# 5 best Workato alternatives for an embedded workflow solution (Features & pricing)

Workflows are everywhere. Just about every application you use offers 'workflows'. Building and managing a workflow solution will take months and cost over $100,000. Instead, companies use an Integration-Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) like Workato to embed workflow capabilities in their product.

In this guide, we'll breakdown the pros and cons of Workato, as well as 5 Workato competitors you can use to help bring workflows to your product.

Note: All pricing is accurate at the time of writing (March 23, 2023), but this is subject to change over time.

Workato review

With Workato, you can add an integration platform and automate your work with workflows. They also offer an embeddable solution so you can white-label the workflow builder and let your end-users use it within your product.

Workato is a large corporation with a lot of employees. They offer more than 400 SaaS apps and database integrations.

So what's the catch?

Workato is for workflow industry professionals and not your product's end-user. The solution is excellent for internal use, not external—a white-labeled embedded workflow system should be usable by everyday people.

First, Workato comes with a premium price tag. Compared to the other platforms we'll discuss in this guide, Workato is one of the most expensive options for this type of software. And I say this after building workflows for three such companies over my career as a software engineer.

Workato pricing

Workato pricing is not publicly shared. I've read that people pay $15-30K annually, and Capterra reports they start from $10,000 annually.

Here is a conversation about Workato’s pricing on Reddit:

Finally, Workato has a steep learning curve. Their product is complex and will require a devoted person or two in your company to learn their system.

If you're on the fence about Workato, here are five alternatives you can try.

5 best alternatives to Workato

1. Embed Workflow

Embed Workflow is an embedded workflow system with an API built for engineers and a UI component library built for products. Unlike Workato, Embed Workflow’s component library includes many components, like a form builder and an action timeline. Each is rendered natively without iframes, making them look and feel like your own.

Unlike Workato, there's no learning curve. Workato set out to build a solution for workflow industry experts, and they are trying to take that same solution and give it to everyone else.

We have eliminated all tech jargon and designed our interface so even a non-tech-savvy individual can use it.

Look at our workflow builder and see how easy it is to add a follow text message after a 45-minute delay.

Your engineers will be happy too. Adding the builder to your codebase is very easy and documented thoroughly, and with just a few lines of HTML, you have added the workflow builder to your product. For instance:

Here's a look at some of our users' favorite features:

Embed Workflow features:
• Embedded Workflow Builder
• Embedded Form Builder
• Unlimited Workflows
• Unlimited Forms
• Unlimited Users
• Spam Filtering
• Custom Branding
• Multi-Tenancy
• Free Testing Environment
• Free Onboarding
• Excellent customer support
• SMS integrations
• Email integrations
• Open AI integration
• White-Label

Embed Workflow pricing:
• Free plan including 1,000 actions
• $5 per 1,000 actions
• Enterprise: Volume discounts

Get your free Embed Workflow account now, or schedule a demo to see these features.

Or see more how we compare with Workato →

2. Appmixer

Appmixer is one of the better embeddable workflow solutions out there. They have been around since 2014, and their platform is robust. Similar to Embed Workflow, they offer native embedding via JavaScript UI SDK.

Their platform includes many built-in connectors, and they have designed a framework to build your own.

Appmixer features:
• Embedded Workflow Builder
• Unlimited Users
• Unlimited Flows
• Unlimited Connectors
• Custom domain (additional cost)
• Staging environment (additional cost)
• Support ticketing system
• OEM/White-Label

Appmixer benefits:
• Beautiful workflow builder
• Embedding via JavaScript SDK
• 7-day trial

Appmixer downsides:
• The cheapest plan starts at $900/month. Add-on costs may apply.
• It does not offer a form builder.
• Options are overwhelming.
• A big learning curve.
• Terminology is advanced and very industry specific. The end-user may need some onboarding to overcome the learning curve.

Appmixer pricing:
• Startup: ($899/month (100K actions) + $100 per 100K additional actions + staging env ($99) + custom domain ($59))
• Scaleup: $1399/month (700K actions) + $100 per 100K additional actions)
• Scaler: Custom

3. Cyclr

Here is a platform that offers both hosted and an on-premise solution. The on-premise solution may satisfy some enterprise requirements, and most SaaS and SMBs will elect for hosted.

Cyclr's advantage lies in its custom connector-building tools. You can build custom connectors with an iFrame or atop their API.

Cyclr features:
• Limited Connectors (3, 10, Custom)
• Unlimited Users
• 500K API calls per month ($85 per 100K additional)
• Embedded Marketplace Add-on ($299 per month)

Cyclr benefits:
• Offers 14-day free trial

Cyclr downsides:
• Rendered in an iFrame
• It does not offer a form builder.
• The cheapest plan starts at $1000/month. Excludes the embeddable Marketplace (additional $300/month)

Cyclr pricing:
• Startup: $999/month (500K actions) + $85 per 100K additional + Embedded Marketplace $299 + $100 per Connector
• Growth: $1899/month (700K actions) + $85 per 100K additional + Embedded Marketplace $299 + $100 per Connector
• Scale: Custom

4. Elastic.io

Elastic offers two types of solutions. A standard one is ideal for internal or single-user usage, and their cheapest standard plan is affordable yet limited. SaaS companies will likely need multi-tenancy, landing you on their Tenant-Access (OEM) product with custom pricing.

Elastic.io features:
• Limited Users (1, 2, Unlimited)
• Limited flows (4, 10, Unlimited)
• Limited Contracts/Tenants (1 per subscription)
• Resource Quote (0.5 GB Hr, 1.5 GB Hr, 2.5 GB Hr)
• Email + In-platform Support
• Training ($1525, $1525, $793)
• Professional Services (man/day) $1159

Elastic.io's Tenant-access (OEM) plan offers unlimited options for custom pricing. Anyone needing to embed workflows in their product users will fall into this category.

Elastic.io benefits
• 14-day free trial
• The cheapest plan is $243 / per month.

Elastic.io downsides:
• The cheapest plan is limited (4 flows and one user)
• Requires too much industry knowledge. Too industry specific.
• It does not offer a form builder.

Elastic.io pricing:
• Standard Small: $243/month (Limited Resources - no option for additional)
• Standard Medium: $609/month (Limited Resources - no option for additional)
• Standard Enterprise: $1219/month (Limited Resources - additional resources for custom pricing)
• Tenant-access (OEM): Custom

5. Tray.io

Tray.io started as just an iPaaS solution, and they recently extended their product to provide Embedded iPaaS features. They are a large team of at least 250 employees. Like Workato, they offer a wealth of features for internal automation that are great for enterprise teams.

Workflow automation experts will appreciate their builder, and non-experts will have some catching up when using their interface.

Tray.io features:
• Low-code workflow builder
• Webhooks
• Unlimited connector library access
• Boolean conditions
• Branches
• Loops
• Shareable workflows
• SSO (Team & Enterprise)
• HIPAA (Team & Enterprise)
• Log Streaming (Team & Enterprise)

Tray.io benefits:
• Workflows are priced by volume.
• Free trial

Tray.io downsides:
• It does not offer a form builder.
• Big learning curve. Projects group workflows and a project can launch a solution that can generate instances of those solutions. Admins must be the ones to create a solution before embedding it for the end user.
• Pricing not publicly available
• Similar to Workato: it targets larger enterprises with large IT budgets.

Not publicly shared

Find a suitable Workato competitor for you

Embed Workflow's free plan includes everything you need to get integrated and tested. Their standard plan is only a fraction of the price of competitors.

Appmixer offers an excellent workflow builder.

Tray.io and elastic.io have free trials.

Embed Workflow: Their plan is free and includes 1,000 actions per month. It only costs $5 per additional 1,000 actions.

Elastic.io: Very limited plan starts at $243/month (Tenant-access OEM pricing is custom)

Appmixer: Plans start at $899/month

Cyclr: Plans start at $899/month

Tray.io offers a wealth of additional products.

Even though Embed Workflow is priced for a startup, it is still an excellent fit for larger teams.

Embed Workflow will save your team the most money, require the least amount of resources to maintain, and offer the most uncomplicated end-user experience.

Sign up for your free account today to see how Embed Workflow can enhance your product.

We can't wait to see all the awesome things you make.