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FME vs Zapier comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

FME
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (23rd)
Zapier
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Integration (11th)
 

Featured Reviews

Alan Bloor - PeerSpot reviewer
Great for handling large volumes of data, but it is priced a bit high
When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.
Sachin Shrtivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation of simple tasks improves with user-friendly interface but needs enhancement in handling complex scenarios
In my opinion, what could be improved in Zapier is its UI, which operates as a one-line system. Compared to Make.com and other tools that have a drag-and-drop system, this is lacking. If the scenario or automation is complex, it becomes difficult to create and deploy because of various routes. For example, with 20 routes, it becomes really difficult to create them due to certain limits, and the UI is not conducive for viewing all the routes.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else."
"It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
"All spatial features are unrivaled, and the possibility to execute them based on a scheduled trigger, manual, e-mail, Websocket, tweet, file/directory change or virtually any trigger is most valuable."
"It has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us that's the most important aspect about it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis."
"The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process."
"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."
"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."
"The initial setup is pretty easy to do."
"The solution is a SaaS and does not require a complex setup."
"What's most valuable in Zapier is its simplicity, seamlessness, and smooth plug-in, so you won't need to build code for every action. I'm not a developer, but I can use Zapier."
"Zapier is user-friendly and most information is available within the page for specific automation."
"Zapier handles everything under the sun that you would think you need in automation. It is the most mature integration platform and service on the market."
"The most valuable feature of Zapier is it saves me time doing repetitive tasks."
"Webhooks are the most valuable feature of Zapier."
"Zapier is user friendly and makes it easy to integrate different tools. It has a drag and drop functionality which makes it easy to connect environments."
 

Cons

"To get a higher rating, it would have to improve the price and the associated scalability. These are the main issues."
"Improvements could be made to mapping presentations."
"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."
"The one thing that always appears in the community is the ability to make really easy loops to loop through data efficiently. That needs to be added at some point."
"FME can improve the geographical transformation. I've had some problems with the geographical transformations, but it's probably mostly because I'm not the most skilled geographer in-house. The solution requires some in-depth knowledge to perform some functions."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"One issue I experienced was that when Zapier did not automate or threw an error, the error was not user-friendly."
"I would like to see them improve the Quickbase integration. Currently, it only allows triggering actions when records are added, but it would be more useful if we could also trigger actions when records are modified or deleted."
"Some recent changes to the solution have made it bulky and not as intuitive to use as it previously was."
"Being able to share Zaps and organize them with teammates would allow sharing and refining scenarios and even combining steps that require different people's credentials."
"At the moment, they allow a limited number of apps. I look forward to getting more apps for each package."
"The solution does not work properly when we apply filters and we get errors."
"The pricing of the solution is quite expensive."
"With Zapier, improvements are required in the areas of concerns like bugs, ease of use, and documentation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is reasonable."
"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"We used the standard licensing for our use of FME. The cost was approximately €15,000 annually. We always welcome less expensive solutions, if the solution could be less expensive it would be helpful."
"There is a free plan that is, of course, limited. However, it allows you to understand and check true scenarios for a while."
"Zapier's price is good."
"It's very straightforward licensing. There's only one cost you have to pay, and if you want a relevant pricing plan, I think you have two or three different models or packages which include the number of notifications or Zaps, as they call it, that you can program."
"It's very affordable."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"The least expensive plan is $24 a month, and you can go all the way to $800 a month if you're a huge company using many tasks."
"The price of Zapier is approximately $75 monthly."
"Think your Zaps through to make sure you don't use more Zaps than you need."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
33%
Energy/Utilities Company
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
8%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about FME?
We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for FME?
The pricing is really bad. Last year, they rebranded the whole pricing structure. It used to be moderately priced at about £400 per user per year. Now they've changed the whole thing, and it's expe...
What needs improvement with FME?
I haven't had any input or requirements from any customers that are not currently covered, so I don't have any additional needs that were identified or raised to me. Regarding pricing, with the mod...
What do you like most about Zapier?
The product's most valuable feature is automation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zapier?
The pricing is in accordance with market standards and even lower in some cases. The license setup cost is reasonable.
What needs improvement with Zapier?
In my opinion, what could be improved in Zapier is its UI, which operates as a one-line system. Compared to Make.com and other tools that have a drag-and-drop system, this is lacking. If the scenar...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shell, US Department of Commerce, PG&E, BC Hydro, City of Vancouver, Enel, Iowa DoT, San Antonio Water System
BuzzFeed, Groupon, Spotify, Columbia University, FOX
Find out what your peers are saying about FME vs. Zapier and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.