https://zapier.com/blog A blog about productivity, workflow automation, company building and how to get things done with less work. Sun, 20 Sep 2026 02:32:53 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-sales-assistant From acquiring leads to following up with cold accounts to handling customer queries, sales teams have a lot to do. Like shooting guards coming off a pick on the perimeter, sometimes they need an assist to close the deal. (Don't check my basketball theory—I haven't played since eighth grade.) AI sales assistant software uses machine learning, predictive analytics, generative AI, and smart automation to do all the above and more, helping sales teams reach goals quicker than a small forward on a f Bryce Emley Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-sales-assistant https://zapier.com/blog/best-hr-software-for-small-businesses I've always dreaded filling out the paperwork that comes with starting a new job: tax withholding, direct deposit forms, I-9s, benefits enrollment, the list goes on. But it's worth remembering that someone has to send, review, and process all of those documents for every single hire. And that only scratches the surface of what HR entails.  At mid-sized and larger companies, these responsibilities might be handled by a crack team of specialists. But for small businesses, HR is more likely to be a Dylan Reber Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-hr-software-for-small-businesses https://zapier.com/blog/conversational-ai-platforms Last year, I went to Dublin and took the Jameson Distillery tour. After a few product samples, my friend (who has clearly read one too many investing books) asked the guide, "How much does a bottle of Jameson appreciate over time?" I watched the man short-circuit in real time before giving a long-winded, politician-esque speech that never really answered anything. That question clearly wasn't on the training script. Every time I run into a chatbot that can't give me a direct answer, I think of t Ben Lyso Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/conversational-ai-platforms https://zapier.com/blog/best-marketing-automation-software Forget Dunkin'—the world runs on automation. Well, at least marketing teams with tons of assets to manage and campaigns to run. If the marketing agency I work for didn't automate some of our more tedious tasks, we'd waste a lot of time doing things that software could take off our hands. There are tons of marketing tools out there that enable you to build automated workflows, but some shine above the rest. After some extensive testing, here are my choices for the best marketing automation softwa Dylan Reber Thu, 17 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-marketing-automation-software https://zapier.com/blog/clickfunnels-vs-shopify Yoto, an audio player for kids, uses Shopify to power its 1,200-product eCommerce store. You can browse newly released products, bundle items together at a discount, and ship your purchase almost anywhere in the world. Alex Hormozi, an author and entrepreneur, used ClickFunnels to grow a coaching company called Gym Launch, which used single-offer funnels relying on lots of testimonials and proof points to make the sale. Shopify is built for large multi-region storefronts like Yoto's. ClickFunnel Ryan Kane Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/clickfunnels-vs-shopify https://zapier.com/blog/best-employee-onboarding-software The employee onboarding period is filled with information, forms, and meetings. It can get overwhelming—and not just for the new hires, but for managers and HR reps too. The right employee onboarding software can make this transition easier. To help you find the best employee onboarding platform, I tested the most popular onboarding apps. Drawing from my experience working in internal communications, I zeroed in on user experience, personalization, and culture. The best software is practical and Nicola Scoon Thu, 17 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-employee-onboarding-software https://zapier.com/blog/convert-google-sheets-to-excel As someone whose day job isn't related to numbers, there's only one good reason why I would use Excel over Google Sheets: the local college I teach part time at requires it (they live in the Microsoft universe).  Plenty of people (hi, that's why you're here) bounce between the two spreadsheet apps for reasons that have nothing to do with personal preference—like file compatibility or client requirements. Or maybe you've built out your whole spreadsheet in Google Sheets, only to realize you need Jessica Lau Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/convert-google-sheets-to-excel https://zapier.com/blog/ai-text-generator We're a few years into the latest AI boom, and things have matured a bit. It turns out AI is better at writing code than English, so it's computer engineers and not journalists who've had to radically rethink how they work. Still, AI writing generators are popular, widely available, and worth talking about.  A few things to acknowledge before we get started. AI text generation is more of a feature in lots of apps than a standalone tool. For a while, it looked like AI text generation would be a b Harry Guinness Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-text-generator https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-see-who-viewed-your-google-doc If you send a Google Doc to a stakeholder and get crickets, it could mean one of two things: (1) they never opened it, or (2) they opened it but got sidetracked by something infinitely more engaging—like reading the entire terms and conditions of a software update. Instead of assuming they thought your ideas were trash and preemptively drafting your resignation (because what else would you do?), there's a way to actually see who's viewed your doc. Here's everything you need to know.  Table of co Jessica Lau Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-see-who-viewed-your-google-doc https://zapier.com/blog/vibe-coding-security Shipping your first app feels great. Your idea is finally out there for the entire world to see. You posted the link, people signed up, everything is smooth—until you get billed $4,000 in OpenAI usage credits for API calls you didn't make. Unfortunately, this is one of the most common ways a live vibe-coded project goes wrong. Someone looks up exposed keys in new apps, uses them to run an expensive AI model, and racks up a huge tab while you sleep. Here, I'll guide you through how to avoid that— Miguel Rebelo Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/vibe-coding-security https://zapier.com/blog/best-online-form-builder-software Forms have a reputation problem. Most people think they're just for getting feedback and collecting contact info, but forms are a great tool for other reasons: you can help customers submit support tickets, sign them up for an event, or even help your employees request new hardware for their departments. Having an excellent form builder will help you create the forms you need to handle all these use cases—and more—while staying true to your brand image, keeping track of submissions, and understa Kiera Abbamonte Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-online-form-builder-software https://zapier.com/blog/best-free-survey-tool-form-app Online forms and surveys are some of the best ways to get the information you need from your audience. And whether you're creating a simple registration form or a detailed market research survey, you need an app to help you collect the information—and then do something with it. There are countless form and survey tools available, and a lot of them cost a pretty penny. Here, we're looking at the ones you can get for free. I've been updating this article for a few years running, and this year, I Miguel Rebelo Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:10:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-free-survey-tool-form-app https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-writing-generator Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene a few years back, AI-powered writing tools are everywhere. Microsoft, Google, Apple, and near enough every other tech company have added them to their products, whether it's a document suite, email app, or even just a social messaging app. Most dedicated AI writing apps went from the cutting edge to irrelevant in the space of a year or two and have had to pivot to different business models and feature sets. Having AI generate text isn't a groundbreaking product Harry Guinness Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-writing-generator https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-photo-editor While AI image generators are still attracting most of the headlines, AI photo editors—apps that take your image and use AI to edit or improve it in some way—have been starting to generate some buzz. And really, AI photo editors are the more useful tool. Most of the time, you aren't looking for some wild image of a Canadian man riding a moose through a maple forest in the style of a long-dead impressionist artist. Instead, you want the photos you've shot to look their best—whether they're selfi Harry Guinness Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-photo-editor https://zapier.com/blog/quickbooks-alternatives Laying my cards on the table: I'm not an accountant. And I said goodbye to all the bookkeeping tasks associated with my freelance career many moons ago. So what qualifies me to write this article? When I was self-employed, I went through the nightmare of trying to find the right software to help me balance my books (I couldn't afford an accountant). Being the juggernaut that it is, QuickBooks came as one of the top recommendations. But back then, the aesthetics of the platform alone scared me of Nicole Replogle Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/quickbooks-alternatives https://zapier.com/blog/supabase-vs-firebase You've got an app idea. You took it to a vibe coding platform and built it in a prompt. But once deployed, you notice that it doesn't actually remember things, such as user accounts and saved information. That's why backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platforms exist. They handle the complexity of user logins, access rules, and file storage—and a lot more—so you can plug everything together into a working app in an afternoon. Supabase and Firebase are two of the most popular BaaS options. They have simi Miguel Rebelo Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/supabase-vs-firebase https://zapier.com/blog/claude-for-small-business My friend runs a small dog boarding and training business. It's not a casual side hustle, either. She has a waitlist, a roster of regulars, and the kind of five-star reviews that take years to earn. She also has a full-time job. And somehow, she remains unburdened by the common stressors that keep small business owners up at night.  So, on behalf of all of us who are barely holding it together, working just one 9-to-5 (it's me—I am "us"), I asked her how she does it all. Her answer: Claude Cowor Jessica Lau Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/claude-for-small-business https://zapier.com/blog/convertkit-vs-mailchimp What do Lil Jon, Matthew McConaughey, and Mandy Moore have in common? The common thread isn't backing vocals on "Get Low" or cameos in Interstellar—it's actually email marketing. All of them use Kit (formerly ConvertKit). And while you won't find quite as many celebrities bragging about their Mailchimp usage, it's an essential tool for businesses as diverse as the Georgia Museum of Art, Jittery Joe's Coffee, and a brand of baby sunglasses called Babiators. Kit is built first and foremost for "br Ryan Kane Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/convertkit-vs-mailchimp https://zapier.com/blog/sales-automation I had a lawn mowing business for a summer growing up. My customers consisted mainly of my parents' friends and maybe a neighbor or two who felt charitable enough to let me defile their lawn. When someone needed their lawn cut, they typically told my parents, who told me, which I then wrote in a notebook that lived in the corner of my room. All of that manual transfer of data—into an unreliable database, no less—caused me to miss quite a few appointments. Needless to say, I didn't continue the fo Ben Lyso Mon, 14 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/sales-automation https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-search-engine It often feels like Google search has gotten worse. While the issue is complicated, online search has never felt like such a chore. Not only do you have to hop through numerous links to pinpoint what you're searching for, but you also have to navigate a maze of ads, spam, and pop-ups. Even then, how often do you find the answers you need? AI search engines claim they're the solution, so let's see.  The new breed of AI search engines combines the tech behind AI chatbots like ChatGPT with traditio Shubham Agarwal Mon, 14 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-search-engine https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agents-for-business Long before Zapier hired me to write for them, I was already a power user. I loved tinkering with automations and watching tasks take care of themselves.  But as much as I leaned on those workflows, I always wished they could not only do work for me but also make decisions along the way. For example, what if an automation could tell the difference between an email that needed a reply and one that didn't? Or decide the best time to schedule a task without me setting fixed rules? So when AI agents Nicole Replogle Mon, 14 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agents-for-business https://zapier.com/blog/ai-model-flexibility Every AI provider comes with models of varying strengths. I'm a Claude stan because it just gets my writing style. But for some tasks, Claude's lineup doesn't cut it at all—when I need to process data at scale, for example, I might reach for Gemini. When I need a versatile generalist for classification or routing, GPT might be my pick. Other people across my team and at Zapier have altogether different preferences, which tend to change with every new model release. If your stack is built around Steph Spector Mon, 14 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-model-flexibility https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-alternatives ChatGPT is the biggest name in AI chatbots, but it's far from the only one around. And depending on what you're trying to do, it might not even be the best option for you. ChatGPT is a great general-purpose chatbot, but like most jacks-of-all-trades, it can lose out to more specific tools for certain jobs. So if you need something that better suits your needs, your workflows, or even your personality, there are plenty of ChatGPT alternatives to consider. I've been using and writing about ChatG Harry Guinness Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-alternatives https://zapier.com/blog/cpq-software-vendors Two years ago, I bought a new SUV. Before setting foot in the dealership, I spent a while customizing it online. I picked the flashiest trim and added a tow package. The site informed me that the tow package needed the bigger engine, the bigger engine needed the upgraded brakes, and my total was now $8,000 over a number that was already out of my range to begin with. Annoying, but reasonable. Without those guardrails, a salesperson scribbles my options on a form, the system accepts whatever they Ben Lyso Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/cpq-software-vendors https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-visibility-tool Your brand's reputation now lives inside a new algorithm: one that's based on AI searches made in tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. One hallucinated fact, one competitor-favoring answer, and the trust, traffic, and sales can vanish overnight. And with ChatGPT usage soaring and Google's AI answers appearing in nearly half of all searches even on a traditional search engine, the risk (and opportunity) has never been bigger. Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the next generation of SEO, Maddy Osman Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-visibility-tool