Q: Alternative to Pabbly Connect / Zapier? Use case...
Hi there,
My initial need is to pull new Substack subscribers and subscribers that have upgraded into Flodesk segments to kick off a Flodesk workflow.
I see Flodesk is one of your integrations. Substack is not listed.
1. Is Substack an integration? If not, is this possible to do? How complicated is it to create these flows?
2. Is this something that can be set up to run automatically, via the subscription or upgrade becoming a trigger, or does it need to be time based (check for new or upgraded subs everyday at 9am)?
3. How much would these specific uses cost if I don't have my own key. Is the cost based on when it checks (one fee per day) or how many subs there are to transfer? Would there be separate fees to check for new free subs vs upgraded subs? Obviously, I want to be able to scale, so these fees need to be considered.
SeanP_AgenticFlowAI
Apr 25, 2025A: Hey AmandaOlivia, AgenticFlow can definitely serve as an alternative to Pabbly Connect or Zapier for this.
Regarding Substack integration: It's not a native MCP connector yet, but please vote for it on our roadmap here: https://agenticflow.featurebase.app/. You can likely connect it now using our generic HTTP Request node (https://agenticflow.ai/mcp/http) if Substack provides an API or webhooks. You'd need Substack's technical details for setup. Connecting to Flodesk is simple with our Flodesk MCP: https://agenticflow.ai/mcp/flodesk.
For automatic triggers: Ideally, if Substack sends webhooks, you can use our API endpoint to catch that and trigger the workflow instantly. Alternatively, you can easily schedule an AgenticFlow workflow to run daily (like at 9 AM) to check Substack via the HTTP node.
About the cost (without your own keys, assuming Tier 3 or 4): Credits are used per step (execution) in your workflow. Each step has two cost components: Fixed + Variable. On Tier 3/4, the Fixed cost is 3 credits per step (covering platform overhead). The Variable cost applies to compute time, which importantly includes usage of AgenticFlow's built-in LLMs (like Gemini Flash, 4o-mini). Using third-party services with your own key (BYOK) does not consume AgenticFlow credits for that service's usage, but the step itself still has the fixed cost.
For your use case (check Substack via HTTP, process, update Flodesk via MCP): If your workflow has, say, 3 steps and doesn't use a built-in LLM, a daily run would cost roughly 3 steps * 3 fixed credits/step = 9 credits per day. If you add a built-in LLM step (e.g., to format data), that step would incur an additional variable credit cost based on its token usage. Even with a few steps, the monthly total should still be well within the Tier 3 allowance (100k credits). You can handle free vs. upgraded subscribers in the same workflow run using internal logic without typically increasing the per-run cost. The cost scales mainly with workflow frequency and the number/type of steps involved.
Hope this helps clarify things!
AmandaOliviaPLUSThank you so much for the quick + thorough response!