Relay.app alternatives: where to move your workflows now Relay has closed

If you used Relay.app for simple automations with an approval step, Zapier or Make is the closest replacement. If you are technical or want to self-host, pick n8n or Activepieces. If your workflows are really processes where people must be chased for missing pieces and a decision made on your rules, Floowed fits better.

Relay.app was well liked by people who wanted automation that included the humans in it, not just the apps. Its users now have to rebuild working workflows elsewhere without losing the approval and input steps that made Relay useful. This guide compares the realistic options on that point. Every price and limit below was checked on the vendor's own site at the time of writing.

What happened to Relay.app

In July 2026 Relay announced that it would close free accounts on 15 August 2026 and paid accounts on 14 September 2026. The notice now on relay.app says that Relay.app shut down in September 2026 and that all accounts, workflows and run history have been permanently deleted. No reason for the closure has been published.

Because the data is deleted, you cannot log in to check how a workflow was built. You will be working from whatever you exported before the deadline, plus your own notes and screenshots.

What Relay users valued

Relay stood out for three things, and they are a useful checklist when judging a replacement.

• Human-in-the-loop as a first-class step. Approvals, requests for data input and tasks assigned to a named person sat inside the workflow, next to the app steps, rather than being bolted on.
• AI steps built in. You could drop an AI step into a workflow to summarise, extract or draft, without wiring up a separate model account.
• A clean, approachable interface. Non-technical team members could read a workflow and understand what it did.

Most alternatives cover one or two of these well. Few cover all three the same way, so it helps to know which one you relied on most.

Relay.app alternatives at a glance

The best Relay.app alternatives, ranked

1. Floowed

Floowed is the operations platform. Where a workflow tool runs a sequence of steps, Floowed runs a repeatable business operation from first request to outcome, across every system and person involved. Every case moves through five stages: Gather, Interpret, Chase, Decide, Act. Interpret, Chase and Decide circle until the case is ready.

For Relay users, the relevant part is how people fit in. In Relay, a human step was one step: someone approves, or fills in a field. In Floowed, chasing people is part of the case itself. Floowed asks the named person, system or agent who owes a missing piece, waits as a long-running case and resumes when the answer arrives. The decision is then made by your rules, held in a deterministic business rules engine as an explicit, versioned object. You can replay a rule change on past cases before it goes live, and you choose how much Floowed decides on its own: every case, only routine ones, or none. The AI does the work, not the decision.

Every case keeps a full record: what was read, who was asked, which rule and version decided it, and what was written where. You describe an operation in Slack, Microsoft Teams or the Floowed Dashboard and Floowed builds it, live in minutes. Cases can also arrive by email, upload, API and MCP.

Where it is not the right fit: if your Relay workflows were short app-to-app automations with the odd approval, Floowed is more than you need, and Zapier or Make will be quicker to set up.

Best for: client onboarding, supplier onboarding, invoice approval, change approvals, timesheet chasing, refunds and similar processes where the hard part is getting answers from people.

Pricing shape: credits, not seats. 1 credit is 1 cent. Free gives $80 of credits with no card and no sales call, and they never expire. Team starts at $100 a month for 10,000 credits in one shared pool, every feature included. A standard case typically costs about $2.50 to $8. See pricing, and Floowed also works alongside Make and n8n if you keep them.

Pick it if your "workflows" were really processes, with people to chase and a decision to make at the end.

2. Zapier

Zapier is the most widely used automation platform, and its Human in the Loop tool is the closest like-for-like replacement for Relay's approval steps. Request Approval pauses a Zap so one or more reviewers can approve, decline or change data. Collect Data pauses a Zap to ask reviewers for more information. You set a timeout in minutes, hours, days or weeks, and choose whether the Zap skips and continues or ends if nobody responds. Only successful Human in the Loop actions count towards task usage.

The limits to know: Human in the Loop is not available on the Free plan, reviewers must have a Zapier account, and on the Professional plan requests can only go to yourself. Sending requests to other people needs Team or Enterprise.

Best for: straightforward automations across a very wide range of apps, with an approval or data-collection pause.

Pricing shape: tasks. Free includes 100 tasks a month with two-step Zaps. Professional starts from $19.99 a month; Team from $69 a month with 25 users. See our Zapier alternatives guide and n8n vs Zapier for more. Floowed also connects to Zapier over webhooks: see the Zapier integration.

Pick it if you want the broadest app coverage and your reviewers can have Zapier accounts.

3. Make

Make is a visual builder with strong branching, routers and data handling, often better value than Zapier at volume. Its Human in the Loop app (create a review request, watch completed reviews) is currently limited to the Enterprise plan and in closed beta, so most Relay users will not have native approvals. The common workaround is a form or chat message that triggers a second scenario when someone replies.

Best for: multi-branch automations where you want to see and control every path.

Pricing shape: credits. Free includes 1,000 credits a month and 2 active scenarios. Core is $12 a month on monthly billing for 10,000 credits, with a saving of 15% or more on annual billing. See Make vs Zapier and n8n vs Make.

Pick it if you want visual control and can live without a built-in approval step.

4. n8n

n8n suits technical teams. For AI agents, you can require human review before a tool runs: the reviewer sees the tool name and the parameters the AI intends to use, then approves (the tool runs) or denies (it does not). Approval requests can go through nine channels, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Outlook, Telegram and n8n Chat. Outside AI agents, the Wait node can pause a workflow until a form is submitted or a webhook is called.

Best for: developers and teams who want code-level control or need to self-host.

Pricing shape: executions, regardless of steps. The Community Edition is free to self-host. Cloud Starter is €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions; Pro is €50 a month billed annually for 10,000. See n8n alternatives.

Pick it if you have technical skills in the team and want to own the infrastructure.

5. Activepieces

Activepieces is open source with a friendlier interface than most self-hostable tools. Its Approval piece can pause a flow and wait for approval, or create approval links, and its To-Do step assigns a check to a person or team, who can approve, deny or modify before the flow resumes.

Best for: teams who want open source and simple run-based pricing.

Pricing shape: credits, where a run is one credit however many steps it has (AI steps cost more). Free cloud gives 100 credits a day. Plus is $20 a month for 10,000 credits. The MIT-licensed Community Edition is free to self-host with unlimited runs and users.

Pick it if you like Relay's approachable feel but want the option to self-host.

6. Pabbly Connect

Pabbly Connect competes on price. Its Human in Loop step pauses a workflow so a person can approve, reject or edit data before the next action runs. Internal steps such as filters, routers and formatters do not count as tasks.

Best for: small teams watching costs closely.

Pricing shape: tasks. Free includes 100 tasks a month with two-step workflows. Standard includes 10,000 tasks a month, and one-off lifetime plans are available. Prices are shown in your local currency on its pricing page.

Pick it if cost is the deciding factor and your approvals are simple.

7. Lindy

Lindy is an AI assistant rather than a workflow builder. By default, anything with outside impact, such as sending an email or updating a ticket, waits for your approval. Plans are per user: Plus is $29.99 a month for 3,000 credits.

Pick it if you mainly used Relay's AI steps for personal work such as email and scheduling.

If your Relay workflows ran mostly inside Microsoft 365, or IT needs enterprise governance, also look at our Power Automate alternatives and Workato alternatives guides.

Migrating your Relay workflows

Relay is already closed, so this checklist assumes you are working from exports, documentation or notes you kept.

1. List every workflow. Name, trigger, apps involved and who depended on it. Include the ones that ran rarely.
2. Mark every step that waited on a person. Approvals, data input requests and assigned tasks. Note who the person was and what happened if they did not respond.
3. Mark every AI step. Write down the prompt and what the output fed into.
4. Sort by shape. App-to-app automations with an occasional approval go to a workflow tool. Anything where people are chased repeatedly and a decision is made at the end is a process, such as invoice approval or supplier onboarding; consider whether it belongs in Floowed.
5. Rebuild the most important workflow first. Test it with real, low-risk data.
6. Check reviewer access. Confirm whether reviewers need an account on the new platform and on which plan.
7. Run in parallel. With Relay gone, run the new version alongside your manual process for a week and compare results.
8. Document as you go. Keep a written copy of each workflow's logic outside the platform, so a future move is easier.

How to choose

1. Count the human steps. One approval per workflow: Zapier. Several people chased over days before a decision: Floowed.
2. Check who reviews. If reviewers are outside your company, avoid tools that require them to create an account.
3. Decide on hosting. If data must stay on your own servers, shortlist n8n and Activepieces.
4. Model your real volume. Tasks, credits and executions count differently. Price your busiest month, not an average one.
5. Look at the audit trail. If someone may later ask why a decision was made, you need a record of who was asked and which rule applied.
6. Try before you commit. Every option here has a free plan, free credits, a trial or a self-hosted edition.

Frequently asked questions

Why did Relay.app shut down?

Relay has not published a reason. Its site states only that Relay.app shut down in September 2026 and that all accounts, workflows and run history have been permanently deleted.

Can I still export my Relay workflows?

No. Relay's notice says all data has been permanently deleted. Work from any exports, screenshots or documentation you saved before the closure.

What is the best Relay.app alternative for human-in-the-loop workflows?

For a single approval or data request inside a simple automation, Zapier's Human in the Loop tool is closest, provided reviewers have Zapier accounts. For processes where several people must be chased and a decision made on your rules, Floowed handles the whole case, including the waiting. See human-in-the-loop document automation.

Is there a free Relay.app alternative?

Yes. n8n and Activepieces both offer free self-hosted Community Editions. Zapier, Make and Pabbly Connect have free plans with limits, and Floowed gives $80 of credits that never expire, with no card needed.

Which alternative is closest to Relay's ease of use?

Zapier and Activepieces are the most approachable for non-technical users. Floowed lets you describe an operation in Slack, Microsoft Teams or the Dashboard and builds it for you.

Do reviewers need an account on the new platform?

It depends. Zapier requires reviewers to have a Zapier account. n8n can send approval requests through channels such as Slack, Teams and Gmail. In Floowed, the person being chased is asked directly for what they owe.

Next step

If your Relay workflows were really processes, with people to chase and a decision to make, try one in Floowed. Start free with $80 of credits, no card and no sales call, see how it works, or talk to us.