Nothing is charged for the entry plan, and it is shaped like a pilot: 500 runs a month, two projects, one seat and Discord help from the community.
Best of · 6 tools ranked
Best AI Automation Tools Under $10/mo
Find the best AI automation tools under $10 a month, a list where most entry plans cost nothing and the real question is what the plan counts: runs, executions, credits or seats. Read each entry for what the plan covers and what pushes you toward the next tier, then match it to one person or a small team.
Updated 3 October 2026Ranked by our score, worked out from each vendor’s own pages.How we score →All AI Automation & Agents →
Our top 3 AI Automation Tools Under $10/mo
CrewAI: runner-up
Free
Basic costs nothing and gives 50 executions a month with a visual editor, GitHub integration and an AI copilot.
A free Community plan and a $19 Starter plan sit alongside the usage rates, which run $0.08 a run on the managed cloud and $0.03 when hosted in your own VPC.
Best AI Automation Tools Under $10/mo, ranked
#ToolScoreEntry plan includesStarts at
✓ Free plan tooFrom $0Show detailsHide details01
StackAI: Best for governed agent pilots on one seat8.4Score 8.4 out of 10✓ Free plan too$0Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about StackAI
✓ Free plan tooFrom $0
Show detailsHide detailsStackAI: Best for governed agent pilots on one seat
8.4Score 8.4 out of 10✓ Free plan too$0Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
Nothing is charged for the entry plan, and it is shaped like a pilot: 500 runs a month, two projects, one seat and Discord help from the community. What pushes you up is the need for compliance, since SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, SSO and on-prem or VPC hosting all sit on Enterprise, which is custom priced. Pick it over Cassidy AI when a security review comes before team sharing.
- No-code drag-and-drop visual flow builder makes it accessible for enterprise IT teams without deep coding expertise.
- Supports 100+ integrations and multiple LLMs including OpenAI and Anthropic Claude, avoiding vendor lock-in on AI models.
- Asana's pending acquisition creates significant uncertainty around pricing, roadmap, and the product's future as a standalone platform.
02CrewAI: Best for trying multi-agent crews cheaplyn/a✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about CrewAI
CrewAI: Best for trying multi-agent crews cheaply
n/a✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
Basic costs nothing and gives 50 executions a month with a visual editor, GitHub integration and an AI copilot. Think of it as a test bench for multi-agent crews, because Enterprise is the next listed step, with unlimited executions, a dedicated VPC, SSO and RBAC. Pick it over Lyzr when the aim is several agents cooperating on one task, built or tuned by a developer.
- Supports both no-code visual editor and code-first Python API, making it accessible to non-developers and engineers alike.
- All visual editor work exports to Python, preventing vendor lock-in and enabling clean handoffs to engineering teams.
- Trying to serve both no-code and developer audiences simultaneously risks being a poor fit for both if execution falls short.
LYZR CLOUD: Per agent run, fully managed cloud infrastructure
✓ Free plan tooFrom $0.03Show detailsHide details03
Lyzr: Best for paying per agent run, not per seat7.7Score 7.7 out of 10LYZR CLOUD: Per agent run, fully managed cloud infrastructure✓ Free plan too$0.03Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about Lyzr
LYZR CLOUD: Per agent run, fully managed cloud infrastructure
✓ Free plan tooFrom $0.03
Show detailsHide detailsLyzr: Best for paying per agent run, not per seat
7.7Score 7.7 out of 10LYZR CLOUD: Per agent run, fully managed cloud infrastructure✓ Free plan too$0.03Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
A free Community plan and a $19 Starter plan sit alongside the usage rates, which run $0.08 a run on the managed cloud and $0.03 when hosted in your own VPC. Ten dollars on the cloud rate buys about 125 runs, so volume is what moves you off a subscription. Choose it over StackAI when you expect to pay by the run and want the option of your own servers.
- The Control Plane governance layer provides configurable policies that can block, flag, or reroute agent outputs, giving enterprises meaningful oversight of AI behavior.
- Immutable audit logs track every tool call and user interaction with timestamps, which is a critical feature for regulated industries.
- Pricing is completely invisible on the website, making it impossible to evaluate cost without engaging the sales team.
04
Cassidy AI: Best for a small team sharing agentsn/a✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about Cassidy AI
Cassidy AI: Best for a small team sharing agents
n/a✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
Starter is free and gives a small team real room: three seats, one workspace, 10K AI credits a month, five agents, five workflows and 30K pages of storage. The help center is open on every plan. Business is custom priced and adds onboarding support, so the move up is about scale and service. Pick it over StackAI and CrewAI when more than one person will use the agents.
- Model-agnostic architecture allows users to choose between OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google without vendor lock-in.
- No-code workflow builder enables non-technical operations staff to build multi-step automations without engineering support.
- Cassidy is not a full helpdesk replacement, meaning teams needing end-to-end customer service tooling will need additional solutions.
#5Bardeen: Best for light lead scraping from Chrome
Basic: 100 credits/month included; build your own scrapers, premium scrapers, enrichment, teams
✓ Free plan tooFrom $10Show detailsHide details05Bardeen: Best for light lead scraping from Chromen/aBasic: 100 credits/month included; build your own scrapers, premium scrapers, enrichment, teams✓ Free plan too$10Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about Bardeen
#5Bardeen: Best for light lead scraping from Chrome
Basic: 100 credits/month included; build your own scrapers, premium scrapers, enrichment, teams
✓ Free plan tooFrom $10
Show detailsHide detailsBardeen: Best for light lead scraping from Chrome
n/aBasic: 100 credits/month included; build your own scrapers, premium scrapers, enrichment, teams✓ Free plan too$10Visit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
This is the one entry here with a price under the line: Basic at $10 a month adds premium scrapers, enrichment and teams to the build-your-own scrapers that free already has. Credits are the meter, and unused ones expire at the end of each billing period. Premium, at $50, is the next jump. Pick it over Dust when the work is sourcing leads from pages in Chrome.
- No-code visual scraper builder makes it accessible to non-technical users like sales reps and solopreneurs.
- AI qualification layer filters leads against your ideal customer profile before you ever review them.
- The platform is English-first, which limits usability for international teams without prior investigation.
Pro: 8,000 credits/seat/mo; best for most team members
✓ Free plan tooFreeShow detailsHide details06
Dust: Best for a short trial of team agents5.8Score 5.8 out of 10Pro: 8,000 credits/seat/mo; best for most team members✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsCloseShow more about Dust
Pro: 8,000 credits/seat/mo; best for most team members
✓ Free plan tooFree
Show detailsHide detailsDust: Best for a short trial of team agents
5.8Score 5.8 out of 10Pro: 8,000 credits/seat/mo; best for most team members✓ Free plan tooFreeVisit site ↗ReviewDetailsClose
The entry plan is a free pot of 500 credits, all at once, so it works as a short trial and not a monthly allowance. Pro is the next step at 8,000 credits per seat a month, so a team paying its way starts there. Dust connects agents to shared knowledge and adds a Chrome extension. Pick it over Cassidy AI when agents must read company documents and your team is ready to pay per seat.
- Shared AI agents across departments ensure consistent outputs for all team members rather than siloed per-user chat threads.
- Multi-model backend supports GPT, Claude, Gemini, Mistral, and DeepSeek, giving teams flexibility in model selection.
- The collaborative AI thesis works better for some teams than others, meaning it is not a universal fit.
How to choose an AI automation tool under $10 a month
Most tools in this price band cost nothing to start, so the real comparison is not the monthly fee. It is the unit each plan counts, how many of them you get, and what the next step costs once you pass them. Six tools sit here, and they split into agent builders, shared team workspaces and a lead collector. This guide matches each to a job, shows the real monthly cost in its own units, and covers hosting, model access and when to move up.
Start with the job, not the tool
The six tools are built for four different jobs, and the cheapest plan only helps if it matches yours.
- Proving an agent works. You want a visual editor and a few runs to see whether an idea holds. StackAI and CrewAI both give a free plan with a visual builder, and CrewAI adds an AI copilot and GitHub integration.
- Paying per run. You would rather be billed for work done than for a seat. Lyzr charges per agent run, at one rate in its cloud and a lower one if you host it yourself.
- Sharing agents with a small team. Several people need the same assistants in the tools they already open. Cassidy AI offers add-ons for Word, Excel, Gmail and Outlook, and Dust gives each seat its own credits on paid plans.
- Collecting leads from the web. The job is pulling contacts and page data into a list. Bardeen works from a Chrome extension and is built for exactly this.
Once the job is clear, the first column of this table is usually the answer.
| Job | Start with | Why not the others |
|---|---|---|
| Show a security reviewer a working agent | StackAI | CrewAI lists compliance too, but its free count is 50 executions against 500 runs |
| Try several cooperating agents on one task | CrewAI | StackAI has the larger allowance but one seat |
| Pay only for runs you make | Lyzr | The others charge by plan or credit pot, so a quiet month costs what a busy one does |
| Give three colleagues one assistant | Cassidy AI | Dust's free pot is 500 credits spent once |
| Gather prospects from pages you visit | Bardeen | The others build agents rather than gather page data |
| Test agents on company knowledge | Dust | Cassidy AI shares one pot instead of per-seat credits |
What the price actually buys
Each kind of tool rations its entry plan in a different unit, so a cheap plan can last a month or an afternoon.
- Agent builders. StackAI gives 500 runs a month, about 16 a day, on 2 projects and one seat. CrewAI gives 50 workflow executions, which is under two a day. Lyzr lists its prices per run, so the bill is the number of runs times its rate: 1,000 runs cost $80 in its cloud and $30 on its VPC or on-prem route.
- Team workspaces. Cassidy AI's Starter plan covers 3 seats, 1 workspace, 10,000 AI credits a month, 5 agents and 5 workflows. Dust's free plan gives 500 credits once, and Pro gives 8,000 credits per seat for $30 a month.
- Lead collection. Bardeen's free plan gives 100 credits a month, around three a day. The $10 Basic plan keeps the same 100 credits and adds premium scrapers, enrichment and teams, so the fee buys features rather than volume. Premium at $50 lists 1,000 credits.
Which tool fits which builder
- Solo no-code builders. Start with StackAI, because 500 runs a month on a visual editor is the largest run count in this group. Add Bardeen if the agent needs web data to work on.
- Developers. Start with CrewAI, because it pairs a visual editor with a code-first route, and its free plan includes GitHub integration. Add Lyzr when you want costs that follow usage.
- Small teams. Start with Cassidy AI, because three seats share 10,000 credits and 5 agents. Add Dust once everyone wants their own monthly credits.
- Security-minded buyers. Start with StackAI or Lyzr, both of which list SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA and ISO 27001 and can run in your own environment. Add CrewAI if a dedicated VPC is on your list.
- Sales and recruiting. Start with Bardeen, which targets lead sourcing and contact enrichment. Add Cassidy AI, which lists Slack as a channel, to share what you collect with the team.
Where the entry plans stop
| Limit | Tools | What happens when you hit it |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly runs or executions | StackAI, CrewAI | Jobs wait for the next month or for a paid plan |
| One seat | StackAI | A teammate means moving to a custom Enterprise quote |
| A one-off pot | Dust | The 500 credits are spent once and do not refill |
| Monthly credits | Bardeen | 100 a month on free and on Basic |
| Cost per run | Lyzr | The bill grows with every run |
An entry plan is a good place to learn how many runs your job really uses. Log a week of activity, multiply it out, and compare the figure with the count above. If the answer is a few hundred runs a month, StackAI covers it. If it is a few thousand, Lyzr's per-run pricing is easier to forecast than a plan you keep outgrowing.
What the cheapest plan leaves out
Free and low plans hold back the controls that teams and regulated buyers need. StackAI keeps SSO, dedicated infrastructure and on-prem or VPC hosting for Enterprise, and CrewAI keeps unlimited executions, a dedicated VPC and RBAC there too. Cassidy AI's Business plan adds custom seats, workspaces, credits and storage along with premium onboarding.
Free plans also tend to have one person in mind. StackAI's free plan has one seat and community Discord support, and Dust's free credits are meant for occasional use or trying the product out. Dust has a Chrome extension but no mobile app or desktop client.
Privacy, training and where your data runs
StackAI, Lyzr and Dust say your content is not used for training, and Cassidy AI lists the same for your data. Hosting and model access separate them.
| Tool | Training on your content |
|---|---|
| StackAI | Not used for training |
| Lyzr | Not used for training |
| Dust | Not used for training |
| Cassidy AI | Not used for training |
StackAI, CrewAI and Lyzr list bring-your-own-key, so you can connect a model account you already pay for. StackAI, CrewAI, Lyzr and Dust can all be hosted by you, and Lyzr prices that route lower than its cloud. Bardeen runs in the cloud only.
Mistakes to avoid
- Paying $10 for more credits. Bardeen's Basic plan lists the same 100 credits as free. Pay for it only if you want the premium scrapers or enrichment.
- Spending Dust's pot on a demo. The 500 credits do not renew. Use them on an agent you would keep.
- Comparing runs with executions. StackAI counts runs and CrewAI counts workflow executions, so 500 against 50 is not like for like. Run the same job on both before you decide.
- Ignoring the per-run rate. At $0.08 a run, a busy agent at Lyzr costs real money in a month. Do the multiplication before you launch.
- Planning on one seat. StackAI's free plan has one seat, and the next step is a custom quote. Count the people who need access first.
When to move up a plan
You have outgrown an entry plan when you plan your week around its counter instead of the work. Common signs are a second person who needs access, a job that fires more often than the count allows, or a security review that asks for hosting you control.
| If you are | Move up to | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Gathering leads each week | Bardeen Premium | 1,000 credits a month instead of 100 |
| Moving from trial to a team | Dust Pro | 8,000 credits per seat a month |
| A developer with real traffic | CrewAI Enterprise | Unlimited executions, VPC, SSO and RBAC |
| Past a pilot with security needs | StackAI Enterprise | Custom runs and seats, SSO and on-prem or VPC hosting |
| Outgrowing a small team | Cassidy AI Business | Custom seats, workspaces and credits |
Dust lists a 20 percent saving on yearly billing. CrewAI and Cassidy AI list a free trial, so test the paid tier before you commit to it.
Using two cheap tools together
Because the counters differ, two plans can share a month of work.
- Prototype in CrewAI. Its 50 executions show whether several agents can finish a task.
- Move the working version to StackAI. Its 500 runs cover a pilot, with a seat for one reviewer.
- Share the results in Cassidy AI. Three seats and 10,000 credits let teammates use what you made.
For outreach, collect prospects with Bardeen's 100 credits and share them with the team through Cassidy AI.
How we picked
Every tool here is ranked by its score, and each score is worked out from the vendor’s own published pages: pricing, plans, features and terms. No score is adjusted by hand. 3 of the 6 tools have enough published facts to show a score, and on average 83% of each score comes from facts the vendor publishes. The facts behind these scores were checked between 13 September 2026 and 8 October 2026.
| Ranked as | On this page | What we score | Scoring guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI agent builders18 reviewed | 5 | 7 criteria, 20 checked facts: AI agents, building workflows, pricing, apps it connects to, reliability and control, hosting and security, support | How we score these → |
Common questions
Is there a free AI agent builder on this list?
Yes, StackAI, CrewAI, Dust and Cassidy AI all have entry plans that cost nothing, and Lyzr lists a free Community plan. They differ in what they hand out: StackAI 500 runs, CrewAI 50 executions, Dust a one-off 500 credits, and Cassidy AI 10K credits a month across three seats, which makes it the roomiest for a team.
Is there an open source AI agent builder under $10 a month?
CrewAI is the one with open source roots: it began as an open source framework and grew a commercial platform, and its hosted Basic plan costs nothing. Enterprise adds a dedicated VPC, SSO and RBAC for teams that want it inside their own cloud. Lyzr offers self-hosting too, billed per run.
Is paying per agent run cheaper than a monthly plan?
Only up to a point. Lyzr's cloud rate of $0.08 a run means ten dollars buys about 125 runs, and its VPC rate of $0.03 buys about 333. StackAI's free plan already gives 500 runs, so pay per run when you need more than that or your own servers, and take a flat plan when volume is steady.
Can a small team share one of these plans?
Cassidy AI is the clearest fit, with three seats and one workspace in its free Starter plan. StackAI gives one seat, so a second person means a custom Enterprise quote. Dust charges credits per seat from its Pro plan, and Bardeen lists teams on its paid Basic plan, which is the one entry here priced at $10 a month.
Do these plans let me use my own AI model key?
StackAI, CrewAI and Lyzr list bring-your-own-key. That lets you pay a model provider directly instead of drawing down the tool's credits, which suits agents that make many model calls. Cassidy AI, Bardeen and Dust do not list it, so their credits are the way to pay for the AI itself.
What happens to unused credits on these plans?
It varies by tool. Bardeen's unused credits expire at the end of each billing period, so steady use beats one big session. Dust's 500 credits are a lifetime total, so nothing refills. Cassidy AI counts 10K credits a month, and StackAI and CrewAI count runs and executions each month rather than credits.