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Compare automation delivery models

Every automation eventually faces the same delivery question: does it run inside a platform - with accounts, subscriptions and hosting on someone else's infrastructure - or does it ship as a standalone desktop executable the recipient simply runs? The answer decides what your customer must install, who bills whom, whether you can brand the result, and what happens when either side wants an update.

These comparisons are written for the three people who hit that question hardest: an agency or freelancer delivering automation to clients, an operations lead deciding how a team's bots get distributed, and a buyer evaluating what a bot download actually obliges them to. Each page answers its question in the first paragraph, compares the models on verifiable dimensions, and states plainly where the alternative is the better fit.

The comparisons

Two delivery-model questions, answered end to end.

Embedded licence alternatives What an embedded-platform licence is, what it typically covers, when it still makes sense, and how the compiled-artifact ownership model replaces it for resellers. Read Export a workflow as a standalone app What export options exist today, why they are not standalone apps, the workarounds and their real costs, and how a compiled launcher differs. Read

Which one answers your question?

How we write these comparisons

Transparency first: this directory is published by the company behind the desktop product these pages describe, so these are editorial pages, not neutral third-party reviews. In exchange for that honesty about authorship, you get three commitments: your question is answered before anything is sold; every comparison dimension in the tables is something you can verify from documentation or a test run; and where a competing model genuinely fits better, the page says so.

Comparisons never appear inside bot listings - a listing page describes that bot, nothing else - and no third-party pricing is ever restated as fact here.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a workflow platform and a standalone bot?
A workflow platform runs your automation inside its own product: the person running it needs an account, a subscription and connectivity to that platform. A standalone bot is a compiled desktop executable they download and run on their own machine; the only network call it makes at launch is fetching its published configuration by id.
Can I export a workflow as an app my client can run without the platform?
Most workflow platforms export the workflow definition as a file in their own format, which requires the same platform to run. The compiled-artifact route is different: the workflow is built into a desktop launcher executable that runs standalone. The export comparison explains every option and its real cost.
Do I need an OEM or embedded licence to resell automation?
Only when you distribute automations that run on someone else's platform. When you deliver compiled artifacts you built yourself, you sell your own product under the builder licence's reseller rights - no per-client platform agreement. The embedded-licence comparison sets out both models.
Are these comparisons independent?
They are editorial pages published by this directory's operator, and they say so plainly: each one answers your question first, names the trade-offs including where an alternative is the better fit, and links to primary product documentation for anything you can verify yourself.

Ready to look at the bots themselves? Browse the full catalogue, read how launchers fetch their configuration, or start from the site FAQ.