Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows
Activepieces vs n8n vs Parseur
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Small teams who like how Zapier works but want to own their automations or avoid per-task pricing.
Pick it if: Teams that want full control of their data and automations, or anyone building AI agents on a budget who doesn't mind getting a bit technical.
Pick it if: Small businesses and operations teams that copy details from the same kinds of email or PDF into spreadsheets or other apps.
Overview
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | A Zapier-style automation builder that's open source and charges per run, not per step. | Build automations and AI agents on a visual canvas, then host them yourself for free. | Pulls data out of emails and PDFs into your spreadsheets and apps. |
| Pricing model | Open source | Open source | Freemium |
| Starting price | $20/mo flat | €20/mo | $49/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.0 | 4.5Winner | 4.1 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 5.0 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | – |
| Desktop app | No | No | – |
| Browser extension | No | No | – |
| API access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | Yes | Yes | – |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | – | Yes | – |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | Yes | Yes | No |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | – |
| Works in many languages | Yes | – | Yes |
| Capabilities score | 10/ 17 | 10/ 17 | 7/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free Small teams getting started, or anyone who will self-host. | Community Edition Free (self-hosted) Anyone comfortable running software on a server. | Free Free Trying it on a handful of documents. |
PlusOur pick $20/mo flat A small business running automations every day. | StarterOur pick €20/mo billed yearly A small business that wants n8n hosted for them. | Micro $49/mo, or $468/yr A small business with a trickle of documents. | |
Team $200/mo flat A larger team that needs SSO and roles. | Pro €50/mo billed yearly Teams running several business-critical workflows. | StarterOur pick $129/mo, or $1,188/yr Teams processing a few dozen documents a day. | |
Ultimate Custom Companies with heavy volume or strict security needs. | Business €667/mo billed yearly Larger teams that need SSO and version control, self-hosted. | Pro $499/mo, or $4,788/yr Operations teams with high volume. | |
Enterprise Custom Companies that need an SLA and dedicated support. | Enterprise Custom Very high volume or custom contract terms. | ||
| Which plan to pick | The Free plan is unusually generous, so start there. Move to Plus when you want monthly credits instead of a daily cap and the option to use your own AI keys. Self-host only if someone on the team is happy running a server. | If you have anyone technical on hand, self-host the Community Edition on a small server and pay nothing. Otherwise Starter on the cloud is the right place to begin, and 2,500 executions covers a lot when each run of a long workflow counts as one. | Use Free to prove it can read your documents, then pick the plan that matches your monthly page count. Starter is where the cost per page becomes reasonable; yearly billing knocks roughly a quarter off. |
Key features
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
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Pros and cons
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Activepieces | n8n | Parseur |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Activepieces, n8n or Parseur?
n8n scores highest overall in our ratings (Activepieces 4.0/5, n8n 4.5/5 and Parseur 4.1/5). Activepieces is best for zapier-style automations on a budget and Giving AI assistants access to your apps. n8n is best for AI agents that act on email or chat and self-hosted automation. Parseur is best for order and booking emails into a spreadsheet and lead notification emails into a CRM.
Which is cheaper, Activepieces, n8n or Parseur?
Activepieces: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo flat. n8n: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at €20/mo. Parseur: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/mo.
Which is easier to use, Activepieces, n8n or Parseur?
Parseur rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Small businesses and operations teams that copy details from the same kinds of email or PDF into spreadsheets or other apps.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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