Microsoft Power Automate vs Zapier

Microsoft Power Automate

The product page promises 'Optimierte Genehmigungsprozesse' — creating, managing and sharing approvals — plus low-code cloud and desktop flows, which clears the bar of a simple approval step in a builder. Everything a business owner needs before trusting it — forms, conditions, deadlines, substitutes, and what happens to instances in flight when a process changes — goes unmentioned on the captured pages.

Zapier

The visual no-code editor, if/then Paths, multiple loops with steps after loops, and Forms with conditional logic are documented, so this is above a basic branch-and-build tool. But the human side of a process is thin: we found no public information on approval steps assigned to roles or groups, substitutes, deadlines or escalation for open tasks, a task inbox for participants, or versioning that keeps already-running instances on their original version when the definition changes.

Microsoft Power Automate

The connector story is more than a number here: SAP, Dynamics 365 and Salesforce are named, custom connectors are buildable, and there is an SAP procurement template for DACH-style processes. The on-premises data gateway is properly documented — standard and personal modes, credentials encrypted and decrypted only on the gateway machine, access control per data source — and serves Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate and Logic Apps from one install. What the captured pages never show: an HTTP or webhook step, a public API to start or query workflows, or who maintains each of the 1,400 certified connectors.

Zapier

"9,000+ apps" is a count, not a catalogue I can check by name; the checkable substance is webhooks, a connect-to-any-API step, a documented REST API for creating and configuring workflows, and a developer platform that builds custom integrations in code with automated regression tests and source control. We found no public information on connectors to DACH ERP or accounting systems, an on-premise agent reaching internal databases or file shares, SOAP or database steps, or who maintains which connector.

Microsoft Power Automate

We found no public information on retries, error paths, failure alerts, execution history retention, runtime or rate limits, or a status page on the captured product, privacy and gateway pages. The plans do mention unattended desktop flows, so runs without a human present exist — but we found no public information on how a failure overnight would be caught.

Zapier

Retry on 429, auth-refresh and retry of the whole step on 401, Zap history with error display and email alerts, and step-level observability in the Workflow Manager are all documented — though a good share of the error-handling pages are written for people building connectors, not for the customer whose Zap failed at 3 a.m. Zap history retention is configurable shorter only on Company and Enterprise, and Zap Runs are also kept in a non-production database for the vendor's own analytics; we found no public information on replaying a failed run from the failing step, concurrency controls, a public status page, or an uptime commitment.

Microsoft Power Automate

'Managed environments' is sold as visibility and control at scale, flows can be shared with colleagues or groups as owners, and even buying a plan requires a Global or Billing Administrator — team-workspace-level control, nothing more documented. We found no public information on single sign-on, an audit trail of workflow changes, publishing approvals between environments, or execution-log retention on the captured pages. For a works council the documented part runs the other way: the privacy statement records usage data and Teams communication metadata, and reserves the right to train Microsoft's AI models on customer data.

Zapier

SAML SSO with SCIM provisioning, shared folders and app connections, admin visibility of every agent action and workflow run with its owner, and configurable shorter execution retention on Company and Enterprise are evidenced. The developer SDK permissions page states plainly that it is not admin-level access control and cannot govern other team members — useful guardrails for AI agents, not org-wide governance; we found no public information on separate development and production environments with a publishing approval, credential storage encryption, external secret stores, or field-level redaction of payloads in logs.

Microsoft Power Automate

The FAQ answer is categorical — Power Automate is a cloud service, with on-premises systems reachable only through a data gateway that connects to local data sources without moving the data; the engine itself stays in Microsoft's cloud, and the gateway page confirms it only tunnels connections. We found no public information on exporting workflow definitions, a self-hosted edition, the engine's licence, or an API to read definitions on the captured pages.

Zapier

The terms state the service is operated from a cloud located in the United States, and export of Zap workflows, account data and Zap history is documented, including a pre-deletion export path to switch providers. We found no public information on a self-hosted or on-premise edition, an EU hosting region, a documented export format such as JSON or BPMN for workflow definitions, or migration off the vendor's cloud in either direction.

Microsoft Power Automate

The German legal notice names Microsoft Corporation in Redmond as the provider and states explicitly that Microsoft Deutschland GmbH is not the provider, while the privacy statement names Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited only as a contact. That same statement reserves storage and processing of personal data in the United States and in any other jurisdiction where Microsoft or its affiliates operate, relies on the EU-US data privacy framework, and permits using customer data to train Microsoft's AI models. We found no public information on where workflows and their payloads execute, on subprocessor locations, or on a data processing agreement covering execution data.

Zapier

The contracting entity is Zapier, Inc., a Delaware corporation, the service runs from a cloud located in the United States, and a data processing agreement plus Data Privacy Framework certifications exist — a privacy-and-DPA level, not EU execution. The captured subprocessor list names advertising and analytics providers rather than the execution chain; AI features exist and derived data may be used for model training, and the only model-choice lever shown is a "Bring Your Own Model" platform control and an automatic AI model opt-out on Enterprise. We found no public information on EU execution or an EU contracting entity.

Microsoft Power Automate

Two plans carry real euro figures with billing period and VAT treatment — '13,00 € Benutzer/Monat, jährliche Abrechnung' and '130,00 € Bot/Monat' with unlimited users per bot — plus a 30-day trial including premium features. The allowance, though, is answered with 'Die Anzahl hängt von der Art der Lizenz ab', the bot plan defers to 'Siehe Bedingungen' that were not captured, and we found no public prices for premium connectors or AI steps on the captured pages.

Zapier

The billing unit is defined better than most: a task is charged only when an action succeeds, triggers and data checks are free, an enumerated list of steps does not count, one MCP tool call uses two tasks, and tasks are pooled across the whole account — exactly the fine print a buyer needs. But the allowances are incomplete: only the Free tier's "100 tasks per month" is stated, Professional appears as "Starting from $19.99 /month" and Team as "Starting from $69 /month" without task allowances, Enterprise is "Contact for pricing", and pay-per-task overage is priced only as "a higher per-task rate than your base subscription tasks" with no number given.