Platforms you can start without a sales call, with a published monthly price under $40. Ordered by overall score.
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The best process automation software for small businesses in 2026 is Make: the free plan gives 1,000 credits a month, and Core costs $12 a month billed annually for 10,000 credits, with unlimited users on every plan1. Teams that sign in with Microsoft work accounts get Power Automate cloud flows with standard connectors free2.
Gumloop ($37 a month) also meets this page's requirement and ranks below these five13. Lindy meets it for visitors shown $29.99 per user a month; its pricing page shows other visitors $49.9914. Both are on the AI agent shortlist.
Pick Best overall
Free plan with 1,000 credits and 2 active scenarios; Core at $12 a month billed annually covers 10,000 credits for unlimited users1. Pick it if you want one tool the whole team shares.
Price Free plan with 1,000 credits a month; paid plans from $12/mo billed annually for 10,000 credits (US price list)1
Pick Best on Microsoft 365
Cloud flows with standard connectors are free with work accounts; Premium at $15 per user a month, paid yearly, adds premium connectors and an attended robot on a registered PC23. Pick it if your processes run through Microsoft apps.
Price From $15 per user per month, paid yearly3
Full review of Microsoft Power AutomateVisit Microsoft Power Automate (opens the Microsoft Power Automate website)
Pick Best for many-step workflows
One execution covers a full run however many steps it has; Starter costs €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions, and self-hosting is free45. Pick it if someone on the team writes code or runs servers.
Price From €24 a month on n8n Cloud, or €20 billed annually4; the self-hosted Community edition is free5.
Pick Easiest to learn
Free plan with 100 tasks a month, a 14-day Professional trial with no payment method, and Copilot that drafts Zaps from plain language; Professional from $19.99 a month billed annually678. Pick it if nobody on the team has built an automation before.
Price Free plan with 100 tasks a month; paid plans from $19.99/mo billed annually for 750 tasks6
Full review of ZapierVisit Zapier (opens the Zapier website)
Pick Best for desktop robots
The free Community plan includes one unattended robot and allows internal commercial use for businesses under USD 5 million in revenue; self-serve Basic users cost $25 a month, in the Europe region only9101112. Pick it if a desktop app with no API holds up the work.
Price Free Community plan; paid licenses from $25 per user per month11
Full review of UiPathVisit UiPath (opens the UiPath website)
| Platform | Free plan | Paid plans from | How it bills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make | Yes: 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios1 | $12/mo billed annually, $16 monthly (Core, 10,000 credits, US price list)1 | Credits: most module actions use 1 credit; built-in AI features on Make's AI Provider use credits based on tokens15 |
| Microsoft Power Automate | Yes. Free license for work or school accounts, standard connectors only, no sharing2 | $15 per user/month, paid yearly3 | Users ($15 per user) and bots ($150 or $215 per bot); pay-as-you-go at $0.60 per cloud or attended run and $3.00 per unattended run163 |
| n8n | Yes: free self-hosted Community edition; Cloud has a free trial17 | €24 per month (€20 billed annually)4 | Workflow executions (one per full run, unlimited steps)4 |
| Zapier | Yes: 100 tasks a month, two-step Zaps, one user186 | $19.99/mo billed annually, $29.99 monthly (Professional, 750 tasks)6 | Tasks: each successful action step uses 1 task; triggers, filters, paths, formatter and loop steps use none19; AI by Zapier uses 1 to 5 tasks per AI step by model tier, with each AI tool call billed separately; MCP tool calls use 220 |
| UiPath | Yes, Community plan with 1 unattended robot9 | $25 per user per month (Basic User)11 | User licenses, robot licenses and Platform Units21 |
n8n's self-hosted Community edition is free if you run your own server5. Of the hosted plans, Make Core has the lowest published entry price on this list, at $12 a month billed annually1.
See the full ranking: Best process automation software in 2026