The 6 Best Relay.app Alternatives in 2026 (It's Shutting Down)
By Loïc Jané · Founder, Fleece AI
The 6 Best Relay.app Alternatives in 2026 (It's Shutting Down)
At a Glance: Relay.app announced on July 16, 2026 that it is shutting down -- free accounts and their data are deleted after August 15, 2026, and paid workspaces stop on September 14, 2026. We compared the 6 best places to move: Fleece AI, Zapier, Make, n8n, Lindy AI, and Gumloop. Fleece AI is the strongest replacement for teams that chose Relay.app for human-in-the-loop AI automation -- it keeps approval gates as a first-class control while adding autonomous agents and 3,000+ integrations. Published July 21, 2026.
Relay.app was one of the good ones. Founded by Jacob Bank -- who led product for Gmail and Google Calendar -- and backed by Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, it made human-in-the-loop automation genuinely elegant: any AI step could pause for a person to review, edit, or approve before the workflow continued. That is why the shutdown announcement stings, and why choosing where to move deserves more thought than grabbing the first tool with a migration landing page.
This guide covers the deadlines, what to export before your data disappears, and an honest ranking of the six best alternatives depending on what you actually used Relay.app for.
Relay.app Is Shutting Down: The Key Dates
Relay.app's team announced the shutdown on July 16, 2026. No reason was given. Here is the timeline that matters:
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| July 16, 2026 | Shutdown announced; new signups and upgrades closed; subscriptions cancelled |
| August 15, 2026 (23:59 PT) | Free accounts and all associated data permanently deleted |
| September 14, 2026 | Paid workspaces stop working |
A few practical details from the announcement:
- Workflows keep running until your end date, and workspaces received an additional 25,000 steps and 10,000 AI credits per month at no cost during the wind-down.
- Annual customers get prorated refunds for unused time, processed automatically within 5 business days.
- Support stays available at support@relay.app throughout the wind-down.
If you are on the free plan, your real deadline is August 15 -- and it is a hard one, because deletion is permanent.
Before Anything Else: Export Your Data
Do this today, before comparing alternatives. Relay.app lets you export:
- Workflows, sequences, and MCP servers -- as JSON and as AI prompts
- Run history -- as CSV
- Tables -- as CSV
The AI prompt export matters more than it looks. It is a plain-language description of what each workflow does -- which is exactly the format the AI-native alternatives (Fleece AI in particular) use as input. Your export is not just a backup; it is the raw material for the migration.
What to Look For in a Relay.app Replacement
Relay.app users did not pick it at random. Three things made it distinctive, and your replacement should answer for each:
- Human-in-the-loop as a first-class feature. Any step could pause for review via email or Slack. Most classic automation tools bolt approvals on awkwardly or not at all -- check this before anything else.
- All integrations on every plan. Relay.app never paywalled connectors. Many alternatives do; read the pricing page's fine print.
- Plain-language workflow creation. Relay.app's Spark assistant built workflows from a description. The AI-native platforms have taken this idea furthest.
With those criteria, here is the ranking.
1. Fleece AI -- Best Overall, and the Closest Home for Human-in-the-Loop
Best for: Teams that chose Relay.app because they wanted AI automation with oversight -- and want to keep that control while gaining autonomy and integration breadth.
Fleece AI is an AI workforce platform: instead of assembling a workflow step by step, you brief an autonomous agent in plain language and it plans the steps itself. Crucially for Relay.app users, oversight is built into the core model. Every agent has an autonomy setting, and approval gates pause anything sensitive -- external replies, deletions, payments -- for your one-click sign-off. That is Relay.app's philosophy, applied where it matters instead of at every step.
Why it ranks first for Relay.app users
- Human-in-the-loop survives the move -- autonomy levels plus approval gates, with every run recorded step by step for review
- 3,000+ integrations with managed OAuth (Gmail, Slack, HubSpot, Notion, Stripe, and thousands more) versus Relay.app's ~100
- The most direct migration path: Relay.app exports each workflow as an AI prompt -- paste it as an agent brief, reconnect the same apps, done
- Agent hierarchy -- a lead agent delegates to specialists, something Relay.app's flat workflows never offered
- Scheduled flows and real-time triggers -- cron schedules with timezone support, running 24/7
- Browser automation built in -- agents drive a real browser for the tools that have no API
Limitations
- No one-click Relay.app importer -- migration is paste-and-reconnect, workflow by workflow (fast, but manual)
- Web-first platform; no mobile app
Pricing
Flat monthly plans -- Starter at EUR 49/month, Pro at EUR 99/month, Business at EUR 199/month -- with a 7-day trial to validate the migration on your own data. Plans differ by agents, flows, and credits, not by which connectors you can reach.
Start your 7-day trial on Fleece AI -- paste your first exported Relay.app prompt as an agent brief and compare on your own data. See the full Fleece AI vs Relay.app comparison.
2. Zapier -- Best for the Largest App Catalog
Best for: Teams whose Relay.app workflows were mostly deterministic trigger-action plumbing across many apps.
Zapier remains the category's reference for connector breadth: 8,000+ apps, mature reliability, and a huge template library. If your Relay.app usage was "when X happens in app A, do Y in app B" with little judgment involved, Zapier will absorb those workflows without drama.
Where it falls short of Relay.app: human-in-the-loop is not the core model -- approvals exist in places but are not the elegant per-step toggle you are used to -- and per-task pricing climbs quickly at volume. You are also back to building and maintaining every workflow by hand.
Pricing: Free tier, then per-task tiers that scale with volume.
3. Make -- Best Value for Visual Workflow Builders
Best for: Teams that want granular, visual control over branching workflows at a lower price per execution.
Make gives you a visual canvas with routers, iterators, and error handlers -- more expressive than Zapier for complex branching, and its per-operation pricing is usually cheaper at volume. It is a builder's tool: powerful if you enjoy designing flows, heavier if you came to Relay.app precisely to avoid that.
Where it falls short of Relay.app: no first-class approval steps, and the learning curve is real. Plain-language creation is not the model.
Pricing: Free tier, then per-operation tiers.
4. n8n -- Best for Self-Hosted Control
Best for: Technical teams that want automation on their own infrastructure with full data control.
n8n is source-available and self-hostable -- the strongest answer in this list for privacy, compliance, or cost reasons to keep workflows in-house. It has grown real AI capabilities (agent nodes, LangChain integration) and a wait-for-approval pattern can be built.
Where it falls short of Relay.app: you operate it yourself (deployment, updates, scaling), and approvals are something you construct, not a toggle. Non-technical operators will struggle.
Pricing: Self-hosted is free to run; cloud plans bill by executions.
5. Lindy AI -- Best for a Personal AI Assistant
Best for: Individual operators whose Relay.app workflows were personal productivity -- inbox triage, meeting scheduling, follow-ups.
Lindy AI is an AI assistant platform with strong personal-productivity coverage, voice calling (Gaia), and 4,000+ app connections. For a solo professional automating their own inbox and calendar, it is a credible landing spot.
Where it falls short of Relay.app: it is personal-assistant-shaped rather than team-workflow-shaped -- no multi-stakeholder approval routing, and credit consumption can be unpredictable on complex tasks.
Pricing: Free tier with limited credits, then per-user monthly plans.
6. Gumloop -- Best for AI-Heavy Data Pipelines
Best for: Teams whose Relay.app usage was mostly AI processing -- scrape, extract, classify, transform -- rather than approvals.
Gumloop is an AI-native visual builder where each node is an AI step. It is notably strong at web scraping and data processing pipelines, with a template library and BYOK support.
Where it falls short of Relay.app: no human-in-the-loop model at all -- you review outputs after the fact -- and credit-based pricing scales with how much AI processing you run.
Pricing: Free tier with credits, then credit-based monthly plans.
Comparison Summary
| Criterion | Fleece AI | Zapier | Make | n8n | Lindy AI | Gumloop |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human-in-the-loop | Approval gates + autonomy levels | Partial | Build it yourself | Build it yourself | Limited | No |
| Setup model | Brief an agent in plain language | Build trigger-action zaps | Visual canvas | Visual canvas (technical) | Assistant setup | AI nodes on canvas |
| Integrations | 3,000+ managed OAuth | 8,000+ | 2,000+ | 400+ nodes + code | 4,000+ | 100+ and MCP |
| Relay.app migration | Paste exported AI prompts as briefs | Rebuild by hand | Rebuild by hand | Rebuild by hand | Rebuild by hand | Rebuild by hand |
| Multi-agent teams | Yes -- hierarchy | No | No | Limited | No | No |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly, 7-day trial | Per-task | Per-operation | Self-host or executions | Per-user + credits | Credits |
How to Choose
- You used Relay.app for approvals and oversight → Fleece AI. It is the only alternative where human-in-the-loop is a first-class control rather than a workaround.
- Your workflows were simple trigger-action plumbing → Zapier for catalog breadth, or Make for better value on branching flows.
- You need data on your own servers → n8n.
- It was all personal productivity → Lindy AI.
- It was all AI data processing → Gumloop.
For many teams the honest answer is a split: a classic builder for fixed plumbing, and Fleece AI for the judgment-heavy work Relay.app's AI steps handled.
Getting Started
Here is the migration path we recommend, sized so a typical Relay.app workspace moves in an afternoon:
- Export everything from Relay.app - Workflows, sequences, and MCP servers as JSON and AI prompts; run history and tables as CSV. Do this before August 15 on a free account, and before September 14 on a paid one.
- Sort workflows by risk - Separate the ones that touch customers or money (they keep approval gates) from internal plumbing (it can run autonomously).
- Rebuild the first workflow as an agent brief - Paste the exported AI prompt into the Relay.app importer -- your first agent's brief arrives pre-filled -- then reconnect the same apps via managed OAuth and set the autonomy level. Keep approval gates on the sensitive steps.
- Run both platforms in parallel - Relay.app keeps working until your end date. Compare outputs for a week on your own data during the 7-day trial.
- Move the rest and disconnect - Migrate the remaining workflows in risk order, then revoke Relay.app's app connections once you are confident.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Relay.app shutting down?
The July 16, 2026 announcement did not state a reason. The team committed to a clean wind-down: workflows keep running until the end dates, exports are available, annual customers receive prorated refunds automatically, and support remains reachable throughout.
When exactly does Relay.app stop working?
Free accounts -- and all their data -- are permanently deleted after August 15, 2026 at 23:59 PT. Paid workspaces stop working on September 14, 2026. New signups and free-to-paid upgrades are already closed.
What is the best Relay.app alternative?
For teams that chose Relay.app for human-in-the-loop AI automation, Fleece AI is the best alternative: approval gates and autonomy levels keep humans in control of sensitive steps, while autonomous agents, 3,000+ integrations, and agent hierarchy go beyond what Relay.app offered. For pure trigger-action plumbing, Zapier or Make are solid; for self-hosting, n8n.
Can I import Relay.app workflows into another tool automatically?
No alternative offers a true one-click importer. The practical shortcut is Relay.app's AI prompt export: each workflow exports as a plain-language description, which you can paste directly as a Fleece AI agent brief. Classic builders like Zapier and Make require rebuilding workflows by hand.
What happens to my Relay.app data if I miss the deadline?
On a free account, everything is permanently deleted after August 15, 2026 -- workflows, run history, and tables, with no recovery. On a paid account, access ends September 14, 2026. Export first, even if you have not chosen a destination yet.
Do I lose human-in-the-loop by moving to an autonomous agent platform?
Not on Fleece AI. Approval gates pause sensitive actions -- external replies, deletions, payments -- until you approve them with one click, and each agent's autonomy level is adjustable from suggest-only to fully autonomous. The difference is placement: Relay.app offered a gate on every step; Fleece puts gates where they matter and runs the rest without queues.
Related Articles
- Fleece AI vs Relay.app: full comparison -- feature-by-feature, with the migration path
- Relay.app vs Fleece AI: Workflows Compared -- the detailed head-to-head
- The 8 Best No-Code Automation Tools in 2026 -- the wider landscape
- AI Workflow Automation Guide -- how agent-based automation works
- Best AI Employee Platforms 2026 -- the AI workforce category
Start your 7-day trial on Fleece AI -- brief your first agent with an exported Relay.app prompt and see the difference before the deadline.