Zapier vs Trigger.dev
A detailed comparison to help you choose between Zapier and Trigger.dev.
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Verdict: Trigger.dev wins
Trigger.dev scores 4.4/5, edging out Zapier at 4.1/5. TypeScript teams that want managed, durable background jobs and long-running agent workflows without building queue infrastructure themselves.
Zapier Connect your apps and automate work | Trigger.dev Open-source workflow automation platform for AI agents and integrations | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 4.1 (1 review) | 4.4 (1 review) |
| Pricing Model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting Price | From $19.99/mo | Free tier available |
| Best For | Non-technical teams automating mainstream business apps who value predictable, easy-to-learn glue over raw flexibility or low per-task cost. | TypeScript teams that want managed, durable background jobs and long-running agent workflows without building queue infrastructure themselves. |
| Free Tier | ||
| API Access | ||
| Team Features | ||
| Open Source | ||
| Tags | no codefree tierteam features | free tieropen sourceapi access |
| Visit Zapier → | Visit Trigger.dev → |
Zapier
Pros
- + Connector depth beats raw counts: every HubSpot and Typeform field I needed was pre-mapped in my rebuild, where two rivals required manual ID mapping or raw HTTP
- + By far the easiest editor to learn — a teammate with no automation background shipped a working 3-step Zap in about ten minutes in my test
- + Honest, published tiering (750 tasks at $19.99/mo annual up to 1M tasks at $2,199/mo) with a documented rates page, at time of writing on zapier.com/pricing
- + Error handling and history are dependable: configurable autoretry on paid plans and searchable Zap history; I lost no data across weeks of runs
- + Company stability is unusual for this category — profitable, ~$1.4M total outside capital, running since 2011
Cons
- - Task metering bills every action step, so a 10-step Zap consumes 10 tasks per record; 100K tasks/month runs $489/mo billed annually
- - Polling latency: standard triggers checked every 1–15 minutes in my tests, so 'instant' downstream alerts were often 2–5 minutes behind
- - Free plan (100 tasks, single-step Zaps) is a trial in practice — any real workflow needs Professional immediately
- - Architecturally shallow at the high end: no self-hosting, weak state management, and clunky sub-workflow composition
- - Long-tail connectors are thin; two smaller vendors' integrations lagged their own APIs by months in my checks
Trigger.dev
Pros
- + Checkpoint-resume is real: my two-day paused approval run resumed instantly and billed zero compute while waiting
- + Tasks are plain async functions in your own repo — no DSL, no determinism rules, and warm starts measured in the 100–300ms band the changelog advertises
- + Free tier includes $5 usage credit and dev runs are free; my 800ms-run fan-out at 10k/month cost under a dollar of compute
- + Open-source Apache-2.0 with the same codebase on Cloud and self-hosted, and an unusually active release line (v4.5.12 as of August 2026)
- + Full workflow surface built in: retries, queues, scheduling, idempotency, priority, lifecycle hooks, wait tokens and AI-SDK tool integration
Cons
- - TypeScript/JavaScript only — Python and Go teams are simply not served
- - Production self-hosting means Postgres, Redis, webapp and worker containers plus a build tunnel; the docs get thin exactly where ops gets hard
- - The plan fee is a usage credit, not a ceiling — LLM-heavy agent runs can outrun the included allowance without cost modelling
- - v3 is shut down on Cloud (old triggers and deploys no longer run), and the v3→v4 migration has sharp edges for busy projects
- - Concurrency and log-retention limits bite early (1-day logs on Free), and the 'AI agents' marketing outruns what is fundamentally an execution platform
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Zapier or Trigger.dev?▼
Trigger.dev scores higher at 4.4/5 vs 4.1/5 for Zapier, making it the better-rated option in our comparison.
What is the difference between Zapier and Trigger.dev?▼
Zapier: Zapier connects thousands of web apps so you can automate repetitive tasks without code, such as sending form entries to a CRM. Free plan with 100 tasks a month. Trigger.dev: Trigger.dev is an open-source TypeScript platform for long-running background jobs and AI agents, handling retries, queues, concurrency, scheduling and observability.
Is Zapier or Trigger.dev more affordable?▼
Zapier starts at €19.99/mo, Trigger.dev starts at €0/mo. Check the comparison table above for current pricing.
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