Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows
Lindy vs Manus vs Zapier
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Lindy
3.8Pick it if: Founders and small teams who want help with email, scheduling and customer replies without hiring someone.
Manus
3.7Pick it if: People who want to hand off whole tasks and don't want to build the automation themselves.
Zapier
4.2Pick it if: Anyone who's sick of copying data between apps and has never written a line of code.
Zapier scores highest overall, but Lindy gives you more for your money. Which one is right comes down to what you value most.
Overview
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | An AI assistant that handles your email, meeting notes and follow-ups from Slack. | A general-purpose agent that takes a goal and works through it in its own browser. | When something happens in one app, Zapier does the next step in another. No code needed. |
| Pricing model | Paid | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | From $29.99/mo per active user | From $20/mo | From $19.99/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | No | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 3.8 | 3.7 | 4.2Winner |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 3.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | – |
| Desktop app | No | Yes | No |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | – | Yes | – |
| Makes images | No | Yes | No |
| Makes video | No | Yes | No |
| Writes code | No | Yes | Yes |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | Yes | No | No |
| Works in many languages | – | Yes | – |
| Capabilities score | 9/ 17 | 15/ 17 | 9/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free trial Free for 7 days Seeing whether it suits how you work. | Free Free Quick questions and seeing what it can do. | Free Free Testing one or two simple automations. |
TeamOur pick From $29.99/mo per active user Founders and small teams with a recurring admin load. | ProOur pick From $20/mo, less with yearly billing Anyone who wants to hand off real research and build jobs. | ProfessionalOur pick From $19.99/mo billed yearly, or $29.99/mo One person running real automations for a business. | |
Enterprise Custom Companies with compliance requirements. | Pro (higher tier) From $40/mo, less with yearly billing Heavier users and anyone publishing websites with it. | Team From $69/mo billed yearly, or $103.50/mo A team that shares Zaps and app connections. | |
Team From $20/seat/mo Teams that want shared credits and admin controls. | Enterprise Custom Large companies with security and compliance needs. | ||
Enterprise Custom Large organisations. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Use the seven-day trial on one recurring job, like meeting notes or inbox triage, and see how many credits it burns. Then pick the Team credit tier one step above what you used, since every active user is billed. | Try the Free plan for a week to get a feel for how many credits a real task uses, then move to the $20 Pro tier. Only go higher if you run out most months or you want it to publish websites for you. | Start on Free to confirm your apps connect, then move to Professional on yearly billing. Buy the smallest task tier and let Zapier tell you when you are close to the limit, because it is easy to overestimate how many tasks you need. |
Key features
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standout features |
|
|
|
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pros |
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
Who each one is for
| Attribute | Lindy | Manus | Zapier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for |
|
|
|
| You'll find it used by |
|
|
|
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.
Swap in another tool
More automation & workflows tools from the library.
