Activepieces
AI Workflow AutomationFreemium
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
Compare Activepieces vs Zapier
Both tools in AI Workflow Automation
Zapier
AI Workflow AutomationFreemium
The most connected no-code automation platform, linking 9,000+ apps into multi-step Zaps, AI agents, tables and forms.
0 upvotesbeginner
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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
Zapier
Free$0
100 tasks/month, two-step Zaps, unlimited Tables and Forms
Professional$19.99/mo
Multi-step Zaps, unlimited premium apps, webhooks, AI fields
Team$69/mo
25 users, shared workflows and connections, SAML SSO, priority support
Enterprise$Custom
Unlimited users, advanced admin controls, observability, annual task limits
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
Zapier
Multi-Step Zaps9,000+ IntegrationsZapier AgentsAI ChatbotsZapier TablesZapier FormsVisual CanvasPaths BranchingFiltersFormatterWebhooksCode StepsZapier MCPZapier SDKCopilot BuilderVersion HistoryShared WorkspacesSAML SSO
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
Zapier
✅ Best For
✅Non-technical operations and marketing teams who need the widest possible app coverage and want automations live the same afternoon they think of them
✅Small businesses without a dedicated automation engineer, where reliability and support matter more than squeezing out the lowest cost per action
✅Founders and agencies who need to connect long-tail SaaS tools that narrower platforms simply do not have connectors for
✅Teams standardising on one platform for automation, data tables, forms and AI agents instead of stitching four vendors together
❌ Not For
❌Teams running high-volume workflows, because task-based billing charges for every single action and costs climb sharply past a few thousand runs a month
❌Engineers who want to self-host, own their data infrastructure or inspect the source code, since Zapier is closed-source and cloud-only
❌Developers who need long-running compute or heavy custom code, as code steps are capped at short runtimes
❌Anyone needing granular loop, iterator and error-branching control that a node-based canvas like Make or n8n provides
Availability
Platform & Accessibility
Activepieces
web-baseddesktopapi
Zapier
web-basedapichrome-extension
Use & Audience
Tasks & Who It's For
Integrations
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
Zapier
Communication
SlackGmail
Data & Spreadsheets
Google Sheets
CRM
HubSpotSalesforce
Writing & Docs
Notion
Database
Airtable
E-commerce
ShopifyStripe
Project Management
Asana
Customer Support
Zendesk
Other
OpenAI
Use Cases
Real-world Use Cases
Activepieces
1
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.2
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.3
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.Zapier
1
Priya runs a 4-person design studio and was losing enquiries in her inbox. She built a Zap that pushes every website form submission into Airtable and posts a Slack alert, and her team now replies to new leads within 12 minutes instead of two days.2
Marcus manages e-commerce ops for a home goods brand. He set up a Zap that watches Shopify for orders over $500, creates a HubSpot deal and assigns a follow-up task, which lifted repeat purchase rate on high-value customers by 18 percent.3
Aisha, a recruiter, connected her Typeform application form to Google Sheets and Gmail through Zapier. Candidates now get an acknowledgement email in under a minute and she stopped losing applicants to slow response times.Keep Exploring
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