https://zapier.com/blog A blog about productivity, workflow automation, company building and how to get things done with less work. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 19:02:52 GMT 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-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/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/google-sheets-price-list-template Present-day me isn't afraid to admit that early in my freelancing career, I quoted clients based on my memory of what I charged other clients. And when that memory failed me (which was often), I went with whatever number felt the least likely to scare a new prospect away.  A Google Sheets price list gives you one place to lock in your rates and quickly build quotes customized to your client requests without digging through old emails for your last quote or second-guessing yourself mid-call.  Her Jessica Lau Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/google-sheets-price-list-template 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 https://zapier.com/blog/ai-models-on-zapier Staying up to date on the latest AI models is like trying to keep my house vacuumed in the height of my dog's shedding season (a losing battle). New AI models drop practically every week, and it's not exactly obvious which ones deserve a spot in your workflows. This guide is your cheat sheet, with every model you can automate on Zapier right now, sorted by provider. If you just want to cut to the chase and find out which model you should be using for which task, that's what AutomationBench is fo Nicole Replogle Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-models-on-zapier https://zapier.com/blog/aiops-platform I had a smart home phase that lasted until just a few weeks ago. It started with a new thermostat, and quickly moved to one of those video doorbells, an Amazon Echo, some smart bulbs, and full integration with my TV and iPhone. Then the internet hiccuped one Tuesday, and my home went haywire. Nothing worked anymore, and I didn't know whether to blame the router, my integration setup, or the Echo (which I know was just sitting there in the corner silently judging me as I struggled). Enterprise IT Ben Lyso Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/aiops-platform https://zapier.com/blog/pipeline-management-software As anyone who's ever seen a cartoon plumber knows, the best pipeline management tool is a monkey wrench. But if you want to know the best sales pipeline management tool, unfortunately, you should probably read the next several thousand words of in-depth software analysis. The best pipeline management software helps sales teams by keeping prospects engaged and the data you have about them organized. These apps offer the AI, automation, documentation, and reporting features that you need to keep t Bryce Emley Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/pipeline-management-software https://zapier.com/blog/copy-google-drive-folders Every year, I teach the same three courses part-time at a local college. This means that I repurpose the same teaching materials and lesson slides for each semester. And right before every semester, I bemoan the fact that despite its many innovations, Google Drive still doesn't offer a built-in way to quickly duplicate a folder and all of its files.  But at least there's a not-too-terrible workaround. Here's how to make a copy of a folder in Google Drive. Table of contents: How to copy a folder Jessica Lau Wed, 09 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/copy-google-drive-folders https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-write-a-memo For the first half of my working life, I worked in admin across a bunch of industries: healthcare, real estate, legal, and a quick (miserable) stint at a car dealership. As different as they all were, one thing was consistent: everyone wanted a memo to communicate…everything.  Personally, I think most internal updates can live in an email or a Slack message if it's that quick. But that's not how every workplace operates, and, to be fair, for some announcements, the formality of a memo is the poi Jessica Lau Wed, 09 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-write-a-memo https://zapier.com/blog/ai-governance AI is doing more on behalf of companies every day. And when something goes wrong—a corrupted record, an unauthorized action, a decision made on your behalf that you never approved—someone has to be accountable. Courts are making it clear that an AI chatbot isn't going to be that "someone."   AI governance is how you get ahead of that accountability gap. It's the set of policies, controls, and accountability structures that define which tools employees can use, who owns the outcomes when AI gets Jessica Lau Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-governance https://zapier.com/blog/openai-models Keeping track of all the new AI models getting released at the moment is practically a full-time job. The most recent model, GPT-6 Astra, was released about two months after the GPT-5.6 series, which itself was released less than three months after GPT 5.5—you get the picture. I've been writing about OpenAI's models for the past few years, and it feels like every time I publish an article, another new model drops. OpenAI seems to be serious about pushing point-releases more frequently rather tha Harry Guinness Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/openai-models https://zapier.com/blog/competitor-analysis-tools Personally, I don't like thinking about competition—it makes me anxious. I'd rather be like Matthew McConaughey at the 2014 Oscars and just compete with myself (or at least ramble about it until the exit music comes on). But in the business world, there's no way around thinking about your competitors. It's how brands know how to position themselves in the greater marketplace. The right competitor analysis software can make those efforts more informed, more accurate, and more efficient. So I talk Bryce Emley Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/competitor-analysis-tools https://zapier.com/blog/onedrive-vs-google-drive Cloud storage may no longer be the buzzy innovation it was in the early 2010s, but to me it's still a minor miracle. Case in point: after buying a new laptop last month, I managed to set it up in half an hour. I linked Google Drive, dragged a few shortcuts onto the desktop, and got on with my life. It's a far cry from the multi-day computer migration process of a couple decades ago, which required an external hard drive, an abundance of patience, and a fair bit of finger-crossing. ("Sorry, I can Ryan Kane Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/onedrive-vs-google-drive https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-scheduling Productivity starts with your calendar—but sometimes it ends there too. No one wants to reprioritize an entire week after an emergency, or play calendar Tetris to land a meeting with that busy lead sometime in the next two days. This is where an AI scheduling assistant can help: instead of working on your schedule, you can let AI calendar apps do it for you. I've been playing around with all sorts of AI tools recently. For this article, I considered a couple dozen AI calendars, and did in-depth Miguel Rebelo Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-scheduling https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-voice-generator Recording a voiceover is challenging enough. You go through way too many takes to get what you want. You don't have enough time to rehearse and hit your tone and intention targets. You read endless audio editing software guides to make sure your voice sounds good. And even if you nail all of these things, if you don't have access to a studio, your perfect performance will be riddled with background noise. So should you give up and hire a voice actor? Not yet: AI voice generators can deliver impr Miguel Rebelo Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-ai-voice-generator https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-ai Jasper was inescapable in the early years of the AI boom. With its quirky robot logo and "Boss Mode," a tool that churned out long-form blog posts, it had more name recognition than any other AI writing assistant. Then ChatGPT came out and changed everything. For consumers, Jasper appeared to fall off the map entirely. (As one user commented on one of Jasper's YouTube videos, "Jasper is still alive? I loved it back in the day before ChatGPT, but now what's the point?") Jasper is very much alive, Ryan Kane Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-ai https://zapier.com/blog/graphic-design-tools-for-social-media-images As both a photographer and writer, I'm very aware of what gets engagement on social media. Whether you use Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bluesky, Mastodon, or any other social network, visual posts, like photos, videos, and graphics, get more attention. The good news is you don't have to hire a designer or spend hundreds of dollars per year on software subscriptions to get great visuals; there are some awesome free graphic design apps out there you can use to create incredible social Harry Guinness Tue, 08 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/graphic-design-tools-for-social-media-images https://zapier.com/blog/n8n-vs-power-automate n8n and Microsoft Power Automate both run multi-step workflows, connect to your business apps, and have spent the last few years adding AI to everything they ship. But they were built for completely different users: n8n for individual developers who want total control over their workflows, and Power Automate for big orgs that live in the Microsoft ecosystem.  Here's everything you need to know about n8n vs. Microsoft Power Automate, including differences in automation approaches, integrations, A Ben Lyso Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/n8n-vs-power-automate https://zapier.com/blog/ai-and-human-approval Every manager eventually learns that "use your best judgment" is not an instruction—it's a wager. You're betting the person's judgment resembles yours closely enough that you won't hear about the outcome from Legal. Companies are now placing that bet with software. An AI agent can have access to the company card, email account, and every customer record, even though its judgment can be, putting it nicely, flawed. AI often won't push back against your ideas even if they wouldn't pass a human snif Lane Gillespie Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-and-human-approval https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-vs-copy-ai Jasper and Copy.ai were two of the first AI text generators to hit the market in the pre-ChatGPT days. (Remember a world without ChatGPT? Me neither.) But once chatbots became ubiquitous and ridiculously powerful, there wasn't much competitive advantage in being a slightly-prettier text generator. As a result, both apps have pivoted upmarket: Copy.ai is now an AI go-to-market platform for sales, operations, and marketing teams, while Jasper is focused specifically on AI workflows for marketing t Ryan Kane Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-vs-copy-ai https://zapier.com/blog/automate-claude With every new model release, Claude tops almost every benchmark. And chatting with Claude makes it clear why: it's good at everything. But while there's power in a back-and-forth conversation, you can accomplish a lot more when you use Zapier to connect Claude to the rest of your apps and let automation carry out entire workflows for you. Here's how it works. Table of contents: Add Claude's brain to your existing workflows Automate workflows directly from Claude Claude automation FAQ Add Claude Steph Spector Fri, 04 Sep 2026 07:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/automate-claude