PDFAITools
Relay
AI-native workflow automation. Human-in-the-loop automations that combine AI steps with human approvals.
What is Relay?
AI Automation with a Human in the Loop
Relay is an AI-native workflow automation platform that uniquely combines automated AI steps with structured human review and approval steps. Rather than treating automation as all-or-nothing, Relay lets you automate what should be automated while keeping humans involved at exactly the right decision points.
The Human-in-the-Loop Difference
Most automation tools aim to remove humans entirely. Relay's philosophy is different — some decisions require human judgment, context, or accountability, and pretending they don't creates risk. Relay's "wait for human" steps make it easy to build automations that combine AI efficiency with human oversight for high-stakes decisions.
- AI-powered automation steps alongside human approval steps
- Visual workflow builder for non-technical teams
- 100+ integrations with popular business tools
- Approval requests delivered via email, Slack, or in-app
Key Features
Insert human review and approval steps directly into automated workflows for high-stakes decisions.
Use AI to classify, summarize, extract, draft, and enrich data as steps within your automation flow.
Connect to Gmail, Slack, HubSpot, Notion, Airtable, and all the tools your team already uses.
Build complex workflows with a clean drag-and-drop interface designed for business teams, not developers.
Approval requests are sent via email or Slack so reviewers can act without opening the app.
Who Uses Relay?
AI classifies incoming emails and routes urgent items to a human for review before any response is sent.
Automate expense processing with AI categorization but maintain human sign-off for amounts above a threshold.
Automate candidate screening, onboarding steps, and document routing while keeping humans in key decisions.
AI drafts content automatically, then routes it to a human editor for review before publication.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Human-in-the-loop design is uniquely well-suited for regulated or high-stakes workflows
- Clean, intuitive interface accessible to non-technical business users
- Strong integration coverage for common business tools
- Sensible philosophy about where AI automation is and isn't appropriate
- Good for teams transitioning from manual processes incrementally
❌ Cons
- Smaller integration library than Make or Zapier
- Newer platform with less community content and templates
- Not ideal for workflows that should be fully automated
- Pricing can scale up with usage volume
Relay Pricing
Free
- Basic automations
- 500 runs/month
- Core integrations
Pro
- 5,000 runs/month
- AI steps
- Human approvals
- Priority support
Business
- Unlimited runs
- All features
- Team management
- Advanced analytics
Relay earns a 4.2/5 rating from our editorial team. Its generous free tier lets you explore core features before upgrading, making it a low-risk choice for individuals and teams. Standout strengths include human-in-the-loop design is uniquely well-suited for regulated or high-stakes workflows and clean, intuitive interface accessible to non-technical business users.
Get Started with Relay →