Nowadays Project Management Software is a necessary technology, that is widely used by many people searching for user-friendly, productive software solutions with dependencies, resource allocation, project management, and recurring tasks. One of the most popular automated workflow systems is Microsoft Power Automate (earlier known as Microsoft Flow) but people are looking for other automated systems that offer more features for lesser costs.
What is Microsoft Flow? The platform is a cloud-based system that allows a user to create automated workflows, simplify various business processes and manage them more effectively. Microsoft Flow now known as Microsoft Power Automate is a new app that is a part of the office 365 suite and allows users or employees to automate business processes by building workflows based on certain triggers and actions.
Once the flow is built into the device, it can be managed on the desktop or even through a mobile app. Microsoft Power Automate can be integrated with various Microsoft services and apps such as Power BI, Dynamics 365, PowerApps, and Office 365.
One of the main reasons employees use Microsoft Power Automateis because of its services like automation for notifications, synchronizing files, alerts, data gathering, and communication that will help them spend less time. Let us take a look at some of the top Microsoft flow alternatives.
What are the uses of Microsoft Power Automate?
Features of Microsoft Power Automate
IFTTT
Zapier
Huginn
n8n.io
Integromat
Skyvia
Automate.io
CloudHQ
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions
PV Vyshnavi
What are the uses of Microsoft Power Automate?
One of the main uses of the Microsoft workflow tool is that it automates everything from a simple push-up notification, alerts, data gathering, and important content management. So, for example, an automated workflow can send sales representatives an email or text message with details about the lead. It can also be used to copy files, as when a new file is added to dropbox for business, the workflow can instantly transport the file to SharePoint.
When it comes to Collecting data, for instance, it helps users find out what people are saying about a particular service, product, or brand by capturing new tweet that mentions the product, service, or brand and putting a copy of those tweets in an SNL database. Microsoft flow software bots can also help employees trigger flows within Team’s conversations. Microsoft changed its name from Microsoft flow to Microsoft Power Automate in 2019.
Anyone that has a Microsoft account can use flow, it also comes along with business versions of Office 365 workflow tools and Dynamics 365. Microsoft Flow cost is divided into three pricing plans that come with a certain number of runs and checks.
- The Per-user plan: This allows the user to create unlimited flows and allows individual users to analyze their processes.
- The Per-user plan with attended RPA: This plan allows individual users to analyze their processes and create unlimited cloud flows, plus automate legacy applications via the RPA and AI. This also includes 5,000 AI Builder service credits per month. This plan costs $40 per month per user.
- The Per Flow Plan: Implement cloud flows with reserved capacity for unlimited users across your organization. It also offers its users many exclusive premium features and add ons and is $500 per month for five flows. While additional flows may be purchased for $100 per flow per month.
Sarika Anand
Features of Microsoft Power Automate
- Unlike flow alternatives, this platform can integrate with the other Microsoft products, software, and apps like Power BI, Dynamics 365, PowerApps and is a Office 365 alternative.
- The Microsoft workflow software can also be used with other apps such as Salesforce, SQL Server, Twitter, Box, DocuSign, Slack, Skype, and Google Drive.
- Flow offers a wide arrange of prebuilt flows known as templates depending on what the user wants.
- Save Gmail attachments to OneDrive or dropbox.
- When the Power BI data alert is triggered, the flow will send emails to the audience.
- Save tweets with specific hashtags, brand, service, or products names to a SharePoint list.
- Get notifications when you receive an email from your employees or boss.
- The Microsoft flow chart creator helps you make your own (personalize) flows depending on what action you want, for example, it will manually press a button when the flow is triggered or schedule action based on time or day.
Many of these alternatives come from a wide variety of platforms like Online / Web-based, Windows, Linux, SaaS, and iPhone, etc.
How to use Microsoft flow for basic tasks? The platform has both low code or codeless automation tools and cloud-based apps that can be used by users to connect apps, they can also use drag-and-drop tools, prebuilt connectors, automated office processes, and perform mundane tasks with ease.
Jeenal Jain
Here are the top alternatives to Microsoft Power Automate
IFTTT
IFTTT is also known as If This Then That is a popular platform that provides services that allow a user to program response to events in the world. IFTTT is one of the Best Microsoft flows alternatives because it can be used as a web interface or as apps on both iOS and Android. The platform was first founded by Tibbets and Jesse Tan and launched in 2011.
Unlike IFTTT alternatives, this tool uses syntax and conditional statements to automate workflows, not only that it also offers single action workflows. One of the main features of IFTTT is that the user can create automation chains between many of their apps so that certain events trigger other events to occur automatically.
IFTTT was initially free, but in 2020 it switched to a limited freemium model with a subscription-based version known as “IFTTT Pro”, which allows services to use conditional statements and query data for more complex tasks.
Zapier
Zapier is a well-known company that allows end-users to integrate web applications that they use. Zapier was started by Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop as part of the first Startup Weekend Columbia in 2011. The company is one of the top flow alternatives, which is currently based in Sunnyvale, California, and has over 350 employees in the US and 23 other countries.
Its main features are that it provides workflows to automate the use of web applications together at the business or personal level. People use zapier for Facebook lead ads but don’t allow users to make automate multistep workflows, but also provide its users with third-party apps. Zapier’s open-source alternative has a free option, as well as two levels of monthly paid subscription plans for businesses.
Ansh Mehrey
Huginn
Huginn is another popular Microsoft power-apps alternative to Microsoft flow as it is a web-based scheduling service that runs workers knowns as agents. Huginn was created by Andrew Cantino in 2013 to help users create agents that monitor and act on their behalf. Huginn alternatives like Zapier and IFTTT but is open source and similar to each other.
With Huginn, a user can automate simple tasks such as watching for air travel deals, constantly watching for certain topics on Twitter, or scanning for sensitive data in your code. This Microsoft flow alternative is responsible for performing functions like sending an email or requesting a website and can be scheduled or executed manually. After installing Huginn, the user can extend it by using one of the many available agent gems, or by creating their own.
n8n.io
n8n.io is free and powerful automated alternatives that provide an open node-based workflow automation tool that can be self-hosted, easily extended, and used with other internal tools. It can also be used with 3rdparty web applications and custom in-house tools to automate repetitive tasks. The platform is a Microsoft zapier alternative and was founded by Jan Oberhauser in 2019 with its headquarters based in Berlin.
Users of n8n.io can move beyond making simple integrations to build multistep workflows that can be combined with third-party APIs and their own internal tools to create easy-to-use automation. Flow alternatives are the best for small startups to the enterprise as it is available to self-host, and allow you to add your own custom functions, logic, and apps.
Parnas Ghosh
Integromat
Integromat is a top alternative to office 365 for windows 10 and is a well-known mobile app/automation tool that allows its users or businesses to automate tasks that are currently done manually. The company was founded by Michal Toman, Ondrej Gazda, Patrik in 2012 and is currently freemium. It provides services such as connecting to any app or service, unlimited checks unlike microflow flow, and over 1500 ready-to-use templates.
Unlike the Microsoft workflow tool, this platform users can track real-time scenario executives to complete visualization of the data, schedule according to their preference, have multiple teams work on the same scenario, work with different kinds of files, etc among the various services. It is also similar to Microsoft flowchart software as it triggers which can return bundles that were newly added or updated and has modules that can split a large bundle into multiple smaller bundles.
Skyvia
Skyvia is one of the top flow alternatives and a widely preferred freemium cloud data platform for many people as it has no coding data integration, cloud to cloud backup, management via SQL and even data access through a Data interface. Skyvia was founded in 1997 and has its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. This is one of the Microsoft powerapps alternatives that is a quicker and easier solution for many data-related tasks without the requirement of coding, while it is similar to Microsoft flow chart creator.
It’s known for its solutions to Data Integration, cloud data Backup, data management with SQL, CSV import/export, Query, and Connect as it is similar to power bi data-driven alert. Unlike Skyvia alternatives, it does not require locally installed software except for a web browser, however these products come with their own set of pricing and are priced separately.
Pratiksha Bajikar
Automate.io
Automate.io is known to be the world easiest workflow automation and iPaaS platform. The platform helps many small to medium businesses in automating repetitive tasks and workflows by connecting their cloud applications. Automate.io is a leading power automate alternative, founded in 2016 and has its headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Automate.io is one of the best Microsoft Power Automate alternatives as users can send automated emails, run campaigns, automate social and mobile messages, run smart Twitter campaigns, etc. Compared to other automate io alternatives, the platform has over 200 plus connectors for all leading cloud and SaaS apps available. Other features include formatting data, time delay into your workflows, data encryption, etc.
CloudHQ
CloudHQ is an IT company that was founded by Senad Dizdar in 2011 with its headquarters in San Francisco, California. This Microsoft Power Automate alternative offers a huge suite of productivity tools that can also be integrated with Gmail. Its main tools are an email tracker, email templates, and email sharing. One of the few Microsoft powerapps alternatives that come in two options one-way sync to two-way sync.
One way sync replicates from one main cloud service to a secondary account, while two-way sync adds and does revisions in the main account that will eventually be replicated to the secondary account. Just like Microsoft workflow software, the main objective of the company is to synchronize data for companies make it easy for sharing of files and data across multiple platforms, integration between cloud services, project collaboration and backup of data, etc.
Conclusion
Many of these workflow automation platforms usually have similar features like automation for notifications, synchronize files, data synchronization, alerts, data gathering, and communication, etc. And that is exactly what Microsoft Power Automate is known for, but the best apps like flow can be costly and complicated to use.
This is why the alternatives above can be used as they help small businesses get these features at an economical price so they can automate away your tedious and repetitive tasks. Hopefully, these Microsoft Power Automate alternatives helped you find what you were looking for.
PV Vyshnavi
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Microsoft Power Automate?
Microsoft Power Automate also known as Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based system with which a user can create automated workflows, simplifying the business processes and machining it easier to manage them more effectively.
What are some of the features of Microsoft Power Automate features?
Some of the features of Microsoft flow are that you can integrate it with the other Microsoft products, Save Gmail attachments, save tweets with specific hashtags or names, get notifications, and make your own flows, etc.
How much does Microsoft Power Automate cost?
Microsoft Flow has three pricing plans that come with a certain number of runs and checks. Which is the free version, The mid-tier level, Flow plan 1 costing $5 per month and The business level, Flow Plan 2 which costs $15 per month.
What are the alternatives of Microsoft power Automate?
The Microsoft Power Automate alternatives are CloudHQ, Automate.io, Skyvia, Integromat, n8n.io, Huginn, Zapier and IFTTT.
What replaced Microsoft Flow?
Microsoft rebranded Flow to ‘Power Automate’, but it is the same platform with some advanced tools.
