Explainer

What is iPaaS? A beginner’s guide to integration platforms

iPaaS (integration platform as a service) is a vendor-managed cloud service for building and running integrations between apps, services and data. You connect apps through prebuilt connectors, design each flow in a visual tool, and the vendor runs and patches the platform. Zapier, Boomi, Microsoft and SAP all sell one.

By Matt Collis·Updated 21 October 2026·Reviewed 21 October 2026·Version 4·4 min read

This guide is for business owners and operations staff who want their apps to share data without rekeying it. Definitions come from Gartner, and vendor facts from each vendor’s own site, checked on 21 October 2026.

What is iPaaS?

iPaaS stands for integration platform as a service. Gartner defines it as a vendor-managed cloud service that lets users build integrations between applications, services and data sources, inside or outside their organisation.

In plain terms, it is a hub. Each app connects to the platform once, and the platform moves data between them by rules you set.

The “as a service” part means you subscribe rather than install. The vendor hosts the platform and keeps it patched and running. You design and own the flows.

How does iPaaS work?

Most flows follow the same pattern. Something happens in one app, such as a new contact or a paid invoice. That event triggers the flow.

The platform then reads the data, maps each field to the matching field in the next app and writes it across. A flow can run one step or many, with conditions in between.

Apps plug in through connectors. A connector is a prebuilt link to one app’s application programming interface (API), so you do not write the connection code yourself.

Gartner lists the features it treats as mandatory for an iPaaS:

Visual tools: low-code or no-code design of integration flows
Access control: role-based control over who can change what
A managed runtime: the vendor patches and updates the engine that runs your flows
Life cycle tools: versioning, testing and deployment
Monitoring: alerts, reporting and auditing of flows in production

How is iPaaS different from custom code or a native integration?

Three ways to connect your apps

	Point-to-point code	iPaaS	Native integration
Who builds it	Your developers	You or a partner, in the vendor’s visual tools	The software vendor
Who runs and patches it	You	The iPaaS vendor	The software vendor
Where the rules live	In a script for each pair of apps	In one platform, for every flow	Inside one of the two apps
How far you can change it	Anything you can code	Anything the connectors and tools allow	Only the settings the vendor offers
Best fit	One or two links with unusual needs	Many apps and flows across a business	One common job between two apps

Source: Gartner, Integration Platform as a Service reviews and ratings Reviewed 21 Oct 2026

Custom code fits one unusual link, a native integration fits one common job, and an iPaaS fits many apps managed from one place.

There are three common ways to connect two apps. The right one depends on how many apps you run and who will maintain the links.

Point-to-point code is a script your developers write for one pair of apps. It does exactly what you need, but every new app adds another script to maintain.

A native integration is built by one of the software vendors into its own product. It is the quickest to switch on, but it only does what that vendor designed it to do.

An iPaaS sits in between. It handles many apps from one place, and you still decide how the data flows.

What does iPaaS do for a business?

The main gain is fewer copies of the same data typed by hand. When a client record changes in one app, the change can reach the others without anyone rekeying it.

It also puts every integration in one console. You can see which flows ran, which failed and why, instead of chasing scripts across several systems.

The trade-off is another subscription and another system to govern. A business with two apps and one simple link may not need it.

For a single job between two common apps, a native integration is often enough. Our guide to seamless system integration covers how to plan the links.

Who sells iPaaS?

Gartner publishes a yearly Magic Quadrant for iPaaS. Its 2025 edition, dated 19 May 2025, assessed 16 vendors, including Boomi, Informatica, Microsoft, Salesforce (MuleSoft), SAP, Tray.ai, Workato and Zapier. Its latest edition is dated 16 March 2026.

Vendors range from enterprise suites to tools a small team can set up in an afternoon. Each describes its own platform like this:

Microsoft: Azure Integration Services, with more than 1,400 prebuilt connectors
SAP: SAP Integration Suite, an iPaaS for SAP and third-party systems
Zapier: more than 9,000 apps, aimed at smaller teams
Tray.ai: formerly Tray.io, more than 700 connectors

Our guide to using Zapier for workflow automation covers how one of these works in practice.

What should you check before connecting client data?

An integration moves personal information between systems, and sometimes across borders. Ask each vendor where its servers sit and who can access your data.

The Privacy Act 1988 sets the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). APP 8 covers personal information that leaves Australia.

Key point

Under Australia’s Privacy Act, an organisation disclosing personal information to an overseas recipient must take reasonable steps so the recipient does not breach the APPs.

Under section 16C, your business can be held accountable if that overseas recipient mishandles the information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) expects an enforceable contract as a reasonable step in most cases.

Handing data to an overseas contractor may count as a use rather than a disclosure, but only if you keep effective control of it. Our guide to the Australian Privacy Principles explains the rest.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zapier an iPaaS?

Yes. Gartner assessed Zapier as one of the 16 vendors in its 2025 Magic Quadrant for iPaaS.

Is iPaaS the same as an API?

No. An API is the door into one app. An iPaaS is the platform that connects to many of those doors and moves data between them by your rules.

Do I need a developer to use iPaaS?

Not always. Gartner lists low-code or no-code design tools as a mandatory iPaaS feature. Complex flows, or apps without a ready-made connector, may still need technical help.

Next steps

StackGo’s IdentityCheck triggers from the software your team already runs and writes the result straight back to the client record. See the systems it connects to, or how the Verify workflow checks identity inside them.

Sources

The facts on this page come from these sources, checked on 21 October 2026.