Hi @david32

So, each step within a zap (other than the trigger) uses 1 task from your quota:

Learn about tasks in Zapier How many steps are there in your zap?

I think around maybe 5-10 steps in the zap. Plus then the 800+ excel spread kills off my 2000 quota in 1 morning. Kinda sucks. Seems very low limit for running each row counting as 1 task.

Hi @david32

That's the issue then. If there are 5-10 steps in your zap, then processing 1 row will take 5-10 tasks.

that seems fairly restrictive. Like just processing 1 spreadsheet will be circa $60+ a month

@david32

In this case, Zapier isn't always best cost-suited for mass data management jobs like this.

Yeah I’ve got a similar issue where every time a new lead comes in, we send it to our client (not using zapier as it needs to be instant) and then we use Zapier to update our accounting records: i) calculate lead value and debit funds + ii) if the funds are low we send the client an email to to it up.

As the zap task usage is getting very high quickly we’d like to just run the accounting every few hours…. but it seems that makes no difference (and is very hard to schedule anyway) so we’ll hit the 750 task usage cap in no time.

I appreciate the processing costs vary with the usage but the usage limits seem very low (expensive) for any sort of tasks that are triggered by leads.

Hi @pdog! I wonder if there’s a way that we could cut down on the number of tasks used each time the Zap runs?  There’s sometimes a way to reduce the number of steps in a Zap to save on tasks. 

Perhaps you could make a new post in Ask the Community with a description of the Zap, to see if anyone can think of a way to make it more efficient?

I made a filter to check 2 fields in the sheet to see if it a) needs to run and b) if it already ran today, and that way I don’t get charged as the task won’t run - only when it has to and only then 1/day.

Hi @pdog that sounds like a great solution, thanks for sharing it!

New to Zapier - Integrating from mail lists from Vimeo to Campaign Monitor. Trying to calculate zaps (tasks). Does each name pulled into Campaign Monitor constitute one zap? Once the names and contact info has been pulled into CM with a zap, The function is then on the CM side as we send welcome, and email campaigns - so no more zaps. Correct? 

@dredernier 

Each step in a zap (other than the trigger, or a non-passed filter) counts as a task. So, yep, once Zapier has finished doing it’s thing and the data has gone to CM, no more tasks get used.

I wrote this guide which should help:

https://www.luhhu.com/blog/what-is-a-zapier-task-and-how-much-do-they-cost

so when Zapier pulls in an email contact into CM, that is one task?

If we don’t use all of our tasks in one month, do they roll over into the next month?

@dredernier 

Yes, if they are addded via 1 complete step in the zap, it counts as 1 task.

And no, they don’t roll over I’m afraid.