Microsoft Power Automate Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Microsoft Power Automate alternatives: n8n, Zapier, Make, Pipedream and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•3 min read•Automation & No-Code
Verdict:Leave Power Automate when you need to run automations outside the Microsoft ecosystem, or when per-user licensing is the bigger cost. Its paid Premium tier starts at $15 per user per month on yearly billing, and the only free option is a 30-day trial rather than a free plan. For a team that wants a free start, Zapier, Make and Pipedream all have free tiers, though the limits are small: Zapier allows 100 tasks a month, Make gives 1,000 credits, and Pipedream's free plan is development-only. Activepieces also has a free forever plan and open-source code you can host. If you want to avoid vendor fees entirely, n8n is the self-hosted pick, with a Community Edition you run yourself and a paid cloud plan starting at EUR 20. Choose Zapier for simple app-to-app steps with the least setup, Make for multi-step scenarios with branching on a budget, and n8n when you can run a server and want no per-user fees. Keep Power Automate if your flows depend on Microsoft 365 or Dataverse connectors, because the other tools will not give you those, and you would rebuild each one by hand. The real trade-off is cost against connector depth. Count your flows and their monthly runs before you commit, because the free tiers cap runs well below what a busy team uses.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n8n | Free (Self-hosted Community Edition from GitHub under the Sustainable Use License; Cloud has a free trial); paid from EUR 20 per month, Cloud Starter billed annually, 2.5K executions | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted workflows with developer control | Docs only |
| Zapier | Free (Free plan: 100 tasks per month); paid from $19.99 per month, billed annually (Professional, 750 tasks; $29.99 billed monthly) | Web browser | Simple app-to-app automations | Docs only |
| Make | Free (Free plan: 1,000 credits per month) | Web browser | Visual multi-step scenarios on a budget | Docs only |
| Pipedream | Free (Free plan for development use only; production and external users not included; community support only); paid from $99 per month, billed annually (Startup; $150 billed monthly) | Web browser | Developers writing custom steps | Docs only |
| Activepieces | Free (Free forever, no card: 1,000 credits a month, unlimited flows, up to 5 users); paid from $20 per month (Plus, flat) | Web browser | Open-source flows with a free tier | Docs only |
| UiPath | Free (Community plan, described as free forever; no numeric limits on the pricing page); paid from $25 per month (Basic, starting at) | Windows (robots), Cloud orchestrator | Robotic process automation | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You need a self-hosted workflow engine (n8n is the pick)
- You want simple app-to-app automations (Zapier is the pick)
- You want branching scenarios on a free start (Make is the pick)
- You build custom code steps (Pipedream is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Microsoft Power Automate features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Microsoft Power Automate today: Paid from $15 per user/month, billed yearly (Premium) (Microsoft Power Automate pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Microsoft Power Automate alternatives
Power Automate Premium is $15 per user per month billed yearly and covers cloud flows and attended desktop flows. Unattended desktop automation needs the Process plan at $150 per bot per month, or $215 for the hosted version. Process mining is a $5,000 per tenant monthly add-on available on Premium only. The pricing page says prices are for marketing purposes and the actual price shows at checkout. Copilot Studio is sold separately as a pre-purchase plan.
n8n
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Self-hostable Community Edition, with a paid cloud plan from EUR 20. Against Power Automate you lose Microsoft 365 connectors and the trial, but you avoid per-user licensing when you host it yourself.
Price: Free (Self-hosted Community Edition from GitHub under the Sustainable Use License; Cloud has a free trial); paid from EUR 20 per month, Cloud Starter billed annually, 2.5K executions (n8n pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Sustainable Use License (source-available).
Best for: Self-hosted workflows with developer control.
Worth knowing: Not open source in the OSI sense; .ee. files need a paid license. Annual billing saves 17% versus monthly.
Zapier
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Free plan gives 100 tasks a month and Professional starts at $19.99 billed annually. You trade Power Automate's Microsoft connectors for a broader third-party app catalogue and simpler per-task pricing.
Price: Free (Free plan: 100 tasks per month); paid from $19.99 per month, billed annually (Professional, 750 tasks; $29.99 billed monthly) (Zapier pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Simple app-to-app automations.
Make
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Free plan gives 1,000 credits a month; check the pricing page for current paid plans. Against Power Automate you lose Microsoft connectors, but you get a visual scenario builder without a per-user licence.
Price: Free (Free plan: 1,000 credits per month) (Make pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Visual multi-step scenarios on a budget.
Pipedream
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Free plan is development-only and Startup is $99 a month billed annually. Against Power Automate you lose the low-code Microsoft connector set and gain code-level steps for developers.
Price: Free (Free plan for development use only; production and external users not included; community support only); paid from $99 per month, billed annually (Startup; $150 billed monthly) (Pipedream pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Developers writing custom steps.
Activepieces
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Free forever plan and a $20 Plus plan, with open-source code you can host. Against Power Automate you lose Microsoft 365 integration, but there is no per-user fee.
Price: Free (Free forever, no card: 1,000 credits a month, unlimited flows, up to 5 users); paid from $20 per month (Plus, flat) (Activepieces pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web browser. MIT (Community Edition); enterprise features under a commercial license (open source).
Project activity: 25.3k GitHub stars · latest release 0.92.3-hotfix.1 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Open-source flows with a free tier.
Worth knowing: Currency shown only as a dollar sign; read as USD.
Other popular options (paid)
UiPath
Compared with Microsoft Power Automate: Free Community plan, with Basic listed from $25 a month; the page says the Basic offering is being updated. It is built around desktop automation and RPA, where Power Automate sells unattended bots at $150 each.
Price: Free (Community plan, described as free forever; no numeric limits on the pricing page); paid from $25 per month (Basic, starting at) (UiPath pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You need a self-hosted workflow engine: n8n
- You want simple app-to-app automations: Zapier
- You want branching scenarios on a free start: Make
- You build custom code steps: Pipedream
Limits of this review
Docs-only for n8n, Zapier, Make, Pipedream, Activepieces: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Microsoft Power Automate. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Microsoft Power Automate, n8n, Zapier, Make, Pipedream, Activepieces, UiPath. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.