the amount of operations you use, i.e., individual process steps. A three-step process therefore consumes 3 operations.
Make’s free version also offers an excellent entry point with 1,000 operations included and no limit to the number of applications. You can also buy extra operations: No matter which package, once you consume all available operations, you will be able to purchase extra operations in bundles of 1,000 or 10,000 at the fixed price defined in your package.
In this iPaaS comparison, Make scores with its pricing. It is the cheapest tool on this list without sacrificing functionality and scope. Get started with Make here.
Zapier is something of a trailblazer for many of the mentioned tools in this iPaaS comparison. This is because Zapier has a huge outreach and has promoted the topic of cloud automation steadily over the last few years. The US company particularly stands out for the vast number of supported apps.
However, competitors have long since emerged, including Make and n8n, offering strong alternatives. You can find a comprehensive comparison between Zapier and Make here, and a general overview of Zapier here.
Zapier focuses on simplicity, guiding users step by step through the automation process and also offering test data to show which information or which fields are being processed. Unlike other iPaaS tools, however, Zapier uses a linear structure for processes called “Zaps”. Creating conditions or branches is also possible, but if you want to exchange a step later, you will have to delete all the following steps. Zapier lacks modularity here.
A valuable feature Zapier offers is the extension with code. You can run Python or JavaScript in your automations via a code block. This makes Zapier a beginner-friendly, no-code/low-code tool, ideal for quickly and efficiently automating digital processes without any programming knowledge.
Zapier currently supports over 7,600 apps, with the number increasing rapidly, making it a top choice in this iPaaS comparison. It also allows further integrations via HTTP requests and webhooks for unsupported apps.
Developers can also add custom apps with triggers and actions through Zapier’s developer platform. In terms of connectivity, Zapier is the clear leader here.
Zapier offers a free version. However, this free version is very limited: you can create an unlimited amount of Zaps, but these can only be so-called “two-step Zaps”. These are processes with one trigger and one action. Nothing more.
Multi-step Zaps are only possible with the paid packages. These also offer multiple other features such as webhooks, unlimited users, or shared workspaces.
Another cost factor: task limits. A task is counted once a Zap successfully completes any action or moves data. If you reach your monthly limit of tasks, Zapier will automatically switch you to pay-per-task billing, where each extra task is charged at a rate of 1.25x your plan’s task cost. Depending on your needs, this can become really expensive.
n8n is still a young star in the iPaaS sky. Founded in 2019, the Berlin-based start-up offers a unique, open-source, fair-code licensed platform. If you have high data security requirements and want to decide where your data is stored, you can simply host n8n on your own servers. Best of all, it's completely free.
Of course, there is also the option of using n8n in the cloud in true iPaaS fashion. You can read a more detailed review of n8n here or take a look at our comparisons of Make and n8n here, and Zapier and n8n here.
The n8n interface also resembles a flowchart. You can see at first glance which apps are used and how data flows through the automation. The individual modules can also be easily swapped for flexibility.
If you want to use a template, you can import it very easily: Simply copy and paste it into the n8n editor via CTRL + V, like in other applications.
In addition, n8n offers a small but very important detail: multi triggering, allowing a single process to be triggered by multiple actions. This powerful capability sets n8n apart, as most other tools usually lack this and therefore often require workarounds.
In our iPaaS comparison, n8n is currently one of the solutions that supports fewer apps – just over 1,000 – likely due to its relatively young age. However, the number is still growing. In addition, developers can add new apps within hours using JSON or JS, reinforcing n8n’s open-source philosophy.
Additionally, n8n offers HTTP requests, that make it possible to connect to other applications and encourages users to develop custom nodes.
n8n offers the possibility to self-host for free, as well as a free trial of the cloud version. In addition to that, n8n also provides three paid packages:
In n8n, workflow executions are key – counted each time a workflow completes, unlike Make’s operations, which refer to a single process step. Another limitation is the number of active workflows allowed.
In our eyes, n8n’s pricing is fair. With 2,500 workflow executions per month, you can already go a long way. What we miss, however, are flexible add-ons, like in Make, to further extend the plans. Start here with n8n.
Tray.ai, recognized as a Visionary in the Gartner iPaaS comparison, is an AI-powered iPaaS solution that lets you automate business processes and infuse them with AI, integrate data, and publish APIs. It also promises enterprise-grade security, management, and governance.
Tray.ai’s low-code AI automation builder lets you build flexible workflows and utilize APIs to extend your work with code. An AI-powered chat helps automate and connect your tech stack.
Tray.ai features a simple, modern interface with clear overviews. Workspaces with specific purposes can be used to divide your organization in departments. An Analytics dashboard also tracks tasks, workflows, and connectors, though more detail would be welcome here. Its drag-and-drop modular interface allows you to design workflows with filters, branches, and data formatting.
You can also extend your workflow with Python or JavaScript, a valuable feature. However, Tray.ai’s usability isn’t as intuitive as some competitors like Zapier, though tutorials and learning paths are available to help users get started with the platform.
Tray.ai supports more than 500 connectors, making it the platform that supports the least amount of apps in our iPaaS comparison. However, if a connector is not available, you can simply configure one of Tray.ai’s universal connectors to access any data you may need. These include the HTTP client connector, GraphQL connector, and universal triggers such as webhooks.
Tray.ai offers a 14-day free trial in addition to three price packages that all include unlimited workflows and are priced based on usage.
Each package comes with a predefined number of workspaces and starter task credits, with tasks representing workflow steps. Once the starter task credits are used up, billing is pay-as-you go per task. Packages include connectors, APIs, and user interfaces, with add-ons available. Tray.ai also provides community support, live workshops, and a dedicated Slack channel.
As the prices of each package are tailored to customers’ needs, there are no fixed prices mentioned for each plan. However, the website of Tray.ai does state that pricing starts at $2,500 per month, making it the most expensive tool on our list and reflecting its enterprise focus.
As mentioned, the tools presented cannot be compared directly. Make, Zapier and n8n target individuals and small businesses seeking affordability, while Workato and Tray.ai mostly cater to large enterprises, reflected in their pricing, compliance, and data protection features.
Our comparison also clearly shows how fragmented the market is, with no clear market leader. New players, such as n8n, are entering the market and continuously create more competition. As a result, numerous tools are available that each offer unique strengths and specializations.
In our daily work as an automation agency, however, we currently prefer Make for its excellent price-performance ratio, comprehensive features and ability to map complex processes and meet most data protection and compliance requirements. Zapier is more beginner-friendly, but struggles with complex processes and quickly becomes costly. Workato and Tray.ai, meanwhile, are both ideal for larger companies with enterprise needs.
Still need help deciding which iPaaS solution is right for you? Don’t hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.
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