Top 8 Process Automation Solutions

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by yayabobi

Automation has become an essential part of modern software development. It is the silver bullet for enhancing productivity and efficiency for many teams across your organization, from marketing to finance and DevOps. 

With engineering and IT departments managing 40% of an organization's automation, choosing the right process automation solution is crucial. The type of user, use cases, and complexity required to determine whether a no, low, or high-code solution is right for you.

For example, you might look for a DevOps-dedicated automation platform or a general automation solution that can fit different use cases. Also, it depends on which users will access the platforms, such as developers or non-technical product owners. Hence, we will review a range of solutions to suit every requirement. 

What are process automation solutions?

Process automation solutions use technology to automate routine, repetitive tasks in business workflows. These solutions benefit various sectors, including IT, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.

In software development, process automation solutions are mainly used to automate tasks like deployments, testing, and infrastructure updates. They boost developers' productivity and allow them to focus on more strategic and innovative work.

8 Top Process Automation Solutions

In this list, we will review some of the most popular process automation tools available in 2024 for a range of requirements.

No-Code Solutions

No-code automation solutions empower businesses to automate manual or repetitive work for efficiency and cost savings. They optimize workflows with intuitive, user-friendly interfaces for those with no previous coding knowledge or experience. It is also possible to add some limited code, although it's the less common usage. 

Key Features of No-Code Solutions

• Drag-and-drop interface: No-code platforms make it easy for anyone to create automations, regardless of their technical expertise.
• Data connections: These platforms can connect to a variety of data sources, such as databases, spreadsheets, and APIs. 
• Integrations: No-code platforms can integrate with a variety of third-party applications, such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, and payment processors. 
• Execution time: Each flow is limited to fifteen minutes or less. Building long-running, multi-stage processes is not the strength of no-code solutions.

Use Cases of No-Code Solutions

• Categorize new emails and notify the appropriate channels based on the content: This can often be achieved with no-code automation tools like Zapier or Make, using their built-in email parsing and notification capabilities.
• Notify when a new page with a specific label is created: Tools like Zapier or Make, along with integrations to content management systems or website builders, can handle this without custom code.
• Poll a form for responses and create an issue for each one: No-code automation tools can be used to connect with form builders and issue-tracking systems to automate this process. 

1. Zapier

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Zapier is a web-based automation platform that connects over 5,000 apps and services. It allows you to automate repetitive tasks, sync data between applications, and streamline processes across various platforms using workflows called "Zaps."

Main features:

• Integration with 5000+ apps and everyday tools like Slack
• Custom workflow (Zaps) creation
• Multi-step Zaps for complex automation
• Filters and conditional logic

Best for: Marketing functions, including marketing automation, project management, and lead management

Price: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $19.99/month.

2. Make (formerly Integromat)

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Make is a visual automation platform that allows users to design complex workflows with an intuitive, flowchart-like interface. It offers powerful data mapping and transformation capabilities to automate work processes without extensive technical knowledge.

Main features:

• Visual scenario builder
• Wide range of app integrations
• Data mapping and transformation
• Error handling and alerts

Best for: Marketing and sales functions, such as market research. For example, Make automation streamlines data collection, analysis, and reporting for market research requirements. 

Price: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $10.59/month.

Low-Code Solutions

Low-code automation solutions offer more flexibility by incorporating some level of coding for customization and advanced functionality. While primarily relying on visual interfaces and pre-built components, low-code platforms allow users with basic coding knowledge to fine-tune automations, integrate complex systems, and build tailored solutions that perfectly align with their specific business requirements.

Key Features of Low-Code Automation Solutions

• Visual development environment: Low-code platforms offer a drag-and-drop interface similar to no-code, making it easy for users to design and build applications without extensive coding. This visual approach speeds up development and enables users to visualize the workflow and logic of their automations.
• Pre-built components and templates: They provide a library of pre-built components, modules, and templates that can be easily integrated into applications to accelerate development and reduce the need to build everything from scratch.
• Code extensibility: While primarily visual, low-code platforms allow users to add custom code snippets or scripts to enhance functionality or integrate with external systems.

Use Cases of Low-Code Automation Solutions

• Announce cloud health events based on a resource ownership mapping: This likely involves integrating with cloud monitoring APIs and using a low-code platform to define the logic for ownership mapping and notifications.
• Manage break-glass requests and approvals for temporary elevated permissions: A low-code workflow automation tool could be used to create the request/approval process, potentially with integrations to identity management systems.
• Create/update calendar events based on the deadlines of Jira issues: Low-code automation platforms can often integrate with calendars and Jira to automate event creation and updates based on issue deadlines.

3. AutoKitteh

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AutoKitteh is an open-source, durable workflow automation and orchestration platform tailored to developers. It enables creating, managing, and monitoring code-centric automation and durable workflows. 

Using AutoKitteh, developers can write the code for reliable workflow automation, and AutoKitteh provides all the infrastructure including authentication, monitoring, logging, and more. The platform also enables developers to build reliable, long-running, and durable workflows that pick up where they left off for total durability and reliability. 

Main features:

• Supports long-running, durable workflows that resume after failures
• Serverless workflow automation
• Includes built-in API integrations for flexibility
• Deploy on-prem, cloud, hybrid, or even on your laptop
• Logging and monitoring for workflow tracking
• Seamless recovery from server or network outages

Best for: Developers seeking an easy-to-use and code-centric platform enabling long-running automation and durable workflows with no limitations. 

Price: Open-source (free). SaaS -- by inquiry

4. Windmill

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Windmill is an open-source developer platform for creating, sharing, and managing automation scripts and workflows. It combines a visual interface with code-based automation, allowing developers to build and deploy custom automation using various programming languages.

Main features:

• Visual workflow builder
• Support for multiple programming languages
• Version control integration
• Collaborative workspace

Best for: Developers and data teams looking for a simple tool to test the waters of enterprise internal workflows for the first time. 

Price: Self-hosted, free, and open-source (paid plans start at $48/month), plus cloud plans start at $10/month.

5. Pipedream

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Pipedream is a low-code integration platform that enables developers to connect APIs, automate workflows, and deploy serverless code. It enables users to create real-time events and build complex integrations.

Main features:

• Extensive API integrations
• Node.js runtime environment
• Serverless execution
• Real-time event processing

Best for: Developers building event-driven workflows.

Price: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $45/month.

High-Code Solutions

High-code solutions, or traditional software development, involve writing code from scratch using programming languages like Java, Python, or C++. High-code development requires specialized programming skills, is time-consuming, and can be expensive due to the need for experienced developers.

Key Features of High-Code Automation Solutions

• Complete customization: Developers have full control over the code, enabling them to create unique functionalities, tailored user interfaces, and complex algorithms to meet specific business needs.
• Performance optimization: By fine-tuning the code and leveraging advanced programming techniques, developers can ensure the application runs smoothly, even under heavy loads or with large datasets.
• Integration with any system: Developers have the freedom to write custom code to connect with legacy systems, proprietary APIs, or specialized hardware, ensuring seamless data exchange and interoperability.

Use Cases of High-Code Automation Solutions

• Process and store data from new S3 files: This involves interacting with cloud storage and database systems, likely requiring custom code for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL).
• Automation of internal workflows like creating an AI training pipeline, executing high-capacity transactions, and reliable microservice orchestration. However, you don't need a high-code development platform to achieve these automations---rather, a durable workflow automation and orchestration platform like AutoKitteh enables you to build long-running, durable workflows without advanced coding knowledge.

6. Temporal

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Temporal is an open-source microservices orchestration platform that helps developers build and operate reliable distributed systems. It excels at handling complex, long-running workflows and ensures reliability in distributed environments, making it ideal for building scalable, fault-tolerant applications.

Main features:

• Durable execution
• Workflow versioning
• Scalable architecture
• Multiple SDK support (Go, Java, PHP, TypeScript)

Best for: Large enterprises with complex, mission-critical processes.

Price: By inquiry. 

7. AWS Step Functions

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AWS Step Functions is a serverless workflow orchestration service within the Amazon Web Services ecosystem. It allows developers to coordinate multiple AWS services into structured, visual workflows for building distributed applications, managing AWS infrastructure, and automating security, IT, and business processes.

Main features:

• Visual workflow designer
• Integration with AWS services
• Error handling and retry mechanisms
• Parallel and sequential task execution

Best for: Developers looking to automate and orchestrate complex workflows and processes within the AWS ecosystem.

Price: Pay-per-use model, starting at $0.025 per 1,000 state transitions.

8. Azure Durable Functions

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Azure Durable Functions is an extension of Azure Functions that enables the creation of stateful, long-running workflows in a serverless environment. It allows developers to write workflows as code, using C#, JavaScript, and Python, and manage complex orchestrations with built-in support for retries, checkpoints, and state management.

Main features:

• Long-running workflows
• Event-driven architecture
• Automatic checkpointing and replay
• Support for multiple programming languages

Best for: Existing users of Microsoft Azure developing serverless applications.

Price: Pay-per-use model that varies based on execution time and memory usage.

Paw-some Automation Solutions For Your DevOps/IT Team with AutoKitteh

As we've explored the landscape of process automation solutions, it's clear that the right tool can significantly enhance your DevOps team's efficiency and productivity. From workflow automation platforms to cloud workload automation and durable execution solutions, each category offers unique benefits to streamline your processes and reduce manual overhead.

While many options exist, choosing a solution that balances flexibility and usability is crucial. AutoKitteh stands out as an innovative open-source platform that combines the best of both worlds, offering durable workflow automation and orchestration capabilities with a minimal learning curve. AutoKitteh empowers developers to create robust, fault-tolerant processes without extensive coding knowledge by providing comprehensive logging, scalability, and a user-friendly interface.

Ready to revolutionize your DevOps workflows? Book a demo today to explore how AutoKitteh can transform your process automation journey. 

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by yayabobi