Result
self-reportedOf 123 paid automations, 63 hadn’t run in a month and 2 did 88% of the work. Claude rebuilt one, the rest moved into tools they already pay for, and Zapier went from $4,788 a year to $0.
Noah Kagan runs AppSumo and has used Zapier for 10 years. As part of what he calls a war on expensive software, he exported the account’s task history and had AI list every automation, its owner and its recent runs. Most of what was left was simple form-to-Slack and HubSpot-to-Sheets work that other tools they already pay for could handle. He shared the exact audit prompt.
Who did it
Try it now
- Export your Zapier (or Make) task history for the last 30 to 90 days.
- Give it to Claude or ChatGPT with the audit prompt below.
- Turn off anything that hasn’t run in a month, after checking with its owner.
- Move the simple ones into tools you already pay for (your CRM, forms tool or Slack workflows), and have Claude rebuild any that are left.
- Run both side by side for a week, then cancel on the date in the plan.
List every automation, its owner, and runs in the last 30 days. Flag anything that hasn’t run. Show which few do most of the work. For each one, name a tool we already pay for that could replace it. Give me a cancel plan with dates.
Make it run every week
A play works once. Turn it into a routine in three small steps:
- Run it once and check the result yourself.
- Give your AI a schedule. Tell it when to run this play (every week, or every month) and to message you with what it found before you act.
- Keep a log. One line per run: what was checked, anything flagged, what you did.
What to watch out for
Self-reported from his own post. Some automations run only monthly or yearly (renewals, tax reminders), so check with the owner before you turn off anything that looks idle, and keep the two that do the most work running until the replacement is proven. Build it with Page: put your forms on your own site so they don’t need a paid connector.
Did it work?
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