Compare Activepieces vs Workato

Activepieces

MIT-licensed open-source automation with per-flow pricing instead of per-task, plus AI agents, MCP support and free unlimited self-hosting.

0 upvotesintermediate

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Workato

AI Workflow AutomationPaid

Enterprise iPaaS with 1,200+ connectors, recipe-based automation, agentic orchestration and deep ERP and CRM integration for large organisations.

0 upvotesadvanced

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Pricing

Pricing Comparison

Activepieces

Community Edition$0

Self-hosted under MIT licence, unlimited flows, unlimited runs, all core pieces

Cloud Free$0

Managed cloud, up to 10 active flows to start, AI credits included

Standard$5/active flow/mo

Unlimited runs per flow, AI agents, Tables, managed hosting

Ultimate$Custom

Annual contract, SSO, SCIM, audit logs, RBAC, governance and compliance controls

Workato

Free Trial$0

Time-limited sales-provided environment to test recipes and connectors

Standard$Custom

Entry edition, typically around $10,000/year, core recipe and connector access

Business$Custom

Higher task volume, advanced governance, premium connector options

Enterprise$Custom

Full governance suite, API management, on-premise agents, SLA support

Workato One$Custom

Agentic orchestration, AI agents reasoning across connected enterprise systems

Features

Feature Comparison

Activepieces

MIT Open SourceFree Self-HostingPer-Flow PricingUnlimited Runs700+ PiecesVisual Flow BuilderAI AgentsMCP Server SupportCustom PiecesTypeScript SDKBranching LogicLoopsWebhooksHTTP RequestsActivepieces TablesEmbedded AutomationSSO and SCIMAudit Logs

Workato

1,200+ ConnectorsRecipe BuilderAgentic OrchestrationAPI ManagementOn-Premise AgentsWorkbot for SlackWorkbot for TeamsMulti-EnvironmentRecipe IQError RecoveryJob MonitoringAudit LogsRole-Based AccessSSO and SCIMData MaskingHigh-Volume RecipesCommunity Recipe LibraryUnlimited Collaborators

Fit

Best For & Not For

Activepieces

✅ Best For

✅Teams migrating off task-based platforms whose bills climbed unpredictably, since per-flow pricing makes costs flat and forecastable regardless of run volume

✅Engineering-comfortable organisations that need data to stay on their own infrastructure for compliance, residency or security reasons

✅Startups embedding automation inside their own product, because the MIT licence and embedded offering permit commercial white-labelling without restriction

✅Developers who want to write custom pieces in TypeScript when no existing connector covers their internal tooling

❌ Not For

❌Teams needing the longest tail of niche SaaS connectors, since 700+ pieces is far short of Zapier's 9,000+

❌Non-technical users choosing self-hosting, because Docker deployment, updates, backups and SSL renewal fall on you

❌Organisations that need mature enterprise governance out of the box on the free tier, as SSO, SCIM, audit logs and RBAC sit behind the paid plan

❌Workflows that demand extremely low-latency execution, since per-task process isolation adds overhead compared to lighter engines

Workato

✅ Best For

✅Mid-market and enterprise IT teams integrating systems of record such as SAP, NetSuite, Oracle, Salesforce and Workday across multiple business units

✅Organisations that need governance built into automation, including audit logs, role-based access, environment separation and change management

✅Companies exposing internal processes as governed APIs, since Workato lets you publish recipes as managed endpoints with policies and rate limits

✅Enterprises adopting agentic AI that must reason across connected business systems under enterprise security and compliance controls

❌ Not For

❌Small businesses and solo operators, since contracts typically start around five figures annually and require a sales conversation

❌Anyone who needs transparent self-serve pricing, because Workato publishes no price list and every plan requires a custom quote

❌Teams with simple SaaS-to-SaaS needs, where Zapier or Make deliver the same outcome at a fraction of the cost

❌Buyers wanting to start automating this afternoon, as the typical sales cycle from first demo to signed contract runs several weeks

Availability

Platform & Accessibility

Activepieces

web-baseddesktopapi

Workato

web-basedapi

Use & Audience

Tasks & Who It's For

Activepieces

Tasks

ai-coding ai-productivity ai-data

Who it's for

developer small-business solopreneur

Workato

Tasks

ai-data ai-productivity ai-sales

Who it's for

developer small-business marketer

Integrations

Activepieces

Communication

SlackDiscord

Development

GitHub

Data & Spreadsheets

Google Sheets

Other

OpenAIAnthropic

Writing & Docs

Notion

Database

AirtableSupabase

CRM

HubSpot

Project Management

Linear

Webhooks & API

HTTP

Workato

CRM

Salesforce

Other

NetSuiteWorkdaySAPOkta

Communication

SlackMicrosoft Teams

Customer Support

ServiceNow

Database

SnowflakeOracle

Project Management

Jira

Storage

Google Workspace

Use Cases

Real-world Use Cases

Activepieces

Dinesh runs platform engineering at a 40-person SaaS company and moved 22 high-frequency automations off a task-billed tool onto self-hosted Activepieces, taking a $410 monthly automation bill down to the cost of one small server.

Klara works in compliance at a European insurer where customer data cannot touch third-party clouds. Self-hosted Activepieces let her team finally automate claims triage that legal had blocked for two years.

Nathan, an indie hacker, embedded Activepieces inside his own SaaS product so his customers can build their own integrations, and it became the feature that won him three enterprise deals.

Workato

Anita is head of IT at a 900-person manufacturer and built a Workato recipe chain that syncs closed-won Salesforce deals into NetSuite as sales orders, eliminating a two-person data entry function and removing a recurring source of invoicing errors.

Derek runs people operations at a scaling tech company. His onboarding recipe provisions each new hire across Workday, Okta, Google Workspace and Slack the moment their offer is signed, cutting day-one setup from six hours of IT tickets to zero.

Lucia leads finance systems at a retail group and uses Workato's on-premise agent to connect a legacy warehouse database behind the firewall to their cloud BI stack, giving leadership same-day inventory reporting instead of weekly.

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