Choosing Between TaskMagic and ZeroWork: An Honest Review
I'm a Tier 5 purchaser of TaskMagic and a Tier 2 purchaser of Zero Work, and I plan on keeping both. Here's why:
Web automation is notoriously tricky, and each app has its strengths. Zero Work's whiteboard-styled builder makes it easy to visualize and design your workflows, which is invaluable. TaskMagic, on the other hand, excels with its ability to run in the cloud—no laptop needed—and handles both desktop and browser automation seamlessly. Plus, its built-in active pieces make it a robust solution.
Zero Work's builder is intuitive and easy to follow. Creating loops and filters is straightforward, making it user-friendly for those new to automation. The simplicity is one of its standout features.
TaskMagic offers advanced automation options, including Regex, custom CSS selectors, Puppeteer expressions, and XPath expressions. While some people believe TaskMagic doesn't go as granular, that's not true; the advanced options are just hidden behind settings. The app's support team is exceptional, top-class, and highly responsive, which makes a huge difference when dealing with complex automations. TaskMagic's recorder logs keypresses and finds elements, simplifying the process of dealing with difficult-to-locate items.
However, Zero Work has limited support for troubleshooting your own automations, which can be a drawback. It also doesn't have some advanced features that TaskMagic offers. TaskMagic, though robust, has a learning curve, especially because some advanced options are hidden and some elements are complex.
Both apps have their challenges, particularly with difficult-to-find elements. TaskMagic's recorder and support make it easier to handle these challenges, while Zero Work's simplicity and community support, including a secret community of users sharing automations, offer a great starting point for beginners.
When deciding which tool to use, consider that TaskMagic offers a more feature-rich experience, though it comes at a higher cost. Zero Work is easier to use, particularly for creating loops and filters.
In conclusion, both TaskMagic and Zero Work are excellent tools for web automation. Zero Work is ideal if you prefer a visual approach and simplicity. TaskMagic is perfect for those needing advanced features and robust support. Personally, I prefer TaskMagic for its ability to locate elements I can't find in Zero Work and its superior feature set. However, leveraging both communities and tools will provide the best learning experience and functionality for anyone serious about browser automation.
TL;DR:
TaskMagic and Zero Work both excel in web automation, each with its strengths. TaskMagic offers cloud-based operation, advanced features, and exceptional support, but has a steeper learning curve and higher cost. Zero Work is simpler and more intuitive, making it great for beginners, though it lacks some advanced features. Both are valuable tools, and using them together can provide the best overall experience.
Diana_ZeroWork
Jun 13, 2024Hi there,
First of all, thank you for taking time to write this review.
However, I have to disagree on several points listed in your review.
First of all, TaskMagic's more advanced features that you mentioned are all offered by ZeroWork as well. ZeroWork, too, offers Regex, custom CSS selectors, custom JS, XPath expressions and more! I might be wrong and apologies if that is so, but I have a strong impression that you haven't really used ZeroWork much before writing this review. 🙂
I wholeheartedly disagree that TaskMagic is more feature-rich. While both applications might have some features that one and the other doesn't, most users who have tried both report the exact contrary. Here is just one quote from just one user: "TaskMagic is good for simple automations, ZeroWork is better for precision work."
Also, ZeroWork has anti-bot detection prevention, nested loops and many other features that TaskMagic does not have.
Most importantly, almost all users who switched from TaskMagic to ZeroWork report how refreshing they find the robustness and reliability that ZeroWork comes with in comparison to TaskMagic. Almost everyone who comes to us after TaskMagic report how hurdled they were by the bugs and the general instability. Here is one quote from one user: "The best thing about ZeroWork is it feels solid and realiable. When you put hours of your valuable time to build an automation that is supposed to save 100x more hours, you expect the tool to work. That's what ZeroWork delivers perfectly." I won't quote the unfavorable quotes that directly describe TaskMagic on this specific point, as it doesn't seem appropriate to me. But I will share a few links to user reviews which share their comparisons:
- https://appsumo.com/products/zerowork/reviews/loving-its-simplicity-307679/
- https://appsumo.com/products/zerowork/reviews/elegant-307148/
- https://appsumo.com/products/zerowork/reviews/dont-let-the-gui-fool-you-278625/
I absolutely disagree that "ZeroWork has limited support for troubleshooting". Please review the other reviews here. I think there isn't a single one that doesn't highlight and praise how supportive our support team and the whole ZeroWork community - full of true automation ninjas and wizards, who all chose ZeroWork - has been to them. 🥷🪄
Last but not least, regarding cloud execution. ZeroWork, too, will be offering cloud runs within the next 2-3 months. You are not missing out on cloud if you purchase ZeroWork! Also, one extremely important thing I do want to highlight here is that TaskMagic's cloud execution is not just for running automations on the cloud but also for the webhook and the scheduling features. In other words, you are missing two very core functionalities and you really do have to buy the monthly subscription add-ons (in addition to your LTD purchase) to actually benefit from your automations if you use TaskMagic. This is not the case with ZeroWork. ZeroWork offers both webhook and scheduling on the desktop and those are included in your LTD, meaning cloud execution in case of ZeroWork is at this point a nice-to-have feature for very specific scenarios. Even if you are traveling, remember that ZeroWork desktop agent can be installed on multiple machines - you can leave a second device at home with turned off sleep settings and let it run your TaskBots while you are away.
ZeroWork is arguably the most underpriced deal during these Sumo Days, when you consider the maturity of our product, level of support, feature richness and the fact that scheduling and webhooks are included in both Tier 1 and Tier 2! Many people in ZeroWork community think that my team and I are crazy to offer our product at this price! 😅
Also, big thank you for commenting multiple times that ZeroWork is easier to use than TaskMagic. Many users do find that they get up to speed faster with ZeroWork, even if I personally feel like TaskMagic appears pretty usable, too. 🙂