Activepieces and Harvester solve entirely different problems: Activepieces automates business processes across HR, finance, marketing, and sales using…
Best for activepieces: Teams that want to automate workflows across business tools (like Gmail) with a flat per-flow cost starting at $5/month and the flexibility to deploy in the cloud or self-hosted.
Best for Harvester: Organizations running bare-metal datacenter or edge infrastructure that need a free, unified platform for VMs and Kubernetes workloads, especially those already using Rancher, Elemental, or Fleet.
At a Glance
activepieces
Harvester
Primary category
DevOps
DevOps
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Freemium (usage-based) plus a free open-source self-hosted edition
Open Source, free with optional paid enterprise support
Starting price
Free (10 active flows); $5 per active flow/month after that
Free (self-hosted)
Free plan
Yes
Not documented
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Web
Web
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Yes
Not documented
Public API
Yes
Yes
Key Differences
Product Category
activepieces: Activepieces is a workflow/business-process automation platform spanning HR, finance, marketing, and sales.
Harvester: Harvester is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platform for running VMs and cloud-native workloads on bare metal.
They solve different problems, so choosing between them depends on whether you need automation software or infrastructure virtualization.
Pricing Model
activepieces: Charges $5/month on the Standard plan billed per active flow, with a documented "$0 per execution" model, plus a custom-priced Ultimate plan on an annual contract.
Harvester: Entirely free with no licensing fees documented for the core platform.
One is usage-based SaaS-style software pricing, the other is free infrastructure software (hardware and operational costs still apply).
Deployment Model
activepieces: Supports both Cloud and Self-Hosted deployment ("Deploy your way. Pay fairly.").
Harvester: Deployed on bare-metal hardware only, requiring infrastructure expertise to set up.
Activepieces offers a hosted option for teams that don't want to manage servers, while Harvester assumes you already run physical hardware.
Core Technology
activepieces: Built around a library of prebuilt integrations ("pieces"), such as Gmail, for automating tasks.
Harvester: Built on Linux, KVM, Kubernetes, KubeVirt, and Longhorn for unified VM and container management.
The underlying technology stack determines what skills and staff are required to operate each tool.
Governance & Enterprise Fit
activepieces: Documents enterprise governance controls for larger organizations on top of its integrations library.
Harvester: Enterprise support terms are not detailed on the homepage, though the project is maintained by SUSE/Rancher.
Buyers needing formal governance or compliance features should check what's documented versus what requires a sales conversation.
Feature-by-Feature
Deployment & Licensing
Feature
activepieces
Harvester
Self-hosted deployment
Available
Available
Cloud/managed hosting
Available
Unavailable
Open source
Available
Available
Free tier
Limited
Available
Automation & Workflow Capabilities
Feature
activepieces
Harvester
Prebuilt app integrations ("pieces")
Available
Unavailable
Usage-based per-execution pricing
Available
Not documented
Enterprise governance controls
Available
Not documented
Infrastructure & Virtualization
Feature
activepieces
Harvester
Virtual machine management
Unavailable
Available
Kubernetes-in-VM support
Unavailable
Available
Bare-metal hardware support
Unavailable
Available
Rancher ecosystem integration (Elemental, Fleet)
Unavailable
Available
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
activepieces
Standard — Free, then $5 per active flow per month (usage-based)
Ultimate — Custom annual contract
Community Edition — Free self-hosted
Harvester
Community (Open Source) — Free N/A
SUSE Enterprise Support — Custom pricing Annual contract
Pros & Cons
activepieces
Pros
Generous free tier: 10 active flows with unlimited runs
Fully free, MIT-licensed self-hosted Community Edition
Large integration library (700+) including modern AI tools
Built-in AI agent capability, not just linear automations
Per-flow (not per-run) pricing means high-volume automations don't get penalized
Cons
Per-active-flow pricing can add up for teams running many distinct workflows
Enterprise security/governance features require the custom-priced Ultimate plan
Self-hosting the Community Edition requires technical setup and maintenance
Harvester
Pros
Completely free and open source with no licensing costs, unlike VMware vSphere or Nutanix
Built entirely from proven open-source components (Kubernetes, KubeVirt, Longhorn, KVM) rather than a proprietary hypervisor
No Kubernetes expertise required to operate despite being Kubernetes-native underneath
Native integration with Rancher for organizations already managing multiple Kubernetes clusters
Runs legacy VM workloads and modern containerized applications on the same infrastructure layer
Cons
Commercial support is only available through SUSE, so organizations without a support contract rely on community channels
Younger project than mature commercial HCI platforms, with a smaller third-party ecosystem and fewer integrations
Requires dedicated bare-metal hardware and careful network planning, which raises the operational learning curve versus a managed cloud service
Feature parity with VMware vSphere in areas like advanced DRS-style scheduling is still evolving
Best suited to teams already comfortable with Kubernetes-adjacent operations, which can be a barrier for traditional VMware administrators
Use Cases
Choose activepieces: Teams that want to automate workflows across business tools (like Gmail) with a flat per-flow cost starting at $5/month and the flexibility to deploy in the cloud or self-hosted.
Choose Harvester: Organizations running bare-metal datacenter or edge infrastructure that need a free, unified platform for VMs and Kubernetes workloads, especially those already using Rancher, Elemental, or Fleet.
Need both: An IT/platform team could run Harvester as the bare-metal HCI layer hosting a self-hosted Activepieces instance alongside other internal apps and Kubernetes workloads — Harvester as the infrastructure, Activepieces as the automation layer running on top of it.
activepieces
Sales operations automation — Automate lead routing and CRM syncing across sales tools.
Support ticket automation — Route and respond to support tickets automatically across channels.
Internal IT/ops workflows — Automate recurring internal processes across IT and operations tooling.
Building AI agents — Create AI agents that autonomously execute tasks with optional human approval.
Harvester
VMware licensing cost reduction — Infrastructure teams migrate VM workloads off VMware vSphere onto Harvester to eliminate per-CPU licensing fees following Broadcom's VMware acquisition and price changes.
Edge computing deployments — Organizations deploy lightweight Harvester clusters on a small number of physical nodes at edge sites to run both VMs and containers with minimal infrastructure overhead.
Legacy VM to Kubernetes modernization — Platform teams use Harvester to run legacy virtualized applications alongside new cloud-native services on one cluster while gradually modernizing workloads.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Activepieces and Harvester competitors?
No — Activepieces automates business workflows across apps like Gmail, while Harvester is infrastructure software for running VMs and Kubernetes on bare metal; they occupy different layers of the stack.
How much does Activepieces cost compared to Harvester?
Activepieces starts at $5/month per active flow on its Standard plan (with a custom-priced Ultimate tier); Harvester has no licensing fees and is free to download and deploy.
Can Harvester run Activepieces?
This isn't documented as an official integration between the two. Harvester runs VMs and Kubernetes workloads on bare metal, and Activepieces supports self-hosted deployment, so a self-hosted Activepieces instance could in principle run on Harvester-managed infrastructure, but the facts don't describe this specific pairing.
Is either tool open source?
Both are — Activepieces lists an "Open Source" option alongside its Cloud and paid plans, and Harvester is described as 100% open source with no licensing fees.
Who maintains Harvester?
SUSE/Rancher maintains Harvester as part of its broader Rancher ecosystem, alongside Elemental and Fleet.
Does Activepieces charge per execution?
No — Activepieces advertises "$0 per execution — run millions, pay the same," charging instead per active flow starting at $5/month on the Standard plan.