Power Automate alternatives
Eleven tools people move to, what each is genuinely best at, and where each one runs out. We build one of them and say so.
Why people replace Power Automate
Power Automate is two products under one name, and people go looking for a replacement for different reasons depending on which one they hit. Cloud flows connect services in the trigger-action shape and are rarely the problem. Power Automate Desktop is where the searches come from: it records what you do in a Windows application or browser and replays it, which is how it reaches systems with no API, but a desktop flow runs on a Windows machine, yours while you watch it or one kept available for unattended runs. The single most telling thing in the search data is the modifier "for mac", which sits on the alternative queries in volume. Power Automate Desktop does not run there, and the people looking hardest are the ones it will not run for at all.
Every tool here is included because it is a real answer for someone, and the entry says who. Claritty is one of the eleven and is listed first because we built it, not because it wins every row. Where another tool is the better instrument, that is written down. Nothing here quotes a price, a connector count or a feature tally, because those change and a roundup that goes stale is worse than no roundup at all.
Claritty
AI workflow automation you describe rather than assemble. You write down the job in plain language, Claritty wires it into the tools you already use and runs it on a schedule or a trigger, and it stops for your approval before it does anything real.
Best for. Work that involves a judgment call, and work trapped in a system with no API. If the task is a clean if-this-then-that between two apps with good APIs, a trigger-action tool will do it with less machinery.
- You describe the outcome instead of drawing a graph of steps.
- A dry run shows what it would have sent before it sends it, and nothing writes, sends or pays until you approve it.
- Reaches tools with no API: record the task once, check the steps it wrote down, then it repeats them in a Claritty-run browser rather than yours. It keeps what you clicked and never what you typed.
- Credentials are brokered server-side, so no key is ever pasted into a step.
- Every run is recorded step by step, so you can see what it actually did.
- The integration catalog is smaller than the long-established trigger-action tools. A niche SaaS is more likely to have a Zapier connector than a Claritty one.
- The platform is hosted. If you need the automation engine itself inside your own network, look at the self-hostable options here. Clarity Studio runs locally, but it is the desktop app rather than the platform.
- It is a young product. The tools below have years of community answers, templates and third-party tutorials behind them.
- The free tier is metered rather than limited: three automations and five runs, taking real actions on your real data. Building your own app, as opposed to running automations, is the paid line.
- The browser recorder extension is not out yet. The automation runs today, but you get to it by describing the task rather than recording it, and Claritty builds the same thing.
n8n
A node-based workflow tool you can run on your own infrastructure. Workflows are built on a canvas, and any node can drop into JavaScript or Python when the visual step runs out.
Best for. Teams that need the engine inside their own network, and developers who want to drop into code mid-workflow. On both of those it beats Claritty outright.
- Self-hostable, so the data and the engine stay where you put them.
- Source-available, with a large community library of nodes.
- Code steps sit alongside visual ones, so an awkward transform does not become a dead end.
- Self-hosting is real operational work: upgrades, queue workers, and a database you own.
- You still design the workflow. The canvas is the unit of work, not the outcome.
- Its licence is source-available rather than OSI open source, which matters for some procurement reviews.
Zapier
The original trigger-action tool. Something happens in one app, something else happens in another, configured through a guided form rather than a canvas.
Best for. Breadth. It connects to more third-party applications than anything else in this list, Claritty included. If your automation hinges on one obscure SaaS, check Zapier first.
- The widest connector catalog of any tool here, by a distance.
- The gentlest learning curve of anything on this page.
- A very large body of templates and community answers for common jobs.
- You assemble the automation. Zapier connects steps you have already decided on.
- Branching and looping are possible but are not what the trigger-action shape is built around.
- A tool with no API and no connector is a dead end.
Make
A visual automation canvas. Scenarios are drawn as connected modules, with routers, iterators and aggregators for work that branches or runs over a list.
Best for. People who think visually and want to see the whole flow at once. For complex branching that you need to inspect and reason about on a canvas, Make is a better instrument than Claritty.
- Branching, iteration and aggregation are first-class rather than bolted on.
- The canvas makes a complicated flow legible in one view.
- Strong error-handling routes for scenarios that need them.
- The canvas is the work. A scenario with many modules takes real time to build and to change.
- Same API ceiling as any connector-based tool.
Activepieces
An open-source automation tool with a piece-based builder, designed to be self-hosted and extended in TypeScript.
Best for. Anyone whose requirement is genuinely open source rather than merely self-hostable. Claritty cannot meet that requirement at the platform level and this can.
- The core is MIT licensed, which clears procurement reviews that source-available licences do not.
- Self-hostable, with pieces you can write yourself in TypeScript.
- Active community contributing connectors.
- Open core, so the MIT licence covers the community edition and some enterprise features sit behind a commercial one. Check the specific feature you need is in the free half before committing.
- A smaller connector library than the established commercial tools.
- Self-hosting carries the same operational cost as any engine you run yourself.
UiPath
Enterprise robotic process automation. It drives desktop applications and browsers directly, with attended robots that work alongside a person and unattended ones that run on their own.
Best for. Desktop applications, not just browsers. If the system you need to automate is a Windows client rather than a web app, UiPath reaches places Claritty does not.
- Automates thick desktop software, not only the browser.
- Built for governed rollouts across many processes and many people.
- Mature tooling for orchestration, queues and exception handling at scale.
- Weight. It is an enterprise programme with an implementation behind it, not something you set up over a lunch break.
- Desktop automation is tied to machines you provide and maintain.
- Recorded UI paths are brittle when the underlying application changes.
Automation Anywhere
Cloud-native enterprise RPA, in the same tier as UiPath. Bots automate application interfaces, with central orchestration and audit.
Best for. Regulated environments that need central control, audit trails and role separation across a large bot estate.
- Cloud-native control plane for managing many bots.
- Governance and audit built for regulated industries.
- Reaches desktop applications as well as web ones.
- Enterprise procurement and implementation effort.
- Overpowered for a team automating a handful of recurring jobs.
Workato
An enterprise integration platform. Recipes connect business systems, with environments, versioning and role-based control around them.
Best for. Integration between large business systems under real governance. Its environment and release model is more mature than anything Claritty offers.
- Environments, versioning and promotion, so an integration ships like software.
- Deep connectors into major enterprise systems.
- Governance features built for IT to hand automation to business teams safely.
- Aimed at integration teams rather than the person who has the problem.
- Substantial commitment to adopt.
Zenphi
A no-code process automation tool built specifically around Google Workspace.
Best for. Organisations that live entirely in Google Workspace. Its handling of Workspace admin, Drive and Docs internals goes deeper than a general-purpose tool can.
- Google Workspace depth, including admin-level operations.
- No-code builder aimed at business users.
- Document generation and approval flows tuned to Workspace.
- Google Workspace is the centre of gravity. It reaches well beyond it, but the depth that makes it worth choosing over a general-purpose tool is the Workspace half, so picking it for a job with no Google in it is picking it for the wrong reason.
Axiom.ai
A browser automation extension. You build a click path in Chrome and it repeats it on the site, which is how it reaches web tools with no API.
Best for. Quick, self-directed scraping and form filling you want to set up yourself in an afternoon, with no platform underneath it.
- Low commitment. It is a browser extension, so there is very little to adopt.
- Reaches sites with no API, which most connector-based tools cannot.
- The click path is the automation, so a site redesign breaks it and you rebuild it.
- Built around a Chrome extension, so its reach is what Chrome can reach. A desktop application is out of scope in a way it is not for the RPA platforms here.
Bardeen
A browser-based automation tool with AI steps, aimed at individual knowledge workers automating their own repetitive browser work.
Best for. One person automating their own workflow, on their own machine, without asking anyone.
- Fast to start, with a library of ready-made playbooks.
- Works directly against the pages you already have open.
- Built around an individual rather than a team with shared approvals and audit.
- Extension-first, so what a run can reach is what your browser can reach.
Questions people ask
Is there a Power Automate alternative that works on a Mac?
Yes, and it is the most common reason people look. Power Automate Desktop is Windows only, so the flows that record and replay UI steps have no Mac equivalent inside Microsoft. Anything hosted works from a Mac because the automation does not run on your machine at all. Claritty runs the browser as a managed service, so the platform you sit at makes no difference. Zapier, Make and Workato are hosted for the same reason. The self-hosted options run wherever you put the server.
Which alternative handles a system with no API?
Most of this list cannot. Zapier, Make, n8n, Activepieces and Workato all need an API, an existing connector or a webhook, so a supplier portal without one is a dead end. The ones that reach a system with no API drive the interface directly: Power Automate Desktop itself, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Axiom, Bardeen and Claritty. The difference between them is what has to be running for it to happen and how badly it breaks when the site changes.
What is the closest replacement for Power Automate cloud flows?
Zapier or Make. Both are the same trigger-action shape, both are hosted, and both have large connector catalogs. Make is the closer fit if your flows branch or iterate; Zapier is the closer fit if you want breadth of applications and the shortest path to a working automation.
Do I have to keep a machine running?
That depends entirely on which of these you pick, and it is the question that separates them more than any feature. Power Automate Desktop, UiPath and Automation Anywhere all run on machines you provide. Axiom schedules its runs in its own cloud, so those do not need yours; Bardeen is extension-first and it varies by automation. Zapier, Make, Workato, Zenphi and Claritty are hosted, so nothing of yours has to be switched on. Self-hosting n8n or Activepieces means you own the server but not your laptop.
Which of these is open source?
Activepieces has an MIT licensed core, which is the one to look at if procurement requires genuine open source, though it is open core and some enterprise features are commercially licensed. n8n is source-available under a sustainable use licence, which is self-hostable but is not the same thing and is sometimes rejected on that basis. Everything else on this list, Claritty included, is a commercial hosted product. Clarity Studio, our desktop app, is MIT licensed and runs locally with your own keys, but it is not the platform.
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