No credits: your AI subscription, your machine
Most hosted automation tools meter AI: Zapier draws AI steps from your task pool, Make and Gumloop charge credits that vary by AI module, and n8n bills executions plus your model provider's API usage. Mono Agent has no AI meter. Its AI steps run on an agent CLI you already pay for, such as a flat Claude or ChatGPT plan, and the software is free of charge for now. You still run the machine, and your subscription's own usage limits apply.
| Tool | Published entry price | 10,000 runs/month, one AI step each |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier | Free: 100 tasks. Professional from $19.99/month (annual) for 750 tasks; Team $69 | Needs at least 10,000 tasks, far above the 750-task entry tier; price depends on plan / AI step multiplier |
| Make | From $9/month; credits since 2025-08-27 | AI modules use a variable number of credits; depends on plan / AI step multiplier |
| Gumloop | Pro $37/month for 20,000 credits (1 credit = $0.005), 8% orchestration fee, no free plan | Credits per AI step vary by model; depends on plan / AI step multiplier |
| n8n Cloud | Starter €24/month for 2,500 executions; Pro €60/month for 10,000 | Pro covers 10,000 executions, plus your model provider's API bill for the AI step |
| n8n self-hosted | Free Community Edition; you pay for the server | Server cost plus your model provider's API bill for the AI step |
| Mono Agent | Free of charge for now | No per-run or per-step fee; AI runs on the agent CLI subscription you already have, within its usage limits |
Where the prices come from
- Zapier plans and AI steps drawing from the task pool: https://eesel.ai/blog/zapier-subscription
- Make credits and variable AI module costs: https://www.make.com/en/credits
- Gumloop Pro, credit value and orchestration fee: https://www.eesel.ai/blog/gumloop-pricing
- n8n Cloud plans: https://toolradar.com/blog/n8n-pricing-2026
- All read on 2026-10-13. Competitor prices change often; check the vendor's page before deciding.
Why we did not fill in every cell
What one AI step costs on Zapier, Make and Gumloop depends on the plan tier you land in and on how many tasks or credits that AI step consumes, which varies by model and module. The published pages do not give one number for that, so the table says so instead of guessing.
How Mono Agent runs AI without credits
AI steps such as agent.ask hand the prompt to an agent CLI on your machine (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Copilot and others) through the monomind runner. The CLI uses its own login and plan. Mono Agent stores no AI keys for text AI and sells no AI credits, so there is no per-step meter between you and the model.
The software is free of charge for now. Its licence says Monoes may charge for future versions or features, announced in advance and never retroactively for a version you already have.
The trade-offs
- You run the machine. Schedules and webhooks fire only while the daemon is running, so a laptop that sleeps misses runs.
- Subscription limits still apply. Flat Claude and ChatGPT plans have usage limits; a burst of thousands of AI steps can hit them, and runs then wait or fail until the limit resets.
- Not a hosted SaaS. There is no shared cloud workspace, no team billing and no uptime guarantee from anyone but you.
- A monoes.me sign-in is required to use Mono Agent.
- Hosted tools win when nobody on your side wants to keep a machine running, or when a team needs shared access.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mono Agent free?
Free of charge for now. The licence allows Monoes to charge for future versions or features after announcing it, never retroactively.
Do I need an OpenAI or Anthropic API key?
Not for text AI steps. They run through an agent CLI signed in with your own plan. Some other nodes, such as image generation, use their own provider keys stored in the encrypted vault.
What happens when I hit my subscription's usage limit?
The agent CLI refuses further requests until the limit resets, and the AI steps that need it fail or wait. Size schedules to what your plan allows.
Why is there no single price for Zapier or Make in the table?
Because the cost of an AI step depends on the plan tier and on how many tasks or credits the step uses, which their published pages do not fix to one number.