What is iPaaS?
An iPaaS (integration platform as a service) is a cloud service for connecting applications and moving data between them using prebuilt connectors and visual workflows.
In more detail
Zapier, Make, Workato, Boomi and n8n all sit in this family. Each offers connectors to common SaaS tools, triggers, data mapping and scheduling, so a team can link a CRM to a billing system without writing an integration from scratch. The strengths are speed and breadth of connectors. The limits are per-task pricing that grows with volume, caps on complex logic and data size, and thin error handling in the simpler tools. n8n can be self-hosted, which matters when you need data control. An iPaaS moves data. It does not read documents or make judgment calls, so AI steps get added inside or beside it.
Example
A marketing agency uses an iPaaS to push each new form submission into HubSpot, create an Asana project and notify Slack, with an AI step in the middle that scores the lead.