Glossary · Platforms & business
iPaaS
Also called: integration platform, integration platform as a service
iPaaS, or integration platform as a service, is cloud-hosted software that connects applications and data sources and automates processes between them, without the buyer running integration servers.
The category spans a wide range: enterprise platforms built for IT teams moving data between ERPs, and self-serve automation tools where an operator connects a form to a CRM in ten minutes. What they share is the job (connect systems, move data, run logic) and the delivery (hosted, so you don't run the servers).
What an iPaaS usually includes
- Connectors for popular apps, plus generic HTTP/REST and webhooks for everything else.
- A workflow engine with triggers, logic, error handling and retries.
- Data mapping and transformation between formats.
- Monitoring: run history, alerts, logs.
- Governance: roles, credential storage, audit logs.
How buyers compare them
- Connector coverage for the apps that matter to you, not the total count.
- Pricing model: per task, per credit, per execution, per user or flat plans. The model decides how cost grows with volume.
- Hosting: SaaS only, or a self-hosted option.
- Who builds: IT developers, or operators on a visual canvas.
- AI: built-in AI priced by the vendor, or bring your own key.
Our Zapier alternatives roundup compares eight tools on exactly these axes.
In Fluxo Flow
Fluxo Flow is a hosted iPaaS for small teams and agencies with AI at the center: a visual canvas, app connectors (six live, the rest in beta) plus HTTP and webhooks for any REST API, AI steps on your own key, human review on every plan and flat plans priced by workflows and seats. It isn't self-hostable.
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Related terms
- No-code automationNo-code automation is building automated workflows with visual tools (drag-and-drop canvases, forms and pickers) instead of writing code, so people who know the process can automate it themselves.
- Low-codeLow-code describes development tools where most of an application or workflow is built visually, with small amounts of code (expressions, scripts or API calls) added where the visual tools run out.
- RPA (robotic process automation)Robotic process automation (RPA) uses software bots that operate applications through their user interface (clicking, typing and reading screens) the way a person would, typically to automate systems that have no usable API.
- White labelWhite-label software is a product built by one company that another company resells under its own brand, name and domain, with the original vendor hidden from the end customer.
- JSON schemaJSON Schema is a standard vocabulary for describing what a JSON document must look like (which fields are required, their types, formats, allowed values and ranges) so data can be validated automatically.
- Idempotency keyAn idempotency key is a unique value a client sends with a request so that, if the same request is retried, the server recognizes it and returns the original result instead of doing the work a second time.