Relay
Automate the busywork — but keep a human approval step where judgement matters.
Standout features
Relay’s distinctive idea is that human approval gates are a first-class feature, not an afterthought — built right into the workflow engine.
Worldwide search interest, indexed 0–100 · Google Trends.
Relay.app is the automation platform built around human oversight.
- Founded by Jacob Bank (ex-Timeful CEO, ex-Google PM); team from Gmail and Calendar.
- Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and others; San Francisco-based.
- Rebranded around AI agents in early 2026 with a no-code agent builder.
- Approval gates as a first-class feature differentiate it from Zapier and Make.
Relay balances automation with judgement.
- Native human-in-the-loop approval steps.
- No-code agent builder across 100+ apps.
- All-inclusive integration pricing.
- AI extraction, summarisation and generation as workflow steps.
Freemium with all-inclusive paid tiers.
Relay is for teams that want oversight built in.
- Ops and compliance teams needing approval gates.
- Small teams wanting all integrations included.
- Anyone wary of fully autonomous automation.
- Teams needing the deepest enterprise connector library.
- Very high-volume automation buyers.
No tool is perfect — the trade-offs to weigh:
- Smaller integration library than Zapier.
- Modest funding limits enterprise sales scale.
- AI credit limits can exhaust on heavy agent runs.
- Agent rebrand is recent and still maturing.
- ✓Native human-in-the-loop
- ✓All-inclusive integration pricing
- ✓Strong founding pedigree
- ✓No-code agent builder
- ✓Good for ops/compliance
- ✕Smaller integration library
- ✕Limited funding/scale
- ✕Agent credits can run out
- ✕Recent agent rebrand
Relay resonates with ops and compliance teams precisely because human approval is built into the engine rather than bolted on. The recurring trade-offs are a smaller integration library than Zapier and credit limits on heavy agent runs.
Relay.app is a San Francisco automation startup founded by Jacob Bank, with a founding team drawn from Gmail and Google Calendar.
Company figures are drawn from public disclosures and reputable trackers (gathered Jun 2026). User and revenue numbers are estimates and move fast.
Pick up to two other coding tools to see them head-to-head on the same rubric.