Skip to content
effecthub

Tines vs Zapier

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both have one
Public API
Both have one
Best fit
Tines: Security operations teams automating triage, enrichment and response · Zapier: Ops and marketing teams wiring SaaS tools together without engineering time
Platforms
Tines: Web · Zapier: Web, Chrome extension, Slack app
Trust score
About even — Tines 92, Zapier 92

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

TinesWorkflow automation and AI agents for security and IT teams, with a free tier capped at three live workflowsZapierConnects thousands of apps and runs agent steps

Side by side

FactTinesZapier
CategoryWorkflow Automation PlatformsWorkflow Automation Platforms
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at—$19.99/mo
Public APIYesYes
Trust score92 / 10092 / 100
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, API, Chrome extension, Slack app
CompanyTinesZapier Inc
Launched20182011
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 6, 2026

What our research says

Tines

The automation platform security teams actually keep, largely because it does not force you into vendor-specific connectors and because self-hosting is a first-class option rather than an enterprise upsell. Governance over who built what is genuinely useful once several teams are automating. Pricing opacity is the cost of entry, and the free tier's three-workflow cap is hit fast.

Pros

  • Free edition with unlimited users, spaces and connectors, not just a time-limited trial
  • Cloud or self-hosted deployment, plus bring-your-own AI model
  • Vendor-agnostic: anything with an API can be wired in without waiting for a connector
  • Tracks what each workflow is, who owns it and what it can access

Cons

  • No published price for any paid edition
  • Three live workflows on the free tier is restrictive for real use
  • Learning curve is steeper than consumer-grade automation tools

Zapier

Zapier is still the default when the job is 'connect these two SaaS tools and stop thinking about it': the app catalogue is the moat, and Copilot cuts setup time further for people who would never write a webhook. The cost model punishes volume — tasks are counted per step, overage on monthly plans is 2.5× — so once an automation runs thousands of times a day, Make or self-hosted n8n gets cheaper fast, and the AI Agents are a separately billed add-on rather than part of the plan.

Pros

  • More than 9,000 app integrations, the widest catalogue in the category
  • Copilot builds a multi-step Zap from a description, so setup needs no documentation reading
  • Free plan runs real two-step automations, not a time-limited trial
  • Published prices for every tier short of Enterprise, including the overage multipliers

Cons

  • Tasks are counted per step, so a five-step Zap burns five tasks per run
  • Overage costs 2.5× the base rate on monthly plans
  • Agents and Chatbots are add-ons with their own bills
  • Multi-step Zaps need a paid plan

Which one fits

Choose Tines if you need

  • Security operations teams automating triage, enrichment and response
  • IT and operations groups that need self-hosted or air-gapped automation
  • Organisations wanting one automation layer governed centrally across departments

Choose Zapier if you need

  • Ops and marketing teams wiring SaaS tools together without engineering time
  • Low-volume automations where the app catalogue matters more than cost per run
  • Teams that want AI steps and agents inside workflows they already run

Tines vs Zapier: the questions people ask

Is Tines cheaper than Zapier?

Zapier starts at $19.99/mo. Tines has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does Tines or Zapier have a free tier?

Both: Tines has a free tier, and Zapier has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Tines or Zapier?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

More comparisons

Browse all Workflow Automation Platforms →