Most of us spend way too much time doing things that a machine could (and probably should) handle. Copying data between tools, sending the same update every week, and checking for new entries in a spreadsheet… boring, repetitive, and kind of soul-sucking.
Workflow automation tools exist to handle all of that. And in 2025, we’ve got more options than ever. Whether you’re a total beginner or already comfortable with advanced logic and conditional workflows, there’s something here for you.
Here’s a quick look at the best workflow automation tools right now—what they’re great at, what makes them different, and when to use them.
Cheatsheet: Choosing the right workflow automation tool
In this article, we’ll explore six of the best workflow automation tools available, each with its own strengths and use cases. First, it helps to look at the specific needs of your business, so you can properly asses the options.
To choose the right automation platform, you can ask yourself a few guiding questions:
Workflows: What types of tasks do you need to automate? Do you need to trigger simple actions between software or build more complex automations that can manage a whole process end-to-end?
Tools: What form do you want to interact with your workflows in? Most common tools, Like Zapier and Make, facilitate triggering tasks between other software platforms. Others let you create your own interfaces, apps, or AI agents. Others are more specialized tools, like Bardeen, which makes automations within your web browser.
Users: Who needs to interact with your tasks? Some tools are best for working on your personal tasks, others are good for creating automations for internal teams. If you need external stakeholders like clients, contractors, or customers to interact with your tasks, you may need an automation tool that allows you to create external interfaces.
Technical skill: How much technical skill is needed to use this tool to its full potential? Is it no code, low code, or fully developer-focused? Some automation platforms are very user-friendly, some require a basic understanding of computer logic, and others are specifically designed with technical teams in mind.
Here’s a quick workflow automation tool cheat sheet about the six platforms we are going to cover:
Glide – Great for integrating workflows directly into your business’s processes and tasks (within custom apps)
Workflows: Automate full workflows from beginning to end with complex logic by creating internal tools and AI agents
Tool: Build internal tools and AI agents
Users: Internal or external—interfaces make it possible to share workflows with clients, contractors, and customers
Technical skill: Moderate computer literacy, no code required
Zapier – Best for simple connections between your existing software apps
Workflows: Automate connections between your software tools with basic logic
Tool: Work within your existing software
Users: Internal teams - anyone with access to your software
Technical skill: Any skill level
Make – A more technical, visual platform for complex, multi-step workflows
Workflows: Automate connections between software tools with complex logic
Tool: Work within your existing software
Users: Internal teams - anyone with access to your software
Technical skill: Moderate computer literacy, no code required
n8n – An open-source tool for technical teams who want flexibility and control
Workflows: Create complex internal workflows connected to your software and databases
Tool: Multiple output path,s including web, data & code, with the option to self-host
Users: IT, Sec Ops, Dev Ops, and Sales teams
Technical skill: Made for technical teams and developers, some code required
Relay.app – A modern platform for building simple AI agents
Workflows: Build simple AI agents
Tool: Work within your existing software
Users: Internal teams and tasks
Technical skill: Any skill level
Bardeen – An AI-native automation tool that is browser-based and designed for web tasks.
Workflows: Adds AI automation capabilities to your web browser
Tool: Work in your web browser
Users: Internal GTM teams
Technical skill: Any skill level
Each section below describes what the tool is, what it’s best at, and how it compares to others. We’ll also cover important features like integration options (think Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable, Notion, etc.) and AI capabilities. By the end, you should have a clear picture of which automation software might fit your needs.
1. Glide – Workflows built directly into custom apps and AI agents
Glide is a no code app builder that natively incorporates powerful workflow features. Sometimes, you just need to automate a task between one app and another, and many available workflow tools can do that. However, using Glide for task automation can take it a step further, enabling you to create a custom interface that can streamline a task from beginning to end. Instead of triggering action in another software platform, Glide pulls in all your data from various sources into a single unified interface where you can work with it easily.
Glide lets you create custom business apps (for example, an inventory management tool or a client portal) without coding, and you can automate processes inside those apps. If your goal is to integrate workflows directly into your business’s processes and tasks, Glide is a top choice.
Glide’s Workflow Editor allows you to set up automated sequences triggered by events in your app. For example, when a user submits a form in your Glide app, you could automatically send a follow-up email or update a Google Sheet. These workflows work natively with your app’s data, making them quick to configure and more reliable.
Glide workflows can be as complex or as basic as needed. You can include loops, conditional logic, schedule triggers, and even AI steps in a Glide workflow for advanced logic. This means your Glide app isn’t just a static app – it can actually handle parts of your business process automation automatically.
One of Glide’s strengths is that it combines an app interface with automation. You’re effectively managing both the front end (what the user sees) and the workflow management behind the scenes in one platform. This tight integration is great for workflow management because everything is in sync with your data and UI. For instance, a task management app built in Glide could auto-assign tasks or send notifications based on status changes without needing external tools.
Glide’s advanced AI capabilities give you the ability to create specialized AI agents and insert AI into your automated workflows. This makes Glide a great tool for intelligent automation. You can also still connect to external workflow automation tools like Zapier and Make with native integrations to extend your Glide app’s capabilities. Glide has a wide range of native integrations as well as APIs and Webhooks that make connecting even the most siloed platforms to your app easy. This hybrid approach gives you the best of both worlds: native workflows for in-app actions and external automation for connecting with thousands of other apps.
Automation via Glide app comes with the added benefit of allowing external interaction with your tasks. This lets you collect data from or share data with clients, customers, or contractors without giving them access to your internal software. For example, if you wanted to automate maintenance reports from tenants, they could submit them through your app. It could process those reports with the help of AI, record that data automatically, and automate a summary with key data like type of complaint and urgency level.
Choose Glide if you want to build a custom app for your team or business and embed the workflows right into it. It’s truly no code, though requires a basic understanding of technical ideas like conditional logic and APIs, and provides a unified environment to create an app, manage data, and automate processes.
Common use cases include creating internal tools (like CRM systems, project trackers, inventory management apps) that not only store and display information but also automate routine tasks (e.g., send a Slack message when a status changes in Notion, update a Google Sheets record daily, etc.). Glide essentially lets your process automation live inside the same place as your data, which can streamline your operations significantly.
2. Zapier – Simple connections between your favorite apps
When people think of automating tasks between apps, Zapier is often the first tool that comes to mind. Zapier is the classic “connect this app to that app” automation platform–and it’s popular for good reason. It’s user-friendly, requires no coding, and supports a massive number of integrations (over 7,000 apps and growing). Zapier is best for setting up simple workflow automations quickly, especially if you’re not super technical.
Using Zapier, you create “Zaps” which are automated workflows consisting of a trigger and one or more actions. For example, a trigger might be “When a new row is added in Google Sheets” and the action could be “send a message in Slack” – boom, now you have an automated notification system without writing a single line of code. Zapier’s interface is straightforward: it’s a point-and-click editor where you choose triggers and actions from dropdowns. Anyone can build automations with a few clicks. You don’t have to be a developer or know APIs – Zapier handles the technical details.
Despite its simplicity, Zapier can handle a lot of everyday workflow automation needs. It’s great for things like: moving data from one app to another, notifying your team about events (via Slack, email, etc.), updating spreadsheets or databases, scheduling routine tasks, and so on.
While Zapier’s automations have been more basic, it has recently been evolving to offer more than just basic trigger-action pairs. It has features like multi-step Zaps, conditional logic (paths), and built-in helpers (like formatters, filters, and even some AI-powered steps). For instance, Zapier has introduced some native AI features, such as an email parser and a smart assistant for routing messages. These aren’t as advanced as dedicated AI platforms (we’ll get to those), but it’s nice to see Zapier incorporating more intelligent automation capabilities. Still, the platform’s sweet spot is straightforward automations. It may not handle super complex branching logic as elegantly as some others, but for the majority of repetitive tasks and simple workflows, it’s a lifesaver.
Many teams use Zapier for task management automation – e.g., create a Trello card when a form is submitted or update a CRM when a deal is moved to a new stage. It’s also popular for marketing and sales processes (like syncing leads from Facebook Ads to your email list). If you find yourself doing a repetitive copy-paste or data entry task between two online services, Zapier can probably automate it.
To sum up, choose Zapier if you want no-fuss, no code automation to connect your existing software tools. It’s perfect for beginners and non-developers who just want to streamline processes without diving into code. The learning curve is gentle, and there are plenty of templates to get you started. Zapier can help you automate everything from project management updates to marketing drip campaigns, making your work life a lot easier by taking care of the busy work.
3. Make (formerly Integromat) – Visual Platform for Complex Workflows
Make is another popular workflow automation tool, known for its visual workflow builder and ability to handle more complex scenarios. If Zapier is like a straightforward checklist, Make is more like a canvas where you can draw elaborate flowcharts. It’s ideal for power users or teams that need to automate intricate processes with multiple steps, branches, and conditions. Make is often described as a step up in complexity from Zapier – it’s still technically “no code”, but it caters to a more technical mindset with its interface and features.
At its core, Make allows you to create “scenarios” (their term for workflows) by dragging and dropping nodes on a canvas. Each node represents an app action or transformation, and you connect them to define the flow of data. One of the best features of Make is this visual automation builder with a drag-and-drop interface. You can see all your steps laid out in a diagram, which is super helpful when designing or debugging a complex workflow. Need to branch into parallel paths? Loop through a list of records? Wait for an approval? Make’s interface supports all that visually, so you get a clear map of the automation.
While Make doesn’t integrate with as many apps as Zapier, it still supports a lot – on the order of thousands of apps (over 1,000 and counting). More importantly, Make often provides deeper integration with the apps it supports. For example, Make might offer more triggers/actions for a given app than Zapier does. One analysis found that for a project management tool (ClickUp), Make had 88 available actions/triggers whereas Zapier had only 17. This means if you’re trying to do very specific things within an app, Make could give you more flexibility. In general, Make exposes more of each app’s API capabilities, allowing you to automate more complex sequences. Because of this, you can often build workflows in Make that would be hard or impossible in Zapier (without resorting to code).
Make is great for workflow management when you need a lot of control. You can incorporate conditional logic at various points, enabling different outcomes based on data (e.g., if an amount is over $X, route for approval, else proceed automatically). You can also transform data using built-in functions, aggregators, and even write bits of code (JSON, formulas) if needed. This is why Make is considered a “more technical” platform – not because you must code (you usually don’t), but because it gives you the tools to handle edge cases and complex data manipulation if you want to.
Another aspect is that Make can do multi-step and multi-app workflows very fluently. For instance, in one scenario, you could take data from Shopify, transform it, send some to Google Sheets, notify via Slack, and update a Notion database, all in one cohesive flow. Make allows multiple triggers or parallel actions in a single scenario, which is something Zapier’s linear setup handles less gracefully.
It’s worth noting that Make (formerly called Integromat) often comes at a lower price point than Zapier for comparable usage, which is a practical consideration if you have a lot of tasks to automate. They offer a free plan and affordable tiers, which is great for small businesses or technical users who want to tinker with complex flows without breaking the bank.
In summary, choose Make if you find yourself limited by simpler tools or if you have a complex workflow to automate. It’s ideal for scenarios where you might otherwise think “maybe I need to write a custom script for this” – Make might let you do it with a visual low-code approach instead. Typical use cases include more advanced data pipelines, multi-step approval processes, and any automation that touches several systems with conditional rules. The trade-off is a slightly higher learning curve, but with tutorials and the visual UI, many users (even non-developers) get the hang of it. If you enjoy tinkering and designing processes, Make can be a very powerful workflow automation software in your toolkit.
4. n8n – Open-source automation for developers and self-hosters
If you’re a developer or an advanced user looking for maximum control, n8n might be the workflow automation tool for you. Pronounced “N-eight-N,” n8n is an open-source, self-hostable automation platform. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of automation tools – very flexible, highly customizable, and you can run it on your own server. This makes n8n a bit different from the likes of Zapier or Make, which are primarily cloud services. With n8n, you have the option to use their cloud or just download it and run it yourself (which appeals to those concerned with data privacy or wanting to avoid subscription costs by hosting in-house).
n8n provides a low-code workflow editor that is surprisingly user-friendly, given its developer-oriented nature. It has a visual interface with nodes (similar to Make’s style) where each node is an integration or function. You connect nodes to build your workflow, which can be triggered by events, run on a schedule, or executed on demand. Out of the box, n8n comes with hundreds of integrations for popular services (like Slack, Google Sheets, Airtable, etc.), and since it’s open-source, the community frequently contributes new ones. And if something’s missing, you can create your own integration or custom function fairly easily, because you have access to the underlying code.
One of the biggest strengths of n8n is exactly that: extensibility. For developers, n8n is a dream because you can insert code where you need it. There’s a function node that lets you write JavaScript to transform data or implement custom logic. You can also call any API directly if an official integration isn’t available. Essentially, n8n gives you the building blocks to automate anything you want, without locking you into a proprietary ecosystem. You own your workflows and data, and you can version control them, share them, import/export, etc. Workflows in n8n are treated as first-class objects you can manage just like code.
Another advantage of n8n being self-hostable is control over your environment. You can run it on a small server or even a Raspberry Pi. Teams that have strict security or compliance requirements might prefer n8n because data doesn’t have to flow through a third-party cloud – you keep it within your infrastructure. For example, if you’re automating workflows that involve sensitive customer data or internal databases, n8n ensures you have full control over where that data goes.
From a workflow complexity standpoint, n8n can handle anything that Zapier or Make can, and possibly more, since you can extend it with code. It supports both real time triggers and scheduled triggers , and has all the usual nodes for branching, looping, etc. Recent updates have added integrations for popular AI services (OpenAI, etc.), so you can include LLMs (Large Language Models) in your flows if that’s something you need. In fact, n8n brands itself as “secure and AI-native” for technical people in some of its messaging.
So, who is n8n best for? Probably developers, DevOps folks, and other more technical users. If you love the idea of open-source software and want the ultimate flexibility to customize your workflow automation, n8n is a fantastic choice. It might be overkill for a non-technical user who just wants to connect Gmail to Slack (Zapier would suffice there), but for complex automations and complete ownership, n8n excells. Common use cases include building internal integrations that are very tailored to your business, setting up automation on private networks, or replacing bits of manual scripting with a maintainable workflow tool. This does come with added responsibility. You (or your IT team) will be maintaining the system if you self-host, and you’ll need to be comfortable with a bit of technical tweaking.
5. Relay.app – AI-assisted workflows and human-in-the-loop automation
Relay.app is one of the newer players in the automation space, and it distinguishes itself with a strong focus on AI-driven automation. The tagline for Relay could be “automation with AI assistants built in.” If that piques your interest, Relay.app might be worth a look – it’s designed to let you create simple workflows that incorporate AI steps (like using GPT-4 for text generation or analysis) and even build mini “AI agents” that can make decisions and perform tasks for you.
In terms of core functionality, Relay is a cloud-based workflow automation platform, somewhat comparable to Zapier or Make in that it connects different apps and lets you orchestrate tasks. It supports 100+ app integrations (including staples like Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Sheets, etc.). Where Relay really stands out is its AI features. There are a few notable ones:
Built-in AI Actions: Relay provides pre-built AI steps for common use cases like summarizing text, translating content, extracting data from text, or even browsing the web for info. These are ready-to-go actions where you just feed in your data (say, a block of text or an email) and get the AI-generated output which you can use in the rest of your workflow. For example, you could take an incoming email, have Relay summarize it, and then post the summary to a Slack channel – all automatically.
Custom AI Prompts: If the built-in actions don’t cover your needs, you can use a custom prompt step. This lets you call an AI model (like GPT) with your own prompt and define the expected output structure. It’s like having a flexible AI tool in the middle of your workflow – you could ask it to categorize text, generate a response, or do any task you can express in natural language.
AI Agents: Relay lets you create mini AI agents within your workflows. An AI agent in Relay is a sort of autonomous helper that can make decisions and trigger actions. You define an agent by giving it a role/instructions (for example, “You are a support agent that helps file tickets”) and specifying what actions it is allowed to take. Then during the workflow, the agent can decide which action(s) to execute based on the situation.
Another important feature of Relay.app is human-in-the-loop steps. Not everything should be fully automated, and Relay acknowledges that. It allows you to insert approval steps or manual checkpoints in the workflow. For instance, if an AI agent drafts an email or a summary, you could have a human review step where someone on your team gets to approve or edit the content before it continues. This is great for maintaining quality and trust when using AI – you’re not just letting an algorithm run wild; you have oversight where it matters.
The UI/experience of Relay is modern and user-friendly. You build workflows (they call them “playbooks”) with a visual editor, similar to other no code tools. You’ll add triggers (like “new row in Airtable” or “every day at 9am”) and then string together steps which can be app actions, AI steps, or human tasks. Relay provides the usual logic controls too (conditions, loops, etc.), so you can mix and match AI and non-AI actions freely.
Who is Relay.app best for? Probably teams or individuals who see a lot of potential in using AI to automate tasks. If you find yourself thinking, “I wish I could have an assistant to read these docs or handle these repetitive decisions,” Relay might be the answer since it essentially lets you create that AI assistant. For example, you could build a workflow to monitor incoming support emails, have an AI categorize or prioritize them, and then either respond automatically or assign to the right team – with humans only handling exceptions. Another example might be generating content: Relay could take data from one app, use AI to draft a report or social media post, then save it somewhere or even publish it, with minimal human input.
Because Relay.app is relatively new, its integration list (100+ apps) is smaller than giants like Zapier, but it covers many popular tools and is actively growing. And it can always incorporate other services via webhooks or API calls if needed. The main selling point is that it’s an AI-native automation platform built from the ground up to blend traditional automation with AI capabilities. It’s a bit like having Zapier plus an AI brain in one package. If that aligns with what you’re trying to do, give Relay a try for a very modern automation experience.
6. Bardeen – AI-native automation in your browser
Bardeen is a unique automation tool that takes a different approach from the others on this list. Bardeen is an AI-native workflow automation tool that operates as a browser extension (currently for Chrome). Its focus is on automating tasks directly in the browser, especially those involving web apps, and doing it with the help of AI. Think of Bardeen as a personal assistant living in your browser that can perform repetitive web tasks for you and even use AI (like GPT-4) to make those tasks smarter.
Because Bardeen runs in the browser, it’s particularly good at automating things like web scraping, data entry on websites, or connecting web apps together in ways that traditional API-based tools might not. For example, Bardeen can save information from a website directly to another app, click buttons or fill forms on a page. It’s like scripting your browser to do the work but in a user-friendly, no code way.
Bardeen integrates with 50+ popular web apps – services like Notion, Google Sheets, Twitter, Airtable, LinkedIn, etc. – essentially many tools that you might use in a browser daily. It also has an integration with OpenAI, meaning it can use ChatGPT to process text, generate content, or make decisions as part of a workflow. This is where the “AI-native” part comes in. Bardeen wasn’t originally just a dumb recorder of clicks; it’s built with AI in mind from the start.
One of Bardeen’s coolest features is the “Magic Box,” which is an AI-powered command bar. You can literally type what you want in plain English, and Bardeen will try to create the automation for you or suggest a relevant “playbook” (pre-built automation). For instance, you could type “Find emails on this page and save to Google Sheets,” and if it’s something feasible, Bardeen will either execute it or guide you to set it up. It’s a very futuristic way of building workflows – you describe the goal, and the AI helps put it together.
Bardeen provides a bunch of one-click prebuilt automations (they call them playbooks) for common tasks. These range from business use cases to personal productivity. Some examples:
Save all LinkedIn search results to a Google Sheet (useful for recruiting or lead generation).
Summarize a long article or a Reddit thread and save the summary to Notion.
Get key takeaways from a YouTube video and log them in a spreadsheet.
Periodically scrape a website for updates and send a Slack message if something changes.
All of this can be done with a few clicks using Bardeen’s playbooks, or you can customize and create your own. And because it’s running in your browser, you can trigger these automations while you’re surfing the web. It’s like having a little robot assistant at your beck and call: press a shortcut, run a Bardeen automation, and watch it do in seconds what might take you minutes or hours of clicking around.
Who is Bardeen best for? It’s great for individual professionals, growth hackers, or anyone who spends a lot of time doing web-based repetitive tasks. It’s also fantastic if you want to integrate AI into those tasks easily. Since Bardeen is a browser extension, it’s inherently a single-user tool (as opposed to something like Zapier, which is cloud-based and team-oriented). You use Bardeen to make your personal workflow more efficient: automate your browser chores, extract data, cross-post content, etc., without having to wait for a SaaS integration or IT department. It’s especially popular among people who do a lot of research or data gathering from websites. For example, a recruiter can use Bardeen to scrape candidate info from LinkedIn and add it to Airtable, with maybe an AI step to categorize skills – all with minimal manual effort.
Another advantage is that Bardeen can work even with apps that don’t have public APIs because it operates on the interface level (like a human would). This complements other automation tools nicely: if Zapier can’t do something because no integration exists, Bardeen might automate it through the front end. The trade-off is that, as a browser tool, it runs when your browser is running and logged in, etc., so it’s a slightly different use case than always-on server automations. But they do offer ways to run things in the cloud as well.
Overall, Bardeen is a unique and powerful addition to the automation landscape. It’s the epitome of “AI + automation” for end-users, letting you bypass a lot of grunt work. If you find yourself repeatedly copying info from one tab to another or doing the same sequence of clicks daily, Bardeen could save you a ton of time. And with the AI integration, it can even handle unstructured tasks like summarizing text or writing boilerplate content as part of the workflow. It’s like having a smart browser bot that just gets things done.
Build efficiency and connection into your work
There’s no need to copy and paste data or spend hours on mindless tasks. These tools all exist to make work faster, easier, and more effective for you and your team. With the increasingly powerful AI capabilities available, businesses should be taking intelligent automation seriously.
The good news is many of these tools offer free plans or trials, so you can experiment and even combine them. Use Bardeen in your Chrome browser, create internal apps in Glide, and use Zapier to connect with all your external services. They’re not mutually exclusive. What should guide you is finding whatever tool or combination of tools suits the needs of your business most effectively.
Ultimately, workflow automation software is all about eliminating manual effort in your processes. By investing a bit of time upfront to set up these automations, you’ll save time in the long run, reduce errors, and free yourself (and your team) to focus on more important work.
