StackStorm vs Tines (2026): which should you pick?

Pick StackStorm if

• Fits if your IT team wants rules that react to events and run fixes automatically
• Works for engineers comfortable writing Python sensors and actions

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you don't want to host software, since no hosted service is listed
• Not for you if you need vendor support, as help comes from community Slack, forums and GitHub
• Too light on hand-holding for non-technical teams: custom pieces are Python plugins or scripts
• Watch out: install docs cover Ubuntu and RHEL-compatible Linux, Docker and Kubernetes, not Windows or Mac

Pick Tines if

• Fits if your security team wants alert intake, triage and remediation automated
• Works for organizations that need a self-hosted, on-prem or hybrid deployment

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to see a price before talking to sales, because paid plans are by quote
• Tight if you're staying free, with 3 live workflows, 5,000 Tines units a month and no public website URLs
• Watch out: paid plans have you bring your own AI model, so token costs go to your provider on top of the license
• Watch out: units used past your allowance are billed as overage, after a one-month grace period for new customers
• Not for you if you only need a couple of personal automations, since paid plans are platform licenses

StackStorm

• It is self-hosted: the install docs cover Ubuntu and RHEL-compatible Linux, Docker and Kubernetes, and no hosted service is listed.
• The project lists no paid plan or vendor support; help comes from the community Slack, forums and GitHub.
• Custom sensors and actions are written as Python plugins or scripts, so it suits technical teams.

Tines

• Paid prices are not published: the pricing page only offers a quote request, and plans are sold as platform licenses.
• The free Explore edition stops at 3 live workflows and 5,000 Tines units a month, and does not allow public website URLs.
• Paid plans use a bring-your-own-model approach, so LLM token costs are paid to your own AI provider.
• Tines units used beyond the plan allowance are billed as overage, after a one-month grace period for new customers.

StackStorm

Sensors and triggers

Sensors are Python plugins that watch for events in outside systems and emit triggers, such as timers, webhooks or a monitoring alert.

Rules

Rules map triggers to actions or workflows, with matching criteria and a mapping from the trigger payload to the action's inputs.

Actions and workflows

Actions are outbound integrations such as SSH or REST calls, and workflows string several actions together with order, conditions and data passing.

Packs and Exchange

Packs group integrations and automations for sharing, and many are published on StackStorm Exchange.

Audit trail

Manual and automated action executions are recorded with their triggering context and results, and audit logs can feed tools such as Splunk and syslog.

ChatOps, web UI and API

The docs describe ChatOps support, a web UI, a CLI client, a REST API and Python client bindings.

Tines

Storyboard

In Tines Stories, workflows are assembled by placing and connecting actions on a canvas: Webhook, HTTP request, Receive email, Send email, Event Transform, Condition and AI Agent.

Prompt-to-code building in Tines 3B

You describe a process in plain language and 3B writes the workflow as code, proposing tests as it goes. Git integration and branching are standard, and coding assistants such as Claude Code can connect.

Isolated runs and hidden credentials

Each step of a 3B workflow runs in its own sandbox, and credentials are injected through a proxy so that secrets are never shown to the builder or the AI, or stored in the code.

Cases and Workbench

Tines Stories includes Cases for case and incident management and Workbench, an AI copilot. The free Community Edition allows up to 20 Workbench messages a day across the tenant.

Autofix and Autotune

Autofix suggests repairs for anomalies and likely breaks in a workflow. Autotune proposes reliability, performance and clarity improvements on a branch you review before it goes live.

Monitoring and AI spend

Dashboards show workflow performance, spend across LLM providers and models, who has access to which connectors and spaces, duplicate workflows and estimated savings.

StackStorm

• Open source$0

  Free software you install and run yourself. The project's pages list no paid plans.

Tines

• Explore$0

  Free edition of Tines 3B: unlimited users, spaces and connectors, 3 live workflows, 5,000 Tines units a month and a one-time $50 AI allowance.

• CoreCustom

  Paid Tines 3B license on a multi-tenant stack with 100K Tines units a month, unlimited workflows and your own AI model.

• ScaleCustom

  A dedicated stack for larger deployments, with 300K Tines units a month.

• PowerCustom

  A premium dedicated stack for the highest volumes, with 900K Tines units a month.

StackStorm

No public discounts listed.

Tines

• Startups

  Startup Program for Tines Stories

  Tines offers a heavily discounted, fully featured Tines Stories tenant to startups with under 100 employees, under 5 years old and under $50M raised. Services companies are excluded.