Use Zapier when a job is one fixed hand-off: when this happens in one app, do that in another. Where it stops: a zap does the same steps each time, Zapier turns off a zap that keeps failing, and when your account hits its task limit, all your zaps wait until someone upgrades or the billing cycle resets. Use Arkeo agents when a job takes judgment, crosses several programs, or needs checking, like keeping a CRM right or getting payroll ready. Many businesses use both.
Zapier vs AI agents: what each one does
Zapier connects apps. You build a zap: a trigger in one app, then the steps that follow. It is fast to set up and great when a job is the same each time. Zapier also offers Zapier Agents, which you build, watch over and adjust yourself.
An Arkeo agent is set up to do a whole job, like following up with leads or getting payroll ready. It reads what is in front of it, decides the next step under your rules, checks its own work, and tells a person when the job needs one. We set it up with you and keep it working.
Side by side
| Zapier | Arkeo agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | One fixed hand-off between apps | Whole jobs across several programs |
| How it starts | A trigger in one app | On its own schedule, or when something changes |
| When things vary | Each case is a step you build | Reads the case and follows your rules |
| Checking the work | Up to you | Checks its own work and flags what doesn't match |
| Who builds it | You build each zap | We set up your version with you |
| When it breaks | Zapier turns off a zap that keeps failing, and you find and fix it | We find it and fix it |
How to tell which one a job needs
Ask two questions. Does the job change from case to case? And does someone have to check the result? If both answers are no, a zap is fine. If either is yes, that is the work an agent takes over.
Copying a new form fill into your CRM is a zap. Keeping your CRM right, with each call logged and each deal in the right stage, is an agent.
Where Zapier stops: what is still done by hand
Zapier's own help page on zaps that stop running lists the reasons. A zap that fails 95% of the time, after more than 20 runs in 7 days, is turned off. Team and Enterprise accounts get an email and a grace period first. Either way, someone has to notice that a zap went quiet, open its history and find the step that failed.
Limits can stop all of them at once. When an account reaches its task limit for the billing cycle, Zapier holds the actions in all of its zaps until you upgrade or the cycle resets, and the held runs have to be replayed by hand. The same happens to steps your plan no longer covers when a trial ends or a plan changes. Busy zaps can also be blocked when they send an app too many requests at once.
Public reviews say much the same. On Trustpilot, Zapier rates 1.3 out of 5 from 324 reviews. Many are about billing and support, but Trustpilot's summary of recent reviews says many reviewers found workflows hard to set up and lost hours fixing basic errors between apps.
In a 20-person company, that checking and fixing is usually done by whoever built the zaps, on top of their real job.
Ways to handle the work between your apps
Most owners end up with one of these, or more than one side by side.
Zaps you build
- How it works
- You build a zap for each hand-off: a trigger in one app, then the steps that follow.
- Good for
- Fixed hand-offs that are the same each time, like a form fill into a spreadsheet.
- Where it breaks
- A zap that keeps failing is turned off, and at the task limit all zaps wait. Someone checks the history and replays held runs by hand.
Zapier Agents
- How it works
- You build an agent in Zapier, give it a task and the apps it can use, and watch its activity.
- Good for
- Teams with someone who wants to build and tune their own agents.
- Where it breaks
- You build each agent, watch what it does and step in when it needs you.
Arkeo agents
- How it works
- Each agent does one whole job across your programs, like keeping your CRM right or getting payroll ready. We set it up with you, and it reports to your team in Slack or Teams.
- Good for
- Owners of 10 to 50 person businesses whose team spends hours checking and fixing the work between apps.
- Where it breaks
- Anything your rules keep for a person, like a large refund or a pay change, goes to your team in one message.
Using Zapier and agents together
Most businesses that use agents keep some zaps. A zap is still the simplest way to send a form fill to a spreadsheet, or post a message in Slack when a new order comes in. Those jobs are the same each time, and nobody has to check them.
Agents take the jobs around them. When a new lead comes in, a zap can drop it into your CRM. An agent can then look up the company, decide if it fits, write the first email, and follow up until the lead answers or goes quiet.
So the question isn't Zapier or agents. It's which of your jobs need judgment and checking. Bring your list of zaps to the call, and we'll go through which ones to keep and which jobs to hand to an agent.
Jobs that are agents, not zaps
Each of these takes judgment and checking, so each one is a whole job for an agent.
Your CRM stays right without anyone typing.
- Logs emails and callsas they happen
- Checks off the task when the reply landsright away
- Moves the deal to the right stageper deal
Your pipeline, worked every morning.
- Writes up every callwithin 5 min
- Follows up with each leadsame day
- Turns good calls into dealsper call
A day of counting hours becomes minutes of checking.
- Pulls every visit and shiftper pay period
- Adds overtime and stat payper employee
- Gets payroll ready to runsame day
Questions
Is my customers' information safe?
Yes. Agents work in your own accounts and see only what each job needs. Customer details never go into public AI. Agents connect to AI through business-grade connections audited under SOC 2.
Do I have to stop using Zapier?
No. Keep the zaps that work. Agents take the jobs a zap can't do well.
Doesn't Zapier have AI agents too?
It does. With Zapier Agents, you build each agent, watch its activity and step in when needed. With Arkeo, we set your agents up around your process and keep them working.
Why did my zap stop running?
Zapier's help page lists the usual reasons: the zap failed too often and was turned off, the account hit its task limit, or the plan no longer covers a step it uses. Its history shows which one.
What does it cost?
You get the price on the call, along with the hours it saves your team.