Element vs Zapier

Element (Founded by the creators of Matrix, we build digitally sovereign, secure and interoperable real-time communication solutions for large organisations.) and Zapier both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

Zapier (rank #26) holds a modest lead over Element (rank #189) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (64 vs 50). The gap of 14 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On code quality (the state of repositories, tests, releases and polish), Element is slightly ahead of Zapier. On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), Zapier is ahead of Element. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), Element is ahead of Zapier. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), Zapier is ahead of Element. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), Element is slightly ahead of Zapier.

Element carries 34,608 GitHub stars across 137 public repos, with 33 repositories active in the last 90 days and 97 external contributors on record. Zapier shows 6,774 stars across 296 public repos, 13 active in the last 90 days and 22 external contributors. The star gap on its own does not decide the comparison, but Element's footprint is roughly 5.1x larger, which usually shows up in downstream signals like inbound issues and third party integrations.

Element is the stronger read for anyone weighting community. Zapier looks better where education is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.