Top Tray.io Alternatives and Competitors [2023]

What is Tray.io and Why Do Businesses Use It?

Tray.io is a robust workflow automation platform designed to streamline business operations by integrating apps, data, and APIs into automated workflows, which can be easily constructed through its visual builder and library of connectors.

One of the key benefits of using Tray.io is in sales operations, where it can automate time-consuming tasks such as lead qualification, routing, and follow-ups, as well as approval processes for contracts and discounts.

This automation not only eliminates manual work, leading to a more efficient sales process, but also ensures compliance with discount policies and allows sales teams to concentrate on customer relationships.

How Tray.io Falls Short as a Workflow Automation Tool

Tray.io is a powerful integration tool with highly sophisticated capabilities for large organizations that need to tie together multiple pieces of software.

For many companies though, Tray.io isn’t the perfect workflow automation tool for their needs. Its key limitations are:

• The high price. While the pricing plans can be adjusted depending on what you need, there’s no free or cheap version. You’ll be paying hundreds of dollars per month—minimum.
• The time taken to craft workflows, especially complex ones. Creating even a simple workflow may take some time in Tray.io—and if you want to automate a complex workflow, you’ll likely spend a long time putting it together and testing it.
• Limited documentation. In online reviews, some users noted that more thorough documentation or training videos were needed, as it was difficult to implement some of the integrations.

Best Tray.io Alternatives for AI-Generated Workflow Automation

1. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is a hugely popular AI platform for sales and marketing teams, and it offers a wide range of workflow automation possibilities, along with tools to generate, edit, and repurpose content.

It’s popular with businesses of all sizes for its intuitive interface, time-saving tools, and huge range of content templates, as well as its ability to match the company’s brand voice.

Copy.ai Pros and Cons

Pros

• Includes many different features, not just workflow automation
• Designed to be user-friendly and easy to get started with
• Can connect to many SaaS apps through its built-in Zapier integration
• Wide range of pricing plans for enterprise and mid-market companies

Cons

• As with any AI, you’ll need to fact-check the generated content.
• Copy.ai doesn’t have the same range of advanced, highly technical workflow automations as Tray.io

Top Features of Copy.ai

Copy.ai offers:

• AI Workflow automation: Copy.ai’s AI workflow automation empowers sales and marketing teams by tackling all sorts of tasks, including creating personalized leads, recording actions in your company’s CRM, finding related keywords to target for SEO, writing product descriptions in bulk, and much more. It goes beyond moving data back-and-forth between tools. There’s a free Workflows webinar to help you learn more
• AI writing tool: With Copy.ai, you get an advanced AI writer for a huge range of use cases. It can tackle emails, full blog posts, ads, customer support messages, and much more—all in your chosen brand voice
• Content optimization: Copy.ai lets you get more from every piece of content, by helping you optimize for Google with tools like the meta description generator and SEO title generator
• Sales and marketing campaign creation: Need to put together a sales or marketing campaign? Copy.ai has everything you need for end-to-end content and copy, including high-converting sales copy templates, content for specific channels, and more

Automate Enterprise Workflows

Copy.ai lets you automate complex workflows with advanced tools that let you start instantly by describing a workflow in plain language. You can:

• Reach new customers at scale with personalized cold outreach messages, using AI-generated workflows for emails, InMail messages, and more
• Use workflows to develop high-quality SEO content for potential customers who are trying to solve a need that your product/service is perfectly positioned to meet
• Create multilingual product descriptions in bulk: perfect for large retailers and ecommerce stores

By partnering with Copy.ai, we're able to leverage Generative AI to offer personalized outreach emails at scale. This results in increased engagement and conversions for our customers, at a fraction of the effort - Ran Oelgiesser, CEO and Co-founder at RightBound

2. Zapier

Zapier is a workflow automation tool that connects with a staggering array of apps. Its user-friendly interface lets you easily visualize and build advanced workflows that include custom logic, conditions, and filters … without ever touching a line of code. For instance, with Zapier, you can easily connect Copy.ai with thousands of popular apps.

Zapier Pros and Cons

Pros

• Has a “free forever” version for core features
• Works with thousands of different apps
• Includes templates so you can get started quickly
• Can save the end user lots of time on manual tasks

Cons

• Can take a while to get your workflows working correctly
• Need higher tier plan for certain features (e.g. custom logic)
• Can’t create content for you, only move it to/from other apps

Top Features of Zapier

Zapier offers:

• “Zaps” (workflows) with triggers and actions: Build your own Zaps, which can have multiple steps, or use pre-build Zaps as templates for your own
• Scheduling of Zaps: Set your Zaps to run whenever is convenient for you (e.g. every Monday at 10 a.m.)
• Formatting of data: You can choose to format dates, currency, text, and more during the Zap
• Paths with If/Then logic: Create Zaps that perform different actions depending on specific conditions

3. Segment

Segment from Twilio is a customer data platform that gathers, cleans, and activates data from your web and mobile apps. It’s designed to give you a full 360° view of each customer, capturing touch points across all your platforms and channels.

Segment Pros and Cons

Pros 

• Detailed insight into customer journey
• Breaks down data for better customer engagement
• Integrates with other apps and tools
• Easy to track specific customer events
• Allows use of SQL Traits to query data in your data warehouse
• Free plan available (up to 1,000 visitors per/month and 2 sources)

Cons

• Steep learning curve for beginners
• User interface can be awkward to work with

Top Features of Segment

Segment offers:

• Customer data, connected: Segment lets you bring together all your website and app data into a single platform
• Unified view of your customer: See real-time customer data and build personalized experiences at scale
• Confidence in your data: Segment automatically cleans up and validates data. In-app reporting and daily email digests help you detect any issues with your data

4. Make (Integromat)

Make, which was formerly called Integromat, connects apps and services together, in a similar way to Zapier.

It’s cheaper, but doesn’t offer as many different integrations as Zapier—however, it does offer more complex functionality if you need it.

Make Pros and Cons

Pros

• Visual interface is intuitive and flexible for process automation
• Workflow automation templates make it easy to get started
• Range of price plans, including advanced enterprise plan
• Includes advanced options like HTTP calls and JSON parsing
• Has advanced data manipulation features

Cons

• More complex options require technical expertise
• Can’t truly create content, only manipulate data

Top Features of Make (Integromat)

Make offers:

• Drag-and-drop builder: Connect apps together in workflows called Scenarios
• Infinite workflows: Add as many steps or apps to your Scenarios as you want—there’s no limit
• Thousands of apps to choose from: Make integrates with thousands of different apps, seamlessly
• HTTP app: Connect to any public API with the Make HTTP app.
• Granular permissions: Set highly specific permissions for your scenarios, letting you easily collaborate with other team members and even customers

5. SnapLogic

SnapLogic offers workflow automation using simple natural language prompts, through its SnapGPT feature. This makes it easy to connect apps, databases, and more, using SnapLogic’s pre-built connectors, which are called Snaps. 

SnapLogic Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fast creation of integrations using SnapGPT (chatbot interface)
• Easy data querying and transformation using natural language prompts
• Fast data pipelines with the help of AutoSuggest feature
• Suitable for a range of industries and functions (not just sales/marketing but also HR and Finance)
• Includes SnapLogic Data Science (self-service solution for developing machine learning with minimal coding)

Cons

• SnapLogic sometimes runs slowly when navigating from one area to another
• The user interface can be hard to get to grips with

Top Features of SnapLogic

SnapLogic offers:

• Easy application integration: Connect applications at scale, with just a few clicks—no code required and 700+ pre-built connectors
• ETL and ELT options: Use ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) or ELT (Extract, Load, and Transform) when bringing data into your cloud data warehouse
• API management and development: Design secure APIs and test them easily, applying custom or ready-made security policies (across the whole organization or for individual APIs)
• Low code/No code options: Built-in tools make it easy for non-developers to automate applications and data integrations, with SnapLogic AutoSync to synchronize data and AutoPrep to apply data transformations

6. Apache Camel

Apache Camel is an Open Source integration framework that lets you easily integrate different systems that produce or use data. It’s perfect for developers who want to use programming languages and create routing roles.

Apache Camel uses URIs to work directly with transport/messaging models including HTTP, JMS, SCA, and more.

Apache Camel Pros and Cons

Pros

• Open source (free/low cost) tool with supportive community
• Wide range of features and components
• Based on enterprise integration patterns
• Range of books available on Camel
• Integrates with well-known frameworks like Spring

Cons

• You’ll need to know Java to use Apache Camel
• Very much designed for developers, not suitable for sales/marketing teams to use on their own
• Takes some trial and error as the documentation is a bit sparse

Top Features of Apache Camel

Apache Camel offers:

• Support for multiple protocols and data sources: you can receive data in multiple formats from different apps
• Open source framework: Can be customized by developers, if that suits your company’s needs better
• Designed for developers: Apache Camel is designed for developers who are creating solutions to complex integration problems

7. Jitterbit

Jitterbit is a powerful cloud integration platform that lets you not only connect systems and automate workflows but also create new applications as needed.

It includes a range of different tools, such as Harmony (for building data integrations and automating workflows) and Vinyl (for low-code application development).

Jitterbit Pros and Cons

Pros

• Versatile data integration, without any need for coding
• Straightforward interface—you don’t need to be a developer to use Jitterbit
• Dramatically speed up creation of apps and bring new offerings to market faster

Cons

• Complex integrations require a lot of scripting
• No indication of job progress (just “running” or “finished”)

Top Features of Jitterbit

Jitterbit offers:

• Pre-built integrations for common workflows: Connect your data, applications, and business processes with Jitterbit’s iPaaS, Harmony. It’s designed to be suitable for both IT developers and non-techy users
• EDI (electronic data interchange) integration: Easily process orders, freeing up team members to focus on providing a better customer experience
• Creation and publishing of APIs: Jitterbit can be used for API lifecycle management tasks

8. Celigo

Celigo is another iPaaS option that lets you connect together different apps to integrate and automate your business processes—ultimately helping your team to make better business decisions.

It supports a range of integration patterns, with a drag-and-drop interface as well as advanced scripting and coding capabilities.

Celigo Pros and Cons

Pros

• Powerful and flexible platform to avoid data silos
• Clear and helpful error handling
• Allows custom integrations for any API

Cons

• Slow loading times, particularly when handling large amounts of data
• EDI capabilities are a little lacking

Top Features of Celigo

Celigo offers:

• AI-driven error handling: Celigo’s pioneering error management system uses AI to automatically resolve 95% of errors
• AI assistance: The AI chat makes it easy to get help, plus Celigo will auto-suggest templates/flows where appropriate
• API management: Create your own APIs and securely share data through this, accelerating your API deployment with Celigo’s prebuilt configurations

Other Tray.io Alternatives and iPaaS Providers to Consider

Workato

Workato is an intelligent automation platform that uses “recipes” to integrate apps. It includes advanced features like publishing APIs and creating custom apps and bots.

Anypoint Platform (MuleSoft)

Anypoint Platform from Salesforce is designed to speed up IT project delivery through its tools for integrations, APIs, and automation.

IFTTT

IFTTT (If This, Then That) is a straightforward automation platform that can be used for both work and personal tasks. It has a wide range of built-in integrations, plus you can create your own.

Boomi

Boomi is an integration and automation platform that uses AI to be self-managing, self-learning, and self-scaling, automating workflows and processes and instantly connecting apps.

Microsoft Integration Services

Microsoft’s Integration Services is a range of different tools you can use to create workflows, connect apps, publish APIs, integrate data sources, and more.

Alternatives to Tray.io for Accelerated Integrations

The best alternatives to Tray.io for accelerated integrations include:

Zapier: Fast and easy to get started with, Zapier connects with thousands of apps and has lots of pre-built “Zaps” you can use for fast integrations. Pro tip: Use Zapier along with Copy.ai for the very best results.

Segment: Segment automatically cleans up customer data, making it a fast and effective tool for data management, especially if you have data from multiple apps. You can use it to build personal experiences at scale—fast.

Copy.ai: Use Copy.ai’s Workflows platform (available to Pro users) to quickly and easily build your own workflows, e.g. for automated LinkedIn messaging. With Copy.ai’s powerful generative AI tools, you can massively accelerate the process of creating customized, personalized content.

Alternatives to Tray.io for Improved Customer Experience

The best alternative to Tray.io for improved customer experience include:

Make (Integromat): If Zapier is a little pricey, Make is a cheaper alternative that has powerful capabilities—letting you bring together data from different sources and ensure a stellar customer experience.

Jitterbit: Ecommerce companies can use Jitterbit to improve their EDI, meaning orders will be fulfilled faster and without the prospect of human error introducing mistakes. It’s a win for the retailer, the customer, and the supplier too.

Copy.ai: With its natural language processing capabilities, Copy.ai lets you instantly script custom responses to customers. You can automatically personalize content while making sure your brand tone is consistent and instantly recognizable.

‍