Question from Reddit user:
Hi guys!
Does anyone know a free trusted alternative to Zappier? In the past, I’ve used Zappier, but in my current agency, I didn’t receive approval for a paid subscription. I found some alternatives but they don’t seem very safe.
Answer from Nabil:
The short answer is:
Finding a free, trusted, and robust alternative to Zapier to reliably move Facebook Lead Ad data to Google Sheets or email is difficult because most reliable platforms operate on a paid model.
However, you can create a powerful and free, although slightly more technical, solution by using Facebook’s native Webhooks and the Google Sheets API orchestrated within a serverless environment like Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or using a free-tier server-side container hosted on a platform like Stape.
This API-based approach gives you complete control, is free to operate at low volumes, and offers superior data fidelity compared to basic, third-party free tools.
The long answer is:
The reason you’re finding it hard to get a free, safe, and robust Zapier alternative is that the core service of reliably pushing real-time data between two different companies (Facebook and Google) is a valuable and resource-intensive operation.
Most free alternatives you find are either limited in functionality, prone to breakage, or less secure.
Since you are operating within an agency and need a secure solution, building a pipeline using the official APIs is the superior choice.
This solution leverages the Facebook Conversions API framework (specifically the Leads/CRM Integration) and the Google Sheets API.
You would start by setting up a Facebook Webhook on your Lead Ad form.
When a user submits the form, Facebook instantly sends a data payload to a specific endpoint, which you would set up on a serverless function within Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically using Cloud Functions or App Engine.
GCP’s free tier is usually generous enough for a low to moderate volume of lead submissions.
Alternatively, you can use a server-side container solution like Stape, which often has a very affordable or free tier for basic services.
The Google Tag Manager (GTM) is not strictly needed for this webhook-to-sheets connection, but it’s an essential tool for all your other client-side tracking and is often used to send data to the server-side environment for other tasks.
Once your GCP function or server endpoint receives the lead data from Facebook, it acts as the secure intermediary.
It uses the Google Sheets API to securely append a new row of data to your designated Google Sheet, ensuring a real-time log of all your leads.
You can also configure this same function to send an internal email notification using a service like SendGrid or a simple SMTP setup, eliminating the need for Zapier entirely for this specific task.
This method is secure, free at low scale, and directly utilizes the official APIs, making it the most reliable “free” alternative available to a technical team.
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