Disclosure: this comparison is written by David Simpson Apps, developer of the Microsoft 365 SharePoint integration for monday.com.
Quick verdict: The Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com, by David Simpson Apps lives inside monday.com – files, documents, and Excel data are embedded directly in your boards. Relay.app sits outside monday.com and moves data between it and SharePoint via trigger-action workflows, with built-in AI and human-approval steps. They solve different problems. If you spend your day in monday.com and want Microsoft 365 content visible there, the native app wins. If you need AI-assisted multi-step automations connecting monday.com to many tools, Relay.app earns its place.
At a Glance
| Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com | Relay.app | |
|---|---|---|
| Lives inside monday.com | ✅ Native marketplace app | ❌ External platform |
| Free tier | ✅ Up to 2 seats | ✅ 200 steps/month |
| Paid plans from | $10/month | $19/month (1 user) |
| SharePoint file browser in monday | ✅ | ❌ |
| Embed Excel charts in dashboards | ✅ | ❌ |
| Generate Word/PDF/HTML from monday data | ✅ | ❌ |
| Outlook email & calendar automation | ✅ | ❌ |
| Trigger-based automation | ✅ | ✅ |
| Built-in AI steps (GPT, Claude, Gemini) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Human-in-the-loop approvals | ❌ | ✅ |
| Connect monday to 200+ other apps | ❌ | ✅ |
| GDPR compliant | ✅ | ✅ |
| SOC 2 certified infrastructure | ✅ | ✅ Enterprise plan only |
| HIPAA compliant | ✅ | ❌ |
| Hosted by monday.com | ✅ | ❌ Relay.app servers |
| Setup time | Minutes (OAuth) | Minutes (visual builder) |
| Pricing model | Per seat, predictable | Per step, variable |
| monday.com Partner of the Year | ✅ 2025 | – |
| Installs (monday marketplace) | ✅ 25,000+ | – |
| Works in monday.com mobile apps | ✅ iOS & Android | – |
| Sidekick AI Skills | ✅ | ❌ |
| Multi-step Workflows (enterprise/pro) | ✅ | ❌ |
Pricing as of July 2026. Verify current Relay.app step-based pricing at relay.app/pricing.
What Each Tool Actually Does
Microsoft 365 SharePoint Integration for monday.com
The Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com is a native monday.com Marketplace app — unlike Relay.app, it adds SharePoint directly inside monday.com rather than connecting the two platforms through an external automation layer. Browse SharePoint files in item sidebars, generate Word and PDF documents from board data in one click, send Outlook emails and create calendar events from automations, and display live Excel charts in dashboards — all without leaving monday.com. 40,000+ marketplace installs; built by David Simpson Apps, monday.com's Community Partner of the Year 2025, whose enterprise clients include AT&T, IBM, and Netflix. Full feature list →
Hosted on monday.com's SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, and HIPAA certified infrastructure — your file content is handled exclusively within monday.com and Microsoft infrastructure, never passing through external servers, and often flowing directly from Microsoft to your browser.
Requires Microsoft 365 Business, Enterprise, or Education.
Relay.app
Relay.app is an AI-powered automation platform that connects 200+ apps via multi-step workflows. It positions itself as a more modern alternative to Zapier — with a cleaner visual builder, built-in AI steps (using GPT, Claude, and Gemini), and human-in-the-loop approval steps that pause a workflow for a person to review or act before it continues.
What it does between monday.com and SharePoint:
- Create SharePoint folders or list items when new monday.com items appear
- Update monday.com items when SharePoint drive items are added or changed
- Copy, move, rename, or upload SharePoint drive items based on monday.com triggers
- Add updates or create subitems in monday.com from SharePoint list item events
- Insert AI steps between triggers and actions — for example, summarise a SharePoint document and post the result as a monday.com update
Key differentiator vs Zapier and Make: Relay.app's human-in-the-loop feature lets you pause a workflow and ask a person to review, approve, or add data before the automation proceeds — useful for workflows where an AI output or data transfer needs human sign-off.
Relay.app workflows run on Relay.app's own servers. You build and manage them in Relay.app's UI, not inside monday.com. Pricing is based on "steps" — one action in one workflow run is one step.
Feature Comparison: Where Each Tool Wins
Embedded monday.com experience
Winner: Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com
The Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com is designed to feel like a native part of monday.com. SharePoint files appear in item sidebars. Excel charts render inside dashboards. Document generation runs as a monday.com column action. Your team never needs to know a separate app is involved.
Relay.app, like all external automation platforms, operates as a background service. It moves data between platforms but does not add new capabilities to the monday.com interface itself. A monday.com user will not see Relay.app; they'll only see its effects.
If your team's primary environment is monday.com and you want Microsoft 365 data visible within that environment, the native app is the right choice.
AI-assisted automation
Winner: Relay.app
Relay.app's built-in AI steps let you add GPT, Claude, or Gemini actions directly into a workflow — without a separate AI API subscription or custom code. You can summarise a SharePoint document, classify a monday.com item's content, draft a reply, or extract structured data from unstructured text, all within a single workflow.
The Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com includes Sidekick AI Skills — which let you query Excel, Word, and Outlook content using natural language from inside a monday.com board. These are complementary capabilities: Sidekick AI operates on-demand within monday.com; Relay.app's AI steps run automatically in the background.
If your use case involves AI-generated content or classification as part of an automation chain, Relay.app is the stronger tool.
Human-in-the-loop approvals
Winner: Relay.app (unique capability)
Relay.app's human-in-the-loop steps pause a running workflow and route it to a person for review, approval, or data entry before it continues. This is particularly useful for workflows where an AI output needs a sanity check, or where a data transfer has business implications that require sign-off.
Neither the Microsoft 365 integration nor traditional automation platforms like Zapier and Make offer this natively. If controlled, human-reviewed automations are a requirement, Relay.app stands out.
Document generation
Winner: Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com (Relay.app cannot do this)
The Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com generates formatted Word documents, PDFs (or both in a single action), HTML emails, and Excel spreadsheets from monday.com item data using SharePoint-hosted templates. Generated files are saved to any SharePoint subfolder. A project manager can turn a monday.com project board into a client-ready PDF report in one click.
Relay.app has no document generation capability. It can move a file from one location to another, but it cannot create a new Word document populated with monday.com column values.
App ecosystem
Winner: Relay.app (for multi-tool workflows)
Relay.app connects 200+ apps. If your workflow involves monday.com, SharePoint, Slack, Gmail, and a CRM in a single automation chain, Relay.app handles that. The Microsoft 365 app works within monday.com and Microsoft 365 – it is not a general-purpose automation platform.
Note that Relay.app's 200+ connectors is significantly fewer than Zapier's 7,000+. If breadth of integrations is the primary consideration, Zapier or Make may be a better fit.
Pricing predictability
Winner: Microsoft 365 app
The Microsoft 365 app charges per seat per month. A 20-person team pays $40/month, always. No surprises.
Relay.app charges per step — one action in one workflow run is one step. A workflow that creates a SharePoint folder, uploads a file, and posts a monday.com update consumes 3 steps per run. Run it 500 times a month and you've used 1,500 steps, exceeding the Professional plan's 750/month limit. The Team plan ($59/month annual, 10 users) includes 1,500 steps/month.
For high-frequency workflows or growing teams, step-based pricing can scale unpredictably.
Pricing comparison
Microsoft 365 Integration for monday.com
| Seats | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Free (up to 2) | $0 |
| Teams (up to 5–100) | $10 – $120 |
| Enterprise (200–1,000+) | $200 – $1,400 |
All paid plans include unlimited automations. Full seat-by-seat pricing →
Relay.app
Relay.app uses step-based pricing. One step = one action in one workflow run.
| Plan | Monthly (annual billing) | Users | Steps/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | 200 |
| Professional | $19 | 1 | 750 |
| Team | $59 | 10 included | 1,500 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Free plan limits: 2 active workflows, 2 concurrent runs. Verify current pricing at relay.app/pricing.
Estimated monthly cost by workflow activity (Relay.app):
| Monthly workflow runs | Steps consumed (3-step workflow) | Plan required |
|---|---|---|
| 66 runs | 200 steps | Free tier |
| 250 runs | 750 steps | Professional |
| 500 runs | 1,500 steps | Team |
| 1,000+ runs | 3,000+ steps | Enterprise |
Actual step consumption depends on workflow complexity. AI steps consume additional AI credits.
Bottom line on pricing: For teams of 5–100 where the primary need is Microsoft 365 integration inside monday.com, the Microsoft 365 app is almost always cheaper. Relay.app's Team plan at $59/month (10 users, annual) is competitive if you're running moderate-volume multi-tool workflows and want AI steps included.
What customers say about the Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com
"Love this app. It has saved us so much manual input. I would highly recommend this app for anyone who uses SharePoint for file storage." – Steve Estabrooks, Managing Director, Byond Group
When to choose the Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com
Choose the Microsoft 365 SharePoint integration by David Simpson Apps for monday.com if:
- Your team works inside monday.com and wants Microsoft 365 files visible without switching apps
- You generate documents – proposals, reports, emails, invoices – from monday.com data
- You use Excel for reporting and want charts or data embedded in monday.com dashboards
- Your team works on mobile – the integration works on iOS and Android monday.com apps
- You want AI assistance with your Microsoft 365 content – Sidekick AI Skills let you query Excel, Word, and Outlook content from monday.com boards
- Your organisation has compliance requirements (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR) and needs certified infrastructure
- You want predictable pricing that doesn't vary with automation volume
- You're a monday.com-first organisation looking to deepen the platform rather than connect it to external systems
- You need enterprise/pro Workflows – authenticate as multiple Microsoft 365 users within the same monday.com account, and run any trigger with any action
When Relay.app may fit better
Relay.app is worth considering if:
- You need AI steps inside your automations – summarising content, classifying data, or drafting text as part of a workflow
- Human-in-the-loop approvals matter – you want a person to review or approve an automated action before it executes
- You need monday.com connected to multiple other tools – not just SharePoint, but CRMs, helpdesks, or communication tools in a single workflow chain
- You want a simpler, more modern interface than Zapier or Make
- You do not need files embedded in monday.com – you just need data moved between platforms
Quick comparison: Setup experience
Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com
- Find the app in the monday.com Marketplace
- Click Install
- Authorise with your Microsoft 365 account (OAuth – no passwords shared)
- Add the Microsoft 365 column or widget to your board
- Done – SharePoint files appear inside monday.com
Typical setup time: Under 5 minutes.
Relay.app
- Create a Relay.app account
- Choose monday.com as trigger app, authorise
- Choose SharePoint as action app, authorise
- Select trigger event (e.g., "New item added")
- Map monday.com fields to SharePoint fields
- Optionally add AI steps or human-approval steps
- Test and activate the workflow
Typical setup time per workflow: 15–30 minutes. Relay.app's visual builder is generally considered more intuitive than Zapier's, but each new workflow still requires its own setup. AI and human-in-the-loop steps add configuration time.
The verdict
For teams that live in monday.com and work daily with Microsoft 365 files, the Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com is the stronger choice. It adds capabilities to monday.com rather than connecting it to an external service. Document generation, Excel embedding, and bidirectional file access are not available through Relay.app at any price.
Relay.app is the right choice when you need AI-augmented automations — particularly workflows where content needs to be summarised, classified, or reviewed by a human before the next step runs. Its human-in-the-loop feature is genuinely differentiated from Zapier, Make, and other automation platforms.
The two tools are complementary, not mutually exclusive. Some teams use both: the Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com for the in-monday.com file experience, and Relay.app for AI-assisted background workflows that touch monday.com alongside other systems.
Try the Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com free
The Microsoft 365 SharePoint integration for monday.com includes a free plan for teams up to 2 seats – no credit card required.
Related comparisons
- Complete guide: Microsoft 365 SharePoint integration for monday.com
- Best Microsoft 365 Integrations for monday.com in 2026
- Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com vs Zapier
- Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com vs Make
- Microsoft 365 integration for monday.com vs Power Automate
- All monday.com apps by David Simpson Apps
David Simpson Apps is the publisher of the Microsoft 365 SharePoint integration for monday.com. This comparison is written from our perspective as the app developer. Relay.app feature and pricing information sourced from relay.app. Pricing verified July 2026 – check each vendor's website for current rates.