Power Automate vs Activepieces
Plans, free access, limits and intended use side by side, taken from each vendor’s own pages. No score and no winner: the facts show where the two differ.
Change tools
Microsoft's cloud and desktop flow automation, licensed per user or per process and metered in daily platform requests
Open source workflow automation with AI agents, priced per run in credits, on its cloud or your own servers
- Free access
- Power Automate: Free access
- Activepieces: Free access
- Paid from
- Power Automate: USD 15/user per month
- Activepieces: USD 20 per month
- Plans listed
- Power Automate: 7
- Activepieces: 6
- Public API
- Power Automate: Not confirmed
- Activepieces: Yes
Where Power Automate and Activepieces differ
- Pricing checkSome prices or terms not confirmed for Power Automate; prices confirmed for Activepieces.
- PlansPower Automate lists 7 plans and Activepieces lists 6.
Head to head
Each value from the tool’s profile and the vendor’s own pages
| Power Automate | Fact | Activepieces |
|---|---|---|
| Access and price | ||
| Free access availablePower Automate Free · USD 0 | Free accessSame | Free access availableFree · USD 0 |
| USD 15/user per monthPower Automate Premium · paid yearly | Lowest listed paid plan | USD 20 per monthPlus · $16/month billed yearly |
| Free with standard connectors (work or school accounts); Premium $15/user/month, Process $150/bot/month, Hosted Process $215/bot/month, paid yearly | Pricing model | Free cloud plan (1,000 credits/month); Plus $20/month, Team $200/month; Ultimate and Embed custom; Community Edition self-hosts free |
| 7 | Plans listedDiffers | 6 |
| Not confirmed | Public API | Yes |
| Not confirmed | Card to start | Not required |
| Not confirmed | Open source | Yes |
| What it is for | ||
| Organisations on Microsoft 365 that want to automate Teams, SharePoint, Outlook and Excel work, with RPA for desktop apps | Built for | Teams that want Zapier-style flows and AI agents with the option to self-host the open source core |
| Automation | CategorySame | Automation |
| Platforms |
|
| Works with |
|
| How current | ||
| Profile sources checked | ||
| Some prices or terms not confirmed · Oct 24, 2026 | Pricing checkDiffers | Prices confirmed · Oct 24, 2026 |
Official source check for both tools. No hands-on testing and no score: “Differs” marks a documented difference, not a better tool.
Plans and prices
Power Automate
Some prices or terms not confirmed · Oct 24, 2026- Power Automate FreeUSD 0
- Microsoft 365 / Office 365 (included)Included in eligible plans
- Free trialFree trial
- Power Automate PremiumUSD 15/user per monthpaid yearly
- Power Automate ProcessUSD 150/bot per monthpaid yearly
Show 2 more plans
- Power Automate Hosted ProcessUSD 215/bot per monthpaid yearly
- Process Mining add-onUSD 5,000/tenant per monthpaid yearly
Activepieces
Prices confirmed · Oct 24, 2026- FreeUSD 0
- PlusUSD 20 per monthUSD 16 per month billed yearly
- TeamUSD 200 per monthUSD 166 per month billed yearly
- UltimateCustom quote
- EmbedFrom USD 36k a year
Show 1 more plan
- Community Edition (self-hosted)FreeMIT licence
Strengths and limits
Power Automate
Strengths
- Included with Microsoft 365: Office 365 business and enterprise plans already include cloud flows with standard connectors, so many teams can start without a new purchase.
- Desktop and cloud in one product: The same licence family covers app-to-app flows and RPA on Windows desktops, including Microsoft-hosted machines.
- Volume is rarely the limit: A Premium user gets 40,000 requests a day and a Process licence 250,000, which ordinary office flows stay far below.
Limits to plan around
- Premium connectors cost extra: Salesforce and HubSpot are not on the standard connector list, so flows that touch them need Premium or a Process licence.
- AI credits are changing: Premium's 5,000 seeded AI Builder credits end on 1 November 2026, and new customers must buy Copilot Credits for AI steps.
- Licensing is layered: Which limit applies depends on flow type, owner, app context and any Process licence, and limits from different licences do not add up.
Activepieces
Strengths
- Steps are not metered: A run costs one credit whether it has two steps or twenty, so long non-AI flows do not multiply the bill.
- Open source core: The repository is MIT-licensed outside its enterprise directories, so the core can be read, forked and run on your own hardware.
- Self-hosting on every plan: The pricing table lists cloud or on-prem hosting for Free, Plus, Team and Ultimate, and paid plans apply in-app without a license key.
Limits to plan around
- Free reset is inconsistent: The pricing table says Free credits reset daily and runs over quota wait for tomorrow, while the FAQ says 1,000 credits a month and to wait until next month.
- Short cloud run limits: On Activepieces Cloud a flow run times out after 10 minutes of active time, a worker gets 1 GB of memory and run data is deleted after 30 days.
- No SOC 2 report yet: The pricing FAQ says the SOC 2 programme is in progress; a penetration test summary, DPA and sub-processor list are available on request.
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Questions about comparing tools
How does the comparison work?
Add two tools to the comparison tray from any tool card, then open this page. The table pulls each tool's verified plan details, platforms, strengths and limits from its profile, so both columns carry the same kind of evidence, with a separate source-check date for each tool.
Do you declare a winner?
No. The table sets two tools against each other on documented facts, not on a score. Which one wins depends on your task, your budget and your usage volume — three things we cannot see from here.
Why are some cells empty or marked unverified?
Because we could not confirm that detail on the vendor's own pages. Rather than filling the gap with a figure from elsewhere, we mark it and say why on the tool's profile.
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Not at once. Two columns keep the differences readable and force a real decision. Remove either selected tool to replace it, or clear both to start a new pair.
Every figure in the table above comes from the linked profile, where the source and the verification date are listed. Browse all tools or read the editorial policy.