5 alternatives to Kombo that are worth considering

Kombo, a unified API solution for ATS, HRIS, and payroll platforms, can help you add more than a hundred integrations to your product.

However, the platform has serious shortcomings that other unified API and embedded iPaaS solutions don’t.

You can read on to learn about its drawbacks relative to several alternative solutions below.

Note: This article was written on 9/26/2024. The information below is subject to change.

Merge

Merge offers a unified API that lets you add more than 200 integrations across a wide range of software categories.

Key features:

• Multi-category unified API: Supports HRIS, ATS, file storage, ticketing, CRM, and accounting integrations

• Integration observability features: Provides fully-searchable logs, automated issue detection functionality, and a dashboard for monitoring integration health holistically 

• White glove support: The post-sales team can help you not only build to Merge’s Unified API quickly but also provide training on marketing, selling, and supporting the integrations

When to choose Merge over Kombo

• You want to add integrations in several categories. Merge can serve as your one-stop shop for all of your customer-facing integration needs, while Kombo will likely force you to invest in another product integration solution as your needs evolve

• You need robust integration observability capabilities. Kombo’s dashboard only provides logs from the past 24 hours. Merge, on the other hand, lets customer success teams find integration issues and remediation steps that they can share with affected customers; search through logs via a range of filters; and access dashboards that share high-level insights on issues and adoption across your integrations 

• You need robust, battle-tested integrations. Merge has been around longer and has thousands of companies using its integrations, including many enterprise organizations. As a result, Merge has been able to address countless edge cases over time, which enables them to provide more reliable integrations 

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Workato

Workato offers an embedded iPaaS solution that lets you add product integrations incrementally and build workflow automations that work across your customers' integrated applications.

Key features:

• Pre-built connectors: Workato offers more than a thousand pre-built connectors across a wide range of categories, from HRIS solutions to AI services to business communications platforms

• Automation templates: Workato also provides countless pre-configured automation templates (i.e., “recipes”) that can be used as is or modified 

• Customizable deployment options: You can white label your integrations, and you can decide whether to allow customers to build integrations and automations themselves or provide them on their behalf

When to choose Workato over Kombo

• You want to use a proven integration solution. Workato has been around 10+ years and works with thousands of organizations, making an investment in their company less risky than a pre-series A startup like Kombo

• You’re looking to build internal integrations as well. Workato is purpose-built to support internal integrations (i.e., integrations between your internal systems), while Kombo doesn’t offer internal integrations

• You need to implement integrations across software categories. Workato supports a diverse range of categories while Kombo just covers three

Related: A look at Workato’s top competitors

Tray.ai

Tray.ai (formerly known as Tray.io) lets you, among other things, add customer-facing integrations and automations to your product through its embedded iPaaS offering. 

Key features:

• Diverse offerings: This includes a traditional iPaaS, embedded iPaaS, and an API management platform

• AI copilot: “Merlin Intelligence” lets you build integrations and automations via plain text. It can also auto-generate descriptions on your integrations and automations and make suggestions as you build anything

• Pre-built connectors: Like Workato, Tray.ai provides countless connectors across various software categories

When to choose Tray.ai over Kombo

• You want to build internal integrations. Like Workato, Tray.ai is best suited to support a wide range of internal integrations and automations

• Your engineers already have experience with Tray.ai. If your team already uses Tray.ai’s iPaaS offering, they can get on boarded onto the embedded solution relatively quickly

• You need strong customer proof points to make the business case internally. Kombo offers just a handful of case studies from small companies, while Tray.ai provides a wealth of case studies with companies like Udemy, HackerOne, and Eventbrite 

Related: Alternatives to Tray.ai

Pandium

Pandium is an embedded iPaaS that also lets you build and manage an integration marketplace.

Key features:

• Integration support: You can outsource any integration development work in Pandium to their engineering team

• Integration marketplace: You can build, customize, and white label an integration marketplace in your app—enabling customers to find and build integrations quickly

• Integration directory: You can also implement search-optimized landing pages that help educate prospects and partners on the integrations you offer

When to choose Pandium over Kombo

• You want to provide an integration marketplace and/or an in-app directory. Pandium can help you build either quickly and without overwhelming your internal resources

• You’re looking for a relatively cheap solution. Pandium can cost just $499 per month. And while Kombo doesn’t list out their pricing plans, they’re likely more expensive

• You don’t want to allocate any engineering resources to integrations. Pandium lets you outsource every aspect of the integration lifecycle

Related: How to decide between Merge and Knit

Zapier

Zapier is a workflow automation tool that lets you build task-based automations, or “zaps.”

Key features:

• App integrations: Provides 7,000+ app connections for a wide range of software categories

• Interfaces: Lets you build custom forms and landing pages (e.g., a contact us landing page) that can be integrated with your zaps

• AI solutions: Currently has several AI-powered features (in Beta) to help you build more powerful automations, quickly

When to choose Zapier over Kombo:

• You want the team at large to build internal task automations. Zapier offers a relatively intuitive UX, which allows a wide range of teams to use it effectively

• You want to outsource integrations and automations to a proven solution. Zapier is a well-established brand and will likely be around for years to come. The same can’t be said for Kombo

• You want to build custom applications for employees, customers, or prospects. Zapier’s Interface feature can support a seemingly endless number of use cases; Kombo doesn’t and likely won’t support anything similar to this feature.

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