Integrations are becoming a mainstream requirement for organizations using many SaaS applications. Invariably, organizations seek robust third-party solutions as alternatives to building and managing all integrations in-house (because it is time—and cost-intensive and diverts engineering bandwidth). Workflow automation, embedded iPaaS, ETL, and unified API are a few options that organizations are increasingly adopting.
Which integration approach to choose?
As mentioned above, you can ship and scale SaaS integrations in several ways. Here is a quick snapshot of the different approaches and their viability for different scenarios:
If you’d like to learn more about different approaches, you could consider reading a detailed article here
While Merge.dev has become one of the popular solutions in the unified API section, there are alternatives to Merge that support native integration development and management for SaaS applications. Each with their own advantages and drawbacks.
In this article, we will discuss in detail Merge.dev and other market players who stand as credible alternatives to help companies scale their integration roadmap. A comprehensive comparison detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative will enable businesses to make an informed choice for their integration journey.
Building and managing SaaS integrations with Merge.dev
Merge.dev is a unified API that helps businesses to build 1: many integrations with SaaS applications. This means that Merge enables companies to build native integrations with multiple applications within the same category (ex., ATS, HRIS) in a single go, using one connector which Merge provides. Invariably, this makes the integration development and management process extremely lucid, saves time and resources, and makes integration scalability robust and effective. Let’s quickly look at the top strengths and weaknesses of Merge.dev as an integration solution for SaaS businesses, and how it compares with other alternatives.
Pricing: Starts at $7800/ year and goes up to $55K+
Merge.dev strengths
Coverage within integration categories
One of the most prominent features in favor of Merge as a preferred integration solution is the number of integrations it supports within different categories. Overall, SaaS businesses can integrate 150+ third-party applications once they connect with Merge’s unified API for different categories. This coverage or the potential integration pool that companies can leverage is significantly high as per current market standards.
Managed authentication
Second, Merge offers managed authentication to its customers. Most applications today are based on OAuth for authentication and authorization, which require access and refresh tokens. By supporting managed authentication, Merge takes care of the authentication process for each application and keeps track of expiry rules to ensure a safe but hassle-free authentication process.
Simplified processes
Overall, customers who have used Merge to integrate with third-party applications claim that the entire setup and integration process is quite smooth and simple. At the same time, responsiveness to feedback is high, and even the integration process for end customers is rather seamless.
Merge.dev weaknesses
Limited integration categories
While the integrations within the unified API categories represent decent coverage for Merge, the total number of categories (6+1 in Beta) is considered to be limited by many organizations. This means that organizations that wish to integrate with applications that don’t fall into those categories have to look for alternatives. Thus, the vertical categories are a limitation that customers find with Merge, and unless this is sufficient critical mass, the addition of a new unified API category may not be justified.
Auth component
Merge offers limited flexibility when it comes to designing and styling the auth component or branding the end user experience. It uses an iframe for its frontend auth component, which has limited customization capabilities compared to other alternatives in the market. This limits organizations' ability to ensure that the auth component that the end customers interact with looks and feels like their own application.
Data sync model
When it comes to data sync, Merge uses a pull model, which requires organizations to build and maintain a polling infrastructure for each connected customer. The application is expected to poll the Merge’s copy of the data periodically. For data syncs needed at a higher or ad-hoc frequency, organizations can write sync functions and pull data that has changed since the last sync. While the data load is reduced in this option; however, the requirement for a polling infrastructure remains.
On the other hand, Merge offers webhooks for data sync in two ways, i.e., sync notifications and changed data webhooks. While in the former, i.e., sync notification, organizations are notified about a potential change in the data but have to fall back on polling infrastructure to sync the changed data. Changed data webhooks exist with Merge. However, the scale and data delivery via these webhooks are not guaranteed. Depending on the data load, potential downtime, or failed processing, changed data webhooks might fail for Merge, persuading organizations to maintain a polling infrastructure. Pulling data and maintaining a polling infrastructure becomes an added responsibility for organizations, which become inclined toward identifying alternative solutions.
Integration management
Merge’s support for integration management is robust. However, the customer success dashboards are considered technical for some organizations. This means that customer success executives and client-facing personnel have to rely on engineering teams and resources to understand the dashboards. At the same time, no tools can give visibility into integration activity, further increasing the reliance on engineering teams. This invariably slows the integration maintenance process as engineering teams generally prioritize product development and enhancements over integration management.
TL:DR: Pros and cons of Merge
Why choose Merge
- Offers comprehensive coverage of integrations within chosen categories
- Facilitates hassle-free authentication
- Simplifies the integration process with quick response and seamless customer experience
However, some of the challenges include:
- Limited number of integration categories
- Limited flexibility for frontend auth component
- Requires users to maintain a polling infrastructure
- Lack of visibility into integration activity
- Webhooks based data sync doesn’t guarantee scale and data delivery
There is no doubt that Merge provides a considerably large integration catalog, enabling integration with multiple applications across the defined API categories. However, there are certain other features and parameters that have been pushing businesses to seek alternative solutions to scale their SaaS integration journey. Below is a list of top integration platforms that are being considered as alternatives to Merge.dev:
Merge.dev alternative #1: Knit
One of the top alternatives to Merge has been Knit. As a unified API, Knit supports integration development and management, enabling businesses to integrate with multiple applications within the same category with its 1:many connector. While there are several features which make Knit a preferred unified API provider, below mentioned are the top few which make it a sustainable and scalable Merge alternative.
Pricing: Starts at $4800 Annually
Data security
Since integrations focus majorly on data exchange between applications, security is of paramount importance. Knit adheres to the industry’s highest standards in terms of its policies, processes and practices, complying with SOC2, GDPR, and ISO27001. In addition, all the data is doubly encrypted, at rest and in transit and all PII and user credentials are encrypted with an additional layer of application security.
However, Knit's most significant security feature as a Merge alternative is that it doesn’t store a copy of the data. All data requests are pass through in nature, which means that no data is stored in Knit’s servers. This also translates to the fact that no third party can get access to any customer data for any organization via Knit. Since most data that passes through integrations is PII, Knit’s functionality to simply process data in its servers and not store any of it goes a long way in establishing data security and credibility.
Customizable auth component
Knit has chosen Javascript SDK as its frontend auth component which is built as a true web component for easy customizability. Thus, it offers a lot of flexibility in terms of design and styling. This ensures that the auth component which end customers ultimately interact with has a look and feel similar to the application. Knit provides an easy drop-in frontend and embedded integrations and allows organizations to personalize every component of the auth screen, including text, T&Cs, color, font and logo on the intro screen.
Knit also enables the customization of emails (signature, text and salutations) that are sent to admin in the non-admin integration flow as well as filter the apps/categories that organizations want end customers to see on the auth screen. Finally, all types of authorization capabilities, including OAuth, API key or a username-password based authentication, are supported by Knit.
Webhooks architecture for data sync
As a Merge alternative, Knit comes with a 100% webhooks architecture. This means that whenever data updates happen, they are dispatched to the organization’s servers in real time and the relevant folks are notified about the sync. In addition to ensuring near real time data sync, Knit has a push based data-sync model which eliminates the need for organizations to maintain a full polling infrastructure. Developers don’t need to pull data updates periodically.
Furthermore, unlike certain other unified API providers in the market, Knit’s webhook based architecture ensures guaranteed scalability and delivery irrespective of data load. This means that irrespective of the amount of data being synced between the source and destination apps, data sync with Knit will not fail, offering a 99.99 SLA. Thus, Knit’s approach to data sync with a webhook architecture ensures security, scale and resilience for event driven stream processing. Companies get guaranteed data delivery in real time.
Customizable data sync frequency
While Knit ensures real time data sync and notifications whenever data gets updated, it also provides organizations with the flexibility and option to limit data sync and API calls as per the need. Firstly, Knit enables organizations to work with targeted data by setting filters to retrieve only the data that is needed, instead of syncing all the data which has been updated. By restricting the data being synced to only what is needed, Knit helps organizations save network and storage costs.
At the same time, organizations can customize the sync frequency and control when syncs happen. They can start, stop or pause syncs directly from the dashboard, having full authority of when to sync and what to sync.
Vertical and horizontal coverage
Knit also supports a more diverse portfolio of integration categories. For instance, Knit provides unified APIs for communication, e-signature, expense management and assessment integrations, which Merge is yet to bring to the table. Within the unified API categories, Knit supports a large catalog covering 100+ integrations. Furthermore, the integration catalog sees new integrations being added every month along with new unified API categories also being introduced as per market demands. Overall, Knit provides a significant coverage of HRIS, ATS, Accounting, CRM, E-Sign, Assessment, Communication integrations, covering applications across the popularity and market share spectrum.
Comprehensive integration management support
Another capability that positions Knit as a credible Merge alternative is the comprehensive integration support it provides post development. Knit provides deep RCA and resolution including ability to identify which records were synced, ability to rerun syncs etc. It also proactively identifies and fixes any integration issues itself. With Knit, organizations get access to a detailed Logs, Issues, Integrated Accounts and Syncs page to monitor and manage integrations. Organizations find it extremely easy to keep a track of API calls, data sync requests as well as status of each webhook registered.
Furthermore, Knit provides integration management dashboards which make it seamless for frontline customer experience (CX) teams to solve customer issues without getting engineering involved. This ensures that engineering teams can focus on new product development/ enhancements, while the CX team can manage the frequency of syncs from the dashboard without any engineering intervention.
Custom data models
Finally, Knit supports custom data fields, which are not included in the common unified model. It allows users to access and map all data fields and manage them directly from the dashboard without writing a single line of code. These DIY dashboards for non-standard data fields can easily be managed by frontline CX teams and don’t require engineering expertise. At the same time, Knit gives end users control to authorize granular read/write access at the time of integration.
Thus, Knit is a definite alternative to Merge which ensures:
- Data security by not storing a copy of the data in its servers
- Near real time data sync without a polling infrastructure
- Comprehensive integration management providing greater control to CX teams
- Guaranteed data scalability and delivery irrespective of data load
- Custom data fields
- Customizable auth component and sync frequency
Merge.dev alternative #2: Finch
Another alternative to Merge is Finch. Another unified API, Finch stands a popular unified API powering employment integrations, particularly for HRIS and Payroll.
Pricing: Starts at $600 / connected account annually with limited features
Here are some of the key reasons to choose Finch over Merge:
- Higher coverage for HRIS and Payroll integrations (200+)
- Standardized data coverage, i.e. standardizes all employment data across top HRIS and Payroll providers, like Quickbooks, ADP, and Paycom
- Allows users to read and write benefits data, including payroll deductions and contributions programmatically
However, there are certain factors that need to be considered before making Finch the final integration choice:
- Focused only on employment systems, i.e. HRIS and Payroll and doesn’t support integrations for other categories
- A lot of applications supported are what Finch calls “assisted” integrations which means a Finch team member or associate would manually sync data on your behalf.
- Stores a copy of the customer data, which not only adds to the storage cost, but also becomes a data privacy and security concern for end customers
- Low data fields support limited data fields available in the source system
- Provides limited integration management support with no provision for RCA and resolution
- APIs are relatively simplistic, e.g., doesn’t give employee level payroll data
Merge.dev alternative #3: Apideck
Another Merge alternative in the unified API space is Apideck. One of the major differentiators is its focus on going broad instead of going deep in terms of integrations provided, unlike Merge.
Pricing: Starts at $299/mo for each unified API with a quota of 10,000 API calls
Some of the top reasons for integrating with Apideck include:
- Rich category portfolio, supporting more API categories than most of the other options available in the market, including file storage, e-commerce, issue tracking, POS, SMS, etc.
- A built-in integration marketplace, a portal for displaying integration on the users website
- Simplified UI and integration experience, without going much into technical depths
While the number of categories accessible with Apideck increase considerably, there are some concerns on the way:
- Limited depth within each category i.e. number of integrations within each unified API category is narrow
- Limited customization like custom field/ object mapping per customer and lack of specialization
Merge.dev alternative #4: Kombo
One of the Merge alternatives for the European market is Kombo. As a unified API, it focuses primarily on helping users build and manage HRIS and ATS integrations.
Pricing: Kombo’s pricing is not publicly available and can be requested
Here are some of the key reasons why certain users choose Kombo as an alternative to Merge:
- Better coverage for European applications. Originating from Germany, Kombo supports HR and recruiting related integrations for European companies
- It is a straightforward, easy to use and secure way to integrate with applications
- Has a decent depth in terms of integrations available in the categories it supports
Nonetheless, there are certain constraints which limit Kombo’s popularity outside Europe:
- Limited integration categories or vertical coverage, limited to only HRIS and ATS integrations
- Limited data coverage and security/ compliance requirements needed for companies beyond Europe
Merge.dev alternative #5: Integration.app
The final name in this last of Merge alternatives for scaling SaaS integrations is Integration.app. As a unified API, it offers an AI powered integration framework to help businesses scale their in-house integration process.
Pricing: Starting at $500/mo, along with per-customer, per-integration, per-connection, and other pricing options
Here is a quick look why users are preferring Integration.app as a suitable Merge alternative:
- Offers pre-built integrations along with customization capabilities
- Provides comprehensive documentation, enabling developers to come up the curve quickly, without much effort
- Allows users to read and write data in external applications along with API logs to facilitate integration transparency
However, there are certain limitation with Integration.app, including:
- Very steep learning curve
TL:DR
Each of the unified API providers mentioned above are popular alternatives to Merge and have been adopted by several organizations to accelerate the pace of shipping and scaling integrations. While Merge provides great depth in the integration categories it supports, some of the alternatives bring the following strengths to the table:
- Knit: The only other product recognised as a leader on the G2 grid for 2025. Knit offers a secure alternative and 100% webhooks based architecture, eliminating the need for polling infrastructure and supporting customizable data fields, auth components and data syncs.
- Finch: Specializes in HRIS and Payroll integrations, offering standardized data coverage and benefits data management but lacks in integration depth and management support.
- Apideck: Offers a broad portfolio of API categories, an integration marketplace, and a simplified UI, but lacks depth within each category and customization options.
- Kombo: Ideal for European markets with focus on HRIS and ATS integrations, featuring easy integration with decent depth, but limited to HR-related categories.
- Integration.app: Employs AI for integration framework, offers pre-built integrations with customization, and comprehensive documentation, but has a steep learning curve.
Thus, depending on the use case, pricing framework (usage based, API call based, user based, etc.), features needed and scale, organizations can choose from different Merge alternatives. While some offer greater depth within categories, others offer a greater number of API categories, providing a wide choice for users.
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