Paths by Zapier Zapier integrationAutomate Paths by Zapier with Zapier.
The Paths by Zapier Zapier integration offers 0 triggers and 1 action: a step that sends each run of your Zap down a different branch depending on rules you set, so one form or one sale can lead to different follow-ups without building several Zaps.
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What the Paths by Zapier Zapier integration does
Paths by Zapier is a built-in Zapier tool, not an outside app. It adds conditional logic to a Zap: after the trigger, the Zap checks your rules and runs the steps of the branch that matches. The same incoming data can end up in very different places.
Three results show what it is for. Routing by type: a contact form sends sales questions to one channel and support questions to another, from the same Zap. Different replies for different people: a new customer from one country gets one email, the rest get another. Keeping one Zap instead of many: rather than three near-copies of a Zap, each with its own filter, you keep a single Zap with three branches, which is easier to read and to fix.
Now the limits. Paths has no trigger, so it can never start a Zap; another app always comes first. It does not do anything on its own either: a branch is only useful once you add steps inside it, and those steps are actions from other apps. That also means a Zap with Paths always has more than one step after the trigger, which makes it multi-step and puts it on a paid plan.
To see how Zapier compares with other tools on this kind of logic, there is an Zapier review and a page on Make vs Zapier.
Zapier words in plain English
Seven words are enough here. Each one is explained once, then used as is.
- Zap
- The automation you build on Zapier: one trigger, then one or more actions that run every time the trigger event happens.
- Trigger
- The event in an app that starts the Zap, like a new form entry. Paths has none, so another app always plays this role.
- Action
- What the Zap does once started: the step that writes, sends or decides something. Paths is an action that decides.
- Task
- The unit Zapier bills: one action your Zap completes successfully. The count on your plan is a count of those.
- Polling vs instant
- A polling trigger is checked by Zapier on a timer; an instant one is reported by the app itself. It depends on the app that starts the Zap.
- Filter
- A step that lets the Zap carry on only when what arrived meets your condition, and stops it otherwise. Paths is its many-branch cousin.
- Multi-step Zap
- Any Zap beyond one trigger and one action. A second action, a filter or a search makes one, and it then needs a paid plan.
What a Zap with Paths costs
Zapier bills tasks, and a task is an action that worked. That is the whole rule.
- Free plan100 tasks a month, 2 steps per Zap
- Premium appNo
- Zap with PathsMulti-step, paid plan
- Triggers in PathsNone
The trigger that starts the Zap never costs a task. Each action that succeeds counts once, including the ones inside the branch that runs, and an action that fails is not counted. Paths by Zapier is not a premium app, but the free plan only builds Zaps of two steps, one trigger and one action, and gives 100 tasks a month. Since a path only makes sense with steps inside it, a Zap with Paths goes past two steps and needs a paid plan. How fast it starts depends on the trigger app: the grid below applies to polling triggers.
Connect the apps around Paths in three steps
- 01
Open your connections
Paths works on the data other apps bring in, so those are the apps that need connecting. On the Apps page of your Zapier account, click + Add connection.
- 02
Pick each app
Search for the app that will start the Zap, select it and click Add connection. Repeat for every app that will run inside one of the branches you plan.
- 03
Sign in and grant access
In the tab that opens, sign in to the app and give Zapier access to the account. Each connection is saved once and reused by every Zap and every branch.
Your first Zap with Paths
GoalEach new form entry is routed: sales requests go to the sales channel, everything else goes to the support inbox.
- 01
Build: pick the trigger
Create a Zap and choose the form app and its new-entry event as the start. Paths cannot start a Zap, so this first step always belongs to another app.
- 02
Test the trigger
Run the test. Zapier brings back the three most recent entries of the account, so your branch rules are set against a real answer, not a guess.
- 03
Add Paths and its rules
Add Conditionally run... from Paths by Zapier. Give each branch a rule based on the form answer that tells sales requests apart from the rest.
- 04
Fill each branch
Inside the first branch, add the chat message for the sales team. Inside the second, add the email to support. Map the form answers into both.
- 05
Test each step, then publish
Test every step, branch by branch, and read what came back before moving on. When both branches behave, publish the Zap to switch it on.
Paths by Zapier action
Paths by Zapier gives you 1 action. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.
Conditionally run...
ActionIn Zapier“Creates a new branch.”
Creates a branch in your Zap: the steps you put inside it only run when that branch's rules match what the trigger brought in. Add several and each run follows the one that fits.
When a Zap with Paths breaks
Zapier ties two help articles to Paths, one on adding branching logic and one on filter and path rules. No limit specific to Paths is listed, so four general cases cover what goes wrong.
These cases come from how every Zap behaves, and a branch does not protect against them. When a case is not here, the Zapier troubleshooting page is the next stop.
Older records never go down a path
A Zap only reacts to what happens after you publish it. Entries or sales that existed before are not picked up, whatever your branches say.A branch that feeds its own trigger
If one branch writes into the place the trigger watches, the Zap sets itself off again and again and burns through tasks fast.A bulk import held back
When the trigger suddenly returns a huge batch, after an import or a migration, Zapier's flood protection can hold those items back before any path runs.No double runs on polling triggers
With a polling trigger, Zapier keeps track of what it has already seen, so the same item does not start the Zap twice, even if it shows up again.
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