Automatisch vs Huginn (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Huginn grades higher than Automatisch: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Automatisch grades higher on platforms. Huginn grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick Automatisch if
- Fits if you are comfortable running Docker and want to own your data
- Works for flows that can wait 15 minutes
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you do not want to run servers, as no hosted price is published
- Not for you if you need instant triggers, as flows run every 15 minutes
- Too light for a long app list: about 70 apps are listed
- Watch out: the encryption and webhook keys must never change or saved connections break
Pick Huginn if
- Fits if you want your automation data kept on a server you control
- Works for people already comfortable with Docker or a Ruby on Rails deployment
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you've never run a server, because there's no hosted version to sign up for
- Not for you if you want a drag-and-drop builder, as agents are set up with options and Liquid templates
- Too light for wiring up an obscure business app, since a new agent has to be written in Ruby
- Tight if your server runs Windows, as Huginn doesn't, and the manual install guide covers Ubuntu and Debian only
- Watch out: you'll pay for a server with about 2 GB of RAM and two cores, plus MySQL or PostgreSQL beside it
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAutomatischFair | 2.6GPAHuginnGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$0, but only if you host it yourself, which needs a server. That is a C, and no hosted price is published. | AFree and open source under the MIT License, with no paid edition, where tools in this category start around $15 a month. The only bill is the server it runs on, and the requirements page suggests 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core machine. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe software is free to run on your own servers with Docker. You pay for the server. | AAll of it is free, with nothing held back and nothing metered: the web interface, the built-in agents and support for new agents added as Ruby gems. No account, no plan, no quota. |
| Features | CMulti-step flows, webhooks and requests, but just over 70 apps and flows that run at 15-minute intervals, with instant updates only planned. | CAgents watch sites, feeds and search terms and pass events to each other, with digests, spike alerts, webhooks and custom JavaScript. The gaps are plain, though: the built-in agent list is short next to the thousand-app platforms here, and a new one means writing Ruby. |
| Ease of use | DSelf-hosting with Docker, Postgres and Redis, and keys that must never change or saved connections break. | DThere's no hosted version to sign up for: you install it, with MySQL or PostgreSQL beside it, and you update and back it up yourself. Docker is the quickest route. Agents are then configured with options and Liquid templates rather than dragged into place. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb interface, with connections to Slack, Google Sheets, GitHub, HubSpot, Notion, Stripe, Telegram and OpenAI. No desktop or phone app. | CA self-hosted web interface, and the server has to be Linux: the docs say it doesn't run on Windows and suggest a virtual machine. No phone or desktop app. Built-in agents cover Slack, Twilio, Jira and a handful more, with webhooks for the rest. |
| Best for | self-hosted automation for a developer | watching the web from a server you control |
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: Automatisch and Huginn. How we grade
Price against what you get
Automatisch has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Huginn has no paid plan and scores 1.7.
Automatisch scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other automation tools on the chart, none scores higher than Automatisch for less, and none scores higher than Huginn for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Automatisch also covers no-code.
In commonFree planWebOpen sourceSelf-hostableWorkflow automation
At a glance
| Automatisch | Huginn | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | The open-source software is free to run on your own servers; no hosted plan or price is published. | Free and open source under the MIT License, with no paid edition. You install and run it yourself, so the only cost is the server or hosting plan it runs on. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Automatisch | Andrew Cantino and contributors |
| Price read from | automatisch.io | github.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Automatisch
- Self-hosting needs Postgres and Redis, and the encryption and webhook keys must never change or saved connections break.
- The homepage mentions a cloud solution, but no cloud plans or prices are published on the pages we read.
- The docs list a bit over 70 apps, far fewer than the large hosted automation services.
- The docs say flows currently run at 15-minute intervals, with instant updates only planned.
Huginn
- There is no hosted version: you install, update and back up Huginn yourself, with MySQL or PostgreSQL alongside it.
- Huginn does not run on Windows; the docs suggest a virtual machine. The manual install guide supports Ubuntu and Debian.
- The requirements page recommends 2 GB of RAM and a dual-core server.
- Agents are configured in the web interface with options and Liquid templates, and writing a new agent means writing Ruby.
Key features
Automatisch
- Multi-step flows
- A flow is built from a trigger plus later steps, with built-in helper apps such as Filter, Formatter, Delay, Scheduler and HTTP Request.
- Self-hosting
- The installation guide covers Docker Compose and plain Docker, with a main service and a worker service that share one set of environment variables.
- Own your data
- The site says data stays on your own servers, which it pitches at healthcare, finance and European teams bound by GDPR.
- App directory
- The docs list the supported apps, including Slack, Google Sheets, GitHub, HubSpot, Notion, Stripe, Telegram and AI services such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
- Webhooks and requests
- Webhooks and a generic HTTP Request app are in the app list, so services without a dedicated integration can still be reached.
Huginn
- Agents and events
- Each agent does one job, such as checking a site or sending a message, and emits events that other agents consume. Chaining them forms a directed graph.
- Website monitoring
- Agents can scrape websites and email you when a page changes, or watch for travel and shopping deals. The wiki covers browser emulation for pages that need JavaScript.
- Digests and spike alerts
- Huginn can send a digest email at set times of day, and count high-frequency events so that an SMS goes out within moments of a spike.
- Webhooks and custom JavaScript
- Agents send and receive webhooks and can run custom JavaScript functions, so services without a built-in agent can still be wired in.
- Agent gems
- New agents can be written as external Ruby gems and loaded through the ADDITIONAL_GEMS environment variable, without changing the core repository.
- Several ways to deploy
- There is an official Docker image, a manual installation guide for Ubuntu and Debian, OpenShift templates and a Heroku deploy button, which needs a paid Heroku plan.
Plans
Automatisch
Self-hosted$0
Run Automatisch yourself with Docker Compose or Docker. You provide the servers, Postgres and Redis.
Huginn
Huginn$0
The whole project under the MIT License: the web interface, the built-in agents and support for agents added as Ruby gems.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Automatisch or Huginn?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Automatisch and Huginn are free to use.
Which has a free plan, Automatisch or Huginn?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Automatisch and Huginn have a free plan.
Which platforms do Automatisch and Huginn run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Huginn lists a Linux app. Both list a web app. 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.