Once you’ve decided two systems in your business should be talking to each other, you hit a second decision that’s harder than it looks: what do you actually use to connect them?
The honest answer is that seven or eight tools cover nearly every case, they differ more in pricing model than in capability, and the expensive mistake is picking an enterprise platform for a job a $9 plan would do. This guide compares the main options with pricing checked on each vendor’s own page, and explains which situation each one fits.
If you’re earlier than this and still working out what these connections do, start with our guide to API integrations and come back.
The Bottom Line
- For most small and mid-sized businesses the real choice is Zapier versus Make. Zapier has the widest app coverage at 9,000+; Make is cheaper at comparable volume.
- Check for a native integration before you pay for any of these. A direct connection between two tools you already use is free and somebody else maintains it.
- Pricing models differ more than prices. Zapier bills per task, Make per operation, Power Automate per user, n8n per execution. The same workflow can cost wildly different amounts.
- Already on Microsoft 365? Power Automate Premium at $15/user/month may be the cheapest route by a distance.
- Enterprise platforms like Workato and Boomi don’t publish self-serve pricing. If you’re asking what things cost, you’re not their customer yet, and that’s fine.
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What These Tools Actually Do
An API integration tool sits between two pieces of software and moves data between them on a trigger. Something happens in System A (an order, a form submission, a payment), and the tool reacts by doing something in System B.
What you’re really buying is three things. Prebuilt connectors, so you don’t write code against each API. A place to put the logic, so “if the order is over $200 and ships locally, do this instead” lives somewhere visible. And reliability plumbing: retries when a request fails, queuing when a service is down, alerts when something stays broken.
That third item is the one people underestimate and the main argument against writing your own scripts. A script that works is easy. A script that notices it stopped working, retries sensibly, and tells you about it is most of the actual job.
Worth knowing before you shop: the single most common job people buy these tools for, getting settled transactions out of a payment processor and into accounting software, is often already covered by a direct connection between those two systems. We walk through that case in our guide to payment integrations, and it’s worth ruling out before you add a third tool to the chain.
The Main Options Compared
Pricing below was checked on each vendor’s own pricing page in September 2026. These change often, so confirm before you commit.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid from | Billing unit | Apps | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | 100 tasks/mo, two-step only | $19.99/mo annual ($29.99 monthly) | Tasks | 9,000+ | Widest app coverage; the default first try |
| Make | $0 with 1,000 credits/mo | $9/mo (Core) | Operations | 3,000+ | Best value at volume; visual multi-branch logic |
| Integrately | $0 with 100 tasks/mo | $19.99/mo | Tasks | 1,500+ | Template-driven setup for simple one-to-one links |
| Power Automate | 30-day trial, standard connectors only | $15/user/mo paid yearly (Premium) | Per user | Standard + premium | Businesses already paying for Microsoft 365 |
| n8n | Self-hosted free (FairCode licence) | €20/mo annual (Cloud Starter) | Executions | Every integration on all plans | Technical teams wanting control or self-hosting |
| Workato | Not published | Quote only | Quote | Not stated | Enterprise with integration staff |
| Boomi | 30-day trial | $99/mo + usage (pay-as-you-go) | Usage | Not stated | Enterprise data and API management |
Figures as published on each vendor’s pricing page, September 2026.
Zapier
The widest reach. Zapier advertises 9,000+ connected apps, which in practice means the obscure tool your industry depends on is more likely to be there than anywhere else.
The free plan allows 100 tasks a month but only two-step workflows, one trigger and one action. That limit matters more than the task count, because most useful automations need at least a filter. Paid plans start at $19.99/month billed annually, or $29.99 month-to-month, and scale up steeply by task tier. The Professional range runs as high as $3,389/month annually at the top end.
Use it when you need to connect something unusual, or you want the shortest path from idea to working automation and the volume is modest. Watch out for task-based billing on high-volume workflows, which is where Zapier gets expensive relative to alternatives.
Make
The value pick, and the better tool for complicated logic. Make‘s free tier gives 1,000 credits a month with the full visual builder and access to 3,000+ apps, and paid plans start at $9/month for Core, $16 for Pro, $29 for Teams.
The visual canvas is a functional difference, not cosmetics. Workflows that branch several ways, or loop over a list of line items, are easier to build and much easier to debug when you can see the paths laid out. Zapier’s linear model gets awkward there.
Use it when volume is high enough that per-task pricing stings, or your logic has real branching. Watch out for the learning curve, which is steeper than Zapier’s, and a smaller app catalogue.
Integrately
Built around prebuilt automations rather than building your own. Integrately advertises 1,500+ apps and over 20 million ready-made automations, with a free tier of 100 tasks a month and paid plans at $19.99, $39, $99, and $239/month billed annually.
Read the free tier carefully: it runs on a 15-minute update frequency and excludes webhooks, conditional logic, and branching, supporting only single-step automations. That’s a demo, not a working tier.
Use it when your need is a common one-to-one connection and you’d rather pick a template than build. Watch out for hitting the ceiling as soon as your logic gets specific.
Microsoft Power Automate
If you’re already a Microsoft 365 business, start here before comparing anything else. Power Automate Premium is $15/user/month paid yearly, with Process at $150/bot/month and Hosted Process at $215/bot/month, and a 30-day free trial limited to standard connectors.
Per-user pricing changes the arithmetic completely. A business with three people running a high volume of automations pays a flat $45/month, where a task-based tool at the same volume could cost several times that. The flip side is that per-user pricing is poor value if one person runs a handful of small automations.
Use it when you’re in the Microsoft ecosystem, especially with SharePoint, Teams, Outlook, and Excel in the loop. Watch out for the standard versus premium connector split, which is where the real cost sits, because many of the connectors you’ll want are premium.
n8n
The option for teams who want control. A standard self-hosted version of n8n is available on GitHub under the FairCode licence at no cost, which means you can run it on your own server and your data never leaves your infrastructure. The managed cloud runs €20/month annually for Starter with 2,500 executions, €50 for Pro with 10,000, and €667 for Business with 40,000, and every plan includes unlimited users and workflows plus every integration.
“Every integration on every plan” is a meaningful difference from the others, where connector access is often a paid gate.
Use it when you have someone technical, you need self-hosting for data or compliance reasons, or you want unlimited users without per-seat cost. Watch out for the fact that self-hosted means you own uptime, updates, and backups. Free to licence is not free to run.
Workato and Boomi
Both are enterprise platforms, and both are honest about it through their pricing pages.
Workato doesn’t publish prices at all; its pricing page directs you to schedule a demo, and it references a trial without detail. It describes universal connectivity and an integration library without stating a connector count.
Boomi publishes more. It offers a 30-day free trial with full platform access, a pay-as-you-go option at $99/month plus usage with no contract, and tiered editions (Professional, Professional Plus, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus) across Integration, API Management, Data Hub, and Data Integration. It positions itself around data activation and API management rather than simple app-to-app automation.
Use these when you have dozens of systems, governance requirements, and someone whose job is integration. Skip them when you’re connecting your store to your accounting software. You’d be buying a category of product you don’t need yet.
How to Choose
Four questions, in order. Most businesses reach an answer by the second.
- Does a native integration already exist? Check both vendors’ app directories first. A direct connection is free, maintained by someone else, and needs no third tool in the chain. This is the step people skip. On Shopify specifically, a lot of what looks like it needs a connector platform is already an app, and we go through those categories in our guide to Shopify integrations.
- Are you already paying Microsoft? If yes, price Power Automate before anything else. At $15/user/month, it frequently wins outright for Microsoft-centric businesses.
- How many times a month will this run? Count honestly, including every step. Under a few hundred, free tiers and entry plans are fine and the decision barely matters. In the thousands, billing unit dominates, and Make’s credits or n8n’s executions usually beat per-task pricing.
- Is the logic simple or branching? One trigger, one action: anything works, pick on price. Multiple conditions, loops over line items, different paths by order type: Make or n8n will save you real frustration.
One thing to settle regardless of tool: which system wins when two disagree. Name the system of record for each type of data before you connect anything. Skipping this is how businesses end up with two contradictory customer lists and no idea which to trust.
What These Tools Don’t Fix
Worth saying plainly, because it’s where integration projects disappoint.
They don’t fix a broken process. Automating a bad workflow makes it fast and harder to notice. Fix the process, then connect it.
They don’t reconcile meaning. No tool decides for you whether a partially refunded order counts as a sale. Those decisions are yours, and they’re the actual work.
They don’t replace domain-specific software. A connector platform moving addresses into a spreadsheet is not a delivery system. For delivery specifically, Metrobi integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, QuickBooks, Zapier, and a direct API, and provides multi-stop route optimization with a dedicated support rep on every delivery, which is a different category of thing from a connector moving data between two apps.
They don’t monitor themselves by default. Turn on failure notifications when you build the workflow, not after the first silent outage. An integration nobody knows is broken is worse than no integration, because the numbers still look populated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which API integration tool is best for a small business?
Zapier or Make for most, and the tiebreaker is volume. Zapier is faster to learn and connects more apps; Make costs less at scale and handles branching logic better. If you’re already paying for Microsoft 365, price Power Automate first, because per-user billing often undercuts both.
Do I need to know how to code?
No for all the no-code platforms here. Zapier, Make, Integrately, and Power Automate are all built for non-developers, and you’ll spend your time on logic and field mapping rather than syntax. n8n self-hosted is the exception; running it needs someone comfortable with servers.
Are free tiers good enough to run a real business process?
Sometimes, with care. Make’s 1,000 monthly credits can cover a low-volume workflow. Zapier’s free tier is constrained less by its 100 tasks than by its two-step limit, and Integrately’s free tier excludes webhooks and branching, which rules out most real use. Free tiers are for proving the thing works before you pay.
What happens if the integration tool goes down?
Your automation pauses. Good platforms queue events and process them when service returns, so you catch up rather than lose data, but behavior varies and it’s worth checking before you make a tool load-bearing. This is one reason not to put anything time-critical behind a single connector without an alert on it.
Is it cheaper to just have a developer build it?
Rarely, once you count maintenance. A custom integration is a build cost plus a permanent obligation: APIs change, credentials expire, edge cases surface. A connector platform spreads that across all its customers. Custom work earns its place when your logic is unusual, or when volume makes per-task pricing worse than a salary.
Where to Start
Don’t start by choosing a tool. Start with one specific handoff you currently do by hand, then check whether a native integration already covers it.
If nothing does, sign up for Make’s free tier and Zapier’s free tier and build the same workflow in both. An afternoon of that teaches you more about which fits your brain than any comparison table, including this one. Then price the one you preferred at your real monthly volume, not at its headline rate.
And whichever you pick, turn on failure alerts before you go to lunch. The money in this category isn’t saved by building automations. It’s saved by noticing when they stop.
