https://zapier.com/blog A blog about productivity, workflow automation, company building and how to get things done with less work. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 21:03:25 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/content-engineering The first time I saw the term "content engineering" mentioned on LinkedIn, I rolled my eyes and assumed it was another AI trend designed to end the careers of content writers like me. As I dug into it, though, I realized content engineering isn't just another AI-slop trend claiming to replace writers, editors, strategists, or subject matter experts. Instead, it's a system that helps their expertise move through content production more efficiently and without starting from a blank page. Here's ev Sara J. Nguyen Tue, 22 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/content-engineering https://zapier.com/blog/automation-vs-ai Artificial intelligence (AI) has been powering the tools we use in our everyday lives for decades now. And every time powerful advancements in AI are released, conversations around the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI inevitably dominate the headlines. Amid all the noise, I've noticed people throwing around buzzwords like "AI" and "automation" (and, if they're feeling fancy, "agentic AI") and using them interchangeably. Only, they're not the same thing. Here, I'll break down the key points you Anna Burgess Yang Tue, 22 Sep 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/automation-vs-ai 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 GPT-6 models were first 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 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/openai-models https://zapier.com/blog/claude-ai I've been using Claude long enough to remember when the main selling point was that it was a nicer chatbot to talk to than the alternatives. (That's still true, for what it's worth.) But Claude no longer just talks to you about your work; it also does your work for you. You can give Claude a project, head off to make a coffee, and check in occasionally when questions pop up. For enterprises looking to get real productivity gains from AI, Claude has become the default choice. And Claude is equall Ryan Kane Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/claude-ai https://zapier.com/blog/ai-governance-for-small-teams I don't do new hobbies halfway. Baking, sewing, whatever it is—I'll disappear into inspiration boards, overbuy supplies, and find myself fully invested in a niche I joined only four hours ago. Unfortunately, that's when I hit a wall. Turns out enthusiasm and a can-do attitude only get you so far.  Many businesses are approaching AI exactly like I approach a new hobby: all enthusiasm, shaky planning. And it's happening at scale.  The majority of SMBs (76%) have adopted some form of automation, ra Lane Gillespie Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-governance-for-small-teams https://zapier.com/blog/ai-in-hr I spent the first stretch of my career in learning and development, which mostly involved building training programs, writing curriculum, and trying to get people to finish a course they signed up for in a moment of optimism. These days I'm Zapier's AI Innovation Lead for People. I spend most of my week building systems that do the copy-paste work my team and I used to do by hand, and showing customers how their HR team can do that, too. That's all to say, at this point, I'm an expert on AI in Emily Mabie Tue, 22 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-in-hr https://zapier.com/blog/ai-coding-survey Every labor-saving device ever invented came with the same promise and the same catch. The robot vacuum, for example, will clean your floors while you relax, and it does—right after you spend 15 minutes moving chair legs and coiling phone chargers so it doesn't eat them. The work didn't disappear. It changed shape and moved upstream. AI coding tools do the same thing. The pitch was that AI would handle the tedious parts of software development and hand developers back their afternoons. The first Lane Gillespie Mon, 21 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-coding-survey 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/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/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/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/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/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-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/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/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.  And Jessica Lau Tue, 15 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/claude-for-small-business 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/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