Okta Workflows vs Zapier (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, we pick Zapier: it is second in our ranking of automation tools, and it grades higher too, 2.6 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Zapier grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Okta Workflows
No-code identity automation, sold inside Okta's workforce suites
Zapier
Workflow automation across 9,000+ apps, with AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Okta Workflows if
- Fits if you already use Okta and want to automate joiners and leavers
- Works for an IT admin who wants no-code flows for identity tasks
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not use Okta, as it is sold inside its suites
- Tight if you pick Starter or Core Essentials, which cap you at 5 flows
- Watch out: you pay per user for the whole suite, not for Workflows alone
- Watch out: Professional and Enterprise prices are not published, and billing is annual
Pick Zapier if
- Fits if one of your apps is obscure, since Zapier lists more than 9,000 of them
- Works for short chains, like a new Stripe payment adding a row in Google Sheets and pinging Slack
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you run thousands of tasks: AI steps cost up to 5 tasks each, and Professional tops out at $3,389 a month
- Tight if you're staying free, with 100 tasks a month, two steps per Zap and new data checked only every 15 minutes
- Watch out: overages are on by default at a higher rate Zapier doesn't publish, and Zaps pause at 3 times your limit
- Pricey if two of you want to share Zaps, because that means Team at $69 a month, while Make starts at $9
- Not for you if you want to build or fix automations from your phone or a desktop app, as there's neither
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAOkta WorkflowsWeak | 2.6GPAZapierGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarter is $6 a user a month billed annually, but it includes just 5 flows. The 50 flows on Essentials cost $17, close to the middle ($19). | C$19.99 a month billed annually puts Zapier just past this category's $19 middle, so the price itself is ordinary. What it buys: 750 tasks and one user, where viaSocket gives 17,000 tasks for $18 and Make 5,000 credits for $9. You're paying for the app list, not the allowance. |
| Free plan and trial | DA free trial is offered on the Starter suite, but its length is not stated. | CFree forever, and the caps arrive almost immediately: 100 tasks a month, two steps per Zap, one user, and a check for new data only every 15 minutes. One small job will fit. Two won't. New accounts do get 14 days of Professional with no card. |
| Features | CA no-code flow builder, a connector builder and lifecycle and group management. It does its identity job fully but is a smaller job than general automation. | AThe app directory lists more than 9,000 apps, where Make lists about 3,000. On top of that: multi-step Zaps, filters, paths, webhooks, Tables, Forms, Canvas, AI agents and an MCP server. Multi-step Zaps, filters and paths need a paid plan. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Flows have to be built, and you need Okta set up first. | CNo store rating to go on, since it lives in the browser. And it's a build job: apps to connect, then triggers, actions, filters and paths to think in. One Hacker News commenter called the whole thing an impenetrable mess aimed at marketers. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with no integrations listed on the pricing page. | BA browser and a Chrome extension, and that's your lot. No phone app we could find and nothing for the desktop. What you get instead is connections: 9,000-plus apps, webhooks, an SDK and an MCP server for assistants like Claude and ChatGPT. |
| Best for | automating user setup and access | connecting almost any two apps |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Okta Workflows and Zapier. How we grade
Price against what you get
Okta Workflows starts at $6 a month for each person and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Zapier starts at $19.99 a month and scores 3.0.
Zapier scores higher, and starts $13.99 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other automation tools on the chart, 2 score higher than Okta Workflows for less, and none scores higher than Zapier for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Okta Workflows also covers templates and no-code.
- Zapier also covers databases.
At a glance
| Okta Workflows | Zapier | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $6 per user / month (Starter suite, 5 flows), billed annually | $19.99 / month, billed annually, for 750 tasks ($29.99 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 100 tasks a month for 1 user, limited to two-step Zaps, with unlimited Zaps, Tables and Forms. Zapier checks for new data every 15 minutes. |
| Free trial | Free trial offered on the Starter suite; length not stated on the pricing page | 14-day free trial of Professional, no credit card required |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Okta | Zapier, Inc. |
| Price read from | okta.com | zapier.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Okta Workflows
- It is bundled into Okta Workforce Identity suites, so you pay per user for the whole suite, not for Workflows alone.
- Flow counts are capped by suite: 5 on Starter and Core Essentials, 50 on Essentials, and a maximum on Professional and Enterprise.
- Professional and Enterprise prices are not published; Okta asks buyers to contact sales.
- Okta says its suites are billed annually, so the per-month figures are not available month to month.
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 per task at a higher rate that depends on plan and billing cycle; the rate is not published, and Zaps pause at 3 times the plan's limit.
Key features
Okta Workflows
- No-code flow builder
- Build automations with clicks instead of code, using if-this-then-that logic across multiple APIs and pre-built templates.
- Connector Builder
- Create your own connector to link apps that have no ready-made one, using the Connector Builder.
- Lifecycle and group management
- Automate group memberships and account changes during employee or partner onboarding and offboarding.
- Inactive-user clean-up and reports
- Find inactive users and act on their accounts, or generate audits and reports on a schedule.
- Security responses
- Act on suspicious activity, lock a user's device on offboarding, and configure flows that help prevent account takeovers.
- Low-latency inline hooks
- A low-latency mode lets flows run during sign-in, for tasks such as token enrichment or SAML assertion changes.
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 standard step uses 1 task when it completes; triggers, polling and built-in tools such as Filters and Paths use none. Some steps use more: an MCP tool call 2, a Lead Router step 5, and AI steps 1 to 5 by model tier.
- 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.
Plans
Okta Workflows
Starter$6
per user / month, billed annually
Suite with single sign-on, MFA and Universal Directory. Includes 5 Workflows flows.
Core Essentials$14
per user / month, billed annually
Okta suite priced between Starter and Essentials. Includes 5 Workflows flows.
Essentials$17
per user / month, billed annually
Adds lifecycle management and access governance to Starter. Includes 50 Workflows flows.
ProfessionalCustom
Everything in Essentials plus device access and identity threat protection. Maximum flows; sold through sales.
EnterpriseCustom
Everything in Professional plus API access management and an access gateway. Maximum flows; sold through sales.
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.
Ways to pay less
Okta Workflows
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Okta Workflows or Zapier?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Okta Workflows starts at $6 per user / month (Starter suite, 5 flows), billed annually, and Zapier starts at $19.99 / month, billed annually, for 750 tasks ($29.99 billed monthly). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Okta Workflows or Zapier?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Zapier has a free plan. Okta Workflows does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Okta Workflows and Zapier run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Zapier lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.