Relay.app
Human-in-the-loop workflow automation — shutting down 2026
Overview
Relay.app was a workflow-automation tool built around human-in-the-loop approval steps, aimed at higher-stakes business processes where fully automated agents were too risky. In 2026 it announced it is shutting down: free access ends 15 August 2026 and paid access ends 14 September 2026, with data export and prorated refunds offered.
Use cases
What you can produce with Relay.app
- Build a multi-step workflow connecting tools like Gmail, Slack, Notion, HubSpot, and Airtable with a visual editor and no code.
- Insert a human approval checkpoint into a workflow so an AI-drafted email or offer letter waits for sign-off before it sends.
- Add an AI step that summarizes, classifies, or drafts content using GPT, Claude, or Gemini without supplying your own API keys.
- Automate client onboarding - intake form to task creation to kickoff email - with decision paths that branch on the client's answers.
- Store and reference workflow data in built-in Tables instead of wiring up an external database or spreadsheet.
- Collect structured requests through built-in Forms that trigger the downstream workflow automatically.
- Assign a workflow step to a specific teammate as a task, so manual work is tracked inside the same automation.
ASEAN Perspective
Relay.app in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Relay.app is a modern Zapier/Make alternative whose standout features are clean multi-step workflows, native AI actions and first-class human-in-the-loop approval steps, making it well suited to processes that need a person to review before an automation proceeds. The builder is friendly and the AI steps are genuinely integrated rather than bolted on.
It fits teams automating ops, sales and content workflows that want oversight and approvals without heavy engineering. Caveats: the integration catalogue is smaller than Zapier's or Make's, it is younger and less battle-tested at scale, and pricing scales with steps/usage. ASEAN readiness is the standard global-English SaaS level.
What people say
Relay.app, founded around 2020 by ex-Google product lead Jacob Bank, remains an independent company and has carved out a clear niche in workflow automation: human-in-the-loop by design. Where Zapier and n8n assume you want everything fully automated, Relay builds approval checkpoints, decision paths, and manual review steps into the workflow itself, and since 2024-25 it has layered on AI agent steps, built-in Tables for data storage, and Forms - with GPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama models available natively, no API keys required.
User sentiment is unusually strong for the category: it holds 4.9/5 on G2 across roughly 70 reviews, with consistent praise for ease of use, responsive support, and how approachable it is for non-technical operators. Reviewers repeatedly single out the human-in-the-loop and decision-path features as the reason they chose it - they can automate a hiring, client-onboarding, or content pipeline while keeping a person in the loop at the steps that carry real risk.
The recurring complaint is cost at volume. AI-heavy workflows burn through the credit allowance quickly - "credits run out so quick" is a direct G2 quote - and reviewers call pricing steep compared with n8n, whose per-execution billing makes big workflows dramatically cheaper. The integration catalog, while covering the standard SaaS stack, is also far smaller than Zapier's thousands of connectors, so teams with long-tail tools may hit gaps.
Relay fits operations, HR, and customer-success teams automating higher-stakes processes where a wrong automated action is worse than a slower approved one, and smaller teams that want AI steps without managing API keys. High-volume, fully-automated data pipelines are the wrong use case - n8n or Make will do that work at a fraction of the cost.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Relay.app's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Relay.app unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
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