Huginn vs Zapier

Huginn

• Developers who want their automation data kept on a server they control
• Watching websites, feeds and search terms and getting alerts by email or SMS
• People comfortable with Docker or a Ruby on Rails deployment

Zapier

• Connecting a wide range of cloud apps, including less common ones
• Solo users with light needs who can stay within 100 tasks a month
• Teams that want shared workflows with single sign-on and admin controls

Huginn

• There is no hosted version: you install, update and back up Huginn yourself, with MySQL or PostgreSQL alongside it.
• Huginn does not run on Windows; the docs suggest a virtual machine. The manual install guide supports Ubuntu and Debian.
• The requirements page recommends 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core server.
• Agents are configured in the web interface with options and Liquid templates, and writing a new agent means writing Ruby.

Zapier

• The Free plan is limited to 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps, and checks for new data only every 15 minutes.
• Free and Professional include a single user; sharing workflows with colleagues needs the Team plan.
• Cost rises with volume: Professional runs from $19.99 a month for 750 tasks to $3,389 a month for 2 million, billed annually.
• Tasks beyond the plan limit are billed at 2.5x the base rate on monthly plans and 1.25x on annual plans.

Huginn

Agents and events

Each agent does one job, such as checking a site or sending a message, and emits events that other agents consume. Chaining them forms a directed graph.

Website monitoring

Agents can scrape websites and email you when a page changes, or watch for travel and shopping deals. The wiki covers browser emulation for pages that need JavaScript.

Digests and spike alerts

Huginn can send a digest email at set times of day, and count high-frequency events so that an SMS goes out within moments of a spike.

Webhooks and custom JavaScript

Agents send and receive webhooks and can run custom JavaScript functions, so services without a built-in agent can still be wired in.

Agent gems

New agents can be written as external Ruby gems and loaded through the ADDITIONAL_GEMS environment variable, without changing the core repository.

Several ways to deploy

There is an official Docker image, a manual installation guide for Ubuntu and Debian, OpenShift templates and a Heroku deploy button, which needs a paid Heroku plan.

Zapier

Zaps

Workflows that start from a trigger and run one or more actions. Free accounts are limited to two-step Zaps; Professional adds multi-step Zaps, filters, paths and webhooks.

App directory

Zapier connects more than 9,000 apps, including Google Sheets, Gmail, Slack and HubSpot. Premium apps are unlimited from the Professional plan.

Task-based billing

A task is counted when a Zap completes a unit of work; triggers, polling and built-in data tools are not counted. Extra tasks are billed at 1.25x the base rate on annual plans and 2.5x on monthly plans.

Tables, Forms and Canvas

Tables store the data that workflows read and write, Forms collect it, and Canvas maps out a process. Tables and Forms are unlimited on every plan, including Free.

Agents, Chatbots and MCP

AI agents take actions across connected apps, and Zapier MCP gives assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT access to them. Agents and Chatbots are optional add-ons with free tiers.

Team and admin controls

Team covers 25 users with shared Zaps, folders and app connections plus SAML SSO. Enterprise adds SCIM provisioning, app controls and custom data retention.

Huginn

• Huginn$0

  The whole project under the MIT License: the web interface, the built-in agents and support for agents added as Ruby gems.

Zapier

• Free$0

  100 tasks a month for 1 user, limited to two-step Zaps, with unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms and 15-minute polling.

• Professional$19.99

  per month, billed annually, for 750 tasks ($29.99 monthly)

  1 user. Multi-step Zaps, unlimited premium apps, webhooks, filters and paths, AI by Zapier and 2-minute polling. Task tiers run up to 2 million a month.

• Team$69

  per month, billed annually, for 2,000 tasks ($103.50 monthly)

  25 users, shared Zaps, folders and app connections, SAML single sign-on, priority support and 1-minute polling.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Unlimited users, advanced admin and app controls, SCIM provisioning, custom data retention and annual task limits.

Huginn

No public discounts listed.

Zapier

• Annual discount

  33% off with annual billing

  Zapier's pricing page says annual subscriptions are billed yearly at 33% off the monthly rate: Professional is $19.99 a month instead of $29.99, and Team $69 instead of $103.50.

• Nonprofit

  Extra 15% off for nonprofits

  The pricing page lists an additional 15% discount for non-profit organizations. It does not apply to pay-per-task charges.