Activepieces review: The AI alternative Automation software

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Table of contents

What is Activepieces?

Activepieces is a user-friendly, open-source all-in-one automation tool, designed to help businesses and individuals in their work.

 It is designed to streamline and automate your work across various applications. It allows the creation of custom automation "pieces" using TypeScript

The platform supports a wide range of integrations, making it a resourceful tool for connecting different services and streamline tasks. 

Image: Activepiecies - Home Page
Activepiecies - Home Page

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How does it work?

Activepieces works using “Flows”. Flow consists of two parts, triggers and actions.

  • Trigger: The flow’s starting point determines its frequency of execution. There are various types of triggers available, such as Schedule Triggers, Webhook Triggers, or Event Triggers based on specific services

  • Action: Actions come after the flow and control what occurs when the flow is activated, like running code or communicating with other services
Image: Activepieces - Flows
Activepieces - Flows

Key Features of Activepieces

Activepieces include some interesting features. Some of the features are:

  • Real-Time Integration

  • API Designer

  • Flow Designer

  • Pre-Built Connectors

  • Custom Connectors

  • Reusable connectors

  • Monitoring & Notification

  • Routing And Orchestration

  • Data Mapping

  • Data Transformation

  • API Management

  • Data Encryption

  • Security Standards

  • Communication Protocol

  • Data Virtualization

Who can use Activepieces?

Activepieces is mainly for business owners who are looking for a way to automate their workflow fast and easy. Individuals can also use Activepieces as it is not exclusive for business owners.

Benefits of Using Activepieces

With Activepieces you can benefit by building different types of automations for different types of tasks. For example, some of the use cases are:

 This is only the tip of the iceberg as you can develop many more amazing automations by using the platform of Activepieces.

The Activepieces Experience

In my personal experience with Activepieces, I created a program that automatically fills in a Google Sheet row with information about my new meetings from Google Calendar.

I simply connected my Google Sheets and Google Calendar accounts with Activepieces and selected the appropriate Spreadsheet I wished the information to be written to and the calendar event I wanted the information to be taken from. 

User Interface:

The user interface in Activepieces is very easy to use and understand. The simple and minimal design of the app helps the user navigate through the menus and automate their life with flows effortlessly.

Learning curve:

As any other tool, Activepieces has a steep learning curve that requires some time to climb. In a few days you can become comfortable with the environment and the UI and start automating your life.

Image: Activepieces - Product Principles
Activepieces - Product Principles

Activepieces reviews 

G2

Based on G2’s positive 5/5 star reviews, here's a summary of the key points about Activepieces:

  1. User-Friendly Interface: Activepieces stands out for its clean and intuitive interface, making automation feel natural even for non-technical users. Users appreciate the simplicity and ease of setting up complex workflows. 
  1. Powerful and Flexible: The platform offers flexibility and power, allowing users to add code where needed. It provides robust integration options, enabling seamless connectivity between various apps.
  1. Open-Source and Affordable: Being open-source, Activepieces allows for customization and extension of the tool. Users praise its affordability compared to other automation services.
  1. Responsive Support and Community Engagement: The Activepieces team offers direct and transparent support, actively engaging with the community and updating the platform based on feedback and direction.
  1. AI Integration for Code Assistance: Users appreciate the use of AI to help add code when needed, simplifying the automation process further.
  1. Quality Templates and Triggers: Users highlight the quality of templates, especially those for ChatGPT, and praise the variety of triggers available, such as timing triggers.
  1. Smooth User Experience and Quick Setup: Setting up and implementing workflows is straightforward, with acceptable error rates compared to other services. Users find the user experience smooth and convenient.
  1. Self-Hosting Option: Users value the option to self-host Activepieces, potentially saving costs compared to expensive alternatives like Zapier.

Overall, Activepieces receives praise for its user-friendly interface, powerful features, affordability, and responsive support, making it a reliable choice for automation needs.

ProductHunt

Based on Producthunt’s reviews, here's a summary of the sentiments towards Activepieces:

  1. Great Product with a Fantastic Team: Users praise Activepieces as a great product, highlighting its open-source nature, usefulness, and the fantastic team behind it. The recent addition of ChatGPT integration is seen as a significant enhancement.
  1. Best User Experience Among Automation Tools: Users appreciate Activepieces' superior user experience compared to other automation tools they've tried. The comprehensive documentation adds to the ease of use, making it a standout product.
  1. Robust Solution with Strong Support: Activepieces is recognized as a robust solution with a hardworking team that readily extends support when needed. Users recommend it over Zapier and view it as a highly recommended alternative.
  1. Potential for Long-Term Development: Users see Activepieces as having the potential for long-term development and disruption in the business automation tools market. They're excited to see its growth and anticipate it becoming a market leader.
  1. Simplicity, Power, and Versatility: Activepieces is praised for its simplicity, power, and versatility. Users find it to be a total package and appreciate its capabilities as a sustainable alternative to other tools like Zapier.
  1. Top-Notch Team and Transparent Documentation: The team behind Activepieces is commended for being great listeners and caring about their users. Users appreciate the transparent documentation, public roadmap, and commitment to product development.

Overall, users are highly satisfied with Activepieces, giving a 5/5 star rating and praising its product quality, user experience, support, and the team behind it. They express excitement about its future development and anticipate further enhancements.

Nigel Powell

“Great product, open source, useful and with a fantastic team behind it. What's not to love. The recent addition of ChatGPT integration is the icing on the cake.”

Neel P.

“The product stands as a robust solution, and the team readily extends their support whenever assistance is required. I strongly recommend this product. Kudos to the Activepieces team!”

Abdurahman Z.

“After using it for a month in our company, I am truly impressed. The pricing is very competitive and the support we received from the main contributors has been exceptional. In fact, we requested some features and they were added in just one day. The team's speed, dedication, and the consistent improvements they have made since the project's inception make me highly recommend Activepieces.”

AppSumo

Based on some AppSumo reviews, here's a summary of the sentiments towards Activepieces:

  • Powerful Tool with Concerns: Users appreciate Activepieces' power but express concerns about the stagnation in the automation templates library since their purchase. They find automation ideas helpful and hope for more
  • Amazing Integration and Customizability: Many users find Activepieces amazing, praising its integration with various apps and the option to add custom code for extensive customization of workflows
  • No Regrets, Powerful Software: Despite initial hesitation, users express satisfaction with Activepieces, believing it will surpass competitors like Zapier and Pabbly due to its robust features, despite having fewer integrations
  • Trust in Activepieces: Users appreciate the continuous improvement of the product and are thankful for great deals from platforms like Appsumo. They find it a great value compared to Zapier, emphasizing its growth potential
  • Revolutionary Automation: Activepieces is hailed as a revolutionary tool in automation, offering unparalleled value and shaping the future of automation technology
  • Excellent Functionality, Want More Integrations: Users praise Activepieces for its excellent functionality but express a desire for more integrations. Despite this, they are satisfied with the current features
  • Innovative and Supportive: Users appreciate Activepieces' innovative approach and responsive support, especially regarding integration requests. They desire more tutorials to facilitate learning and drive growth
  • Deserving More than 5 Stars: Activepieces is described as deserving more than a perfect rating, with users achieving complex automations quickly and efficiently. Despite the limited integrations, users are optimistic about its continual improvement.

Marian Z.

“Does what it should do. It is stable, easy to use and LTD! =) For now i am really happy, because the most important things for me (telegram, sendfox, rss-feed,...) are already there.”

g273

“What i had been searching for! Activepieces really does work seamlessly and so quick, i love that they show you how to made edits to your flow straight away in a 5 step tutorial you see the power of automation. Simple, fast, easy but incredibly powerful!”

RW90

“So many integrations, incredibly easy to use with zero coding, and super powerful! I'm blown away by what it can do! But even more, it's just dead simple to use. I bet this thing combined with Straico saves me over 300 hours in the next six months.”

codingmenaceyt

“When I discovered Activepieces, I was immediately impressed. The ease of use and the passionate community are remarkable. Just visit their Discord and community forum to see for yourself.”

Activepieces Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Ease of Use
  • Automation Features
  • Automation Efficiency
  • User-Friendly Interface
  • Customer Support

Cons

  • Limited Integrations
  • Missing Features
  • Learning Curve
  • API Issues
  • Integration Issues

Is Activepieces free?

Activepieces offers two different plans within two different categories the Cloud-hosting and Self-hosting: The pro plan and the enterprise plan

All plans include:

  • All pieces (tools)
  • Unlimited flows
  • Unlimited folders
  • Unlimited flow steps

The differences are the number of projects you can have, the users logged on, and mainly whether you host it on the Activepieces cloud or you host it yourself.

Activepieces also offers the embed plan. The embed plan in general offers:

  • Javascript SDK
  • JWT Single Sign-On
  • Full API
  • Custom color and logo
  • Whitelabel emails
  • Custom templates
  • Unlimited projects
  • 2 Private pieces
  • Tasks limit per project
  • Show/hide pieces
  • Default projects language
  • Debug client runs
  • All pieces
  • Unlimited flows
  • Unlimited folders
  • Unlimited flow steps
  • Email support
Image: Activepieces - Tool Connection
Activepieces - Tool Connection


Cloud hosting

Image: Activepieces - Free Cloud Hosting
Activepieces - Free Cloud Hosting
Image: Activepieces -  Pro Cloud Hosting
Activepieces - Pro Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting needs no maintenance and offers 1000 monthly tasks and one user with $1 per extra 1000 tasks and $10 per extra user a month. As for its price the pro plan is free.

With the enterprise plan on cloud hosting, you get 1000 monthly tasks and one user, with $1 per 1000 extra tasks for the price of $99 a month per user.

The cloud-based embed plan offers 1000 monthly tasks with 25 users with $1 for every 1000 extra tasks and $10 per extra user per month for $1,200 per month.

Self-hosting

Image: Activepieces - Free Self Hosting
Activepieces - Free Self Hosting
Image: Activepieces - Pro Self Hosting
Activepieces - Pro Self Hosting

Self-hosting needs regular maintenance by you and offers the Pro plan with Unlimited tasks with one user for $10 per month per extra user for free.

The self-hosted enterprise plan offers unlimited tasks with one user for $99 per user per month. 

The self-hosted embed plan offers unlimited tasks with 25 users and $10 per extra user per month for $1,200 per month.

Conclusion

Activepieces is a unique automation platform for your businesses and individuals. Its environment is easy to use and quick to understand.

If you want to automate your work fast and easily and don’t want to get your hands dirty in the coding world, then this no-code tool is for you.

FAQs

  • What do Activepieces do?

Activepieces is a no-code tool that can automate your business with Asana and other apps. For example, you can get notifications on Slack for a specific task activity from Asana, or add a task from specific emails you receive in your inbox.

  • How does Activepieces compare to other automation tools like Zapier?

Both Activepieces and Zapier offer similar functionalities. However, Activepieces is known for its:Affordability, Ease of use, Open-source nature.

  • Does Activepieces require coding knowledge?

No, Activepieces is designed with a no-code interface. You can build workflows by dragging and dropping pre-built actions and triggers.

  • What kind of workflows can I build with Activepieces?

Here are some examples:

  • Automatically add new leads from a web form to your CRM.

  • Generate social media posts based on new blog content.

  • Send personalized email notifications based on customer actions.
  • Are there any limitations to Activepieces?

While powerful, Activepieces might not be for everyone. Here are some things to consider:

  • Limited integrations compared to some competitors.

  • Support might be less extensive compared to established players.

  • Reliance on self-hosting or a cloud-based solution (depending on your preference).

For a deeper dive into these aspects, you can explore this comparison article and the official Activepieces forum for any questions about the platform.

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