Activepieces

What it is

Activepieces is an automation platform in the same family as Zapier and Make, with two differences that matter. It is open source under an MIT licence, so you can self-host it, and it is priced per active flow rather than per task, so a busy automation costs the same as a quiet one.

It carries more than 700 integrations, including Gmail, OpenAI, Slack, Notion and HubSpot, and both paid tiers include unlimited runs, AI agents, unlimited MCP servers and unlimited tables. The Ultimate tier adds the governance layer: custom role-based access control, SSO, audit logs and piece access controls.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

It fits teams with high-volume automations where per-task pricing has become painful, and teams with a data policy that makes self-hosting attractive. If your workflow processes thousands of records a month, paying per active flow instead of per task changes the bill fundamentally.

It is a weaker fit for someone who wants the largest possible integration catalogue and the deepest documentation, which is still Zapier. Self-hosting is also not free in the sense people mean: the Community Edition costs server time and maintenance rather than licence fees, and someone has to own that.

Pricing

Activepieces is freemium and usage based. The Standard plan gives 10 free active flows, then charges $5 per active flow per month, with unlimited runs at every level. Ultimate is custom priced on an annual contract and adds custom RBAC, SSO, audit logs and piece access controls. The Community Edition is MIT-licensed and self-hosted with core features only.

Per-flow pricing rewards a specific shape: a small number of automations that each do a lot of work. If you have fifty rarely-used flows, this model is expensive, and a per-task competitor may be cheaper.

Set it up

Official guide: Template Library

1. Create an account on Activepieces Cloud at cloud.activepieces.com/sign-up. Cloud means Activepieces runs on its own servers, so you install nothing. The Standard plan includes 10 free active flows (a flow is one automation, and it is active once you switch it on). The free Community Edition means running Activepieces on your own server, so it is not used here. Your account is now ready.
2. Click the "Explore" tab to open the template library, a set of ready-made flows you can copy instead of building from scratch. You now see templates you can browse by category or search by name, each showing what the automation does and which apps it uses.
3. Click a template to preview it. A piece is the connector for one app. Check that you have an account for each app listed under "Used Pieces" before you go on. The page now shows an overview, "Used Pieces" and "Flow preview".
4. Click "Use template". Then open the set-up guide on the template page and follow it to connect your own accounts. Connecting means signing in to each app and allowing Activepieces to use it. You now see the flow in your builder, with its steps in a row.
5. Click each step and click "Test Step" with one real example, such as one real email. Later steps can only use data from steps you tested. Open the receiving app. You now see whether it stored what your example contained.
6. Click the publish button, which switches the flow on. From then on it acts on real data, and anything it sends out, such as an email, cannot be taken back. The flow now runs by itself whenever its first step, the trigger (the event that starts the flow), happens.
7. After the flow has run once, open the Dashboard, click "Runs" and click a run. You now see each step marked as succeeded or failed, and "Run Details" shows the input and output of the step you click.

When this works, a task you used to do by hand runs on its own, and you can see in "Runs" whether each run worked.

On Standard (usage based: 10 free active flows, then $5 per active flow per month): unlimited runs, where a run is one execution of a flow.

Strengths and limitations

The strength is the pricing model and the licence. Unlimited runs at a flat per-flow price suits volume, and MIT-licensed self-hosting means you are not locked to a vendor's roadmap or data policy.

The limitations are ecosystem and effort. More than 700 integrations is a lot and it is fewer than the market leader, so check that your specific tools are covered. Self-hosting is real operational work. And a per-flow model quietly encourages building fewer, larger flows, which are harder to debug than several simple ones. See Zapier vs Make for the wider category comparison.