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Amazon SNS Zapier integrationAutomate Amazon SNS with Zapier.

The Amazon SNS Zapier integration gives you 3 triggers, 3 actions and 0 searches. It is a premium app, so it needs a paid plan or the free trial; two triggers are instant, one is polled, and publishing to the topic you watch builds a loop.

Premium app Zapier reserves this app to its paid plans.

See the 6 operations

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Overview

What the Amazon SNS Zapier integration does

Amazon SNS is Amazon's managed messaging service: you publish a message on a topic, and everything subscribed to that topic receives it. On Zapier, SNS can start a Zap when a message lands on a topic or when a topic is added, and it can create topics and publish messages from any other step.

Three results people build. An alert relay: New Message hears what your systems publish on a topic and the rest of the Zap hands it to people who never open the AWS console. Structured events: New JSON Message reads a JSON message body and splits it into separate values you can map, and Create JSON Message builds one from data of the trigger. A publishing bridge: Create Message lets a non-AWS tool push a message into a topic your developers already listen to.

The detail that decides your design: the two message triggers are instant, while New Topic is polled. Messages reach the Zap straight away; a new topic waits for the next check. For the message triggers, Zapier also handles the topic subscription itself.

What Zapier does not do for SNS. There is no search step, so a Zap cannot look up an existing topic. Nothing published before the Zap was switched on is replayed. And SNS is a premium app, so none of this runs on the free plan.

Zapier links one help article to this app, How to get started with Amazon SNS on Zapier. For other tools, see the Amazon SNS Make integration page or read Make vs Zapier.

Read on 2026-10-01, implementation SNSCLIAPI@1.1.0.

Vocabulary

Zapier terms, one line each

Eight words come back throughout this page. Here is what each one means.

Zap
The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run each time the trigger event happens.
Trigger
The event in an app that starts the Zap, such as a message on a topic. Once the Zap is on, Zapier waits for it.
Action
What the Zap does once started: the step that creates, publishes or moves something on your behalf.
Task
The unit Zapier bills: one action completed successfully. Your plan's allowance counts those and nothing else.
Instant vs polling
An instant trigger is reported by the app as it happens. A polling one is checked by Zapier on a timer that depends on the plan.
Filter
A step that lets the Zap continue only when what arrived meets your condition, and quietly stops it otherwise.
Premium app
An app Zapier reserves for paid plans and free trials. Amazon SNS is one, so the free plan cannot use it.
Connection
Your AWS account access for SNS linked to Zapier once, then reused by every SNS step in every Zap you build.
Cost

What an Amazon SNS Zap costs

Amazon SNS is a premium app: it needs a paid Zapier plan, or the free trial. On a paid plan, the bill is counted in tasks.

  • Free planNot available: premium app
  • TriggerNever costs a task
  • Each successful actionOne task
  • Message triggersInstant, no interval

A message or a new topic starting the Zap never costs a task. Each action that succeeds counts once, so a relay that republishes every incoming message uses one task per message. An action that fails is not counted. A filter or a second action makes the Zap multi-step, which paid plans allow. On a busy topic, remember that every message that passes the filter is a task. The interval grid only concerns New Topic; the two message triggers are instant.

Connect

Connect your Amazon SNS account

  1. 01

    Open the Apps page

    In Zapier, go to the Apps page and click + Add connection. In the dialog, search for Amazon SNS by name and pick it from the results to continue with the sign-in.

  2. 02

    Sign in on the AWS side

    Click Add connection and sign in, in the tab that opens, with the AWS account that owns the topics your Zaps will read from and publish to, not a sandbox you never use.

  3. 03

    Grant access

    Allow Zapier to use the account. Every SNS step in every Zap then reuses this connection. If a topic belongs to someone else, you need read or write access on it.

First Zap

Your first Zap: forward only the alerts that matter

GoalYour systems publish JSON alerts on a topic; only the ones marked critical are republished on the on-call topic.

  1. 01

    Build: set the trigger

    Start a Zap with Build, pick Amazon SNS and New JSON Message, your connection, then the topic where your systems publish their alerts.

  2. 02

    Test the trigger

    Click Test and read what came back. Publish a sample JSON message on the topic first if nothing shows, so the values of the body appear one by one.

  3. 03

    Add the filter

    From the plus icon, add Filter: in the test sample, find the JSON value your alerts use for severity, then pick it, the text rule that checks it contains, and the word critical.

  4. 04

    Add the action

    Add Amazon SNS with Create Message and choose the on-call topic, a different one from the topic you watch, then map the alert text into the message.

  5. 05

    Test and publish

    Test each step once and read what came back. Click Publish: the trigger is instant, so a matching alert reaches the on-call topic straight away.

Triggers

Amazon SNS triggers on Zapier

3 events start a Zap when something happens in Amazon SNS, and 2 of them are instant: the app calls Zapier straight away, whatever your plan.

1

New JSON Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new JSON message is sent on a topic and parses the message body as JSON. Automatically manages the subscription.”

Starts the Zap when a message is published on a topic, and reads its body as JSON so each value becomes something you can map or filter on. Zapier takes care of subscribing to the topic.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
a platform team publishes order events as JSON and the finance team wants the amount and customer as separate values in its own tools.
Watch out
if the body is plain text rather than JSON, use New Message instead.
2

New Message

Instant trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when a new message is sent on a topic. Automatically manages the subscription.”

Fires on every message published on the topic you pick and hands the message on as it is, without trying to read it as JSON. Zapier sets up the topic subscription for you.

How it fires
the app tells Zapier the moment it happens, so the Zap starts right away, whatever your plan
When to use it
an e-commerce site already sends stock warnings to a topic and the buyer wants each one in the team's chat.
Watch out
each message is a Zap run, so a chatty topic plus an action means a task per message.
3

New Topic

Polling trigger

In Zapier“Triggers when you add a new topic.”

Reacts when a new topic is added to your SNS account. It watches the structure of your messaging, not the messages.

How it fires
Zapier goes and looks at regular intervals, and how often depends on your paid plan: every 2 minutes on Professional, every minute on Team and Enterprise
When to use it
a cloud lead wants every new topic recorded in the team's inventory sheet so nothing goes unowned.
Watch out
it is the only polled trigger of the app, so it can lag behind the two message triggers.
Actions

Amazon SNS actions on Zapier

Amazon SNS gives you 3 actions. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

1

Create JSON Message

Action

In Zapier“Create a new JSON message using data from the source trigger.”

Builds a JSON message from the data that came in with the trigger and publishes it, so systems that expect structured messages can read it.

When to use it
turning a form submission into a structured event your backend already knows how to process.
Watch out
it works from the source trigger's data, so test the trigger first to have real values to map.
2

Create Message

Action

In Zapier“Create a new message.”

Publishes a message on the topic you choose, so everything subscribed to it receives the text you mapped.

When to use it
a signed contract in your CRM notifies the services that start provisioning.
Watch out
never publish on the topic your own New Message trigger watches, or each message sets the Zap off again.
3

Create Topic

Action

In Zapier“Create a new topic.”

Adds a new topic to your SNS account, ready to receive messages and subscribers.

When to use it
a new client project opened in your project tool gets its own notification topic from day one.
Watch out
paired with New Topic on the same account, the topic it creates starts that Zap again.
When it breaks

When an Amazon SNS Zap breaks

Zapier links one getting-started article to SNS and lists no app-specific limit. The cases below come from the app's plan status and from Zapier's general behavior.

Trouble with SNS Zaps comes from the plan, from loops on topics, and from timing. Six cases to check.

  • Stuck on the free plan

    Amazon SNS is a premium app. On the free plan it cannot be used at all; a paid plan or the free trial is the only way in.

  • The message loop

    A Zap that starts on New Message and runs Create Message on the same topic publishes a message that starts it again, and eats your tasks.

  • The topic loop

    New Topic as the trigger and Create Topic as the action on the same account: every topic the Zap creates is a new topic it then sees.

  • New Topic lags behind

    New Topic is polled, every 2 minutes on Professional and every minute on Team and Enterprise. The two message triggers do not wait.

  • Messages before the Zap

    A Zap only reacts to what happens after it is switched on. Messages published earlier are never sent through it; replaying them is a separate job.

  • A sudden flood held back

    A trigger that suddenly returns a huge batch, after a migration for instance, can be held back by Zapier's flood protection instead of running.
Need help

Need help automating Amazon SNS with Zapier?

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FAQ

Amazon SNS and Zapier: common questions

01Is the Amazon SNS Zapier integration free?
No. Amazon SNS is a premium app, and Zapier reserves premium apps for paid plans and the free trial. On the free plan, which otherwise offers 100 tasks a month, you cannot use it at all. On a paid plan, a Zap can also have more than two steps, so a filter or a second action is no problem. Check that your account is on a paid plan or a trial before you start building.
02How many tasks does an Amazon SNS Zap use?
One task for each action that succeeds, and nothing for the trigger. A message or a new topic starting the Zap costs nothing. A relay that republishes each incoming message uses one task per message, and two if it has two actions. An action that fails is not counted against your plan. On a busy topic, a filter that lets only some messages through keeps the count under control, since stopped runs create no action.
03Is Amazon SNS on Zapier real time?
Partly. New Message and New JSON Message are instant: SNS sends the message to Zapier as soon as it is published, and the Zap starts at once. New Topic is a polling trigger: Zapier checks for new topics every 2 minutes on Professional and every minute on Team and Enterprise. On paid plans you can also run a check by hand from the editor. In the editor, a Zap built on an instant trigger shows a lightning bolt.
04What does it take to connect Amazon SNS to Zapier?
A paid Zapier plan or the free trial, since SNS is a premium app, and an AWS account that holds the topics. You connect from the Apps page with + Add connection, sign in in the tab that opens and grant Zapier access. If the topics belong to someone else, you also need read or write access on them. Use the account that owns the topics your Zaps will read from or publish to.
05Why does an Amazon SNS Zap keep running on its own?
Because it publishes where its own trigger listens. If New Message watches a topic and Create Message publishes on that same topic, each published message is a new message for the trigger, and the Zap starts again. The same happens with New Topic and Create Topic on one account. Turn the Zap off first so it stops consuming tasks, then point the action at a different topic and test it again.
06What if the Amazon SNS operation you need is not available?
Then the built-in steps cannot do it. On Zapier, SNS has three triggers and three actions: messages and topics, with no search step. A Zap cannot, for example, look up an existing topic before publishing. Check whether your goal can start from one of the three triggers, and compare what other automation tools expose for Amazon SNS before you build around the gap. A different trigger sometimes reaches the same result.
07Zapier, Make or n8n for Amazon SNS?
It depends on your criteria, not on a winner. Zapier makes sense when instant message triggers and three simple actions cover the job, and when the paid plan that SNS requires is already in place. If your team already runs Make or n8n, the test is the same there: check that the Amazon SNS operations it offers cover your topics and messages before moving anything, and keep the tool already in place when both do the job.
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