Alternatives to Windmill
Scripts to workflows and internal apps
Windmill ranks #1 of 8 in Workflow automation, with an Alt Score of 96. It is licensed under AGPL-3.0, open source with paid hosting from $120/month and available on the web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Engineering and data teams building internal tools, workflows, and data pipelines who want to work in code rather than a proprietary low-code builder.
Windmill turns scripts written in TypeScript, Python, Go, Bash, or SQL into auto-generated UIs, APIs, and webhooks without extra frontend work. It provides a workflow engine for chaining scripts into DAGs, built-in scheduling (cron), and a low-code app builder for custom interfaces on top of your scripts. It's open-source and self-hostable, with role-based access control, execution logging, and no vendor lock-in.
You write or import scripts in the Windmill UI, CLI, or your existing Git repo; Windmill auto-generates a UI and API/webhook for each one. You then compose scripts into multi-step workflows, trigger them via schedules, webhooks, or the generated UI, and monitor runs through built-in logs and execution history.
Where Windmill stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave Windmill
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Workflow automation checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Workflow automation checklist | Windmill | n8n | Activepieces | Make | Node-RED | Pipedream |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Visual builder | ||||||
| Integrations count | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Code steps (JS/Python) | ||||||
| Webhooks & API triggers | ||||||
| Task limits (free) | ||||||
| Error handling & retries | ||||||
| Version control of workflows | ||||||
| AI steps built in | ||||||
| On-prem / EU hosting | ||||||
| Open source | ||||||
| Sub-flows / reusability |
Every fact and feature listed for Windmill is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License AGPL-3.0 verified 2026-07-10
GNU AFFERO GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 19 November 2007
https://github.com/windmill-labs/windmill/blob/main/LICENSE-AGPL -
Pricing model OSS + paid hosting verified 2026-07-10
Open source. Open pricing. No lock-in.
https://www.windmill.dev/pricing -
Platforms Web verified 2026-07-10
Self-host Windmill on your own infrastructure.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/advanced/self_host -
Status active verified 2026-07-10
v1.754.0
https://github.com/windmill-labs/windmill/releases -
Starts at $120/month verified 2026-07-10
$120/mo
https://www.windmill.dev/pricing -
Visual builder Yes verified 2026-07-10
Windmill's Flow editor allows you to build flows with a low-code builder.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/flows/flow_editor -
Integrations count Yes verified 2026-07-10
pick one of the 200+ resource types available on the
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/core_concepts/resources_and_types -
Self-hostable Yes verified 2026-07-10
Self-host Windmill on your own infrastructure.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/advanced/self_host -
Code steps (JS/Python) Yes verified 2026-07-10
Windmill supports scripts in TypeScript, Python, Go, PHP, Bash, C#, SQL and more.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/getting_started/scripts_quickstart -
Webhooks & API triggers Yes verified 2026-07-10
Each script and flow created in Windmill gets autogenerated webhooks.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/core_concepts/webhooks -
Task limits (free) Partial verified 2026-07-10
Self-hosted unlimited; paid cloud tiers metered.
Unlimited executions
https://www.windmill.dev/pricing -
Error handling & retries Yes verified 2026-07-10
Steps within a flow can be re-tried in case of error
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/flows/retries -
Version control of workflows Yes verified 2026-07-10
Git sync lets Windmill workspaces be tracked by git.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/advanced/git_sync -
AI steps built in Yes verified 2026-07-10
Windmill provides ways to have AI help you in your coding experience.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/core_concepts/ai_generation -
On-prem / EU hosting Yes verified 2026-07-10
For small setups, use Docker and Docker Compose on a single instance.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/advanced/self_host -
Open source Yes verified 2026-07-10
Open-source developer platform for internal code: APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs. Self-hostable alternative to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/windmill-labs/windmill/main/README.md -
Sub-flows / reusability Yes verified 2026-07-10
It is common to want to share common logic between your scripts. This can be done easily using relative imports in both Python and TypeScript.
https://www.windmill.dev/docs/advanced/sharing_common_logic
FAQ
Yes. Make, Node-RED and Pipedream have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
n8n, Activepieces and Node-RED — every license claim links its source.