--- title: "Workato alternative: FlowRunner vs Workato" description: "FlowRunner vs Workato: published prices, a free plan, and AI agents and human-in-the-loop on every plan. Where each one is stronger, and how to choose." url: https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/workato date_published: 2026-11-02 date_modified: 2026-11-03T09:28:56-08:00 --- [Alternatives](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives) / Workato ![Workato logo](https://flowrunner.ai/assets/alternatives/workato.svg) # Workato alternative: FlowRunner vs Workato FlowRunner vs Workato: published prices, a free plan, and AI agents and human-in-the-loop on every plan. Where each one is stronger, and how to choose. 2026-11-02 Updated November 3, 2026 12 min ## Use FlowRunner when - You want to see the price before a sales call, and start on a free plan - AI agents and human approvals need to come with every plan, not a top edition - Approvals should reach people by email, Slack, WhatsApp, phone, or a Form - You need audit trails and RBAC at a listed price ($299 a month) - Your AI should run on your own provider keys, with no markup ## Use Workato when - A single run has to pause for longer than a year (Workato documents up to 732 days) - You need a Workato data center in China or a dedicated AWS VPC - Your procurement checklist names PCI-DSS Level 1 or NIST 800-171A attestations - Your recipes run Python snippets and you want that code to stay inside the workflow **TL;DR** - Start with what these two share: connecting business apps, running multi-step automations from triggers and schedules, AI agents, and approval steps that pause a run for a person. FlowRunner does all of that, on published prices, starting with a permanent Free plan. - FlowRunner puts every integration, AI agents on your own keys, and human-in-the-loop on every plan. Workato sells its editions by quote, includes Agent Studio in Workato ONE, and offers its Workflow apps approvals on specific plans. - FlowRunner counts one execution per complete run. Workato meters task consumption by capability, on contract terms it doesn’t publish. - Workato is stronger on longer pauses, where its cloud can run, its list of attestations, SSO and RBAC in its entry edition, and Python inside recipes. ## Who this comparison is for You run, or are about to buy, automation that connects the systems your business depends on: a CRM, an ERP, a ticketing tool, a finance stack. More of that work now involves an AI agent, and some of it needs a person to look before the agent acts. You might be on Workato and facing a renewal, or comparing the two before you sign anything. The overlap is large. Workato’s recipes connect apps, react to events, branch, loop, and call other recipes. FlowRunner flows do the same. What changes is how you buy it and what comes with the entry plan. On FlowRunner you can read every price, start free, and get agents and approvals on day one. This page is about where that matters and where Workato still has the edge. ## What FlowRunner is good at FlowRunner is built around agents that know when to stop and ask a person. An AI agent in a flow can call one of your own flows as a tool. That flow sends the question to a person by email, Slack, WhatsApp, phone, or a [Form](https://docs.flowrunner.ai/platform/forms.html), holds the run until they answer, and hands the answer back. The agent picks up where it stopped. This is [human-in-the-loop](https://flowrunner.ai/concepts/human-in-the-loop) as something the agent decides to do at runtime, not only a step placed in advance. FlowRunner is strong on: - **Prices you can read.** Free is $0 for 100 executions a month. Starter is $5 (300) or $15 (3,000). Growth is $45 (12,000), $89 (30,000), or $149 (60,000). Professional is $299 (75,000), Business is $999 (250,000), and Enterprise is a custom quote. - **One run, one execution.** An execution is one complete run, however many steps it has and however long it waits. - **Agents and approvals on every plan.** Every integration, AI agents with [BYOK](https://flowrunner.ai/concepts/byok), human-in-the-loop, and unlimited users and workflows come with every plan, including Free. - **Long waits.** A run can wait up to 30 days on Free, Starter, and Growth, and up to a year on Professional and above. - **Compliance at listed prices.** Audit trails and RBAC start at Professional ($299). SSO/SAML, SLA tracking, and HIPAA with a BAA come with Business ($999). - **A deep, agent-ready catalog.** 2,100+ integrations and 56,000+ callable actions (as of September 2026), roughly 26 actions per integration, each with the typed parameters and descriptions an agent needs to call it as a tool. ## What Workato is good at Workato describes itself as “the control & execution platform to govern AI, connect apps and data, and orchestrate workflows and agents.” It’s sold to IT teams that run integration as a program across a company, and its editions are organized around that. Workato is built for: - **Integration programs run by IT.** Recipes, API management, and event streams sit in one platform, and Workato meters each capability separately. - **Reaching systems inside your network.** On-prem agents (OPA) connect Workato’s cloud to databases and apps behind your firewall. - **Promoting recipes between workspaces.** Recipe lifecycle management packages and Environments move recipes from development to production. ## Where FlowRunner is stronger For a team that wants agents and approvals working this quarter, these are the differences that decide it: - **You can see the price.** Workato’s pricing page lists Standard, Business MCP, Enterprise MCP, and Workato ONE, each with “Get a quote,” and says plan structures “may vary based on your contract terms and when you joined.” FlowRunner’s prices are on the [pricing page](https://flowrunner.ai/pricing), from $0, and the plan you pick is the plan you get. - **A simpler meter.** Workato meters task consumption by capability, and also meters concurrency and on-prem agents. FlowRunner counts one execution per complete run, so adding a step to a flow doesn’t change what it costs. - **AI agents on every plan.** Workato’s pricing page places Agent Studio, Workato Knowledge Base, and Workato GO in Workato ONE, with Pre-Packaged Genies as an add-on. FlowRunner’s AI agents come with every plan, including Free, and run on your own provider keys with no markup on inference. - **Approvals on every plan, in the person’s own channel.** Workato’s Workflow apps handles requests and approvals through a web portal and public forms, and Workato says it’s available on specific pricing plans. FlowRunner’s human-in-the-loop is on every plan. An agent calls a review flow as a tool, the person answers by email, Slack, WhatsApp, phone, or a Form, and the agent carries on with the answer. - **Audit at a listed price.** Workato lists activity audit under Enterprise MCP, an edition priced by quote. FlowRunner’s audit trails and RBAC come with Professional at $299 a month, and the 14-day trial on signup is Professional, so you can try them before you pay. - **The catalog.** FlowRunner has 2,100+ integrations against the 1,200+ pre-built connectors on Workato’s pricing page. (Workato’s homepage cites 17,000+, a figure that also counts APIs, databases, files, and MCP servers.) Every FlowRunner integration is on every plan, and every action carries agent-tool metadata, so an agent can call any of the 56,000+ actions directly. ## Where Workato is stronger These are real, and if one of them decides your case, weigh it first. - **The longest pause.** Workato’s long actions can hold a job for up to 732 days in total. FlowRunner holds a run for up to a year on Professional and above. A year covers a full annual cycle, such as a renewal or a yearly review, and FlowRunner’s approval step comes with every plan rather than specific ones. - **Where the cloud runs.** Workato runs in several data centers, China included, and offers Virtual Private Workato on a dedicated AWS VPC. FlowRunner’s answer for data that has to stay on your own infrastructure is the self-hosted option on Enterprise, which runs FlowRunner itself inside your environment. Workato’s on-prem agents connect to your network, while the recipes still run in Workato’s cloud. - **The attestation list.** Workato holds SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, PCI-DSS v4.0.1 Level 1, and a NIST 800-171A attestation. If your checklist names one of those, check it first. For HIPAA, both sign a BAA. FlowRunner’s comes with Business at a listed $999 a month, while Workato doesn’t say which edition includes one. - **SSO and RBAC in the entry edition.** Workato includes SAML SSO, MFA, and RBAC from Standard. FlowRunner includes RBAC at Professional ($299) and SSO/SAML at Business ($999). Workato’s Standard has no published price, so the comparison is a quote against a number on a page. - **Python inside recipes.** Workato’s Python snippets connector runs Python code in a recipe. FlowRunner’s code steps are JavaScript ([Custom Cloud Code](https://docs.flowrunner.ai/reference/custom-cloud-code.html), with `fetch` for network calls), and npm packages run in [custom extensions](https://docs.flowrunner.ai/extend/index.html). Python code stays where it runs today, as a service a flow calls with an HTTP Request block. ## Starting free Workato has no free plan. Its pricing page offers a trial and doesn’t say how long it lasts or what it includes. FlowRunner has a permanent Free plan: 100 executions a month, every integration, AI agents on your own keys, human-in-the-loop, unlimited users and workflows, and 24 hours of log history. Every new account also gets 14 days of Professional with no card, so the trial covers audit trails and RBAC. When it ends, the workspace moves to Free and its flows keep running. Nothing is paused or deleted. ## Feature comparison | Dimension | FlowRunner | Workato | | --- | --- | --- | | Published prices | Yes, from $0 | No, every edition by quote | | Free plan | Yes, 100 executions a month, permanent, no card | No; trial of unstated length | | Trial | 14 days of Professional, no card, then Free | ”Start for free” trial, terms not stated | | Billing unit | Execution (one complete run) | Task consumption by capability, plus concurrency and on-prem agents | | Users | Unlimited on every plan | Unlimited workspaces and users | | Integrations | 2,100+ integrations, 56,000+ actions, every plan | 1,200+ pre-built connectors (pricing page) | | AI agents | Every plan, BYOK with no markup | Agent Studio in Workato ONE; Genies an add-on | | MCP | Agents use tools from registered MCP servers; FlowRunner Prompt to Flow lets AI tools build and run flows | Pre-built MCP servers and AI/MCP Gateway (Business MCP); App & Data MCP servers | | Human-in-the-loop | Every plan; an agent can call a review flow as a tool | Workflow apps, on specific pricing plans | | Where people answer | Email, Slack, WhatsApp, phone, or a Form | Workflow apps portal or public forms (as documented) | | Longest wait in one run | 30 days (Free, Starter, Growth); 1 year (Professional and up) | Up to 732 days (long actions) | | Code steps | JavaScript (Custom Cloud Code); npm in custom extensions | Python snippets connector, among others | | Run history visible in-app | 24 hours (Free, Starter) to unlimited (Enterprise) | Job logs kept 30 days (Standard), 90 days (Enterprise MCP) | | Audit trails | Professional ($299) and up | Activity audit in Enterprise MCP | | RBAC | Professional ($299) and up | From Standard | | SSO/SAML | Business ($999) and up | From Standard | | HIPAA / BAA | BAA on Business ($999) and up | Signs BAAs; edition not published | | Where it runs | FlowRunner cloud; self-hosted on Enterprise | Workato cloud (several data centers incl. China), Virtual Private Workato; on-prem agents for connectivity | ## Decision framework **Pick FlowRunner if:** - You want to know what you’ll pay before you talk to sales, and start on a free plan. - Your agents need to stop and ask a person, and you want that on every plan rather than a specific edition. - The people who approve work live in email, Slack, WhatsApp, or on the phone, or should answer through a Form. - You want audit trails and RBAC at $299 a month, and SSO and a BAA at $999, at listed prices. - You’d rather count whole runs than consumption by capability. - Your AI should run on your own provider keys. **Pick Workato if:** - A single run has to pause for longer than a year. - You need a Workato data center in China or a dedicated AWS VPC. - Your procurement checklist names PCI-DSS Level 1 or NIST 800-171A. - You need SSO in the entry edition and are buying through a quote either way. - Your recipes depend on Python snippets that should stay inside the workflow. ## Ready to move? Workato exports recipes as a package of JSON files, and FlowRunner Prompt to Flow can turn each recipe into a flow from one chat. The [migration guide](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/workato/migrate) covers the export, the request to paste, and what to finish by hand. If you’d like to talk it through first, [contact us](https://flowrunner.ai/contact). ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does Workato cost compared with FlowRunner? Workato doesn't publish prices. Its pricing page lists four editions (Standard, Business MCP, Enterprise MCP, and Workato ONE), each with a 'Get a quote' button, and meters usage as task consumption by capability, plus concurrency and on-prem agents. FlowRunner publishes every price: Free at $0 for 100 executions a month, Starter at $5 or $15, Growth from $45, Professional at $299, Business at $999, and Enterprise on a custom quote. One execution is one complete run, however many steps it has. ### Does Workato have a free plan? No. Workato offers a trial from its pricing page, and the page doesn't say how long it lasts or what it includes. FlowRunner has a permanent Free plan with 100 executions a month, every integration, AI agents on your own keys, human-in-the-loop, and unlimited users. New accounts also get 14 days of Professional with no card, and when the trial ends the workspace moves to Free and its flows keep running. ### Does Workato have human-in-the-loop approvals? Yes. Workato's Workflow apps adds request and approval steps that people answer in a web portal or a public form, and the 'Wait for user action' long action holds the job until they respond. Workato says Workflow apps is available on specific pricing plans. In FlowRunner, human-in-the-loop is on every plan, including Free. An AI agent can call a review flow as a tool, the agent waits, and the person answers by email, Slack, WhatsApp, phone, or a Form. The run picks up where it stopped. ### Are Workato's AI agents included in every edition? No. Workato's pricing page lists Agent Studio, Workato Knowledge Base, and Workato GO as part of Workato ONE, its top edition, with Pre-Packaged Genies as an add-on. FlowRunner includes AI agents on every plan, including Free. They run on your own provider keys, and you pay the provider directly with no markup. ### Is FlowRunner HIPAA compliant like Workato? Both sign a Business Associate Agreement. Workato acts as a Business Associate and signs BAAs, and it doesn't publish which edition includes one. On FlowRunner, the BAA comes with the Business plan, $999 a month, and up. Audit trails and RBAC start a tier lower, at Professional for $299. ### How many integrations does Workato have compared with FlowRunner? Workato's pricing page lists 1,200+ pre-built connectors. Its homepage cites 17,000+ apps, APIs, databases, files, and MCP servers, which counts more than connectors. FlowRunner has 2,100+ integrations and 56,000+ callable actions (as of September 2026), roughly 26 actions per integration, and every action carries the metadata an AI agent needs to call it as a tool. Every integration is on every plan. ### How do I move from Workato to FlowRunner? Export your recipes as a recipe lifecycle management package, a zip of JSON files. Then give one recipe at a time to FlowRunner Prompt to Flow in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or Cursor, and it builds the same workflow as a FlowRunner flow. Connections arrive as placeholders and credentials aren't exported, so you connect your accounts and test before switching over. The [step-by-step guide](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/workato/migrate) walks through it. ## Keep reading - [How to move from Workato to FlowRunner](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/workato/migrate) - [FlowRunner vs Tray.ai](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/tray-io) - [FlowRunner vs MuleSoft](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/mulesoft) - [FlowRunner vs Zapier](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/zapier) [All alternatives](https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives) By [Mark Piller](https://flowrunner.ai/about#mark-piller), Founder of FlowRunner [Editorial policy](https://flowrunner.ai/editorial-policy) > _I like that aspect of the human in the loop when it's needed. That's ultimately what we need to get to._ VP Operations, CPG brand --- Markdown version of https://flowrunner.ai/alternatives/workato. Site index: https://flowrunner.ai/llms.txt