Pipedrive Automation vs. Zapier (which one is best?)
Pipedrive’s native workflow automation builder is great (and I use it a lot). For example, when you move a deal to a new stage, you could automate sending an email/campaign or create an activity for the deal owner.
But sometimes you need a more powerful automation tool like Zapier. For example, if you want to trigger an automation from an event outside of Pipedrive (e.g. when a Calendly booking is made).
In this video, I discuss the pros and cons of each and how to consider your automation options"
So, which one is best? Well really, it's both. I like creating automations in Pipedrive as it's often quicker and easier than using Zapier. But sometimes I'll use Zapier when I want to create more powerful automations or if I hit a limit with the Pipedrive automation.
Comments
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I just wish that Pipedrive automation actions weren't limited by the trigger type. For example, I should be able to trigger an automation from Deal info and also be able to update the contact record related to the Deal. It's very limited.
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@jhollender what do you mean "trigger from deal info"? Do you have an example of the automation you'd like to create?
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We have a custom field for contacts that show on the deal record. When that field gets updated we want to automate an action to create an activity task for the salesperson. The problem is that the deal info is not available in the automation with this type of trigger.
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Ah yes, I see what you mean now, thanks!
This is a good example of where Zapier would be useful as you can use a 'Find Deal' action to get the necessary deal details. Or, another option is to move and re-create your Contact Status field to the deal, but I appreciate this may not be ideal.
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Great video, Paul!
Just wanted to highlight a Pipedrive add-on that will make Zapier automations easier to trigger and manage in Pipedrive: OneClick. With OneClick, you can create custom buttons in deal, organization and person views to trigger zaps whenever you feel is a good time. Have a look, available at Pipedrive Marketplace!
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Make is much more powerful and customizable than anything. For the small monthly fee the value is more than there.
A couple automations I built two years ago still work and save me hours a week. Since I'm not a heavy user it costs me 10/month. By far the biggest value in my tech stack.0 -
Thanks for the suggestion @Henriikka from Zimple
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@jhollender I was just reading through your post. The issue is Pipedrive allows you to have multiple deals per contact, so if you trigger off the person object, Pipedrive, theoretically, wouldn't know which deal you're referring to if you had more than one. If instead of creating a trigger field off the contact, you include the trigger field with the deal, you'd be able to do exactly what you're trying to do. It would also position you to potentially have more than one contract/deal with a single contact.
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@wonders this is why we often use Zapier. We can include a 'Find Deal' action step and find the correct deal based on names, expected close dates etc.
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I have found Relay.app to be a lot more powerful. I have moved all my workflows from Make/Integromat and Zapier to Relay.app.
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I’ve been using Skyvia for this kind of thing and it works great. I moved a few automations from Zapier to Skyvia when I needed more flexibility with pipeline syncing.
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There is no way anything can be better than Make unless you are a heavy user and operation costs is a factor. You would have to use 10's of 1000's of operations a day to be priced out.
The vast library of already built connections and modules, ease of use, and functionality is far superior to anything mentioned in this thread.0 -
@Josh Buesking I feel it's just a case of personal preference. We've been using Zapier for about 10 years and prefer the user interface.
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It’s really not though.
Zapier is user friendly and geared for beginners but it’s severely limited and basic compared to makes capability. It does have a decent library of apps though similar to make as well. Nothing wrong with Zapier.
I have no dog in the fight. I’m an end user and started with Zapier. Give make a week and you’ll laugh at everything else.Self hosted n8n for resource heavy tasks.
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@Calum agreed! We use custom code blocks a LOT if there aren't supported action steps. We can interface directly with an apps API.
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