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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

"From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works."
"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."
"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."
"FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes."
"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 standard plug-ins available for different data sources."
"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 aspect of this solution is that it is very intuitive and has a very flat learning curve."
"Zapier is the tool with the most connectors and has been quite forward in that case."
"Zapier is user-friendly and most information is available within the page for specific automation."
"The most valuable feature of Zapier is it saves me time doing repetitive tasks."
"Zapier is a really good tool for connecting multiple different platforms and data sources. For example, with Quickbase, I can easily integrate data from other sources like AWS or task-tracking platforms such as ClickUp or Asana."
"The main thing I appreciate about Zapier is that it has maximum availability of apps, with most tools being available compared to different solutions."
"The most valuable aspect is the ability to integrate with over 20,000 applications, which is a superior feature compared to Make.com that has limited applications access."
"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."
 

Cons

"We are looking at the possibility of using Glue instead of FME, using the native AWS product."
"FME's price needs improvement for the African market."
"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."
"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."
"With Zapier, improvements are required in the areas of concerns like bugs, ease of use, and documentation."
"Zapier could be a little faster, but that might not be possible. I would encourage Zapier to make more API endpoints for each application"
"After mapping them out, and they'd worked for a while, I've had Zapier fail."
"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."
"At the moment, they allow a limited number of apps. I look forward to getting more apps for each package."
"Some recent changes to the solution have made it bulky and not as intuitive to use as it previously was."
"There is room for improvement in the support. They are not responsive, and they don't take much time to get resolved."
"Zapier is user-friendly, but when we have an application version that we want to connect with Zapier, sometimes it does not support us."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"FME Server used to cost £10,000; now it can cost over £100,000."
"The product's price is reasonable."
"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."
"The price of Zapier is approximately $75 monthly."
"Zapier's price is good."
"It's very affordable."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"Think your Zaps through to make sure you don't use more Zaps than you need."
"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."
"There is a free plan that is, of course, limited. However, it allows you to understand and check true scenarios for a while."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
34%
Energy/Utilities Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
University
8%
Retailer
8%
 

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.
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.