Workflow automation and iPaaS platforms move data between the apps a business already runs: a trigger fires in one system and a chain of actions runs in others. We evaluate the depth of the integration catalogue, what the builder can express (linear steps, branching canvas, or code), how the bill scales - per task, per credit, per complete execution, per user or per bot - whether self-hosting is available, and what the free or trial option actually lets you run in production.
5 Workflow Automation tools are tracked in this index. 3 of them ship a free plan (Zapier, Make, n8n). and 2 offer a trial instead (Microsoft Power Automate, Workato). The lowest published entry price in the category is $12/mo (Core, 10k credits) (Make). Across the 5 scored Workflow Automation entries, the index average is 4.0/5, led by Microsoft Power Automate at 4.3/5. Most common tags on this page: Freemium (3 tools), Enterprise (2 tools), No-Code (2 tools), Paid (2 tools). Pricing figures behind these entries were last checked between 2026-09-25; every tool page carries its own check date.
Browse every head-to-head in the Workflow Automation comparison hub →
The full set of Workflow Automation entries, with the plan shape each vendor actually publishes:
Every price point above is copied from the vendor's own pricing page and carries the date it was checked on the individual tool page — we do not fill gaps from third-party roundups. Where a figure could not be verified against an official source, the tool page says so instead of guessing.
Zapier connects 9,000+ apps with the shallowest learning curve in the class — free for 100 tasks a month, paid from $19.99/mo, and priced per completed task rather than per step or per seat.
Make trades Zapier's linear steps for a visual canvas with routers, iterators and error routes — free for 1,000 operations a month, paid from $12/mo, and the best price per unit of work for complex branching.
n8n is the only tool in the class you can self-host free with unlimited workflows, executions and users — and on cloud it bills per complete workflow execution, not per step, with JavaScript and Python anywhere in the flow.
Power Automate is the Microsoft 365-native automation layer: $15/user/mo for cloud and attended desktop flows, $150/bot/mo for unattended RPA, and per-user or per-bot licensing instead of usage metering.
Workato is the enterprise iPaaS of the class — 1,200+ connectors including SAP, Workday and ServiceNow, recipe lifecycle management and on-prem agents, sold entirely on a sales quote with no published price.
When you compare Workflow Automation tools, the fields that decide the outcome are the ones this index actually stores: whether a free plan exists and what it limits, the published entry price and how it bills (per seat, per month, per workspace), what the trial covers, which of the six index dimensions the tool scores on, when each figure was last checked against the official page, and which alternatives sit in the same category. Each tool page prints those fields with its own verification date, the Workflow Automation comparison pages put two products side by side on the same fields, and the list pages rank the category against the rest of the index — so you can move from a shortlist to a decision without opening a vendor's sales page.
Browse the rest of the index by category: Form Builders (5) · AI Writing (5) · CRM (8) · Email Marketing (5) · Project Management (5) · No-Code (5) · Analytics (5) · Customer Support (5) · Scheduling (5) · Password & Security (5) · AI API Gateways (5) · Social Media Scheduling (5) · Online Courses (5) · Invoicing & AR (5) · eSignature (5) · SEO Tools (5) · Avatar Video (5) · AI Meeting Notes (5) · Conversational AI (5) · AI Presentation Tools (5) · AI Image Generation (5) · AI Video Generation (5) · AI Transcription Services (5) · AI Video (1) · AI Image (1) · AI Assistant (1) · Developer Tools (4) · AI Chat (1) · AI Agents (1) · AI Voice Generation (5) · Time Tracking (5) · AI Coding Assistants (5) · Personal AI Agents (4) · LLM Observability (5) · Expense & Spend Management (5)
5 tools are tracked here, 3 of them with a free plan, and paid entry pricing starts at $12/mo (Core, 10k credits) (Make). Workflow automation and iPaaS platforms move data between the apps a business already runs: a trigger fires in one system and a chain of actions runs in others. We evaluate the depth of the integration catalogue, what the builder can express (linear steps, branching canvas, or code), how the bill scales - per task, per credit, per complete execution, per user or per bot - whether self-hosting is available, and what the free or trial option actually lets you run in production
Zapier, Make, n8n list a free plan in this index; Zapier paid plans start at $19.99/mo (Professional, annual).
Make has the lowest published entry price on this page at $12/mo (Core, 10k credits) (Credit-based: every module execution counts as one credit, including triggers, routers and filters. Free gives 1,000 credits/mo, 2 active scenarios and a 15-minute minimum interval between runs. Core, Pro and Teams all start at 10,000 credits/mo and differ by feature: unlimited active scenarios and minute-level scheduling from Core, priority execution plus full-text log search from Pro, team roles and shared scenario templates from Teams. AI modules cost 2-50 credits each and the Make Code app bills 2 credits per second of execution. Data transfer caps are 512MB on Free and 5GB per 10k operations on paid tiers. Enterprise is custom). Make also lists a free plan.
Every price point above is copied from the vendor's own pricing page and carries the date it was checked on the individual tool page — we do not fill gaps from third-party roundups. Where a figure could not be verified against an official source, the tool page says so instead of guessing.
Microsoft Power Automate leads this category at 4.3/5 — Power Automate is the Microsoft 365-native automation layer: $15/user/mo for cloud and attended desktop flows, $150/bot/mo for unattended RPA, and per-user or per-bot licensing instead of usage metering. The category average across 5 scored entries is 4.0/5.