EventSend vs Zapier
The Zapier alternative that counts each alert once
Zapier connects thousands of apps and bills every action step as a task, so one alert sent to three channels costs three. EventSend is built for alerts: every event lands in a searchable feed, and the ones that matter reach Slack, Discord, Telegram, your own webhook or your phone for one charge. Here is an honest comparison, including when Zapier is the better pick.
The short answer
EventSend or Zapier?
Both take an event from your app in one HTTP request and keep it in a live feed. What else happens to it is where they differ.
Choose EventSend if
- Your automations are mostly alerts: payments, signups, errors and deploys posted to Slack, Discord, Telegram or a phone.
- One event should reach several channels without multiplying the bill.
- Your own code sends the events, and you want that on a free plan.
- You want quiet hours, rollups and threshold alerts without assembling them from steps.
- You want every event in a searchable feed, with a log of every delivery attempt.
- You want to ask Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor what happened in your product, in plain language, on every plan including Free.
Choose Zapier if
- You need workflows that update other apps, like a CRM, a spreadsheet or an email tool.
- You rely on apps beyond EventSend's sources and destinations: Zapier connects more than 9,000.
- People on your team who don't write code build the automations in a visual editor.
- Alerts are a small part of a bigger workflow you already run there.
They also work side by side: Zapier for workflows that move data between apps, EventSend for the feed and the alerts.
Side by side
Feature by feature
The Zapier column is based on its public pricing page and documentation, checked September 17, 2026.
| Feature | EventSend | Zapier |
|---|---|---|
| Event feed in the app | Yes: Live stream with search and filters | Zap history of each run |
| Alerts in Slack, Discord and Telegram | Yes: Built in, one event for every channel | Yes: One action step, and one task, per channel |
| Events from your own code | Yes: One HTTP POST, on every plan | Webhooks, from the Professional plan up |
| Stripe, GitHub and Vercel events | Yes: Built-in sources, signature-verified | Yes: Triggers across more than 9,000 apps |
| How usage is counted | Per event, however many channels it reaches | Per task: every successful action step |
| Automatic retries | Yes: Up to 5 attempts per destination, on every plan | Yes: Autoreplay, from the Professional plan up |
| Quiet hours, rollups and threshold alerts | Yes: Built in | Parts can be built from Filter, Delay and Digest steps |
| Ask an AI assistant about your events | Yes: Read-only MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor | Zapier MCP runs actions in other apps, at two tasks each |
| Workflows that update other apps | No: Not offered: EventSend only notifies | Yes: Multi-step Zaps on paid plans |
| Visual workflow editor | No: None: routing is set up in the dashboard | Yes: Built in |
| Free plan | 2,500 events a month | 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps |
Sources: Zapier pricing, How Zapier counts tasks, Zapier Autoreplay, Zapier MCP
The math
Less in every scenario
Zapier tasks are counted the way Zapier counts them: one per action step, so one per channel. Prices per month, checked September 17, 2026.
| Every month | Zapier | EventSend |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe payments to one Slack channel 300 events × 1 channel = 300 tasks | Professional, 750 tasks $29.99 a month $19.99 a month billed yearly | Free $0 2 seats |
| Payments and failed charges to Slack and Telegram 1,000 events × 2 channels = 2,000 tasks | Professional, 2,000 tasks $73.50 a month $49 a month billed yearly | Free $0 2 seats |
| Signups, payments and errors from your app to three channels 10,000 events × 3 channels = 30,000 tasks | Professional, 50,000 tasks $433.50 a month $289 a month billed yearly | Starter $12 a month $10 a month billed yearly Unlimited seats |
| A busy app's alerts to two channels 100,000 events × 2 channels = 200,000 tasks | Professional, 200,000 tasks $1,149 a month $769 a month billed yearly | Growth $29 a month $24 a month billed yearly Unlimited seats |
Switching
Replace one Zap at a time
Start with the Zap that uses the most tasks. Most alert Zaps take one of three shapes, and each has a direct replacement.
Stripe to Slack
Connect the source instead
Point a topic from the Stripe source at a Slack destination. Payments, failed payments, subscriptions and disputes arrive as ready-to-read messages, with no Zap and no code. The two-minute recipe walks through it.
A step per channel
One topic, many destinations
Create a destination for each channel and one topic that connects your route to all of them. The event counts once, and each channel keeps its own retries and delivery log.
A webhook from your code
Change the URL and the body
Send the request to EventSend with your route token in a header instead of the URL. Add a message and a level, and put the fields you were sending in the payload. The quickstart has snippets for curl, JavaScript, Python, Elixir and Go.
curl -X POST https://hooks.zapier.com/hooks/catch/1234567/abcdefg/ \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"type": "payment_failed",
"customer": "[email protected]",
"amount": "49.00"
}'curl -X POST https://eventsend.io/api/events \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $EVENTSEND_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"event": "payment-failed",
"message": "Payment failed: 49.00 USD for [email protected]",
"level": "error",
"payload": {"customer": "[email protected]", "amount": "49.00"}
}'Replacing webhook calls across a codebase? Paste the EventSend prompt into Cursor or Claude Code and ask it to replace the Zapier hooks.
Questions
Good questions.
- Is EventSend a replacement for Zapier?
- For alerts, yes. Events from your code, Stripe, GitHub or Vercel land in a searchable feed, and the ones you route reach Slack, Discord, Telegram, your own webhook or your phone. For everything else Zapier does, no: EventSend does not update spreadsheets, CRMs or the thousands of other apps Zapier connects.
- Why do alerts cost less on EventSend?
- Zapier counts a task for every action step, so one event posted to three channels uses three tasks. EventSend counts the event once, however many channels it reaches. For 10,000 events a month sent to three channels, Zapier needs 30,000 tasks, which is its $289 a month Professional tier billed yearly. EventSend Starter covers it for $10 a month billed yearly. Prices as of September 17, 2026.
- Do Zapier triggers and filters use tasks?
- No. Zapier's help center says triggers never use tasks, and neither do Filter, Paths, Formatter, Delay or Digest steps. Every successful action step does, and a replayed step that already succeeded counts again. The comparison on this page counts tasks the same way.
- Can my code send events to Zapier on the free plan?
- No. Code reaches a Zap through webhooks, which Zapier includes from the Professional plan up. EventSend's free plan accepts events from your code with one HTTP POST.
- Does EventSend retry failed deliveries?
- Yes, on every plan. Each destination gets up to five attempts over about fifteen minutes, and every attempt is logged. Zapier's Autoreplay, which retries failed steps, comes with its Professional, Team and Enterprise plans.
- Can I use EventSend and Zapier together?
- Yes. Keep Zapier for workflows that move data between apps, and send alerts through EventSend. A Zap can also post an event to EventSend with a webhook action.
Get started
Every event in one feed, and where your team works.
Start free with 2,500 events a month and no credit card. Move one Zap at a time, starting with the one that uses the most tasks.