Coming from Activepieces?
Activepieces offers visual flows, code actions, cloud or on-premise deployment, and Chat that builds and edits automations from plain language. Whenever also writes workflows from a description; compare the procedure and supervision model rather than treating AI authoring or hosting as exclusive. Review summaries and sample results; code inspection is optional. Fixed non-AI logic is deterministic with the same inputs and dependencies; optional AI and external state can change results and costs.
What you get on Whenever
Managed execution, with a different workflow
Whenever manages execution and credentials. Activepieces also offers cloud hosting, so avoiding a self-operated engine is not unique to Whenever. Compare the workflow you want to supervise and the applicable usage limits.
Describe the procedure, review the results
Describe the job and review the generated rules and sample outputs. Activepieces Chat can also assemble and modify automations from a description; choose the representation that makes your difficult cases easier to supervise.
The file is what runs
What you read when something breaks is the same TypeScript that executed, not flow data an engine interprets. Export it, diff it, take it with you; AI building and editing are free within weekly usage limits.
A concrete decision
Illustrative scenarios, not customer results or recorded runs.
Greg: no “done” without the invoice receipt
Illustrative decision, not a recorded customer run: Greg wants each paid order checked against Stripe, then an invoice created, its ID saved, and only then a confirmation sent. He specifies that an invoice failure must stop the confirmation, and an already-handled order must not be charged or invoiced again. He checks the summary, sample records, provider receipts and run history—not source code. Test a missing payment, a failed invoice and a duplicate event before publishing. Whenever fits when those prescribed steps matter more than an agent deciding them again; a fixed workflow elsewhere can fit too. No screenshot here claims these actions were actually delivered.
Jaunius: make the edge cases explicit
Illustrative decision, not a benchmark: Jaunius needs all pages of 5,000 contacts, a saved last-seen ID, updates only for changed records and a clear record of which writes failed. He brings the old workflow and sample inputs, reconnects accounts, and tests pagination, an API failure and a repeated event before switching triggers. Choose a single procedure if it makes this logic easier to maintain; the other tools can also support complex logic. An optional model that classifies a note can vary and adds runtime AI usage. Compare the monthly subscription and actual usage, not the number of steps alone.
Choose the artifact you want to maintain.
Visual flow configuration or typed TypeScript: compare the authoring model, deployment needs and usage allowance together.
Activepieces
Credits + plan features
AI and run usage, with unlimited flows
Current plans use credits and included users; paid plans list an overage rate, while Free waits for the next reset. Cloud and on-premise hosting are listed.
On its Ultimate plan, Activepieces’ Usage page shows platform admins AI usage and runs usage for each project. The reviewed sources do not establish one universal credits-per-run formula, so a credit bundle is not presented here as a guaranteed number of executions.
A run is one execution of one workflow, start to finish. AI building and editing are free within weekly usage limits; runs are metered separately.
A closer look
What changes when you describe the job in plain language and code runs it: to build, to run, and to keep.
Repeatable execution logic
Activepieces
Flows have a trigger and configured actions, including code and service interactions. The TypeScript engine executes flow JSON; optional agents do not mean every ordinary flow is model-directed.
Whenever
AI writes it, then published code runs the same execution logic. With identical inputs and dependencies, non-AI logic is deterministic. Changing API data, time, randomness or an optional model step can change results; this is not an exactly-once delivery guarantee.
Runs per dollar
Activepieces
Current pricing combines credits, included users and unlimited flows, with overage on paid plans. Inspect your AI and run usage rather than assuming every credit equals one execution.
Whenever
Pro includes 10,000 runs per month; see the pricing page for current US dollar prices. AI building and editing are free within weekly usage limits. Published runs are metered separately: the meter counts the whole run, not individual steps. External services and optional model calls can have their own charges.
What you can express
Activepieces
Visual flows, reusable pieces, code actions, tables and optional agents support team automation. AI-assisted authoring is also available, so describing a job in natural language is not exclusive to Whenever.
Whenever
Describe the job in plain language: match payments to orders, fetch every page of contacts, or alert only on unseen reviews. AI writes the procedure; you supervise its rules and results, and reading code is optional. API access still needs suitable permissions and a service reachable from the hosted runtime.
Export and portability
Activepieces
Cloud and on-premise options provide deployment choice. Project Replace CLI can mirror flows, schemas and folders between compatible deployments; plan eligibility and API keys apply, and secrets are not transferred.
Whenever
The TypeScript is yours: read it, edit it, export it, take it with you. Moving it to another runtime can require adapting managed connections, triggers and runtime-specific integrations.
Debugging a failed run
Activepieces
Diagnose the flow and its action data; a self-hosted installation also gives you responsibility for its engine, workers, queue and database. Those infrastructure controls can be a feature for an engineering team.
Whenever
Work from the TypeScript and execution logs; Whenever operates the runtime. Still test API failures, unexpected inputs and duplicate-event behavior explicitly.
Where the AI cost lands
Activepieces
On Ultimate, per-project AI usage and run usage are shown separately. A configured non-AI flow is not inherently a recurring model conversation; costs depend on the actions and AI features you use.
Whenever
AI writes the workflow once, with free building subject to weekly AI usage limits. A published procedure runs its steps without a model choosing them. Any model call you explicitly include still runs and has its own cost.
When to keep Activepieces
Activepieces
Keep it when a visual editor, reusable integrations, tables, optional agents or on-premise deployment are important. A working self-hosted setup may meet control and governance needs that matter more than changing the workflow format.
Whenever
Consider Whenever when you want managed execution and the procedure itself written as TypeScript. It is not an equivalent substitute for every on-premise policy, table application or agent configuration.
Sources and scope
Official sources captured on the date shown below. These describe published features and billing rules, not independent performance tests. Check the linked documentation for current modes, plans and limits. No competitor dollar price is asserted.
Checked
Start with a workflow brief
Pick a starting point, connect your accounts and review what Whenever builds before publishing.
Build this workflowAnnounce closed-won deals in SlackCelebrates each won deal in Slack with the numbers and a short recap of how it was won.
Build this workflowPublish Instagram posts from a calendarPublishes due rows from your Instagram calendar on the cadence you choose and writes each post link back.
Build this workflowLog survey responses and alert on low scoresAdds each survey response to Google Sheets within minutes and emails the owner when the score falls below your threshold.
Build this workflowTrack keyword rankings in a sheet each weekChecks the search position of every keyword on your list, appends the history to a sheet and reports the moves.
Build this workflowRoute large expense claims to a managerLogs every expense submission in a sheet and alerts a manager in Slack when the amount is over the approval limit.Build this workflowStart with one Activepieces flow.
Bring one flow you would like to keep as a single file. Describe it, and Whenever writes it as one file you can read top to bottom and test before it goes live, without moving everything your team already uses.
Document the flow contract
Record the trigger, piece versions, action inputs, code steps and sample outputs. Inventory table references and private-network services separately.
Review the rebuilt workflow
Describe the procedure and review its summary and outputs. Reconnect credentials and account for custom pieces. Code inspection is optional; Activepieces instance-migration tooling is not a Whenever importer.
Test before changing ownership
Check representative events, failure paths and external writes with safe records. Confirm required services are reachable from the new runtime before retiring the original trigger.