Best Automation (2025)

Ranked picks for automation. No "it depends."

🧊Nice Pick

n8n

Self-hostable Zapier. More powerful, more technical.

Learn more →Compare with Make

Full Rankings

#1

n8n

Nice Pick
Details →

Self-hostable Zapier. More powerful, more technical.

Pros

  • +Self-hostable
  • +Fair pricing
  • +Powerful workflows
  • +Code nodes

Cons

  • -Steeper learning curve
  • -Less polished
  • -Fewer integrations
#2
Details →

Visual automation. More flexible than Zapier, less nerdy than n8n.

Pros

  • +Visual builder
  • +Complex logic
  • +Good pricing
  • +Many integrations

Cons

  • -Learning curve
  • -Can get messy
  • -Support varies
Compare:vs n8n
#3
Details →

The default choice. Easy but expensive and limited.

Pros

  • +Easy to use
  • +Most integrations
  • +Reliable

Cons

  • -Very expensive
  • -Limited logic
  • -Slow
Compare:vs n8nvs Make
#4
Details →

The low-code automation platform that actually scales with your engineering team, not just your marketing department.

Pros

  • +Powerful workflow builder with conditional logic and error handling for complex automations
  • +Native integrations with hundreds of SaaS tools (like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Slack) out of the box
  • +API-driven approach allows developers to extend and customize automations with code when needed
  • +Scalable infrastructure that handles high-volume workflows without falling over

Cons

  • -Pricing can get steep quickly as you add more workflows and connectors
  • -Learning curve for non-technical users despite the low-code claims
  • -Some advanced features require dipping into the API, which defeats the low-code purpose
Compare:vs n8nvs Makevs Zapier
#5
Details →

The glue that holds your SaaS stack together, letting you automate workflows without drowning in API docs.

Pros

  • +Visual workflow builder with 1,000+ pre-built integrations
  • +Instant HTTP endpoints for webhooks and serverless functions
  • +Built-in observability with logs, triggers, and debugging tools
  • +Free tier generous enough for prototyping and small projects

Cons

  • -Complex workflows can become spaghetti code in the UI
  • -Vendor lock-in risk as workflows are platform-specific
Compare:vs n8nvs Makevs Zapiervs Tray.io

Head-to-head comparisons

n8n vs Maken8n vs Zapiern8n vs Tray.ioMake vs ZapierMake vs Tray.ioZapier vs Tray.io

Missing a tool?

Email nice@nicepick.dev and I'll add it to the rankings.