Your Zapier stack is a house of cards with a monthly subscription.
You're clever. You've wired together Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Gmail, and three other tools into something that almost works. Until it breaks at 2 AM and nobody knows until Monday.
This is our comparison, so read it knowing who wrote it — we've tried to be fair.
The old way
~$690/mo on this illustrative stack — before you hire a VA
None of them talk to each other.
The Doughy way
Zapier moves data from A to B. Doughy does the work.
DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)
- Alerts and replays exist, but someone has to watch them
- IF-THEN rules can't handle ambiguity
- One API change breaks the whole chain
- Easily $1,500+/mo across the stack, before your debugging time
Doughy
- One product, maintained by us — no Zaps to break between tools
- AI judgment handles edge cases, not new Zaps
- We maintain the integrations, not you
- One platform replaces the stack
DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)
Webhook timeouts, rate limits and task errors are yours to watch for. Zapier sends alerts and can replay a failed task, but someone still has to read the alert and fix the Zap.
Doughy
Maintained by us as one product, so there are no Zaps to break between your tools.
DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)
Mostly IF-THEN rules you build and maintain. Every edge case tends to need a new Zap, and ambiguity is yours to handle.
Doughy
An AI assistant that understands context, makes judgment calls, and handles edge cases naturally. "If the tenant sounds upset, escalate to owner" — try writing that as a Zap.
DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)
One API change breaks your whole chain. You spend weekends debugging Zap errors instead of managing your portfolio.
Doughy
Maintained by us. Updates don't break your workflows. No Zap debugging. No API version nightmares.
DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)
Automation tool + integration platform + CRM + PM software + dialer + a VA to manage it all. The subscriptions add up fast — easily $1,500+/mo before you count your time debugging the connections.
Doughy
Pricing isn't published yet — Doughy is in early access. What it replaces is the entire stack: one login, nothing to duct tape together.
Where DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets) wins
A hand-wired stack is endlessly customizable — if you enjoy the wiring, you can build almost anything, your way.
The Verdict
DIY automation is the second stage of grief. First you try spreadsheets, then you try to automate the spreadsheets. But Zapier can't understand that a tenant is upset, can't analyze whether a deal makes financial sense, and can't coordinate across channels with context. It just moves data from A to B and hopes for the best. Doughy doesn't just move data — it does the work.
What Your Stack Costs You
Slide the bars to match what you spend today on tools and help.
Your Current Monthly Spend
Your Stack, Per Year
$25,200/yr
Across 6 separate tools + services — and none of them talk to each other.
Per month today
$2,100/mo
what the stack costs before Doughy
Tools consolidated
6 → 1
one platform instead of a stack that doesn't talk to itself
Doughy is one platform instead of the stack, and it gives you back your time. Every hour you're not wrestling with broken integrations is an hour you're closing deals.
Open the full calculatorReady to replace DIY Automation (Zapier + Make + Sheets)?
Join the waitlist and see what one platform can do.
See Also
All competitor information is based on publicly available data, and products change, so check each vendor’s site for what is current. Trademarks belong to their respective owners. Doughy is not affiliated with or endorsed by any competitor mentioned on this page.