https://zapier.com/blog A blog about productivity, workflow automation, company building and how to get things done with less work. Sat, 11 Jul 2026 23:35:12 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/predictive-analytics-software You could argue that pretty much all analytics are meant to be predictive. Isn't the point of analyzing past performance, on some level, to project future performance? (I guess you could just be nostalgic for the metrics underlying your favorite past fiscal quarter.) As a dedicated tool class, however, predictive analytics software helps analysts of all kinds see what past data says about the future. While tools like these can't tell you what will happen, they can tell you what massive amounts o Bryce Emley Fri, 10 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/predictive-analytics-software 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-5.6, was released less than three months after GPT 5.5, which itself was released two months after GPT-5.4. 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 is one of the worst offenders (or prolific innovators), and things aren't helped by how confusing all the OpenAI mod Harry Guinness Fri, 10 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/openai-models https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agents-for-marketing I've always wanted a little robot helper of my own. Not the kind that automatically vacuums your floor and terrifies your dog. More like the one from Bicentennial Man (without the existential crisis and tears).  That's what AI agents are: software teammates that can figure out and execute the steps needed to achieve a task—and talk to each other while they're at it. For marketers juggling campaigns, copy, and analytics across a dozen tools, AI agents for marketing are shifting how work gets done Jessica Lau Fri, 10 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agents-for-marketing https://zapier.com/blog/salesforce-automation-tools My early days with Salesforce were a classic love-hate experience: loved its power, but resented the hours I lost to manual CSV juggling and frantic VLOOKUPs, always fearing a critical lead was gathering dust in some forgotten queue.  Things really clicked when I stopped just using Salesforce and focused on making it work for me. It wasn't about some mythical magic button—those rarely exist in enterprise software.  My goal was to pinpoint the real time sinks and systematically apply automation. Michael Kern Thu, 09 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/salesforce-automation-tools https://zapier.com/blog/automate-chatgpt In a livestream on July 9, OpenAI rolled out the red carpet for not one but three new models: Sol, Terra, and Luna. These celestial models mark three tiers within the GPT-5.6 generation, each built to cut down on how often you have to re-explain your context in ChatGPT. All three are available on Zapier, so you can connect them securely to the other apps you already use in Zap workflows (what we call automations). Below, I'll share some of the most popular ChatGPT automations, plus templates you Steph Spector Thu, 09 Jul 2026 07:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/automate-chatgpt 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 I'll often reach for Sonnet over the higher-tier models because its results are more consistent for me. And 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 altoget Steph Spector Thu, 09 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-model-flexibility https://zapier.com/blog/ai-models-on-zapier New AI models launch practically every week, and keeping up with which ones to use for specific workflows is a job in itself. Consider this article your living reference. At Zapier, we run every model through AutomationBench. It's our benchmark for testing how well models carry out multi-step workflows, not just static prompts. Below, I'll walk through every major AI provider available on Zapier, the models you can plug into your Zap workflows today, and what each one is best for based on Zapier Steph Spector Thu, 09 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-models-on-zapier https://zapier.com/blog/api-integration-platform APIs have changed the world for the better. I can check the weather without getting out of bed, or cheat on my diet when the urge for a delivered burrito is just too strong. For consumers like me, the story is pretty clean: an API connects the dots, data transfers, something happens, and life gets a little easier. The enterprise side is a little messier. You probably have dozens of SaaS tools in your tech stack, each with its own data model and authentication quirks. Getting them all to play nic Ben Lyso Wed, 08 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/api-integration-platform https://zapier.com/blog/uipath-alternatives My house was built in the '70s, but sometimes I swear that means the 1870s. Whenever I have a problem with the fixtures, I can't just hire a general electrician—I need someone who knows how to work around the archaic, nonsensical infrastructure that infects my home. Ideally, without ripping my entire house apart.  My specialized electrician is basically what UiPath does for a company's tech stack. It's built to work around the ancient infrastructure—the mainframes, the Citrix environments, the d Ben Lyso Wed, 08 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/uipath-alternatives https://zapier.com/blog/mulesoft-alternatives My uncle bought himself some farmland and found a tractor guy. Not a general mechanic; a rural Einstein who has the knowledge, parts, and patience to service a tractor that predates the metric system. Every time that piece of metal makes a weird noise or just won't work right, it's off to the guy, where it will return (after a few weeks and a few hundred dollars later) good-as-new. MuleSoft is the tractor guy. It's a Salesforce-owned integration and API platform that's excellent for working with Ben Lyso Wed, 08 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/mulesoft-alternatives https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-vs-chatgpt Comparing ChatGPT and Zapier might seem like comparing AI apples to automated oranges. But over the last couple of years, both platforms have picked up new agentic AI features, and now they share a lot of capabilities—and they combine into a delightful AI automation fruit juice. I've been using both tools every day for over three years, so I'm very keyed into the differences between the two, where each one shines, and how to run them together in ways that cut your token spend and make it safer f Steph Spector Wed, 08 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-vs-chatgpt https://zapier.com/blog/vibe-coding-ideas If you'd asked me a year ago whether I could turn my barely-there coding knowledge into fully functional apps, internal tools, and custom widgets without hiring a developer, I would've smiled politely and quietly choked on my LaCroix. But since early 2025, I've been vibe coding my way to actual tools. The code is minimal, the confidence is unearned, and the results are surprisingly functional. Here, I'll show you the apps I built, the tools I used to build them, and how they actually work—in the Maddy Osman Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/vibe-coding-ideas https://zapier.com/blog/best-email-app The past few years have shown that email isn't going anywhere, no matter how much your workplace uses Slack, Teams, and other remote work tools—and AI isn't coming to save us. In fact, email apps seem to have gotten better. What were once niche features you had to pay for, like scheduling emails to send later or turning them into reminders in your inbox, are now available in almost every email app, even the default ones and web apps. And that's before you even consider all the new AI-powered fea Harry Guinness Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-email-app https://zapier.com/blog/paragon-vs-zapier In the 1999 cult classic Office Space, three employees take an error-prone office printer outside and smash it to pieces with a bat. I can relate. My last printer—may it rest in pieces—was so unreliable that I occasionally drove to the print shop to avoid dealing with its endless excuses. Its go-to error was the classic "nonexistent paper jam," but occasionally, to mix things up, it sent me on a wild goose chase to find a new device driver, or refused to print black-and-white documents due to a Ryan Kane Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/paragon-vs-zapier https://zapier.com/blog/zoom-vs-teams Microsoft Teams and Zoom are both excellent video conferencing and collaboration apps, and over the last few years, Zoom has added all sorts of all-in-one features that make the Zoom vs. Teams comparison more relevant than ever.  I've used both apps a lot in the past, and to write this guide, I spent more time diving deep into each of these tools and exploring all their features to pull out the most important differences that still exist between them.  Based on my past experiences of using these Ryan Kane Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/zoom-vs-teams https://zapier.com/blog/what-is-a-token-in-ai Understanding what tokens in AI are matters more now than it did even a year ago. Tokens have gone from a background technical detail to the primary usage limit and billing unit for top AI models.  If you've ever hit your usage limit with Claude Code, you've hit a token limit. If you've ever wondered why switching to a reasoning model burned through your quota faster, that's tokens, too. How AI models read your input, generate a response, think through hard problems, and rack up costs—it all com Harry Guinness Tue, 07 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/what-is-a-token-in-ai https://zapier.com/blog/simple-database-app-builders Spreadsheets are fantastic. You can put together an accounting system, a task manager, or an inventory tracker with columns, rows, and formulas—all without slamming into a wall of code at any point. But there's a cap to how much you can achieve with spreadsheets alone. If you want to view, manipulate, and understand your data better, you want a database tool. Not all databases are flexible and easy to use, though, which is why I rounded up the ones that are right on the money: a perfect blend of Miguel Rebelo Tue, 07 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/simple-database-app-builders https://zapier.com/blog/ambient-ai Chatbots keep getting smarter, but they're creating a new kind of busywork. Even if they simplify an entire workflow, you still have to open an app, start a new chat, and get to the objective prompt-by-prompt. If you're the one doing the repetitive work, who's actually the copilot in this equation? Ambient AI puts you back into the pilot seat. It sits in the background, reads your context, and acts when needed, not when you call it. Here's how to stop defaulting to chatbots that give you more wo Miguel Rebelo Tue, 07 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ambient-ai https://zapier.com/blog/building-business-software AI was impressive enough when skilled developers could use ChatGPT to troubleshoot code. But now, the tech has evolved to the point that workers with no programming background can use AI to build apps from scratch, refine them, and ship them, all in a matter of days or even hours.  Some folks call it vibe coding, but that undersells what's actually happening. There's a lot more than vibes behind these projects. The vibey part comes from how easy it is for someone to describe what they want to cr Lane Gillespie Mon, 06 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/building-business-software https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-vs-chatgpt At first glance, Jasper and ChatGPT seem similar—they're both generative AI tools that can create content in a split second. But there's a big difference here: ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that's flexible enough to handle just about any task you throw at it, while Jasper is a specialized AI marketing tool.  I've spent countless hours using both apps in my personal and professional life. For example, I used Jasper to help me scale content production for my previously niche website. And I've been usin Juliet John Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/jasper-vs-chatgpt https://zapier.com/blog/best-marketing-newsletters With new technologies like AI revolutionizing the way we approach marketing, the landscape is becoming increasingly more complex—and it feels like it's shifting every day. To stay up to date with the latest trends, I've become something of a marketing newsletter hoarder. To my own detriment, I've subscribed to more marketing newsletters than I can possibly read each day. And it doesn't help that I'm constantly leveraging X, Reddit, and LinkedIn for other people's recommendations. But my bad hab Luciano Viterale Mon, 06 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-marketing-newsletters https://zapier.com/blog/power-automate-alternatives My dad still uses Internet Explorer. Not because he thinks it's the best browser—if you pressed him, he'd struggle to explain the difference between a browser and a search engine—but because it was already there when he bought his first computer, and nothing has ever gone wrong enough to make him switch. That's how a lot of teams end up with Microsoft Power Automate. It's bundled into Microsoft 365, it works, and switching feels like a project. So you stay. Even if the connectors are spotty outs Ben Lyso Sun, 05 Jul 2026 22:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/power-automate-alternatives https://zapier.com/blog/best-crms-for-small-business As a small business, you're no longer in the early days of figuring out how things work. You have a good client base, your metrics are solid, and now you're looking to scale. To do that, you need CRM software that's not too basic but not too expensive, a blend of useful features and competitive pricing. Efficiency is the name of the game. I know you didn't start a business to shop around for the perfect apps to help you grow. I'm taking some of the load off: I rounded up over 140 apps on the mar Miguel Rebelo Fri, 03 Jul 2026 13:47:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-crms-for-small-business https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agent-security-audit My friend once raved about an AI tool he used for meeting summaries—until I asked what the tool had access to. It was only then that he realized he'd never actually looked into it. For all he knew, his AI tool could've had access to customer profiles with personally identifiable information (PII). You never know how low-stakes a tool truly is until you've investigated its connections and mapped out what it does with those connections.  Here's how to conduct a security audit of your AI agent work Sara J. Nguyen Fri, 03 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/ai-agent-security-audit https://zapier.com/blog/best-llm Large language models (LLMs) are what most people think of when they think of AI. They're what you're interacting with in ChatGPT and Claude, they write the code generated by Claude Code and Codex, and they power other AI features like Google's AI answers and Apple Intelligence. If something has a chatbot, some kind of text generator or text summarization built in, or writes code or automates your computer, it almost certainly uses an LLM. LLMs have been studied in research labs since the late 2 Harry Guinness Fri, 03 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT https://zapier.com/blog/best-llm