Relay.app
Discontinued Last verified: September 2026Workflow automation with human-in-the-loop approvals baked into every step, discontinued, with its final shutdown scheduled for September 14, 2026
What is Relay.app?
Relay.app was a modern workflow automation platform with one big differentiator: human-in-the-loop (HITL) approvals are a first-class primitive built into every workflow. Where Zapier and Make assume your automations should run fully autonomously, Relay assumed there are moments when a human needs to review, approve, or add context before the next step runs. You could drop approval checkpoints anywhere in a workflow, approve this email before sending, review this CRM update, confirm this invoice before payment, and Relay paused execution until the assigned human responded. This made Relay uniquely good for finance, HR, legal, and sales workflows where full automation isn't safe or compliant. Beyond HITL, Relay was a fully featured modern automation tool with triggers, a visual builder, hundreds of app integrations, and bundled AI credits for GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro. At our May 2026 review the pricing was refreshingly transparent: Free tier included 250 runs per month, Pro was $29/month for 1,000 runs, Team was $69/month, and Business was $138/month. All plans included HITL features at no extra cost, this was not an upsell. Teams needing more AI horsepower could buy AI credit bundles ranging from 5,000 credits/month for $11 up to 200,000 credits/month for $450. Compared to Zapier or Lindy, Relay was the default pick for any workflow that needed a human checkpoint before committing an action. With the August and September 2026 shutdown announced by Relay, those workflows have to move elsewhere.
Relay.app demo video
Watch Relay (relay.app)'s official demo to see Relay.app in action before reading our full review.
Official video by Relay (relay.app) via YouTube, embedded for reference. ToolChase does not host or claim this video.
⚡ Quick Verdict
Finance, HR, legal, and sales teams needing approval checkpoints before automated actions
Teams that want 100% hands-off autonomous workflows
No longer sold. Was Free (250 runs) · Pro $29/mo · Team $69/mo · Business $138/mo
Closed to new signups. Was 250 runs/month with HITL features
Human-in-the-loop approvals as a core primitive, not an afterthought
Smaller integration library than Zapier; run limits could be tight for busy teams
Bottom line: Relay.app scored 4.3/5 as the best pick for any workflow where a human needs to approve an action before it executes. That recommendation is withdrawn: Relay announced it was shutting down on 15 August 2026 for free accounts and 14 September 2026 for paying accounts, so existing users had to export their workflows and migrate.
Pricing
Discontinued, historical record. relay.app/pricing now returns a 404, no pricing is displayed anywhere on relay.app, and new signups and free-to-paid upgrades are turned off, so none of the plans below can be purchased. They are recorded here exactly as they stood at our May 2026 review.
Free: 250 runs/month, unlimited workflows, unlimited HITL approval steps, basic AI credits, community support.
Pro, $29/month (or $19/month billed annually): 1,000 runs/month, advanced triggers, team sharing, priority support, more AI credits.
Team, $69/month: Higher run limits, collaboration features, role management, audit logs.
Business, $138/month: Even higher run limits, advanced governance, SSO, dedicated support.
AI credit bundles: 5,000 credits/month for $11 (annual) up to 200,000 credits/month for $450. Credits power GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro steps. All plans include some free AI credits each month.
Key Features
- Human-in-the-loop approval steps, pause workflows for human review
- Visual drag-and-drop workflow builder with branching and loops
- Bundled AI steps powered by GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Gemini 1.5 Pro
- Hundreds of app integrations including Google Workspace, Slack, HubSpot, Airtable
- Trigger workflows from webhooks, schedules, forms, and app events
- Mobile app for approving steps from your phone
- Slack approvals, approve or reject workflow steps directly from Slack
- Credit bundles for teams needing more AI horsepower
Pros & Cons
Pros
- HITL approvals were baked into every plan, no upsell, no workarounds
- Mobile and Slack approvals made human review painless
- The free tier was generous and included full HITL features
- Pricing was transparent and simple, without hidden task-vs-run confusion
Cons
- Smaller integration library than Zapier or Make
- Run limits could feel tight once workflows were humming
- Not the right choice for fully autonomous agents
FAQ
What is human-in-the-loop automation and why does it matter?
Human-in-the-loop (HITL) automation pauses a workflow at designated checkpoints so a human can review, approve, or provide context before the next step runs. This matters because many real business processes involve judgment calls that AI shouldn't make alone, sending a large invoice, approving an expense, publishing a press release, deleting customer data. Relay.app baked HITL into its workflow engine so adding an approval step was as easy as dragging a 'wait for human' block into your workflow.
How much does Relay.app cost?
As of August 2026 Relay is not selling anything. New signups and upgrades are closed, and the service was scheduled to shut down on 15 August 2026 for free accounts and 14 September 2026 for paying accounts. For the record, at our May 2026 review Relay's Free tier included 250 runs per month with full HITL features, Pro was $29/month (or $19/month on annual billing) for 1,000 runs, Team was $69/month with higher limits and collaboration, and Business was $138/month with enterprise features like SSO and audit logs. AI credit bundles were separate and started at $11/month for 5,000 credits. Unlike Zapier or Lindy, HITL was never an upsell, it was included on every tier.
How does Relay.app compare to Zapier?
Zapier assumes you want fully autonomous workflows, faster, cheaper per run, more integrations (7,000+ vs hundreds). Relay assumed you wanted optional human checkpoints, better AI integration, and simpler pricing. For finance, HR, legal, and sales workflows that required approvals before action, Relay was the obvious pick until it announced its 2026 shutdown. For pure data-moving automation without human judgment, Zapier is usually cheaper and has more integrations.
Does Relay.app support AI and LLMs?
Every plan included bundled AI credits for GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro steps, and you could add AI reasoning at any point in a workflow, summarize, classify, draft, extract, and feed the result into downstream steps including HITL approvals. Teams needing more AI horsepower could buy credit bundles starting at 5,000 credits for $11/month up to 200,000 credits for $450/month. None of this can be bought now: Relay announced its shutdown and no pricing is displayed anywhere.
Can I approve Relay workflows from Slack or mobile?
Relay offered native Slack approval messages (approve/reject buttons directly in a Slack DM or channel), email-based approvals, and a mobile app for iOS and Android. That made HITL workflows practical for real teams, nobody wants to log into a web dashboard every time a workflow needs sign-off. Mobile and Slack approvals were included on all plans including Free, until the shutdown.
Is Relay.app good for fully autonomous agents?
Not really, that was never its focus. Relay was deliberately positioned for workflows where human judgment is part of the process. If you want fully autonomous AI agents that reason, decide, and act without human input, platforms like Lindy, Zapier Central, or Gumloop are better fits. Relay shone when you wanted AI to draft but humans to approve.
📋 Good to know
Signups are closed. Existing users were told to export their workflows and data before the scheduled deletion dates, 15 August 2026 for free accounts and 14 September 2026 for paid.
Was SOC 2 Type II compliant, GDPR, data encrypted at rest and in transit. Business plan added SSO and audit logs.
Not applicable any more, upgrades are disabled. Relay instead gave remaining paying customers 25,000 steps and 10,000 AI credits per month at no cost through the wind-down, which was scheduled to end on 14 September 2026.
Low. The visual builder was intuitive and HITL was as easy as dragging a block. Most users shipped their first workflow in under an hour.
