Build it.
Or hand it over.
Zapier vs LeanLoop: build it yourself, or hand the job over
Search for a way to stop doing the same admin by hand, and Zapier is usually the first name you find. It's a good tool, used by everyone from one-person businesses to large companies. But if Zapier feels too complicated, or you've been looking for someone to set it up for you, you've found its catch: it's a tool, and somebody has to build with it. LeanLoop is the other route. You hand over the job, and we set it up and keep it running.
Zapier or LeanLoop: the short answer
- Zapier suits fixed steps you're happy to build yourself. "When a form comes in, add a row to the spreadsheet and message the team."
- LeanLoop suits a job you'd rather not build at all. Answering enquiries, typing up orders, chasing invoices. We set it up and run it, and you approve its work.
What Zapier does well
Zapier connects your apps, so that something happening in one sets off steps in the others. It says it connects more than 9,000 apps. Each set of steps is a "Zap": you choose what starts it and what happens next. Zapier also has AI steps that can read, sort and write, and a helper called Copilot that builds a Zap from a description in plain words.
On paid plans, Zapier has an approval step that pauses a Zap until someone approves it. On the Professional plan, those approval requests can only go to you.
There's a free plan, and the paid plans are charged by how many tasks you use a month, in US dollars. The current plans are on Zapier's pricing page.
Why Zapier can feel complicated
Zapier's own menu files Zaps under "Do-it-yourself automation". Building the first Zap is the easy part. After that, real life happens:
- An app you use changes, and a step stops working. Someone has to notice, and fix it.
- Your prices or opening hours change, and someone has to update the steps.
- A message arrives that doesn't fit, and someone has to decide what happens to it.
Zapier helps: its AI can explain what went wrong, and support comes by email or chat, depending on your plan. But on its standard plans, the person who notices and fixes things is you, or an expert you hire and pay directly from Zapier's list.
A done-for-you alternative to Zapier
With LeanLoop, you don't build anything, and the person who notices and fixes things is us. We set up an assistant for one job your team repeats. It drafts the work as it comes in, day or night, and puts it in your to-approve list for a yes, a change or the bin.
Keeping it running is a monthly service. Each month we check its work, fix anything that's gone wrong, change it when your business changes, and send you a short report. See how repeat jobs work.
Zapier vs LeanLoop, side by side
| Zapier | LeanLoop | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A tool that connects your apps, so one thing sets off another | An assistant set up for one job you repeat, run by us |
| Who builds it | You, with AI help, or an expert you hire | We do |
| Approval | An approval step, on paid plans. On Professional, requests only go to you | Built in: every draft waits in your to-approve list |
| When something stops working | You fix it, with Zapier's support and AI help | We fix it, as part of the monthly service |
| How you pay | A free plan, then paid plans by tasks a month, in US dollars | A fixed price for the time audit, a fixed price to set up each job, then a monthly service |
| Best at | Fixed steps between apps you already use | One repeat job, set up, checked and kept running for you |
When Zapier is the right tool
- The job is simple and fixed. A form becomes a row in a spreadsheet. A new sale sends the team a message.
- You enjoy building it, or someone on your team does.
- You need lots of small connections between many different apps.
- You want to start small and cheap. There's a free plan to try it on.
When to hand the job over instead
- You've tried building it, and it never got finished, or it keeps breaking.
- Nobody on the team has time to look after it.
- You don't know where to start. The time audit, a fixed price agreed before we start, looks at how each job runs today and says which are worth handing over.
Already have Zaps running?
That's fine. Tell us on the first call. The time audit counts the hours each job takes today, including anything you've already set up, and the plan says honestly which jobs are worth handing over and which are better left as they are.
Thinking of hiring someone to build it instead? See Upwork vs LeanLoop.
