If you’ve been following the AI boom, you’ve likely noticed there are a few different types of tools that let you harness artificial intelligence in various ways. Some of them (like ChatGPT or Claude) are chatbots that you can have conversations with, do research, and get on-demand answers. Others are in-product copilots, like GitHub Copilot or Notion AI, that help you complete tasks within a product faster. But the most exciting category, in our view, is the budding new class of AI automation tools. They work on your behalf as you sleep and take care of all of the mundane, repetitive tasks in your business.
But there are lots of them! And what’s more — new categories are already emerging within this group of tools. So we wrote this guide to dive into the ten best, grouped by primary use case, to help you choose the one that’s right for you. Whether you're a business owner looking to simplify your operations or an enterprise team aiming to scale your processes, chances are you’re going to want to use at least one of these tools.
We'll start with a brief overview of what to look for in an AI automation tool, then walk through how to evaluate the emergent categories in this space, and finally dive into our top tool picks.
What to look for in an AI automation tool
The main goal of an AI automation tool is to save you and your team time, money, and increase your productivity — but you have to pick the tool that’s the right match for your use case and has all of the capabilities you need.
Let's quickly outline what makes a great AI automation tool:
- Ease of use: A Ph.D. in computer science or an encyclopedic user manual isn’t needed to start building powerful, automated workflows.
- AI capabilities: Advanced AI features like natural language processing and automated web browsing are native to the platform, and you can easily switch between multiple different models.
- Integrations: Connections to your existing tools and platforms are a breeze and new integrations are consistently being added.
- Customization: It’s flexible enough to handle more niche, specific use cases for your business without hacky workarounds, for example, by incorporating your internal knowledge base
- Scalability: Grows with your company. You won’t have to jump to a new platform in a few months or years as your task volume increases or you add more members to your team.
- Cost: Doesn’t break the bank to automate all of your tasks and workflows.
Not every AI automation tool will check all the boxes in this list, but these bullets provide a helpful high-level framework for evaluating these tools.
In addition to these general requirements, new categories are emerging within this space that cater to specific business needs.
The right category of tool for you depends on your specific automation needs, the scale of your operations, and your team's technical capabilities. Let’s dive into each category briefly.
🔀 AI-integrated workflow automation tools
These no-code tools are designed to connect a wide range of apps and automate complex workflows at scale — with AI capabilities available at every step. You might already be familiar with tools like Zapier and Make, but there are a host of new workflow builders developed with AI at their core that expand the definition of what’s possible with no-code workflow automation.
Unlike standalone AI tools, which focus on specific verticals, industries, and tasks, AI-integrated workflow automation tools offer a more comprehensive and flexible option.
You might want to look for a tool in this category if:
- Seamless integrations are important to your business and you want to seamlessly connect a wide range of apps
- You’re looking to automate complex workflows and need a more comprehensive and flexible option compared to more narrow-focused AI solutions
- Having robust, advanced AI actions powered by a library of the top AI models, which you can easily swap in and out, is needed
- Automation at scale is important — you’re looking to streamline a high volume of tasks and workflows
🧑💼 AI agent platforms
AI agent platforms let you create intelligent assistants that can autonomously complete tasks, make decisions, and interact with various systems on your behalf. Unlike traditional automation platforms, which are task- and rule-based, AI agent platforms are built to handle ongoing, adaptive processes that require continuous learning, complex reasoning, and human-like tasks.
They are ideal for businesses that want to delegate entire processes or interactions to an AI agent rather than relying primarily on rule-based automations.
You might want to look for a tool in this category if:
- You need an AI-powered agent that can autonomously make decisions and take actions without constant human oversight
- You want to integrate AI into more ambiguous workflows where adaptability and dynamic responses are helpful
- You're looking to enhance customer engagement, sales, or virtual assistant tasks where AI agents capable of learning and improving over time are valuable
🌐 Browser-based AI assistants
Browser-based assistants are AI-powered tools that live within your web browser and help automate tasks across your open tabs. These assistants allow you to streamline repetitive actions, data entry, and other simple task-based automations without switching between different applications.
They are especially useful if you want to automate tasks like filling out forms, extracting data, or writing communication without leaving your web browsing experience.
You might want to look for a tool in this category if:
- You spend a lot of time copying/pasting data across tabs in your browser and need to automate tasks like data entry or collection
- You're looking for a simple, lightweight solution that integrates with your browsing experience without heavy setup or extensive app integration
- You need real-time AI-powered assistance for tasks like scraping data, writing emails, or updating applications
📚 Enterprise knowledge management tools
Enterprise knowledge management tools are designed to help you efficiently organize, retrieve, and leverage critical information across various data sources.
Unlike traditional knowledge management systems that rely on manual input and static information repositories, AI-powered knowledge management tools continuously update and intelligently process information from your data sources, making it easier for your teams to harness your business’s most relevant data in real time.
These tools are ideal for teams managing complex information workflows across departments.
You might want to look for a tool in this category if:
- You need to centralize your organization's knowledge and make it easily accessible to all team members
- You want to automate the discovery, categorization, and retrieval of information without relying on manual processes
- You're looking to improve collaboration and decision-making by ensuring that the most accurate and up-to-date information is always available
- You need to streamline information management at scale, especially for teams or enterprises handling large volumes of data and documentation
Now that you have a better understanding of the AI automation landscape, let's dive into our list of the 10 best AI automation tools for 2024.
The 10 Best AI Automation Tools of 2024
Here's a quick summary of the complete list:
AI-integrated workflow automation tools
1. Relay.app: The most modern and easiest-to-use AI-integrated workflow automation tool with the best support for AI and human-in-the-loop workflows.
2. Zapier: The largest integration provider with over 7,000+ connected apps, offering select AI model integrations for enhanced workflow automation.
3. Gumloop: A powerful AI-first platform for automating complex, data-intensive workflows, such as SEO blog post generation and invoice processing.
AI agent platforms
4. Lindy: A versatile AI agent platform enabling the automation of human-like business processes across various functions.
5. Respell: A customizable AI agent platform with a sales and marketing focus, supporting workflows like web research and content creation.
Browser-based assistants
6. Bardeen: An AI-powered browser extension designed to automate repetitive browser tasks, from web scraping to data entry.
7. Magical: A lightweight AI assistant that automates data entry and messaging across multiple platforms directly from your browser.
Enterprise tools for knowledge management
8. Cassidy: An AI-powered tool for creating custom knowledge-based assistants and simple workflows to streamline processes like customer support and sales.
9. Stack AI: An enterprise-focused platform for retrieval augmented generation (RAG) workflows, automating knowledge base interactions and document analysis.
10. Taskade: An AI-enhanced collaboration tool that automates project management and team workflows across shared workspaces.
AI-integrated workflow automation tools
1. Relay.app
🏆 Best for: All-in-one, easiest-to-use workflow automation tool with free, built-in AI tools and human-in-the-loop capabilities for streamlining both simple and complex processes
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 1 user account, 200 steps, and 500 AI credits per month.
Relay.app is the easiest-to-use AI-integrated workflow automation tool and sets the new standard for AI automation in three ways:
1. It has the best selection of actions and tools to make AI actually useful, with the widest range of built-in AI actions, from extraction to translation to text-to-speech to mini agents. Simple tasks are easier than any other tool, but there’s also the flexibility that power users need.
2. Relay.app’s flexible human-in-the-loop steps ensure you stay in control. AI isn’t perfect for everything — you can add a human in the loop to your automations for cases where you want to review the AI’s work first.
3. AI is built-in, for free. No need to juggle multiple AI model provider accounts or pay-to-play. It’s all built in and you can try for free in just a few clicks. No matter whether you prefer Claude 3.5, GPT-4o or another model.
Pros
✅ Easiest-to-use workflow automation tool
✅ Pre-built AI actions for tasks like data extraction from emails and websites, content summarization, audio transcription, and text translation — plus flexible AI agent and custom prompt steps
✅ Supports all major models across all AI actions (including GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 1.5 Pro) and doesn’t require you to connect your existing OpenAI/Anthropic API account
✅ Free AI credits in every plan to use with any AI action and most models
✅ Human-in-the-loop steps to add manual reviews or data inputs into AI-driven workflows
Cons
❌ Number of integrations. As a newer player, Relay.app doesn’t have as many integrations as some of the older incumbents yet.
Pricing
Prices for the plans below from Relay.app are when billed annually:
1. Professional: $9 per month. For individuals. Includes 10k steps, 1,000 AI credits per month, and email support.
2. Team: $59 per month. For teams. Includes 25k steps 2,000 AI credits per month, and email support.
3. Enterprise: Custom pricing. For organizations with custom requirements. Includes unlimited users, unlimited steps, custom integrations, and a dedicated Slack channel.
2. Zapier
🏆 Best for: Expansive app integrations and deploying AI across multiple UIs, including chatbots, interfaces, and browser extensions
🔬 Free Tier: Automate basic workflows with 100 tasks per month.
Zapier is a well-established player in the automation space, known for its ability to connect over 7,000+ apps and automate workflows between them. It’s a great solution for businesses looking to automate tasks across a multitude of platforms.
With recent product additions of a custom AI chatbot builder, AI workflow actions, and an AI browser extension, it aims to be an all-in-one, no-code AI automation solution. However, as it's not an AI-first platform, many of its AI integrations are more complex to set up with less flexibility.
Pros
✅ The most extensive integration library, supporting over 7,000+ apps
✅ A suite of AI offerings including AI chatbot builders, AI workflow actions, and AI browser extensions
✅ A premier testing and debugging suite of tools compared to newer entrants in the space
✅ Comes with Zapier Tables and Interfaces for teams looking to build internal apps
Cons
❌ Not able to easily switch between multiple AI model providers within the same automation step
❌ Does not have native AI actions — you’re required to set up and connect an OpenAI/Anthropic API account for AI actions
❌ You can’t test AI actions for free, as you’ll always pay API fees for AI actions
❌ It’s a more expensive tool compared to most, with many of its more advanced features and integrations locked behind higher-tier paid plans
Pricing
The below plans from Zapier are billed annually:
1. Professional: $19.99 per month. Automate advanced workflows with the full power of Zapier. Includes 750 tasks per month.
2. Team: $69 per month. Build and manage automated workflows with your team. Expands to 2,000 tasks per month.
3. Enterprise: Custom pricing. Scale automation across multiple departments. Adds on advanced admin permissions and app controls, SSO, and designated technical support.
3. Gumloop
⭐ G2: No reviews
🏆 Best for: Automating complex data processing workflows, like generating batches of SEO-optimized blog posts from marketing strategies
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 1,000 credits with 2 concurrent list steps.
Gumloop is a no-code platform designed to automate complex workflows using AI-powered actions. The platform is highly versatile, supporting a wide range of integrations with popular business applications like HubSpot, Slack, Linear, and more.
It differentiates itself by enabling programming-like functionality (e.g., looping, parallel sub-processes) and many pre-built advanced AI actions within its workflow builder. It's great for more technical teams looking to automate their processes quickly and efficiently, but due to its complexity, has a steeper learning curve than other tools.
Pros
✅ Pre-built AI actions, including extracting data, summarizing content, web browsing, and more
✅ Easily switch between multiple AI model providers within the same automation step
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI/Anthropic API account — with credits to test AI actions in the free tier plan
✅ Extensive pre-built nodes to enable complex code-like actions, including a custom STMP email sender, web scraper, and SQL writer
✅ Supports parallel execution of sub-workflows, speeding up processing times and enabling highly complex workflows
Cons
❌ There is a steep learning curve to build workflows in the tool
❌ Number of integrations. As a newer player, Gumloop doesn’t have as many integrations as some of the older incumbents yet.
❌ Very expensive relative to other tools in this category
Pricing
The below plans from Gumloop are billed monthly:
1. Starter: $97 per month. Starts at 30,000 credits with 5 concurrent list steps.
2. Pro: $297 per month. Expands to 75,000 credits with 15 concurrent list steps.
3. Enterprise: Custom pricing. Adds custom node creation, 24/7 on-call support, and custom data security rules.
AI agent platforms
4. Lindy
⭐ G2: No reviews
🏆 Best for: Custom AI assistants that can autonomously manage human-like workflows like calendar management and email triage
🔬 Free Tier: Includes up to 400 Tasks and 1M character knowledge base
Lindy is an advanced AI-powered virtual assistant and workflow builder, designed to enhance productivity by automating a wide range of tasks across various job functions.
Whether you’re a sales rep, HR partner, or in an executive role, Lindy is a great option for handling tedious tasks such as calendar management, email drafting, note-taking during meetings, sales outreach, and more.
Pros
✅ Allows you to set up complex automations using natural language commands
✅ Supports over 3,000 integrations within an easy-to-use interface
✅ Includes a chat interface for human-in-the-loop intervention and messaging
✅ Easily switch between multiple AI model providers within the same automation step
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI/Anthropic API account — with credits to test AI actions in the free tier plan
Cons
❌ Less advanced workflow logic options compared to some competitors
❌ Does not have pre-built AI actions — you’re required to write prompts for all AI actions
❌ Less extensive AI model provider options
Pricing
The below plans from Lindy are billed monthly:
1. Pro: Starts at $29.99 per month. Includes up to 3,000 tasks, 20M knowledge base character indexing, and premium actions.
5. Respell
⭐ G2: No reviews
🏆 Best for: Agentic sales and marketing use cases like web research, lead qualification, and generating social posts and blogs
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 1 builder license and 125 tasks per month.
Respell is an agentic AI workflow platform designed to make it easier for businesses and individuals to create custom AI-powered workflows, known as "Spells," in an easy-to-use interface.
Due to its focus on agentic research and data enrichment workflows, it’s a powerful tool for sales, marketing, and HR teams looking to automate workflows like web research, social media post creation, and CRM data enrichment.
Pros
✅ Pre-built AI actions, including extracting data, summarizing content, web browsing, and more
✅ Easily switch between multiple AI model providers within the same automation step
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI/Anthropic API account — with credits to test AI actions in the free tier plan
✅ Extensive library of workflow templates focused on sales, marketing, and content workflows, like transforming blog posts into social media posts
✅ Human-in-the-loop steps to add manual reviews or data inputs into AI-driven workflows
Cons
❌ Less advanced workflow logic than competitors
❌ Less integrations than other tools, with most app integrations in the sales, marketing, and customer experience verticals
Pricing
The below plans from Respell are billed annually:
1. Starter: $14.99 per month. For power users who need advanced automations. Expands to 3 builder licenses and 750 tasks per month.
2. Pro: $49.99 per month. For teams building AI automations across the organization. Increase to unlimited builder licenses and 2,000 tasks per month.
3. Business: Custom pricing. For companies with high-volume workflows. Provides unlimited builder licenses and uncapped tasks per month.
Browser-based AI assistants
6. Bardeen
🏆 Best for: Automating workflows from browser actions, like scraping unstructured data from a website article and storing it in a Google Sheet
🔬 Free Tier: Includes unlimited non-premium playbooks/autobooks actions, unlimited proactive automation suggestions, and two weeks of free access to the Pro plan.
Bardeen is an AI-powered Chrome extension designed to streamline repetitive tasks and enhance productivity by automating workflows across various web applications, especially those open in your browser.
Bardeen's data enrichment and web scraping tools make it particularly useful for professionals who need to automate sales, marketing, and recruiting tasks.
Pros
✅ AI-powered automation suggestions and a simple, straightforward workflow builder to make setting up workflows easier
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI API account
✅ Extensive web browsing automation options, enabling actions like in-context web scraping, screenshotting, and executing actions on open web pages
✅ Data enrichment actions for company and contact data
Cons
❌ Less extensive pre-built AI actions, limited AI model provider selection and logic settings, and no ability to switch between AI models within an action step
❌ More limited app integration library compared to other automation tools
❌ Unable to test AI actions and many app integrations within the free plan
Pricing
The below plans from Bardeen are billed annually:
1. Professional: Starts at $10 per month. Includes 500 credits, generative AI actions, CRM integrations, and advanced scraping.
2. Business: Starts at $15 per month. Includes 500 credits, flexible user administration, admin analytics dashboard, teamwide automations, and onboarding & training.
7. Magical
🏆 Best for: Individuals looking to speed up data entry and content creation, like auto-drafting email communication and adding data to various SaaS platforms
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 600 monthly text expansions, 100 monthly workspace automations, and unlimited template storage.
Magical is a productivity-focused tool designed to automate repetitive tasks, particularly those involving writing and data entry. It functions primarily as a Chrome extension and integrates with a wide array of platforms, including Google Docs, Slack, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Zendesk.
The tool focuses on allowing you to quickly generate and send messages, fill out forms, and streamline data entry tasks with just a few keystrokes.
Pros
✅ Easily automate sending data across websites and applications
✅ Draft emails, messages, and replies across multiple platforms, saving time on routine communication tasks
✅ Works seamlessly on over 10 million websites and applications
✅ Let’s you test AI automations and text completions within the free plan
Cons
❌ Primarily an individual productivity platform vs. an enterprise automation tool
❌ Much more limited in terms of AI and automation capabilities, with a focus on data entry and content creation
❌ Simplistic workflow automation builder with no pre-built AI actions outside of text completion and no AI model provider selection
Pricing
The below plans from Magical are billed monthly:
1. Core: $6.50 per month. For individuals who need unlimited text expansion. Increases to unlimited text expansions for 1 user and email & community support.
2. Advanced: $12.50 per month. For teams who need unlimited text expansion. Expands to unlimited text expansion for the team and team admin & management.
3. Enterprise. Custom pricing. For teams of 10+ who need scaled automations. Comes with custom automation usage limits, custom reporting & onboarding, and enterprise governance.
Enterprise knowledge management tools
8. Cassidy
⭐ G2: No reviews
🏆 Best for: Creating AI assistants powered by your own knowledge bases for tasks like internal Q&A, RFP response, and answering customer support tickets
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 3,000 credits (one-time), 3 seats, and 5,000 knowledge pages. (14-day trial only)
Cassidy is a no-code solution that allows you to create custom AI assistants and multi-step workflows powered by your own knowledge sources — making it easier for you to manage knowledge-intensive tasks like customer support, sales, HR, and operations.
It securely integrates with 100+ knowledge tools (e.g., Slack, Notion, OneDrive) to provide real-time context on your company, customers, and various internal knowledge sources.
Pros
✅ A suite of AI tools including custom assistants, a workflow builder, and a Chrome extension to make AI accessible across various entry points
✅ Pre-built AI actions, including extracting data, summarizing content, sentiment analysis, and more
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI/Anthropic API account — with credits to test AI actions in the free tier plan
✅ A powerful knowledge management system to simplify retrieval augmented generation (RAG) workflows
Cons
❌ Limited app integrations compared to competitors in the space
❌ More basic, text-only AI workflow actions with a very limited ability to switch between AI model providers
❌ More limited workflow logic capabilities compared to competitors
❌ The cost might be a barrier for teams with limited budgets
Pricing
The below plans from Cassidy are billed annually:
1. Starter: $127 per month. Best for small teams. Expands to 15,000 credits per month, 5 seats, and 50,000 knowledge pages.
2. Enterprise. Custom pricing. Best for large companies. Custom credits, seats, and knowledge pages.
9. Stack AI
🏆 Best for: Enterprise teams interested in robust retrieval augmented generation (RAG) workflows for chatting with knowledge bases and document analysis
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 100 runs per month, 2 projects, and 1 seat.
Stack AI is an automation platform designed to simplify the development and deployment of AI-powered applications, assistants, and chatbots.
The platform is particularly well-suited for businesses and developers looking to securely integrate AI into their knowledge bases for tasks like retrieval augmented generation and AI-powered copilots. It comes with a few extras like an interface builder for internal apps and robust analytics for tracking usage.
Pros
✅ Supports a wide range of use cases, including building chatbots, document processing, customer engagement automation, and more
✅ Has an extensive library of AI models, 3rd-party knowledge source integrations, and workflow templates
✅ Includes native AI actions, which don’t require you to connect your OpenAI/Anthropic API account — with credits to test AI actions in the free tier plan
✅ More robust workflow analytics offering than competitors
✅ Emphasizes data security with end-to-end encryption and secure storage options, making it suitable for enterprise-level applications
Cons
❌ UI, including the drag-and-drop workflow builder, feels a bit outdated
❌ Not able to easily switch between multiple AI model providers within the same automation step
❌ Does not have pre-built AI actions — you’re required to write prompts for all AI actions
❌ Minimal 3rd-party application integrations outside of knowledge sources
❌ The cost might be a barrier for teams with limited budgets
Pricing
The below plans from Stack AI are billed annually:
1. Starter: $139 per month. Tailored to individuals wanting to automate processes. Expands to 10,000 runs per month, 5 projects, 2 seats, community support on Discord, and basic KBs and data loaders.
2. Team: $699 per month. A plan that scales with your rapidly growing projects. Increases to 50,000 runs per month, 15 projects, 5 seats, advanced KBs and data loaders, and dedicated support.
3. Enterprise: Custom pricing. Dedicated support and infrastructure for your company, including extras like on-prem deployment, SSO, access control, and more.
10. Taskade
🏆 Best for: AI-powered collaboration tools that let you automate project management workflows across shared Kanban boards and task lists
🔬 Free Tier: Includes 1 AI agent, 1 workspace, and 5 AI requests per month.
Taskade is a versatile AI-powered project management and collaboration tool designed to enhance productivity for both individuals and teams. It integrates AI tools with features like task management, note-taking, and communication into a single platform, making it particularly useful for remote and hybrid teams.
With Taskade, you can create and manage projects using a variety of views such as lists, boards, calendars, and mind maps, and extend these views with AI agents and automations.
Pros
✅ Easy-to-use interfaces for building custom AI assistants and AI workflow automations
✅ Extensive project management automation templates for task automation, meeting agendas, smart note-taking, and task prioritization.
✅ Combines data visualizations, like kanban boards, mind maps, and task lists, with AI assistants and automations
Cons
❌ As a collaboration tool first and foremost, most of the AI workflow automations involve bringing data into Taskade views or automating data within Taskade
❌ Limited AI model provider selection and logic settings and no ability to switch between AI models within an action step
❌ Does not have pre-built AI actions — you’re required to write prompts for all AI actions
❌ Minimal AI actions available to test for free
❌ A limited number of app integrations compared to other tools
❌ Basic workflow logic and customization options
Pricing
The below plans from Taskade are billed monthly:
1. Pro: $8 per month per user. Unlock premium features and unlimited AI. Expands to Taskade AI Agents, unlimited AI usage, up to 10 workspaces, unlimited File Uploads, advanced AI automation, and premium integrations and visualizations.
2. Team: $16 per month per user. Increases to unlimited workspaces, unlimited version history, advanced team permissions, dedicated priority support, and more.
Your next steps
When picking an AI automation tool, focus on your unique needs, workflow complexity, ideal future outcomes, and the AI features that matter most. Dive into free tiers, explore, and don’t hesitate to test tools across categories to find the best match. The right tool won’t just save time and cut down errors — it’ll supercharge your business, giving you the edge to thrive in today’s fast-paced AI landscape.
If you want to get started with AI-powered cross-app integrations, like automatically parsing emails and adding them to a Google Sheet, going with an AI-integrated workflow automation tool is a smart move. Specifically, a tool like Relay.app stands out for its ease of use, flexibility, and power, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced users. With Relay.app’s built-in AI actions and human-in-the-loop capabilities, you can automate everything from simple tasks to complex workflows without the need for extensive setup.
Ready to start scaling your business with Relay.app? Sign up for free today.
