All platforms have their unique value proposition and they excel in specific use cases. In other words, choosing which platform to use comes down to your specific needs.
People mostly compare Outfunnel with Zapier and Make but both platforms cater to different use cases and we mostly see businesses using both at the same time.
What are Zapier/Make?
Zapier and Make are popular generalist automation platforms that allow users to create simple automations between apps that start from a trigger and then follow a set of actions that are created by the user.
What is Outfunnel?
Outfunnel is a no-code data syncing platform that's purpose-built for sales and marketing workflows. This means that each object is in a two-way relationship and changes sync bi-directionally. This way your data is always up to date and you can create cross-app workflows and reduce time spent on admin work to ultimately close more revenue for your business.
Key differences
In short, if you want to have an integration platform that connects almost every app then Zapier or Make are great choices. If you need to create two-way links between objects and want a platform that specialises in sales and marketing use cases then Outfunnel is the better option.
As an example, let's say you are looking to sync contacts between HubSpot and Klaviyo bi-directionally.
In Zapier when you add a contact to HubSpot then this will create a contact in Klaviyo but they won't be linked. This means that if you later update this contact in HubSpot or Klaviyo the changes won't populate to the other app. In other words, it's a one-way street that's limited to a very specific use case. You can definitely create additional workflows that also cover updates and sync data in the other direction but this is extremely tedious, prone to errors, and expensive (you'd have to create search steps to avoid duplicates, add logic if an existing contact is found, handle different field updates, pull in organization/deal objects to sync these fields, etc.).
In Outfunnel, when you choose to sync contacts between HubSpot and Klaviyo, we'll automatically create a two-way relationship so that data changes on either app will populate to the other app. The sync comes with built-in deduplication, data merging, contact/organization fields, and error handling. In other words, all the logic is already built into the core system so you don't have to build this from scratch.
To summarise Zapier and Make create a one-way path whereas Outfunnel creates a two-way relationship between your objects.
💡 Outfunnel also syncs some objects like email engagements and form engagements one-way from marketing tools and forms.