Pricing overview

Pipedream's pricing structure is designed to accommodate a range of users, from individual developers utilizing its free tier to enterprises requiring extensive workflow automation and serverless compute. The core billing components revolve around invocations, compute time, and data transfer. An invocation is counted each time a workflow is triggered, whether by a webhook, schedule, or an event source. Compute time measures the duration a workflow's code executes, billed in GB-seconds. Data transfer accounts for ingress and egress of data processed through workflows, including data passed between steps or to external APIs.

The platform offers a permanently free tier that includes a set amount of these resources, suitable for development, testing, and light production use. Beyond the free limits, users can opt for paid plans that increase resource allowances and unlock additional features like longer execution history, priority support, and team management capabilities. Pipedream's official pricing page details the current offerings and specific usage thresholds for each plan Pipedream pricing plans.

Plans and tiers

Pipedream offers several plans tailored to different usage patterns and organizational needs. Each plan bundles a specific amount of invocations, compute time, and data transfer, with additional features scaling up for higher tiers. Overages beyond the included limits are typically billed at a per-unit rate.

Plan comparison

Plan Monthly Price Key Limits Included Best For
Free $0 10,000 invocations, 30GB data transfer, 5GB compute Personal projects, prototyping, learning, low-volume production
Professional $19 50,000 invocations, 100GB data transfer, 25GB compute, 30-day history Small teams, growing projects, increased API integrations
Advanced $99 250,000 invocations, 500GB data transfer, 125GB compute, 90-day history, email support Mid-sized teams, critical workflows, higher transaction volumes
Business $499 1,000,000 invocations, 2TB data transfer, 500GB compute, 180-day history, priority support Large teams, extensive automation, high-compliance needs (SOC 2 Type II)

Each plan includes access to Pipedream's core features, such as HTTP webhooks, scheduled workflows, and event sources for various applications. Higher-tier plans typically offer extended execution history, increased concurrent executions, and more robust support options. For specific details on each plan's features and overage rates, refer to the Pipedream pricing page directly.

Free tier and limits

Pipedream provides a comprehensive free tier designed to allow developers to build, test, and run workflows without initial cost. This tier is suitable for personal projects, learning the platform, and deploying production workflows with moderate usage requirements.

  • Invocations: 10,000 per month. An invocation occurs each time a workflow is triggered.
  • Data Transfer: 30GB per month. This includes data flowing into and out of workflows.
  • Compute: 5GB-seconds per month. This measures the CPU and memory resources consumed by workflow execution.
  • Execution History: 7 days. This allows reviewing past workflow runs for debugging and auditing.

The free tier also includes unlimited custom code steps, access to pre-built integrations, and HTTP webhooks for event reception. Users can upgrade to a paid plan at any time if their usage exceeds these limits or if they require features like longer execution history or priority support. The free tier aims to minimize friction for new users and ensure accessibility, aligning with the common cloud service model of offering a Google Cloud free tier to encourage adoption.

Real-world cost examples

Understanding Pipedream's usage-based pricing requires considering typical workflow patterns. The primary drivers of cost are invocations, compute time, and data transfer. Here are a few scenarios illustrating potential monthly costs:

Scenario 1: Small Marketing Automation

  • Workflow: A workflow that listens for new form submissions (e.g., from a website webhook) and sends the data to a CRM.
  • Usage: 5,000 form submissions per month (5,000 invocations). Each workflow run consumes 0.1 GB-seconds of compute and transfers 0.005 GB of data.
  • Calculation:
    • Invocations: 5,000 (well within free tier's 10,000)
    • Compute: 5,000 invocations * 0.1 GB-seconds/invocation = 500 GB-seconds (0.5 GB-seconds), well within free tier's 5GB compute.
    • Data Transfer: 5,000 invocations * 0.005 GB/invocation = 25 GB, well within free tier's 30GB.
  • Estimated Cost: $0 (Free Tier).

Scenario 2: Medium-Volume Data Processing

  • Workflow: A daily scheduled workflow that fetches data from an external API, processes it, and updates a database.
  • Usage: Runs 30 times a month (30 invocations). Each run takes 5 minutes (300 seconds) and uses 1GB of memory (300 GB-seconds) and transfers 10GB of data.
  • Calculation:
    • Invocations: 30 (well within free tier).
    • Compute: 30 invocations * 300 GB-seconds/invocation = 9,000 GB-seconds (9 GB-seconds). This exceeds the free tier's 5GB compute.
    • Data Transfer: 30 invocations * 10 GB/invocation = 300 GB. This exceeds the free tier's 30GB.
  • Estimated Cost: This scenario would likely fit the Professional plan ($19/month) which includes 25GB compute and 100GB data transfer, with additional overages for the remaining data transfer. For precise overage rates beyond the Professional plan's limits, consulting the Pipedream pricing information is necessary.

Scenario 3: High-Volume Event-Driven Integrations

  • Workflow: Real-time processing of user events from a mobile application, triggering various downstream services (e.g., analytics, notifications).
  • Usage: 150,000 events per month (150,000 invocations). Each event is a quick operation, consuming 0.05 GB-seconds of compute and transferring 0.001 GB of data.
  • Calculation:
    • Invocations: 150,000 (exceeds Professional plan).
    • Compute: 150,000 invocations * 0.05 GB-seconds/invocation = 7,500 GB-seconds (7.5 GB-seconds), well within Professional plan.
    • Data Transfer: 150,000 invocations * 0.001 GB/invocation = 150 GB (exceeds Professional plan).
  • Estimated Cost: This usage pattern would likely require the Advanced plan ($99/month), which includes 250,000 invocations, 125GB compute, and 500GB data transfer, covering all requirements in this example.

These examples illustrate that Pipedream's costs scale with actual usage, emphasizing efficient workflow design to manage costs, similar to other serverless platforms like AWS Lambda's pricing model.

How the pricing compares

Pipedream operates in the workflow automation and serverless function space, competing with platforms that offer similar capabilities. Its pricing model, based on invocations, compute, and data transfer, is common among serverless providers. However, its comprehensive free tier and feature set at various price points position it differently against both low-code/no-code integrators and pure serverless function providers.

Comparison with Low-Code/No-Code Integrators

  • Zapier: Typically charges based on "tasks" (analogous to invocations) and the number of "Zaps" (workflows). Zapier's free tier is more limited (100 tasks/month, 5 Zaps) compared to Pipedream's 10,000 invocations. Paid plans for Zapier often start at higher price points for comparable task volumes, but include features for non-technical users. Pipedream offers more flexibility for custom code, which can reduce the number of steps/tasks required for complex logic, potentially leading to lower costs for developers Zapier pricing details.
  • Make (formerly Integromat): Also uses a "operations" based pricing model (similar to invocations) and data transfer. Make's free tier is 1,000 operations/month. Its pricing can be competitive for simple workflows, but Pipedream's emphasis on custom code and serverless functions provides greater control for developers, which can optimize resource usage for specific scenarios Make pricing information.
  • n8n: Offers both a self-hosted open-source version (free except for infrastructure costs) and a cloud-hosted version. The cloud version's pricing is also based on executions, with a free tier of 200 active workflows and 1,000 executions/month. n8n's self-hosted option provides maximum cost control for users willing to manage their own infrastructure, while Pipedream's fully managed service removes this operational burden.

Comparison with Cloud Serverless Functions

  • AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, Azure Functions: These platforms offer highly granular, pay-per-use pricing for serverless functions, often with very generous free tiers (e.g., 1 million invocations and 400,000 GB-seconds of compute for AWS Lambda). However, using these services typically requires more operational overhead for managing API Gateways, event sources, monitoring, and deployment pipelines. Pipedream abstracts much of this complexity, providing a ready-to-use platform for webhooks, schedules, and workflow orchestration, simplifying development for event-driven architectures. While the raw cost per invocation or GB-second might be lower on hyperscalers for extremely high volumes, Pipedream's value proposition includes reduced development and operational burden.

Pipedream positions itself as a developer-friendly platform that bridges the gap between traditional iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) solutions and raw serverless function providers, offering a balance of ease of use, flexibility, and cost efficiency for event-driven workflows.