Relay.app, the workflow automation platform known for human-in-the-loop approval steps, is shutting down — free accounts end August 15, 2026 and paid accounts end September 14, 2026, according to the company's own shutdown notice. If you built approval workflows, team collaboration steps, or AI-assisted automations on Relay, you now have a hard deadline to migrate before your workflows and data disappear.
This guide covers exactly what Relay.app announced, what to do before the shutdown date that applies to your plan, and which alternatives actually replicate what made Relay useful — its approval/human-in-the-loop steps — rather than just being "another automation tool."
Relay.app's shutdown, explained
Per Relay.app's own announcement, here's the timeline and what it means for your account:
| Plan | Service ends | What happens |
| Free accounts | August 15, 2026, 11:59 PM PT | Account and unexported data permanently deleted |
| Paid accounts | September 14, 2026, 11:59 PM PT | Subscriptions already cancelled with no future charges; annual subscribers get a prorated refund within 5 business days |
Relay.app says new signups and free-to-paid upgrades are already disabled. You can export workflows, sequences, MCP servers (as JSON), run history, and tables (as CSVs) before your deadline — anything not exported is permanently deleted when the wind-down window closes, and Relay.app's stored credentials/tokens for your connected apps are deleted too. The company hasn't given a specific reason for the shutdown beyond a general apology for the disruption.
What to look for in a Relay.app replacement
Relay's core differentiator wasn't just workflow automation — plenty of tools do that. It was pausing a workflow for a human to approve, reject, or edit before it continued. When evaluating alternatives, prioritize:
- A real approval/pause step — not just a delay or a Slack notification, but a step that blocks the workflow until someone actually approves, declines, or edits it
- Fit for your actual use case — ecommerce order/refund approvals need different integrations than general business process approvals
- Pricing model that matches your volume — Relay charged per seat; some alternatives charge per task, some are unlimited-workflow flat rate
- A realistic migration path before your deadline — export your Relay workflows now so you have a reference while rebuilding, even if the target tool can't import them directly
6 best Relay.app alternatives compared
| App | Approval/human-in-the-loop step | Best for | Starting price |
| MESA | Native approval step in workflow templates | Shopify/ecommerce approval workflows | $29/mo, unlimited workflows |
| Zapier | Human in the Loop (Request Approval action) | Teams needing approvals across thousands of non-ecommerce apps | $29.99/mo + Human in the Loop usage |
| Make | Human in the Loop module (Enterprise only) | Complex logic-heavy workflows at larger companies | Enterprise plan required for approvals |
| Power Automate | Native Approvals connector | Microsoft 365/Dynamics-centric teams | $15/user/mo |
| n8n | Wait-for-form-submission / webhook nodes (build-your-own) | Technical teams wanting full control, self-hosted | Free (self-hosted) or cloud plans |
| Lindy | Human review checkpoints in agent workflows | Solo operators automating communication-heavy tasks | $50/mo |
We cover MESA, Zapier, n8n, and Lindy in more depth (with full pricing breakdowns and setup walkthroughs) in our AI automation apps for ecommerce comparison and our n8n alternatives guide — this section focuses specifically on how each handles the approval step that Relay specialized in.
MESA — best for Shopify/ecommerce approvals
If most of your Relay approval workflows touched Shopify orders, refunds, or customer communication, MESA replaces them with native ecommerce context Relay didn't have. Instead of a generic approval step bolted onto a general-purpose automation tool, MESA's approval steps sit inside workflows that already understand order data, customer history, and Shopify events.
For example, this template pauses an order workflow for manual review before a customer-facing email goes out:
Best for: Order approvals, refund review, custom order processing, and content approval for Shopify stores.
Pricing: Starts at $29/month with unlimited workflows (no per-seat pricing like Relay). See our full MESA profile and pricing breakdown for details.
Zapier — best for non-ecommerce approvals at scale
Zapier now ships a dedicated Human in the Loop tool with a Request Approval action — it pauses a Zap and asks one or more reviewers to approve, decline, or edit the submitted data before the workflow continues, with configurable timeouts and an option to let reviewers edit content. That makes it the closest like-for-like replacement for Relay's approval mechanic if your workflows aren't ecommerce-specific, thanks to Zapier's much larger app library (7,000+ integrations vs. Relay's under 100).
Best for: Teams that need approval steps across many non-ecommerce business tools.
Pricing: Plans start at $29.99/month; Human in the Loop is a separate premium app with its own usage. See our full Zapier profile for the complete pricing picture.
Make — best for complex logic at larger companies
Make added a Human in the Loop module that pauses a scenario, generates a review link, and routes the approved (or adjusted) data back into your workflow — but it's currently limited to Make's Enterprise plan, so it's not a direct budget replacement for Relay's affordable per-seat pricing.
Best for: Larger teams already on (or willing to pay for) Make Enterprise who need deep, branching logic alongside approvals.
Pricing: Core/Pro plans start around $9-16/month, but approval workflows require Enterprise pricing (contact Make for a quote).
Power Automate — best for Microsoft 365 teams
If your team already runs on Microsoft 365, Power Automate's long-standing Approvals connector covers the same ground as Relay — routing a request to one or more approvers and waiting for a decision — without adding a new vendor.
Best for: Organizations already invested in Microsoft 365/Dynamics 365.
Pricing: From $15/user/month; Shopify access requires a premium connector license. See our full Power Automate profile for the full cost breakdown.
n8n — best for technical teams that want full control
n8n doesn't ship a packaged "approval" feature the way Relay, Zapier, or Power Automate do, but you can build the equivalent with a Wait node plus a form or webhook trigger that only continues once someone submits a decision. It takes more setup than Relay did, but it's free to self-host and gives you full control over the approval UI. See our n8n alternatives guide for the full comparison (that guide is also where Relay used to be listed as option #9 — it's now marked as shutting down there too).
Best for: Developers and technical teams who want to self-host and don't mind building the approval step themselves.
Pricing: Free to self-host (just pay for hosting); cloud plans also available.
Lindy — best for solo operators
Lindy's AI agents can include human review checkpoints before sending emails or taking other actions on your behalf, which makes it a reasonable fit if your Relay workflows were mostly about reviewing AI-drafted communication rather than multi-person team approvals.
Best for: Solopreneurs and small teams automating communication-heavy work who want AI to draft and a human to review before it goes out.
Pricing: Starts at $50/month.
How to migrate off Relay.app before the deadline
- Export everything now. Download your workflows, sequences, MCP servers (JSON), run history, and tables (CSV) from Relay.app before your account's deadline — free accounts lose access August 15, 2026; paid accounts, September 14, 2026.
- Audit which workflows actually used the approval step. Not every Relay workflow needs a like-for-like approval replacement — some can become fully automated in your new tool if human review was only there because Relay made it easy, not because the process actually requires it.
- Match each workflow to the right tool using the comparison above — ecommerce/Shopify approvals to MESA, broader business approvals to Zapier or Power Automate, self-hosted control to n8n.
- Rebuild your highest-value workflows first (the ones tied to revenue or customer experience, like order or refund approvals) rather than trying to migrate everything at once.
- Cancel or confirm your Relay subscription status — Relay says paid subscriptions are already cancelled with no future charges and annual subscribers get a prorated refund, but confirm this in your own billing history.
Frequently asked questions
When does Relay.app shut down?
Free accounts end August 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT. Paid accounts end September 14, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT.
What happens to my Relay.app data?
Anything you don't export before your account's shutdown date — workflows, sequences, MCP servers, run history, and tables — is permanently deleted, and Relay.app's stored credentials/tokens for your connected apps are removed.
Which Relay.app alternative is best for Shopify/ecommerce teams?
MESA, since its approval steps are built into ecommerce-native workflows (order, refund, and customer communication approvals) rather than a generic automation layer.
Is there a free Relay.app alternative?
n8n is free to self-host, though you'll need to build the approval step yourself using a Wait node and a form or webhook trigger rather than getting one out of the box.
