Key takeaways
- Softr Workflows are automations built into Softr. They run on a schedule, from a button inside an app, or from an event in another tool, and they can update records, send email, call an API and run AI steps.
- Every plan allows unlimited workflows but caps the actions executed each month: 500 on Free, 2,500 on Basic, 10,000 on Pro and 25,000 on Business. When a workspace hits the cap, Softr pauses the workflows until the limit renews or you upgrade.
- Softr Workflows suit automation that lives around a Softr app. Automation that spans many tools, or runs at high volume, usually belongs in Make or Zapier.
We build automation in Softr, in Make and in Zapier, and Catalytics is a listed partner of all three. That mix is the reason this page spends as much time on when to leave Softr Workflows alone as on what they do.
What are Softr Workflows?
Softr Workflows are automations you build inside Softr itself, next to the app and the data they act on. A workflow starts from a trigger, runs through steps you arrange, and ends up changing records, sending messages or calling another system. No separate automation subscription is involved.
What can Softr Workflows do?
The building blocks depend on the plan, and the pattern is that the basics are on every plan while the more technical triggers arrive higher up.
| Free | Basic | Pro | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workflows and steps | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Actions executed per month | 500 | 2,500 | 10,000 | 25,000 |
| Softr app triggers and actions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| External triggers and actions | 39 apps | 39 apps | 44 apps | 51 apps |
| Built-in utilities | Scheduled trigger, branching, filter, wait, transform data | Adds email trigger, bulk actions, extract PDF, scrape webpage, compress files | Adds webhook trigger, call API, run code | All of them |
| AI actions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with your own API key |
| Maximum run time | 5 minutes | 10 minutes | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Run history kept | 7 days | 1 month | 2 months | 3 months |
In the portals we build, the workflows that earn their place are unglamorous. A client uploads a document and the owner gets an email. A record moves to a new stage and a task appears for whoever handles it next. A scheduled workflow runs every morning and flags anything that has gone past its date.
The limit that matters is actions, not workflows
Softr counts actions executed rather than workflows run, as the name of the limit suggests. A workflow with six steps therefore uses more of the monthly allowance each time it runs than a workflow with two.
That is worth working out before you pick a plan. A workflow that fires on every change to a busy table, with a handful of steps behind it, can use a few thousand actions a month on its own, and Basic allows 2,500.
When a workspace reaches the cap, Softr pauses the workflows until the limit renews or the workspace is upgraded. The apps stay up. Anything the workflows were doing, including the notifications your clients expect, stops until then.
When to use Softr Workflows, and when to use Make
The question is where the automation lives.
Softr Workflows fit when the automation is about the app: a client acts in the portal, a record changes, a notification goes out, a document gets filed. Keeping that logic next to the app means one place to look when something breaks, and no second subscription.
Make or Zapier fit when the automation is about your whole business rather than the app. Syncing an invoice from Airtable into QuickBooks, moving leads between a CRM and a mailbox, or running a scenario with many branches across five tools is work Softr Workflows can technically do and other tools do more comfortably, with better tools for watching what happened.
Volume decides the rest. Automation that runs constantly will meet Softr’s monthly action cap long before it meets the limits of a dedicated automation platform, and at that point the cheaper place to run it is outside Softr.
Softr Workflows compared with Airtable automations
If your Softr app sits on an Airtable base, you have two automation engines available, and the sensible split is by where the trigger starts.
| Softr Workflows | Airtable automations | |
|---|---|---|
| Best trigger | Something a user does in the Softr app | Something that changes in the base |
| Monthly allowance | Actions executed: 10,000 on Pro, 25,000 on Business | Automation runs: 25,000 on Team, 100,000 on Business |
| Counts | Each action in a workflow | Each run of an automation |
| Runs when the app is idle | Yes, on a schedule | Yes, on a schedule or a record change |
The allowances are not directly comparable, because one counts actions and the other counts runs. A Softr workflow with five steps uses five actions; an Airtable automation with five steps uses one run.
Before you build it
Not sure whether your automation belongs in Softr, Airtable or Make?
Bring the process you want automated, where the data lives, and roughly how often it runs. The first call is free, thirty minutes, and you will leave knowing where to build it, even if we never work together.
Book the free first callFrequently asked questions
Are Softr Workflows included in the free plan?
Yes. The Free plan includes unlimited workflows with 500 actions executed a month, a five minute cap on a single run, and seven days of run history.
Can Softr Workflows call another system?
On the Pro plan and above, yes. Pro adds a webhook trigger, an action that calls an API and an action that runs code. Below that, Softr connects through its built-in integrations, which cover 39 apps on Basic.
Can Softr Workflows use AI?
Yes, on every plan, through AI actions that consume the workspace’s monthly AI credits. Business and Enterprise let you bring your own API key instead.
What happens if a Softr workflow runs too long?
Free and Basic cap a single run at five and ten minutes. Pro and above have no cap on run time, though the monthly action allowance still applies.
Softr Workflows are enough for most of what happens around a portal, and they get expensive to rely on when automation becomes the main event. The question to ask before building is whether the work belongs to the app or to the business.
For what each plan includes, Softr pricing has the numbers. For the product itself, what Softr is covers the basics, and Softr and Airtable covers running the two together. If you would rather have the automation built for you, Softr development is how we work.