What the free plans of 11 automation and AI-agent tools actually include (Nov 2026)

StackPrice — Fri, 13 Nov 2026 19:58:24 +0000

I track pricing for 11 automation and AI-agent tools, re-checking each vendor's official pricing page every day. "Free plan" means very different things depending on the tool, so here is what each one actually includes. Last checked Nov 12, 2026.

7 of the 11 tools list a free plan.

Tool	Free plan?	What's included	Cheapest upgrade
Zapier	Yes	100 tasks/mo, two-step Zaps only, 15-min polling	$29.99/mo (Professional)
Make	Yes	1,000 credits/mo, 15-min minimum interval	$16/mo (Core)
n8n	No	No free cloud plan (14-day trial). Community Edition is free to self-host	$24/mo (Starter)
Activepieces	Yes	1,000 credits/mo, unlimited flows, up to 5 users	$20/mo (Plus)
Pipedream	Yes	Free for development only (no production)	$150/mo (Startup)
Power Automate	Not listed	Not on the pricing page	$15/user/mo (Premium, annual)
Tines	Yes	3 live workflows, unlimited users, one-time $50 AI allowance	Quote only
Lindy	Yes	$50 in free credits, lasts 7 days	$29.99/user/mo (Team)
Gumloop	Not listed	14-day free trial of Pro	$37/mo (Pro)
Relevance AI	Not listed	Not shown on the pricing page	Quote only
Bardeen	Yes	100 free credits/mo	$10/mo (Basic)

When does the free plan run out?

The headline number is less useful than the billing unit:

Zapier counts each action step as a task, so 100 free tasks is about 100 runs of a two-step Zap. Multi-step Zaps need a paid plan.
Make counts the trigger and each module as a credit, so 1,000 credits is about 250 runs of a 3-module scenario.
Activepieces includes 1,000 credits a month, and runs past the quota wait for the refresh.
n8n has no free cloud plan, but the Community Edition is free to self-host (you pay for the server).

A free self-hosted license still costs you a server, so "free" n8n or Activepieces isn't quite $0.

The full table, with links to each vendor's pricing page, is here: Free plan limits compared. Prices change, so always confirm on the vendor's site before you buy.

Which automation tool is actually cheapest? Zapier vs Make vs n8n vs Activepieces at 5 volumes

StackPrice — Wed, 11 Nov 2026 19:53:38 +0000

Every automation tool bills a different unit. Zapier counts tasks (each action step), Make counts credits (the trigger plus each module), n8n and Activepieces count full runs, and Pipedream counts credits per step. So "which one is cheapest" really depends on how much you run.

I priced the same 3-step workflow (one trigger plus 3 actions) at five monthly volumes, on monthly billing, using each vendor's published list prices (last checked Nov 11, 2026). These are estimates, before tax.

100 runs a month

Tool	Plan	Billed usage	Est. / month
Make	Free	400 credits	$0
Activepieces	Free	100 credits	$0
n8n	Starter	100 executions	$24
Zapier	Professional 750	300 tasks	$29.99
Pipedream	Startup	300 credits	$150

1,000 runs a month

Tool	Plan	Billed usage	Est. / month
Activepieces	Free	1,000 credits	$0
Make	Core	4,000 credits	$16
n8n	Starter	1,000 executions	$24
Zapier	Professional 5,000	3,000 tasks	$133.50
Pipedream	Startup	3,000 credits	$150

5,000 runs a month

Tool	Plan	Billed usage	Est. / month
Activepieces	Plus	5,000 credits	$20
Make	Core	20,000 credits	$32
n8n	Pro	5,000 executions	$60
Pipedream	Startup	15,000 credits	$210
Zapier	Professional 20,000	15,000 tasks	$283.50

20,000 runs a month

Tool	Plan	Billed usage	Est. / month
Activepieces	Plus	20,000 credits	$90
Make	Core	80,000 credits	$128
Zapier	Professional 100,000	60,000 tasks	$733.50
Pipedream	Startup	60,000 credits	$750
n8n	Business (self-hosted)	20,000 executions	$960

100,000 runs a month

Tool	Plan	Billed usage	Est. / month
Activepieces	Team	100,000 credits	$550
Make	Core	400,000 credits	$640
Zapier	Professional 300,000	300,000 tasks	$1,599
Pipedream	Startup	300,000 credits	$3,630
n8n	Enterprise	100,000 executions	Contact sales

Microsoft Power Automate Premium is a flat per-user license ($15/user/month, published as an annual-commitment price only), so it isn't ranked alongside the usage-based tools.

What stood out

Per-run billing (Activepieces, n8n) gets a big edge as workflows get longer, because extra steps don't cost more. Per-step billing (Zapier, Make) scales with workflow length.
Zapier never comes out cheapest in these five scenarios. Whether its integrations are worth the premium is your call.
Self-hosting n8n Community is free to license, so at high volume the real comparison is the hosted price vs your server bill.

Your workflow shape changes all of this, so plug in your own run count and step count in the free cost calculator. The full, auto-updated tables are on StackPrice, where I track pricing for 11 automation and AI-agent tools and log every price change. Always confirm on the vendor's pricing page before buying.

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