Zapier has folded its standalone Agents product into the core workflow builder. On October 6, 2026, Zapier announced that Agents is now AI by Zapier, a single AI step that sits inside an ordinary Zap and bills in tasks instead of agent activities. Existing agents are not converted automatically, there is no shutdown date yet, and users who want to keep their automations should plan to rebuild each agent as a Zap.
Key Takeaways
- Agent instructions, tools and triggers now live in one AI step in the Zap editor.
- Billing moves from activities to standard Zapier tasks, with model tiers costing 1, 3 or 5 tasks per step.
- Agents must be recreated by hand using a guided migration; Zapier promises email notice before turning Agents off.
- Some features, including several knowledge sources and chat-triggered agents, are not supported yet.
What Zapier Announced
Zapier Agents launched as a separate place to build an assistant from a prompt, a set of tools, a trigger and permission to act. According to the company’s announcement, those same pieces now live inside a single AI step that runs on the regular Zap infrastructure. The practical result is that AI reasoning can sit next to filters, paths and fixed, rule-based steps in one workflow, and every run lands in Zap History.
Each old feature has a new home. Instructions go in the step’s prompt field, tools are chosen from a picker inside the step, and the trigger can be any Zap trigger across more than 9,000 apps. One agent calling another becomes a Sub-Zap, and on-demand or chat-style runs use a webhook trigger instead.
Zapier also added controls the old product lacked. Approval can now be required per tool rather than for a whole agent, so a step could search a CRM freely but wait for a person before sending an email. Users can pick a Standard, Advanced or Premium model tier or a specific model, map structured outputs to later steps and let Zapier suggest the tools a prompt is likely to need.
How Billing and Tasks Changed
The largest change for most accounts is the meter. Agents measured usage in activities under its own plans. AI by Zapier switches to tasks, the same unit used across Zapier. Default models are free to call, while other tiers carry multipliers, so a single AI step can cost one, three or five tasks. Zapier gave those as examples and did not publish a full multiplier table in the announcement.
Zapier’s migration guide says migrated agents carry no separate Agents subscription or add-on fee, and Zap History breaks task use down by tool call, model tier and step. Two details matter for budgets. A run pauses for human review when it reaches a task guardrail of 75 tasks by default, which can be raised to 500, and full Zap tests consume tasks just like live runs.
Those tasks come out of a normal Zapier plan. On the date of writing, Zapier’s pricing page listed a free plan with 100 tasks a month and two-step Zaps, Professional from $19.99 a month and Team from $69 a month, with prices rising with task volume. When an account hits its limit it moves to pay-per-task billing at a higher rate unless that is switched off, in which case Zaps pause. The same page still showed the legacy Agents plans, including a free tier with 400 activities a month.
What Happens to Existing Agents
Nothing happens automatically. Zapier says agents are not rebuilt for you; eligible agents show a banner that opens a step-by-step guide to recreate them as an AI step with the same goal and tools.
During the switch, a migrated Zap and its original agent run independently until the agent is turned off, so users should switch off the old agent after publishing the Zap to avoid duplicate emails, records or messages. Enterprise customers are told to work out a migration plan with their account representative.
What Is Not Supported Yet
- Knowledge sources: HubSpot, Asana, Zendesk, Zoom and Jira sources are not supported, with support planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
- Chat-triggered agents: there is no direct equivalent; a webhook trigger is the suggested workaround.
- Large knowledge bases: sources of 1,000 or more pages or files may fail to add.
- Bring your own model: admin-level support is coming later; individual users can add their own API key meanwhile.
- Blocked organizations: where admins had blocked Agents, tool calling starts switched off and can be re-enabled.
Timeline
There is no deadline yet. Zapier’s help center says it has not set a date to turn off Agents and will email affected users with enough notice to migrate. The announcement describes some capabilities as still rolling out without giving dates, and the fourth-quarter target for knowledge sources is the only firm marker so far.
What Users Should Do Now
- List your agents: note each one’s trigger, tools, knowledge sources and how often it runs.
- Check for blockers: agents that rely on chat, large knowledge bases or the unsupported sources above may need to wait or be redesigned.
- Estimate task use: multiply expected runs by the tasks per step for your chosen model tier, and check your plan’s limit and pay-per-task setting.
- Migrate one agent first: test it, compare results, then turn the original off so both do not act on the same events.
- Set approvals: require sign-off on tools that send messages or change records.
Our AI by Zapier profile keeps the current feature and pricing details in one place.
Alternatives for a Standalone Agent Builder
The new design suits people who already think in Zaps. Those who liked having a separate agent to talk to, or who want an agent builder rather than a workflow tool, have other options, based on published pricing and docs.
Lindy works as an assistant inside Slack, email and text, handling inboxes, calendars, meeting notes and app tasks, with approval rules for actions that leave the company. Its Team plan costs $49.99 per active user a month with 5,000 pooled credits, which makes cost harder to predict than a flat fee.
Relevance AI is a no-code platform for building teams of specialist agents, with an agent called Invent that designs them from a process description. Pro starts at $19 a month billed annually with 2,500 Actions, though model usage is billed separately and there is no free plan.
More options sit in our workflow automation AI agents category.
FAQ
Is Zapier Agents Being Discontinued?
It has been replaced by AI by Zapier, but Zapier has not set a shutdown date and says it will email users before turning Agents off.
Will My Zapier Agents Migrate Automatically?
No. Each agent has to be recreated as an AI step in a Zap using the guided migration banner.
How Much Does AI by Zapier Cost?
There is no separate subscription. AI steps use tasks from a normal Zapier plan, with default models free and other tiers costing more tasks per step.
Can I Still Chat With an Agent in Zapier?
Not directly. Zapier suggests a webhook trigger for on-demand runs while that capability rolls out.
Does Testing an AI by Zapier Step Use Tasks?
Yes. Full Zap tests currently consume tasks the same way live runs do.
