Learn about Activepieces: An open-source alternative to Zapier and n8n that's better than expected.

Automation tools like Zapier and n8n dominate discussions when it comes to workflow automation. They're easy to use and allow anyone to connect with their favorite applications without writing a single line of code. But recently, a formidable, powerful, and surprisingly useful competitor has emerged, despite only appearing since 2023 — Activepieces .

It's fantastic to have another automation tool that convincingly combines ease of use, flexibility, and transparency. This makes it a serious alternative to the established giants in the automation field.

Activepieces are built for people who want to skip writing code entirely.

Activepieces aims to help you build flows as quickly as possible.

Similar to Zapier, Activepieces offers a drag-and-drop interface where you can build flows by linking triggers and actions. Flows are essentially sequences of automated actions triggered by events. However, unlike Zapier, Activepieces is completely open source, meaning you can inspect its code, contribute to its development, and even host it yourself.

Compared to n8n, another open-source automation tool, Activepieces seems more accessible to beginners. It has a more streamlined interface, prioritizing simplicity over complexity.

n8n is technically too complex in some cases. For example, connecting a Gmail account to a trigger or action proves difficult when setting up email management automation. It requires you to go into the Google Cloud Console and adjust several settings. That's something the average user would find hard to figure out on their own. In Activepieces, you can connect your Google account with just a few clicks.

Activepieces is powerful enough to handle complex flows but intuitive enough that non-technical users can start building flows within minutes. This combination of accessibility and openness is what attracts attention among the many automation tools available.

Install Activepieces locally using Docker.

Docker is the easiest way to get started. 

To test it yourself, install Activepieces using Docker . This ensures you can run Activepieces on your own computer, where you have full control over the data and environment. This method is best for personal testing because it runs a single instance on one machine.

Note : If you want to run multiple instances of Activepieces (for example, in a production environment), you need to use Docker Compose.

To install Activepieces in Docker, open Windows PowerShell (you can use other terminals like Command Prompt or Git Bash). Then, enter the command below to download and launch the latest version:

docker run -d -p 8080:80 -v ~/.activepieces:/root/.activepieces -e AP_REDIS_TYPE=MEMORY -e AP_DB_TYPE=SQLITE3 -e AP_FRONTEND_URL="http://localhost:8080" activepieces/activepieces:latest

There are several important environmental variables to understand here.

1. AP_REDIS_TYPE=MEMORYSet Activepieces with Redis, an open-source data structure server, to Memory mode. This means that Redis data will be stored in memory (also known as RAM or temporary memory) and will be discarded when the container restarts.
2. AP_DB_TYPE=SQLITE3Set up SQLite as the database.
3. AP_FRONTEND_URL="http://localhost:8080"This tells Activepieces that it should use the specified web address to access its interface.

Tip : If you want to know all the environment variables you can use, you can check the Environment Variables page on the Activepieces website .

Once the container is set up and running, open http://localhost:8080 in your browser and log in to Activepieces. From there, you can start creating your automated flow.

Setting up an automated flow in Activepieces is quick and easy.

To test this, the author set up an automated process that retrieves all events from Google Calendar for the day. It then sends an email summarizing what the author is about to attend.

The automated flow begins with a Schedule trigger , launching an automated process each day at 6 AM. Next, the Get Current Date action takes today's date, and the Add/Subtract Time action adds 12 hours to it using the simple expression +12hour . Then, the Get all Events action retrieves all events from 6 AM to 6 PM — based on input from the two previous actions — in Google Calendar.

Note : Please check the automated flow after each step to verify the output. This ensures the process will run as expected.

Now, the interesting part is this — it's possible to add a Generate Content action to Gemini. The author wrote a prompt asking it to list the events returned by the Get all Events action , along with their start times. A more verbose approach would be to combine a series of actions that iterate through all the events and build a summary one by one. Using Gemini is much easier.

Note : You can generate Gemini API keys in Google AI Studio. The biggest reason to choose Gemini is the free daily AI credits.

Finally, use the Send Email action for Gmail and insert the content generated by Gemini into the body.

Activepieces is rapidly becoming a favorite workflow automation tool.

Activepieces stands out because it offers a clean and intuitive experience for an open-source and self-hosted solution. After testing, it can be confirmed that it is very practical for everyday use. The Docker setup ensures easy testing without limitations. Activepieces is recommended for anyone looking for a lightweight yet powerful automation platform. It has outstanding capabilities and is truly worth considering.