Automation software

Best 5 Open Source Alternatives to Workato

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“Doing a task more than twice? Automate it!”

In an era where automation is highly sought after especially as its benefits outweigh the losses(if there are any), choosing the perfect automation tool for your tasks can be quite daunting but with Activepieces you don't need to look too far.

There are various automation tools out there such as Activepieces, Zapier, Workato, etc. Some of these tools are open source while others aren't. Workato is a popular tool for automating tasks but it has a downside of not being open source and comes in paid plans. Oftentimes, the first thing users want to confirm when scouting for an automation tool is whether it is open source or not.

Benefits of open source automation tools

Open source automation tools gives room to:

Innovation

Open source allows contributions from the community which in turn lead to improvement of the tool in particular.

Transparency

The source codes of open source tools are made public, making it easy for contributions and suggestions to be implemented.

Flexibility

Using open source tools gives you the opportunity to tweak the tool to your needs. Non open-source tools are quite rigid with their systems.

Seamless Integration

Integration, especially across other open source tools is quite easy as you do not necessarily need any extra layer of security to access the tools.

Community Support

Thanks to the activities of various users and contributors across the world, questions and blockers about an open source tool can be easily resolved.

Having known the benefits of open source tools, here are Best 5 open source alternatives to Workato.

Top Open Source Alternatives to Workato

Activepieces

Activepieces is an open source automation tool that makes interaction within and outside applications easy. It can be used to build several flows such as; automate a process, write blogs, schedule updates and more.

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Pros:

  • It is free and open source
  • It boasts of a large community support
  • The UI is interactive with a guide for every flow template selected

Cons:

  • Fewer use cases than Workato which has been around for quite a long while

Make

Make is an open source and free automation tool for building workflows and connections. It boasts of an interactive UI making navigation easy for users.

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Pros:

  • Well laid out user interface
  • No-code platform; just drag and drop
  • Available use cases and templates
  • Free to use

Cons:

  • Sign-up process is about 3-pages and this may discourage new users
  • The dashboard is slow in loading

###Activiti

Activiti is a Business Process Management tool that automates business processes. It focuses more on reducing repetitive processes through automation. Screen Shot 2024-05-09 at 11.12.25 PM.png

Pros:

  • It is open-source
  • It is cloud based
  • It boasts of robust documentation to help users get started.

Cons:

  • It requires a basic knowledge of Maven and Java for the initial setup
  • The interface is not quite interactive
  • It requires downloading to your local computer before you can use it

Node-RED

Node-RED is an open source automation tool built on node.js. It allows you connect several hardware devices, online services and APIs easily. Screen Shot 2024-05-09 at 11.14.48 PM.png

Pros:

  • Flows can be created using the browser-based editor
  • The flows can be saved and reused
  • It can be run locally on your computer, on a device such as Raspberry pi or in the cloud.

Cons:

  • It is a low-code tool, hence no-coders may have a hard time using it.
  • The entire flow is stopped if there's a failure in any of the nodes.
  • Code reviews are difficult

Airflow Apache

Airflow Apache is an open source automation tool for batch oriented workflows. It is built on Python and deployable in many ways such as a single process deployment.

Screen Shot 2024-05-09 at 11.16.18 PM.png

Pros:

  • Multiple people can develop one workflow simultaneously
  • Workflows are stored in versions to allow you to return to any previous version
  • It has the ability to rerun pipelines after resolving an error

Cons:

  • It is not a web-based platform, meaning you will need to download it to your local computer before you can have access to it
  • Airflow Apache doesn't allow indefinite running event-based workflows
  • It requires some coding knowledge especially python

When it comes to choosing automation tools, it is best to look out for a tool that is accessible and no-code. That way, anyone can create flows by following the on-screen guide irrespective of their skill level in coding.