Zoho's data tool now builds the whole pipeline from one plain request

Zoho has released DataPrep 3.0, and the big change is that you can describe the result you want in plain words and let its AI helper build the whole data pipeline. A pipeline is simply the chain of steps that pulls data in, cleans it and sends it somewhere else. Until now, you had to spell out every step.

What changed

The AI helper is called Ask Zia. You give it a goal, such as importing event leads from Zoho Creator and company data from PostgreSQL, enriching the leads and pushing them to Zoho CRM. Zia breaks that into tasks, builds the pipeline and runs it. Every step stays visible and editable.

How it works

Zia first shows a plan: import, profile, fix, join and push. You can edit it or let Zia go ahead. It then spots duplicates, messy addresses and junk records, and lists its proposed fixes in a preview. You choose which to keep. Finally, it suggests a destination, and nothing is added until you confirm.

Behind Ask Zia, a data preparation agent splits the work among three subagents. One imports data, one cleans and reshapes it, and one exports it. Each saves its work as editable rules.

What stays in your control

• Every step becomes a rule you can open, read and change. Zoho says there are no black-box steps.
• Ask Zia remembers your preferences and terms across conversations.
• It flags missing values, invalid entries, inconsistent formats and outliers before they reach your reports.

Speed, code and connectors

Zoho rebuilt the processing engine, now called dForge. The company promises previews up to 100x faster, so you see the effect of a change almost instantly. DataPrep has more than 400 built-in transforms. A new tool called Code Studio lets people who know Python write custom steps, test them on sample data and then run them on the full dataset.

More than 10 connectors are new. Import options include Books, Inventory, Zendesk and WooCommerce. Export options include SDP Cloud, SDP MSP Cloud and SDP Asset Explorer Cloud.

Zoho also added an MCP server. It lets you create and run pipelines from your own AI assistant without opening the DataPrep app. These agent features are also available in Zoho Analytics data pipelines.

Who it is for and what is unknown

The tool suits teams that spend hours cleaning spreadsheets and customer lists. Zoho offers a free 15-day trial with no credit card. The material does not say what plans cost after the trial. Zoho will hold a launch event on October 29, 2026, and says the release includes more than 20 other updates.