The best AI agents and automation tools in 2026

The best AI agents and automation tools right now are n8n, Zapier and Make, out of 7 we have reviewed. Each is ranked by our rating, with its price, our verdict and who it suits.

Updated Oct 23, 2026 · Ranked from our reviews · How we review

1. 1
   N

   n8n

   For a team with an engineer to spare, n8n is the cheapest serious automation platform there is, and self-hosting it costs nothing but a server and some patience.

   Best for: Technical teams that run many or complex automations, or need to self-host.

   Price: Free self-hosted Community Edition; Cloud Starter €20/month (2,500 executions) and Pro from €50/month (10,000 executions), billed yearly; Business €667/month (40,000 executions, self-hosted, 50% off for start-ups under 20 staff); Enterprise custom.

   Read our n8n review
   4.6/5
2. 2
   Z

   Zapier

   Zapier still wins on reach and ease, and charges for both: the per-task bill is the price of never having to host anything.

   Best for: Small teams and non-developers who want to connect common business apps quickly.

   Price: Free (100 tasks/month); Professional from $19.99/month billed yearly ($29.99 monthly) for 750 tasks; Team from $69/month yearly for 2,000 tasks and 25 users; Enterprise custom. Agents billed separately.

   Read our Zapier review
   4.5/5
3. 3
   M

   Make

   Make gives the most visual control per dollar in hosted automation, provided someone keeps an eye on what the AI modules are spending.

   Best for: Ops teams and freelancers who build complex visual workflows and care about cost.

   Price: Free (1,000 credits/month); Core $9/month, Pro $16/month, Teams $29/month for 10,000 credits billed yearly; monthly billing costs more; Enterprise custom.

   Read our Make review
   4.4/5
4. 4
   M

   Manus

   Manus finishes an afternoon of tab-switching research better than most agents, but you are buying an unpredictable meter from a company whose ownership is still unsettled.

   Best for: Researchers, analysts and founders who want an agent to deliver finished research and documents.

   Price: Free (300 credits/day, 1 task at a time); Pro from $20/month for 4,000 credits or $40/month for 8,000, with larger tiers and 17% off yearly; Team from $20/seat/month or $200/seat/year with 4,000 pooled credits per seat; SSO $150 extra under 30 seats.

   Read our Manus review
   4.1/5
5. 5
   L

   Lindy

   Lindy is a capable assistant for inbox and meeting admin, but its seat rules mean a single @mention in Slack can put a colleague on the bill.

   Best for: Founders and small teams in Slack and Google Workspace who want shared help with email, scheduling and meeting follow-ups.

   Price: Free trial: $50 in credits for 7 days. Team from $49.99 per active user/month for 5,000 pooled credits, with larger credit tiers; top-ups $10 per 1,000 credits. Enterprise custom (HIPAA BAA, SSO, SCIM, audit logs).

   Read our Lindy review
   4.0/5
6. 6
   G

   Gumloop

   Gumloop lets operations and sales staff build useful agents on company data, provided someone reads the credit maths and the self-serve training clause first.

   Best for: Ops, sales and marketing teams that want to build AI agents on company data without engineers.

   Price: 14-day Pro trial; Pro from $37/month for 20,000 credits; pay-as-you-go $0.005 per credit (off by default); 8% orchestration fee, 16% with own model keys; Enterprise custom.

   Read our Gumloop review
   3.8/5
7. 7
   R

   Relevance AI

   A capable multi-agent platform for sales and operations teams with a procurement process, sold in a way that shuts out anyone who wants to test it first.

   Best for: Mid-size and large sales or operations teams that want a supported multi-agent rollout.

   Price: Enterprise only on the public pricing page, priced by sales with custom Actions and vendor credits; the free, Pro ($19/month) and Team ($234/month, yearly) plans were removed in mid-2026.

   Read our Relevance AI review
   3.6/5