Six low-code AI agent builders matter in 2026: Lindy, Relay, Zapier Agents, n8n Agents, Make.com, and Tines AI. Each one wins a specific buyer profile. The right pick depends on your stack, team size, and how much engineering muscle you have.
This guide compares all six on the criteria that actually decide deployments: pricing, integration breadth, autonomy model, human-in-the-loop maturity, and self-hosting story.
The shortlist at a glance
| Best for | Entry price | Integrations | OSS? | Agent Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lindy | Solo professionals + inbox / meeting flows | $49/mo | ~80 apps | No | A-tier |
| Relay Agents | Workflows with approval gates | $18/mo | 100+ apps | No | A-tier |
| Zapier Agents | Teams already on Zapier | $20/mo | 7,000+ apps | No | A-tier |
| n8n Agents | Self-hosters + dev teams | $0 (OSS) / $20/mo cloud | ~400 apps + webhooks | Yes | A-tier |
| Make.com | Cheapest entry, visual builder | $9/mo | 2,000+ apps | No | B-tier |
| Tines AI | SOC + ITOps workflows | $0 Community / Enterprise | Security-focused | No | A-tier |
All six are semi-autonomous by design — they plan + execute most steps unsupervised but gate at human-approval checkpoints.
When to pick which
Pick Lindy if you're a solo professional
Lindy is the most polished agent UX for individuals. The "no-code agent builder" framing is real — non-engineers can build working agents for inbox triage, calendar management, CRM hygiene, and meeting follow-ups in an hour. The $49/month tier covers 5,000 credits, enough for daily-driver use.
Integrations are narrower than Zapier (80 vs 7,000) but deeper — each one is hand-built with reliability.
Stack with the AIAGENTS coupon for ~$44/month effective.
Pick Relay Agents if approval gates matter
Relay has the strongest human-in-the-loop story. Multi-step workflows can pause for human approval at any node. For workflows where the agent shouldn't act without confirmation — sending external emails, paying invoices, deploying — Relay is the right shape.
Entry tier is $18/month with 2,000 runs. Cheapest if you only need a handful of automations and they all need approval gates.
Pick Zapier Agents if your team already lives in Zapier
Zapier Agents is the natural choice for teams who already use Zapier for non-AI automation. The agent layer plugs into the same 7,000+ app catalog — Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Gmail, Notion, Asana, you name it.
The trade-off is that Zapier's AI features are shallower than purpose-built platforms (Lindy, Relay). For straightforward "when X, do Y" agentic flows over a huge integration catalog, Zapier wins. For multi-step reasoning with branching logic, look elsewhere.
Entry: $20/month Pro tier (750 tasks).
Pick n8n Agents if you want open source + self-hosting
n8n is the only major OSS option here — Apache 2.0 fair-use, run anywhere. Multi-agent + AI agent nodes are first-class in the workflow builder, not bolted on.
Two reasons to choose n8n:
- Compliance — code can't leave your network
- Cost at scale — operations-based pricing on competitors gets expensive at heavy use; self-hosted n8n has zero per-operation cost
Cloud tier starts at $20/month. Self-host is free in code, you pay infrastructure.
Pick Make.com for cheapest entry
Make.com is the budget pick. Visual scenario builder, $9/month Core tier with 10,000 operations, AI agent nodes included.
Tradeoffs: smaller AI feature set than Lindy/Relay (Make.com is automation-first, agents-second). Operations math gets opaque at heavy use. But for teams testing the AI-automation waters with a small budget, it's the lowest-risk entry.
Pick Tines AI for security + IT workflows
Tines AI is purpose-built for security operations and IT teams. The "Stories" composer reads more like infrastructure-as-code than no-code. Strong HITL by default — security workflows tend to need approval gates.
Community tier is free with unlimited workflows. Above that, sales-led pricing (typical enterprise SOC contracts $40–120K/year).
How to pick — three diagnostic questions
1. Are you a solo professional or a team?
- Solo → Lindy or Relay
- Team using Zapier already → Zapier Agents
- Team building custom workflows → n8n (self-host) or Make.com
2. Do you have compliance requirements?
- Yes (healthcare, finance, defense) → n8n self-hosted
- No → any of the others
3. What's your budget?
- Under $20/month → Make.com or Relay
- $20–50/month → Zapier or n8n cloud
- $50+/month → Lindy or Relay heavier tiers
The Zapier-vs-Make-vs-n8n decision specifically
This trio is the most-confused one because they all started as "automation platforms" and added AI agents later. Quick framing:
- Zapier Agents — most integrations, easiest UX, most expensive at scale
- n8n Agents — deepest features, self-hostable, steepest learning curve
- Make.com — sweet spot of capability + cost, visual builder, smaller AI feature set
If you don't already have a preference: try Zapier first (free tier is generous), graduate to n8n if cost or complexity hits a wall, use Make.com if budget is the primary constraint.
What's not on this list (and why)
- Bubble / Webflow + AI — site builders that added AI, not agent builders
- LangChain / LangGraph — code-first frameworks, not low-code
- Voiceflow — chatbot-first, not general agent
- AutoGPT / BabyAGI — early experiments, not production-ready
If you want truly autonomous (not low-code) agents, see our autonomous agents shortlist.
Build vs buy verdict
For most teams in 2026, buy a low-code platform first. A working agent that ships next week beats a custom-built one that ships in three months. If you outgrow the low-code platform's ceiling — and only then — graduate to a framework-based build or roll your own.
The cost math is usually overwhelming: even an expensive low-code tier ($200/month) is one engineer-day per month of saved time before it pays back.