Open-source IFTTT alternatives

n8n is a workflow automation platform for connecting apps, moving data between them and triggering actions without writing a full integration from scratch. Workflows are built on a visual canvas, and when a step needs more logic you can drop in JavaScript or Python and use npm packages. It is often compared with Zapier and Make, but the source is public and it can run on your own infrastructure.

Recent versions put a lot of weight on AI. You can build multi-step agents and LLM workflows that call OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or open-source models, add human approval steps, and inspect what happened afterward. The project advertises over a thousand integrations and a large library of ready-made workflow templates, and you can extend it with your own nodes.

n8n is distributed under a fair-code model: the Sustainable Use License, plus a separate enterprise license for additional features. The code is always visible and can be self-hosted, for example with Docker, but it is not an OSI-approved open-source license, so commercial redistribution is restricted. A managed cloud edition is available if you would rather not run it yourself.

Home Assistant is open-source home automation software built around local control and privacy. It runs on hardware you own, such as a Raspberry Pi or a small home server, and brings smart lights, sensors, switches, thermostats and other devices together in one place. The core is written in Python and released under the Apache-2.0 license.

The documentation is organized around automations and dashboards, voice control, grouping devices by area, tracking energy use and templating, with configuration through the interface or YAML files. The project lists more than 1,500 integrations, and it can be controlled through assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. Companion hardware, including Home Assistant Green and the Voice Preview Edition, makes first-time setup simpler.

Home Assistant is a project of the Open Home Foundation, a non-profit that states the project cannot be sold or acquired. It suits tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts who want a home automation hub that does not depend on a single vendor's cloud, as well as people who want to unify devices from many brands under one dashboard.

Huginn lets you build agents that carry out automated online tasks on your behalf. These agents can browse the web, watch for events and take action for you. Agents create and consume events and pass them along a directed graph. The README compares it to a hackable version of IFTTT or Zapier running on your own server, so you always know who holds your data. It is written in Ruby and released under the MIT license.

Example uses listed by the project include getting an email when rain is forecast, monitoring terms on social media for spikes, watching for travel or shopping deals, scraping websites and receiving an alert when they change, and sending digest emails at set times. Huginn can connect to many services, including Slack, IMAP, FTP, JIRA, MQTT, Pushover, RSS, Twilio and others.

Agents can also exchange webhooks, execute your own JavaScript, record your location over time, and build Amazon Mechanical Turk workflows. It suits developers and tinkerers who want programmable monitoring and notification workflows that run on their own infrastructure.

Activepieces is an open-source replacement for Zapier, positioned as an all-in-one AI automation tool. Automations are built from pieces, which are type-safe TypeScript npm packages, and the interface is meant to work for both technical and non-technical users. The topics also describe it as an alternative to n8n. The repository metadata lists the license as Other.

Pieces that are contributed to the project automatically become available as MCP servers, so LLM clients such as Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf can use them. The platform includes native AI pieces for working with different providers, an AI SDK for building agents inside the builder, and human-in-the-loop steps that delay execution or require approval. Developers can set up tools, then others in the organization use the no-code builder. It can be self-hosted, including in network-gapped environments, and supports branding customization.

Node-RED is a low-code programming tool for event-driven applications built on flow-based, visual programming. Instead of writing everything as code, you connect nodes that represent inputs, processing steps and outputs, which makes it popular for IoT projects, home automation and wiring together APIs and online services. It is a project of the OpenJS Foundation.

Getting started takes a couple of commands: install it globally with npm, start it with the node-red command, and open it in your browser. A large ecosystem sits around it, with a library of custom nodes and integrations, shared flows and node collections, plus documentation, a forum and a Slack community. Developers can also run the latest code from git by cloning the repository, installing dependencies and building it.

Node-RED is written in JavaScript on Node.js and licensed under Apache-2.0. You run it on your own computer, a Raspberry Pi, a server or in a container, so there is no hosted service to depend on. It suits makers, integrators and engineers who want to prototype and automate event-driven logic quickly.

Automatisch is a business automation tool that connects different online services so that tasks flow between them without manual work. It is described as an open-source Zapier alternative, and no programming knowledge is needed to build workflows. The input lists its license only as other, so check the repository for the exact terms.

Its main selling point is control over data: because you run it on your own servers, information stays out of third-party clouds, which matters for industries such as healthcare and finance and for European companies subject to GDPR. The project also stresses the absence of vendor lock-in, since you hold your data and can move to another provider more easily than between cloud services.

Documentation is available at automatisch.io/docs, and the project is written in JavaScript. Automatisch suits small businesses, agencies, and technical teams that want to automate integrations between SaaS tools without paying per-task fees, and that are comfortable hosting a small service.

ActiveWorkflow is a self-hosted workflow platform that sits alongside your existing technology stack. It groups business logic for periodic execution, polls resources, and orchestrates event-driven functionality, for example generating a weekly report, checking whether a file has appeared in S3, or triggering an email campaign in response to user behavior.

Workflows are made of agents, which are self-contained services or microservices written in any programming language. The platform connects the agents, provides extensive logging and state management, and offers a base for building scalable systems without vendor lock-in. It is explicitly not a no-code platform, but a full UI lets engineers and other stakeholders manage and monitor workflows.

ActiveWorkflow started as a fork of Huginn, aimed at business use, an API, polyglot support and a smaller codebase, and it is incompatible with Huginn. It is written in Ruby, can be tried quickly with Docker, and has documentation at docs.activeworkflow.org. The repository lists its license as Other, so check the license file for terms.