Short answer: the right builder depends on who builds it and what shape the job has. For the widest app catalog and fixed automations, Zapier. For a visual builder at a low price, Make. For technical teams that want to self-host, n8n or Activepieces. For chat-driven agents for business teams, Gumloop. For an assistant inside Slack and email, Lindy. For Microsoft 365 companies, Copilot Studio. For customer chat and voice agents, Voiceflow. To describe a whole job in plain English and have an agent run it on a schedule, AgentNava, which we make, so weigh our view accordingly. Every fact below links to the vendor's own page, checked on October 5, 2026.
Quick picks by situation
- You need an app nobody else connects to: Zapier, with more than 9,000 apps.
- You want to see the flow as a diagram, at a low price: Make.
- You have engineers and want to run it on your own servers: n8n or Activepieces.
- You want open source with a flat monthly price: Activepieces.
- Your business team wants agents it can talk to in chat: Gumloop.
- You want an assistant that lives in Slack, email and iMessage: Lindy.
- Your company runs on Microsoft 365: Microsoft Copilot Studio.
- You are building a customer chat or phone agent: Voiceflow.
- You are a large, regulated company buying through sales: Stack AI or Relevance AI.
- You want to describe a job in a paragraph and have an agent do it every day: AgentNava.
The comparison table
Prices are the lowest paid plan as each vendor’s page showed it on October 5, 2026. Prices change often, so follow the link before you buy.
| Builder | What it is for | How it charges | Free to start | Lowest paid plan | Build by describing it in plain English | Self-host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Trigger-then-action automations across 9,000+ apps, plus an Agents add-on | Tasks: each successful action is one task. Agents bill separately, in activities | Free plan: 100 tasks a month | $19.99 a month billed yearly ($29.99 monthly), 750 tasks | Yes: Zapier Copilot (open beta) | No |
| Make | A visual builder: drag app modules into scenarios | Credits: most actions use 1 credit | Free plan: 1,000 credits a month | $12 a month billed yearly ($16 monthly), 10,000 credits | Yes: Maia by Make; Make AI Agents in beta | No |
| n8n | Workflow automation with AI agent steps, for technical teams | Executions: one full run of a workflow, whatever its length | Free self-hosted Community Edition; cloud free trial | $20 a month billed yearly ($24 monthly), 2,500 executions | Yes: n8n Assistant (preview) | Yes |
| Activepieces | Open-source automation with flows, agents and tables | Credits: a run is 1 credit; AI steps cost 2, 10 or 20 | Free plan: 1,000 credits | $20 a month flat, 10,000 credits, up to 5 users | Yes: Chat to automation | Yes |
| Gumloop | AI agents for business teams, driven from chat | Credits at $0.005, covering model and tool costs, plus an 8% fee | 14-day free trial | From $37 a month, 20,000 credits | Yes: agents write their own instructions from a chat | Enterprise only, in your own cloud account |
| Lindy | An AI teammate in Slack, email and iMessage | Per active user, each adding credits to a shared pool | $50 of credits for 7 days | $29.99 a month per active user, 3,000 credits each | Yes: ask in plain English | No |
| Microsoft Copilot Studio | Agents for Microsoft 365 and outside channels | Copilot Credits: for example 2 per generative answer, 5 per agent action | Free trial | Pay as you go at $0.01 a credit, or $200 a month (billed yearly) for 25,000 credits | Yes: natural language or a graphical builder | No |
| Voiceflow | Customer service chat and voice agents | Monthly plan fee, editor seats and usage credits | Free plan with a one-time credit grant | Not published outside the app | Partly: plain-language instructions and playbooks | No |
| Relevance AI | Teams of AI agents for sales and go-to-market | Actions plus vendor credits | No (free plan retired) | Pricing page shows Enterprise only; its docs still list a $19 Pro plan | Yes: Invent | Not confirmed |
| Stack AI | Agents and workflows for large, regulated companies (now part of Asana) | Runs per month | Free plan: 500 runs a month | Enterprise only, custom price | Partly: a drag-and-drop builder with an assistant | Enterprise only |
| AgentNava | Describe a whole job in plain English; the agent runs it on a schedule or when asked | Per turn: one message or run, with everything the agent does inside it | $5 of free credit, no time limit | No plan to buy: $0.01 a turn on Standard, $0.05 on Premium, from prepaid credit | Yes: the job description is the agent | Enterprise on-prem, by arrangement |
How to choose in three questions
- Who will build and maintain it? Business teams without engineers do best with Zapier, Make, Gumloop, Lindy or AgentNava. Teams with engineers get more control from n8n or Activepieces, including running it on their own servers.
- What shape is the job? If every run follows the same steps, a workflow tool (Zapier, Make, n8n, Activepieces) is simpler and more predictable. If a step needs judgment, like reading a message and deciding what to do, an agent fits better. We wrote more on this in Zapier or an AI agent.
- How do you want to pay? Per step (Zapier tasks, Make credits) favours short workflows. Per run (n8n executions, Activepieces runs, AgentNava turns) favours long ones. Per seat (Lindy) favours a small number of heavy users. For worked numbers, see what an AI agent costs a small business.
Two products older lists still recommend
- Relay.app has shut down. Its site says the service closed in September 2026 and that all accounts, workflows and run history were deleted (relay.app).
- Pipedream’s workflow product is closing. Pipedream Workflows and String, its prompt-built workflows, shut down on March 31, 2027, and take no new sign-ups. Pipedream now sells Connect, an integration API for developers (Pipedream docs).
If a list or an AI assistant recommends either one, plan around it.
Where AgentNava fits, honestly
AgentNava is young. It connects to about 130 apps today, against Zapier’s 9,000, so check that yours are covered in the connections list. It does not run inside Slack yet, and self-hosting is not self-serve: on-premises deployment is arranged with enterprise customers.
What it does well: you describe a whole job in a paragraph, the agent works out the steps, and it runs on a schedule or when asked. You can start from one of 46 ready-made agents and read their instructions and workflows before you start. You pay per turn, with no plan to buy, and your first $5 of credit is free.
Frequently asked questions
What is a no-code AI agent builder?
A tool that lets you create an AI agent without writing code. You describe what the agent should do, connect the apps it should use, and decide when it runs. Some builders work from a visual diagram of steps; others, like Lindy, Gumloop and AgentNava, work mostly from plain-English instructions.
Which no-code AI agent builder is cheapest to start with?
Several have a free plan: Zapier (100 tasks a month), Make (1,000 credits a month), Activepieces (1,000 credits) and Stack AI (500 runs a month). n8n is free if you host it yourself. AgentNava starts you with $5 of credit, which is 500 turns on Standard. The cheapest over time depends on how long your workflows are and how often they run.
Which AI agent builders can I host myself?
n8n and Activepieces both have free community editions you can run on your own servers. Gumloop and Stack AI offer deployment in your own cloud only on enterprise plans. Zapier, Make, Lindy and Copilot Studio run in the vendor’s cloud. AgentNava runs in its own cloud, with on-premises deployment arranged for enterprise customers.
Do I need to know how to code?
No, for all of the builders above, though n8n and Activepieces reward some technical comfort. The bigger skill is describing the job clearly: what the agent should do, what it must never do, and when it should ask a person.
Is Relay.app still available?
No. Relay.app’s site says it shut down in September 2026 and deleted all accounts and workflows. Pipedream’s workflow product is also closing, on March 31, 2027.