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Hosting, seats or credits: choosing a workflow agent

Pick by where it runs, how it bills and how you get out: self-host for data control, seat plans for teams, or a firm that builds the agents for you.

The Agents Index Editorial24 October 202619 min readEditorial policy

On this page
  1. The short answer
  2. The 8 agents compared
  3. What does it cost to start, and is there a free plan?
  4. Can I self-host it, and where does my data live?
  5. How is usage billed: seats, runs or credits?
  6. Can developers drive it from code, an API or the command line?
  7. Can I bring my own model keys?
  8. How do I get my workflows and data out if I leave?
  9. The agents that stand out
  10. Which one to pick
  11. How we compared
  12. Questions buyers ask
  13. Sources
Logos of Tale, Lindy, MindStudio, Precision AI OS, n8n. 8 agents compared, from $20 a month.

The short answer

Tale and the top-ranked workflow platform run on your own servers. Tale is open source at 12 Swiss francs per seat month (about $15) and keeps its cloud data in Switzerland or the European Union. The top-ranked platform’s self-hosted Community edition is free.

Lindy works inside Slack from $29.99 per user a month on Plus, and MindStudio starts at $20 a month with 1,000+ pre-built integrations. Precision AI OS scopes, builds, hosts and operates the agents, and says clients need no technical staff of their own.

On 24 October 2026 we listed 183 agents: 11 of them under AI workflow automation and 99 with a free plan.

  • Tale has a free plan, and so does the top-ranked workflow platform; 4 of the 8 offer one.
  • Lindy bills per user from its Plus plan up to Max, and a seat stays billed until an admin removes it. Tale charges 12 Swiss francs per seat month (about $15), strictly per user.
  • Tale hosts data in Switzerland for Swiss customers and the European Union for everyone else, and the top-ranked workflow platform’s cloud holds data in Frankfurt; 4 of the 8 let you choose where data lives.
  • Relevance AI exports data as spreadsheet or structured files at any time, and StackAI exports projects to a file you can keep or re-import; 4 of the 8 let you take your work with you.
  • Precision AI OS sells a service engagement: it scopes, builds, hosts and operates the data pipeline and agents, and every start is a discovery call.
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The 8 agents compared

Table 1 Price, free plan and the questions that separate them, checked 24 October 2026
ProductFromFree planFree tierData residencyGetting out
n8n
€24 a month (about $27)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Partly
MindStudio
$20 a month
Yes
Yes
Partly
Partly
Relevance AI
On request
–
Partly
Yes
Yes
Lindy
$49.99 per seat month
7-day trial
Partly
Partly
Partly
Gumloop
$37 a month
–
Partly
–
–
Precision AI OS
On request
No
No
Yes
Yes
StackAI
On request
Yes
Yes
Partly
Yes
Tale
CHF 12 per seat month (about $15)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

What does it cost to start, and is there a free plan?

A free start exists at 4 of the 8: MindStudio, StackAI, Tale and the top-ranked workflow platform, whose self-hosted Community edition is free.

MindStudio has a free tier and a paid plan for unlimited agents and runs. The top-ranked workflow platform sells a paid cloud plan beside its free self-hosted edition, and Tale costs 12 Swiss francs per seat month (about $15). Lindy starts on its per-user Plus plan, with a free trial for teammates who join through Slack. Gumloop has no standing free plan: a free trial leads to its Pro plan. Precision AI OS offers no self-serve or trial entry.

Can I self-host it, and where does my data live?

The top-ranked workflow platform self-hosts through Docker or Helm, air-gapped if required, and Tale’s Community edition runs only on your own hardware; 4 of the 8 let you choose where data lives.

Tale’s cloud sits in Switzerland or the European Union, and the top-ranked platform’s cloud is in Frankfurt. Relevance AI is a hosted service only, with Northern Virginia, London or Sydney fixed at signup. Lindy runs only on its own cloud. StackAI offers on-premise and virtual private cloud deployments and publishes no region list for its hosted cloud.

How is usage billed: seats, runs or credits?

Lindy, Tale and Relevance AI tie the bill to people: Lindy bills per user, with no mid-cycle proration, Tale bills per user per month with no seat minimum, and Relevance AI caps builders per tier, with unlimited seats only on Enterprise.

The top-ranked workflow platform has unlimited users and meters executions, and Gumloop has unlimited seats, so cost follows credit use. Credits are the hard part to budget: a Lindy task uses 2 to 2,500 credits from a pool that pauses at the cap, and Relevance AI’s Vendor Credit use is hard to predict on AI-heavy agents.

Can developers drive it from code, an API or the command line?

The top-ranked workflow platform drops JavaScript or Python steps anywhere in a visual workflow, ships a command-line tool over its API plus a server tool for backups, and has a public API with scoped keys on every paid plan and self-hosted; 3 of the 8 run from the command line.

Gumloop’s command-line tool runs agents, calls tools and manages skills on both plans. MindStudio runs any published agent through a documented endpoint and returns structured output. Tale publishes its code on GitHub under an open-source license. Lindy has no public API.

Can I bring my own model keys?

MindStudio takes your own keys on every tier including Free, Relevance AI lets them bypass credit metering, StackAI can switch off its own keys so inference bills to your accounts, and Tale runs on keys you supply.

The top-ranked workflow platform uses your own credentials by default and can mix in Gateway credits per node on Cloud Starter and Pro. Gumloop’s own keys mean model calls spend no credits, but its orchestration fee doubles to 16%. Lindy stores your keys for shell commands and code, while inference is bought through Lindy credits.

How do I get my workflows and data out if I leave?

Relevance AI, StackAI, Tale and Precision AI OS let you leave with your data: 4 of the 8. Relevance AI exports spreadsheet or structured files at any time, StackAI exports projects to a file you can re-import, Tale returns all data in a machine-readable format or certifies deletion, and Precision AI OS runs a contractual export window before deletion.

The top-ranked workflow platform exports workflows from the editor, its command-line tool or packages, but unused monthly AI credits do not roll over. Lindy’s plan credits expire every cycle while bought top-ups carry over, and Lindy documents no bulk export.

The agents that stand out

n8n

Best for visual workflows with code steps: Ops and engineering teams get a visual agent canvas where any step can be JavaScript or Python, plus a self-hosted Community edition that is free indefinitely.

  • Price: €24 a month (about $27)
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Ops and automation teams that want to build agent workflows visually and keep data, credentials and execution on their own servers.
  • Skip it if: Teams that need an open-source license rather than source-available fair-code terms should pick Tale.

It builds agent workflows on a visual canvas where every step of the agent’s reasoning is traceable, and JavaScript or Python steps drop in anywhere. Agents run a reasoning loop until they produce a result and fire from schedules or channels with nobody watching; approval steps are something you add. It connects to 500+ integrations and calls any other API directly. It exposes chosen workflows as an MCP server and calls outside MCP servers as a client.

Paid cloud plans start at €24 a month (about $27), with the quota counted in executions and unlimited users on every plan. The self-hosted Community edition is free indefinitely, and the Cloud trial needs no card. The public API with scoped keys comes with every paid plan and self-hosted, and is switched off during the free trial. Cloud data sits in Frankfurt in the European Union; self-hosting puts it wherever you deploy.

Lindy and Tale bill per seat; this one bills by executions, so adding people does not raise the bill. Your own provider keys are the default, with dedicated Claude and OpenAI model nodes, and Cloud Starter and Pro let you mix in the vendor’s Gateway credits, which do not roll over. Git source control with workflow diffs gates what reaches production. It holds an audited System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 report with a public Trust Center.

What it does well

  • The self-hosted Community edition is free indefinitely and keeps data, credentials and execution in-house.
  • Users are unlimited on every plan, and the bill follows executions.
  • MCP runs both ways: chosen workflows become an MCP server, and the MCP Client Tool calls outside servers.
  • Git source control with workflow diffs gates what reaches production.

Where it falls short

  • The fair-code license is source-available, so check its terms before commercial resale.
  • There is no hosted tier between Pro and Business.
  • Complex agent logic can get unwieldy on a visual canvas.

Lindy

Best for teams that work in Slack: Teams that run their work in Slack get an AI teammate that joins channels, drafts replies in threads and routes follow-ups, priced from $29.99 per user a month.

  • Price: $49.99 per seat month
  • Free trial: 7 days
  • Who it’s for: Teams that want an AI teammate inside Slack and a no-code app builder on the same plan, with spend that pauses at the credit cap.
  • Skip it if: Engineers who need a public API or a self-hosted option should pick Tale, which has both.

Lindy joins Slack channels as a participant, drafts replies in your voice in threads and mentions, posts meeting prep and routes follow-ups to the right people. Routines run on a schedule or trigger with nobody present, but actions that write or send stop for a human approver first. You pick OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini models per task, and every plan gets every model. Lindy Build, included in every plan, turns a natural-language description into a full-stack app hosted on Lindy’s own address.

Plus costs $29.99 per user a month with 3,000 credits, up to Max at $199.99 per user a month with 35,000 credits; Enterprise is custom. Every seat adds its credits to a workspace pool, and Lindy pauses and tells you when the pool runs low. Plan credits expire each cycle, purchased top-ups carry over, and seats are not prorated mid-cycle. The 7-day free trial is for teammates who join through Slack; direct signups are billed right away.

Credit use per task runs from 2 to 2,500 credits, so the bill tracks activity. Lindy holds an audited System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 report and covers HIPAA (the US health privacy law), with the signed business associate agreement reserved for Enterprise. MCP runs inbound only: Lindy turns tools on a hosted MCP server into actions, and publishes no MCP server of its own.

What it does well

  • It works inside Slack as a participant in channels, threads and mentions.
  • Every plan, including trial seats, gets every model family, Claude included.
  • Spend is held to the workspace credit pool, and Lindy alerts you when it runs low.
  • An audited SOC 2 report plus HIPAA coverage suit regulated teams.

Where it falls short

  • It is cloud-only and closed-source, with no self-host option and no public API.
  • Credit use varies from 2 to 2,500 credits per task, so a busy workspace’s bill is hard to predict.
  • Unused plan credits expire every cycle, and there is no documented bulk export.

Precision AI OS

Best for firms that want agents built for them: Service firms without technical staff get a team that scopes, builds, hosts and operates their data pipeline, firm OS and task agents.

  • Price: On request
  • Free plan: no
  • Who it’s for: Service firms that want task agents built and run for them, with a named reviewer on anything client-facing.
  • Skip it if: Teams that want to start on their own should pick Tale, whose free Community edition needs no sales call.

Precision AI OS is an implementation firm: it builds data pipelines, a private firm OS and task agents for service firms. Several single-job agents gather, prepare and check, handing work along with shared permissions and review points. Anything client-facing or uncertain is queued for a named reviewer, so no task completes end to end without a person.

There is no self-serve or trial entry: every start is a discovery call where scope is set. Client teams work in a hosted per-firm web workspace with engagement, program and review views. The platform runs on Google Cloud in the United States, operated by Precision, with daily backups for 30 days.

Precision, not the client, decides which models may run, and Anthropic is a named provider under zero-data-retention, no-training terms. Approvals and model calls are written to records that cannot be edited or deleted during retention, and each model call logs job, model and cost. Controls are mapped to System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 criteria, and the vendor states no audit has been completed. Exit is contractual: an export window comes before deletion, and the firm’s encryption keys are destroyed once backups expire.

What it does well

  • Precision scopes, builds, hosts and operates the whole system for the firm.
  • Each model call logs its job, model and cost in a record that stays fixed through retention.
  • Anthropic’s Claude is among the model providers Precision uses for client platform work.
  • Leaving follows a contract: an export window, a reviewed deletion and destroyed encryption keys.

Where it falls short

  • Nothing starts without a discovery call; there is no self-serve or trial entry.
  • It runs only in Precision’s Google Cloud estate in the United States, with no self-hosting.
  • Controls are mapped to SOC 2 criteria, but no audit has been completed.

Tale

Best for teams that need an open-source license: Teams that need an open-source license get a free self-hosted Community edition with every product feature.

  • Price: CHF 12 per seat month (about $15)
  • Free plan: yes
  • Who it’s for: Engineering teams that assign tasks to AI coding agents in sandboxes and want to run the platform on their own infrastructure with their own provider keys.
  • Skip it if: Teams that need agents to merge code or write to connected tools should skip it, since a review never merges a pull request and connector writes are refused to agents.

Tale is a project workspace where teams assign tasks to AI coding agents running in sandboxes. Claude Code and Codex run as supported harnesses, with Anthropic and ChatGPT subscriptions usable through a subscription broker as well as API keys. Work stops at collected deliverables and a review verdict.

The Community edition is a standing free self-hosted option with every product feature, and support happens on GitHub. Paid plans cost 12 Swiss francs per seat month (about $15), billed strictly per user with no published seat minimum. Organizations supply their own provider keys, secrets, subscriptions or a broker. Cloud hosting sits in Switzerland for Swiss customers and the European Union for everyone else, with AI inference kept inside the European Union and European Economic Area.

Beside the hosted picks, Tale gives an engineering team the most control over where it runs. It has a documented API covering projects, tasks, agents, runs and threads, and serves its own MCP endpoint for outside agents. Its maker holds ISO 27001 covering Tale Enterprise and publishes no System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 report. On termination, customers get all data back in a machine-readable format or certified deletion.

What it does well

  • The free self-hosted Community edition includes every product feature.
  • Your own provider keys, subscriptions or a broker power the agents.
  • Single sign-on runs through Microsoft Entra ID and other identity providers, with automatic user provisioning and group-to-team sync.
  • On termination you get all data back in a machine-readable format or certified deletion.

Where it falls short

  • A review does not merge a pull request, and agents cannot write to connectors.
  • There is no published SOC 2 report, which some security reviews ask for.
  • Billing is strictly per user, so cost grows with headcount.

“BYOK makes AI model calls cost 0 credits, and it also applies to image generation and voice transcription. Since the model spend leaves your credit balance entirely, agent chats on BYOK carry a 16% orchestration fee instead of 8%”

From Gumloop’s own page, read on 30 September 2026

Which one to pick

  • If you need a free start you can run on your own servers: pick n8n. Its self-hosted Community edition is free and needs no license key, and it runs on your own machines through Docker or Helm, air-gapped if required; the cloud starts at €24 a month (about $27).
  • If you need agents inside Slack billed per seat: pick Lindy. Lindy joins your Slack channels as a participant and drafts replies in threads, billed per user from $29.99 per user a month on Plus with no published seat floor.
  • If you want a firm to build the data pipelines and agents for you: pick Precision AI OS. Precision AI OS scopes, builds, hosts and operates the pipeline, a private operating system for the firm and the agents, and says clients need no technical staff of their own; scope is set on a discovery call.
  • If you need data held in Switzerland or the EU on a per-seat budget: pick Tale. Tale keeps cloud data in Switzerland or the European Union, with AI inference inside the European Union and European Economic Area, at 12 Swiss francs per seat month (about $15) with no published seat minimum.
  • If a non-technical team needs pre-built integrations and a wide choice of models: pick MindStudio. MindStudio offers 1,000+ pre-built integrations, including Slack, HubSpot and Salesforce, and says it connects to 200+ models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon and Meta at cost, from $20 a month.
  • If you run five or more agents as one multi-agent workforce: pick Relevance AI. Relevance AI chains agents into a workforce on a visual canvas with handoffs, approvals and a single task view, and it is built for teams running 5+ agents in production.

How we compared

We compared 8 agents on price, free plan and 3 questions a buyer asks, reading each vendor’s pricing page and product pages between 2 September 2026 and 24 October 2026. We did not sign up for or run any of them. In all we answered 36 questions about what they do.

Questions buyers ask

Which workflow agents have a free plan?

MindStudio, StackAI, Tale and the top-ranked workflow platform have free plans: 4 of the 8. For Relevance AI, Lindy and Gumloop a free plan is unconfirmed.

Which of these can I host on my own servers?

The top-ranked workflow platform and Tale can run on your own servers. The top-ranked platform installs through Docker or Helm, air-gapped if required, and Tale’s Community edition is self-hosted only. Relevance AI and Lindy run only on their vendors’ clouds, and Precision AI OS runs only in its own Google Cloud estate in the United States.

Can I use my own model provider keys instead of the vendor’s credits?

Relevance AI, Gumloop, StackAI, Tale and the top-ranked workflow platform accept your own provider keys. Relevance AI’s own keys bypass its credit metering. Gumloop’s own keys mean model calls spend no credits, but its orchestration fee doubles to 16%. Lindy stores your keys for shell commands and code, while inference is bought through Lindy credits.

Why is a credit-based bill hard to predict?

Credit use per task swings widely: a Lindy task uses 2 to 2,500 credits, so the bill tracks activity. Relevance AI’s Vendor Credit use is hard to predict on AI-heavy agents for buyers without their own keys. Lindy pauses at the pool cap and tells you, rather than billing overage.

Which ones keep data in Europe?

Tale, Relevance AI and the top-ranked workflow platform can hold data in Europe. Tale’s cloud sits in Switzerland or the European Union, and the top-ranked platform’s cloud is in Frankfurt with no other region published. Relevance AI offers Northern Virginia, London or Sydney, chosen at signup and fixed after.

Which ones have a public API?

The top-ranked workflow platform, MindStudio and Relevance AI have public APIs, and Gumloop documents one with Python and JavaScript libraries that creates agents and triggers automations. Lindy has no public API.

Which ones hold security certifications?

MindStudio, Relevance AI, Lindy, Gumloop and StackAI hold security certifications: 5 of the 8. Each reports a System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 audit. StackAI also claims ISO 27001, which Relevance AI does not claim.

Sources

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The agents we added, the prices they changed and what we wrote about them, by email.

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