AI agents for automation engineers (2026)

Workflow platforms, browser and computer-use agents and scrapers for engineers who automate repetitive work. We picked the top tools for 4 jobs automation engineers do every day: 21 tools in all, 19 of them free or with a free tier.

Jump to: Automate workflows · Browse the web · Control a computer · Scrape websites

Free tools from AgentScout for automation engineers: Tool schema builder · AI API cost calculator

How we picked: each section takes the tools matched to that task in our directory, putting tools whose category and stated use cases fit the task first, then ordering by tracked GitHub stars. No paid placements.

Automate workflows

Platforms for chaining apps, triggers and AI steps into workflows that run on their own. All 157 tools →

• Dify Source-available + cloud
  Open-source platform for building LLM apps and agents visually. · ★ 158,410
• Langflow Open source + cloud
  Visual drag-and-drop builder for AI agents and workflows that you can run locally, deploy as an API or expose as an MCP server. · ★ 155,757
• FastGPT Source-available + cloud
  AI agent building platform with knowledge-base RAG, data processing and a visual workflow editor for deploying question-answering and automation apps. · ★ 29,851
• Sim Studio Open source + cloud
  Workspace for visually building, deploying and monitoring AI agents and workflows. · ★ 29,835
• Activepieces Open source + cloud
  Open-source automation platform with AI agents and hundreds of pieces usable as MCP servers. · ★ 25,073
• Astron Agent Open source
  iFlytek's enterprise agentic workflow platform for building super agents. · ★ 8,910

Browse the web

Agents that open pages, click, type and fill in forms in a real browser so you don't have to. All 75 tools →

• Browser Use Open source + cloud
  Library that lets AI agents control a web browser. · ★ 117,912
• Scrapling Open source
  Python web-scraping framework with fast HTTP requests, stealth browsers, adaptive parsing and concurrent crawling, plus an MCP server for agents. · ★ 88,372
• Crawl4AI Open source
  Open-source crawler that turns websites into clean, LLM-ready Markdown for agents and RAG pipelines. · ★ 85,667
• Chrome DevTools MCP Open source
  Official MCP server that lets coding agents control and inspect a live Chrome browser through DevTools for debugging and performance work. · ★ 53,681
• UI-TARS-desktop Open source
  ByteDance's open-source multimodal agent stack, including a desktop app and Agent TARS for controlling computers and browsers. · ★ 39,297
• Playwright MCP Open source
  Microsoft's MCP server giving agents browser control via Playwright. · ★ 38,115

Control a computer

Agents that see the screen and use the mouse and keyboard to work across desktop apps. All 44 tools →

• AnythingLLM Open source + cloud
  Local-first desktop and server app for chatting with your documents, running agents and connecting any LLM. · ★ 67,210
• UI-TARS-desktop Open source
  ByteDance's open-source multimodal agent stack, including a desktop app and Agent TARS for controlling computers and browsers. · ★ 39,297
• Next AI Draw.io Open source
  Create and edit draw.io diagrams by chatting with AI, as a web app, desktop app or MCP server. · ★ 36,280
• AionUi Open source
  Open-source desktop cowork app that gives a GUI to CLI agents like Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and others. · ★ 33,580
• Cua Open source + cloud
  Open-source infrastructure for computer-use agents: sandboxes, drivers across operating systems and benchmarks. · ★ 29,966
• Happy Coder Open source
  Mobile and desktop app to run and control Claude Code, Codex and other agents using your own subscriptions. · ★ 24,180

Scrape websites

Tools that turn websites into clean data or text an agent can use, from single pages to whole sites. All 15 tools →

• Scrapling Open source
  Python web-scraping framework with fast HTTP requests, stealth browsers, adaptive parsing and concurrent crawling, plus an MCP server for agents. · ★ 88,372
• Crawl4AI Open source
  Open-source crawler that turns websites into clean, LLM-ready Markdown for agents and RAG pipelines. · ★ 85,667
• ScrapeGraphAI Open source + cloud
  Python library that uses LLMs and graph logic to build scraping pipelines: describe the data you want and it extracts it from websites or documents. · ★ 31,882
• Moli Open source
  Lightweight Rust headless browser for AI agents that fetches pages, searches and extracts content, usable via CLI, CDP or WebDriver. · ★ 19,349
• Apify MCP Server Open source + cloud
  Apify's MCP server giving agents access to thousands of scrapers for social media, search and maps. · ★ 11,578
• Wigolo Open source
  Local-first web search, fetch and crawl for coding agents over MCP, with no API keys. · ★ 5,479

Popular searches for automation engineers

Open-source AI workflow automation tools · Open-source browser agents · AI computer-use agents

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Best-of lists for automation engineers: Best AI Browser Agents · Best No-Code AI Agent Builders · All best lists

Facts come from our directory listings; pricing is as each maker states it and can change. Missing a tool? Submit it free.