Documentation-based comparison
Power Automate versus Zapier
Compare documented scope and conditions. Unknowns remain unknown; different billing units do not establish a cost winner.
| Requirement | Power Automate | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $180/yr per user | From $29.99/mo |
| Who it is for | Cloud flows, attended desktop flows (RPA) and process mining for individual users. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Power Automate pricing page | No-code automations that move data between 9,000+ apps to automate repetitive work. A Zap consists of a trigger and one or more actions. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier pricing page: plan comparison, FAQ and Agents plans |
| Coverage limits | A cloud flow uses its owner's licence; if the owner leaves the organisation, the flow falls back to the Low performance profile. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Automate limits and configuration | Every successful action uses its own task, so the monthly need is actions per run multiplied by runs per month. Failed actions do not count. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier pricing page: plan comparison, FAQ and Agents plans |
| Usage definition | Power Platform requests: every connector call, HTTP action and built-in action (even initialising a variable or a compose step) counts, successful or failed, including retries and pagination. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations | Trigger steps, Filter and Paths steps, failed or halted actions and skipped steps use no tasks; Tables, Forms, Formatter, Delay, Looping, Sub-Zap, Digest, Zapier Manager and Storage steps use no tasks; Zapier Agents use a separate activity quota, not tasks; Example: a Zap with two actions that runs ten times uses 20 tasks A task is any successful action. Some steps cost more: each lead routed by Lead Router uses 5 tasks and each Zapier MCP tool call uses 2. Zaps, AI steps, code, MCP and the SDK share one task allowance per account. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier help: how task usage is measured |
| Included volume |
| Task tiers from 100 to 2M tasks a month, plus a custom task limit. The page does not print which tier each plan's starting price buys. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier pricing page: plan comparison, FAQ and Agents plans
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| Trigger polling | Scheduled (recurrence) flows can run as often as every 60 seconds. Connector polling intervals are not stated. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Automate limits and configuration | Polling checks never use tasks; only successful actions do. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier help: how task usage is measured
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| Premium integrations | The 30-day free trial covers UI-based cloud flows and standard connectors. Flows that use a custom connector need a premium or trial licence (Microsoft Learn limits page). Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Power Automate pricing page | Premium apps are available only on paid plans. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier pricing page: plan comparison, FAQ and Agents plans
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| Hosting responsibility |
| Not verified |
| AI charges | AI-powered runtime such as agents is outside the request limits and consumes Copilot Credits. Agent flows are metered through Microsoft Copilot Studio, not Power Platform requests. Copilot Studio is sold as prepaid Copilot Credit Commit Units, up to 20% cheaper bought up front, with pay-as-you-go coverage when prepaid credits run out; no credit price is shown. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations | AI by Zapier steps and their tool calls use 1 task on standard models or with your own model provider (you also pay the provider), 3 tasks on advanced models and 5 on premium models. Tool calls are not available on the standard tier. Zapier MCP tool calls use 2 tasks each. Zapier says rates may change with notice. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier task usage rates for steps, AI, code and MCP
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| Overage charges | No per-request charge is listed; Microsoft may enforce limits by throttling; Capacity is added to the user or flow that exceeds its limit; Each Power Platform requests add-on raises a limit by 50,000 requests per 24 hours, and several can be assigned A cloud flow that is throttled consistently for 14 days is turned off (Microsoft Learn limits page). The add-on price is not on the pricing page. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Microsoft Learn: Power Platform request limits and allocations | Tasks beyond the plan limit are charged separately through pay-per-task billing; Pay-per-task stops at three times the plan task limit; further runs are held until the billing cycle ends; Without pay-per-task, new Zap runs are held at the task limit until the billing cycle resets Pay-per-task tasks cost more than plan tasks; the rate depends on plan and billing cycle and is shown only in account billing settings. It is on by default for accounts created after January 2024. Verified Oct 11, 2026 · Zapier help: how task usage is measured |
| Coverage note | Agent activities are a separate quota from Zap tasks. |
