Automa vs UiPath (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, UiPath grades higher than Automa: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Automa grades higher on value for money. UiPath grades higher on the free plan, features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
UiPath
Enterprise platform for RPA, AI agents and process orchestration
Which one is for you
Pick Automa if
- Fits if you want to try desktop and web automation on a free plan first
- Works for teams automating repetitive desktop tasks without code
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you run automations for long, as the free plan stops at 30 minutes a day
- Skip it if you need to know the price, since Pro has no figure on the page
- Watch out: the free plan allows one developed app, and the paid plan's billing choices are only described in words
Pick UiPath if
- Fits if your company runs on old desktop apps, since the robots work the screens like a person would
- Works for IT teams that have to host it themselves, which Standard and Enterprise allow
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you just want two web apps to talk to each other, as that's a job for Zapier or n8n
- Not for you if you want to see a price first, because Standard and Enterprise are quoted by sales
- Tight if you're on Basic, with 2 robots, 1 tenant, European hosting only and unattended RPA as an add-on
- Watch out: the pricing page says Basic is changing soon and doesn't say what its $25 is charged per
- Pricey if you want self-healing automation, an extra on Standard, or live process monitoring, which needs Enterprise
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAAutomaFair | 2.6GPAUiPathGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CA Pro plan exists but no price is shown on the page read, so it sits in the middle until one is published. | DBasic is $25 a month, the top of this category's range, and for that you get 2 robots, 1 tenant and European hosting only, with unattended RPA as an add-on. Everything people actually come to UiPath for, agents, document processing, Maestro, waits on Standard, and Standard's price comes from a sales call. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free plan has one developed app and 30 minutes a day of runtime for third-party apps, plus a 14-day Pro trial. You will hit those caps. | BCommunity is free forever: you build and run real automations in Studio, with Maestro Automate and Maestro Orchestrate, and ask the forum when you're stuck. One person could live on it. The listing doesn't print its limits, so how far it stretches we can't say. |
| Features | CVisual builder, AI features, triggers and scheduling, a virtual desktop with an API, and a marketplace. The listing shows free-plan limits on runtime. | ARobots that work screens on Windows and Mac, Citrix and legacy systems included, then AI agents, document processing, process mining, and Maestro modeling a process in BPMN across robots, agents and people. A Healing Agent patches broken automations at runtime, at extra cost on Standard. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You build automations in a visual builder, which has a learning curve. | CNo rating on record, and this is a platform rather than an app. Robots, Studio, tenants, BPMN models: all of it wants learning before a single thing runs. Autopilot turning a plain-English prompt into a workflow is the one shortcut on offer. |
| Platforms and integrations | CDesktop clients for Windows and Mac only; no phone apps and no integrations named. | BStudio Web in a browser, desktop across Windows, Mac and Linux, and your own Kubernetes or Linux machines on Standard and Enterprise. It hooks up to Citrix, CyberArk, Azure Key Vault and coding assistants. No phone apps on the listing at all. |
| Best for | no-code automation with a Windows and Mac client | robots that work old desktop apps for big companies |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Automa and UiPath. How we grade
Where they differ
- UiPath is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Automa also covers no-code.
At a glance
| Automa | UiPath | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $25 per month (Basic plan; billing basis not stated) |
| Free plan | 1 developed app and 30 minutes a day of runtime for third-party apps. | Community plan, free forever: build and run automations with UiPath Studio, Maestro Automate and Maestro Orchestrate, with support from the community forum. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of the Pro plan | 60-day free trial of the Standard plan |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Automa | UiPath |
| Price read from | goautoma.com | uipath.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Automa
- The pricing page lists a Pro plan but no price appears in the page text that could be read, so the cost of Pro is not recorded here.
- The Free plan limits third-party app runtime to 30 minutes a day and one developed app.
- The download page offers Windows and Mac clients.
- The vendor says paid plans can be billed monthly or annually, with a discount for annual, and offers pro-rata refunds on standard plans bought on its site.
UiPath
- Standard and Enterprise prices are not published; both are quoted by UiPath's sales team.
- Basic is capped at 5 Basic, 5 Plus and 1 Pro user, 2 robots and 1 tenant, and is hosted only in UiPath's European region.
- The pricing page says Basic is evolving and an updated plan is coming soon, and it does not state what the $25 starting price is charged per.
- Self-healing automation is an extra purchase on Standard, and live process monitoring, simulation and customer-managed encryption keys need Enterprise.
Key features
Automa
- Visual no-code builder
- Workflows are designed by drag and drop, and the vendor describes bots that click and type the way a person would.
- AI features
- Pro lists AI-assisted features such as magic commands and flows, OCR and NLP, and advanced element capturing with XPath.
- Triggers and scheduling
- The plan table lists cloud triggers, work queues, dispatch mode and an advanced scheduler on paid plans.
- Virtual desktop and API
- Pro also lists a cloud virtual desktop and API access, which the Free plan does not include.
- Marketplace
- Public marketplace access is part of the plan table, and Enterprise adds an enterprise marketplace and a private section.
UiPath
- UI automation with robots
- Robots work with screens and data the way a person would, using AI Computer Vision and selectors on Windows and macOS, and reach legacy systems and virtual environments such as Citrix.
- Studio and Studio Web
- Automations are built low-code or code-first. Studio Web creates and edits them in the browser, and the desktop experience works across Windows, macOS and Linux.
- Agents and Maestro
- Agents handle variable work that fixed rules cannot. Maestro models a process in BPMN and orchestrates agents, robots, API workflows and human tasks within it.
- Autopilot and Healing Agent
- Autopilot turns natural-language prompts into workflows, code and expressions. Healing Agent suggests fixes for broken automations and repairs UI issues at runtime.
- Document processing and mining
- From the Standard plan, UiPath classifies and extracts data from documents and communications, and offers Process Mining, Task Mining and Automation Hub.
- Cloud, dedicated or self-hosted
- Automation Cloud is the SaaS version. Standard and Enterprise can instead be self-hosted on your own Kubernetes or Linux machines, and Enterprise can buy a dedicated cloud.
Plans
Automa
Free$0
1 developed app and 30 minutes a day of third-party app runtime. No credit card required.
ProNot shown
Unlimited apps and runtime, plus AI (OCR and NLP), cloud triggers, work queues and API access. No price appears in the page text.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds a management console, an enterprise marketplace and a private section, and expert success and support services.
UiPath
Community$0
Free forever. Build and run automations with UiPath Studio, Maestro Automate and Maestro Orchestrate, with help from the community forum.
BasicFrom $25
per month; the page does not say what the price is per
Basic personal automations for up to 5 Basic, 5 Plus and 1 Pro user and 2 robots, hosted in the European region, with Bronze Support. Unattended RPA is an add-on.
StandardCustom
Adds agents, document processing, Maestro orchestration, governance controls and your own identity provider, with no limits on scale. Starts with a 60-day free trial.
EnterpriseCustom
Adds self-healing UI automation, live process monitoring and simulation, your own encryption keys and credential vaults, and multi-region hosting.
Ways to pay less
Automa
- Annual discount
Annual billing discount
The pricing page has an Annually toggle marked 50% off and its FAQ says annual subscriptions include a discount; the prices themselves were not readable.
UiPath
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Automa or UiPath?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Automa publishes no starting price, and UiPath starts at $25 per month (Basic plan; billing basis not stated).
Which has a free plan, Automa or UiPath?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Automa and UiPath have a free plan.
Which platforms do Automa and UiPath run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only UiPath lists a web app and a Linux app. Both list macOS and Windows apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.