Integration guide Ranked lists of integration platforms for companies with many systems to connect, and when to build the integration.
What are the best integration platforms in 2026?
Workato is the best integration platform for most companies of 50 or more employees, because it is built for a central team that has many systems to keep in agreement. A custom integration built by Black Badger ranks second, and it is the better choice when you have a small number of critical connections and would rather own them than pay for them by the task.
Best for companies with a central team and many systems to connect
Workato ranks first because it is sold for a company that has a dozen systems, one team responsible for making them agree and work that has to be governed. Editions step up in concurrency and on-premises agents, and governance is offered as an add-on. It is not first on price, because Workato publishes none and every buyer gets a quote.
Watch for. Concurrency is 1 on the Standard and Business MCP editions and 15 on Enterprise MCP. Ask which edition your busiest sync needs before you compare quotes.
How it charges
Quoted, with a usage component tracked by capability
Main limit
Quote only, with concurrency and on-prem agents set by edition
Best for companies with a few critical connections they want to own
We publish this guide and we build custom integrations, so read this entry knowing that. A custom integration ranks second because a company that needs only three or four connections, such as the ERP agreeing with the CRM, does not need a platform. Black Badger writes those as code you own, running on your own accounts, with no per-task or per-connection fee. After launch you pay running costs such as hosting.
Watch for. A build starts with discovery and a written scope, so it cannot be put to use as quickly as a platform. It suits companies of 50 or more employees with connections worth owning.
How it charges
One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
Main limit
Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
Best for companies with a mix of cloud and on-premises systems
Boomi ranks third because it covers integration, APIs and data on one platform and suits a company where some systems sit in the cloud and others in a server room. It also has a low published entry point, a Pay-As-You-Go plan billed monthly plus usage. The subscription editions are annual and quoted.
Watch for. The Standard edition is production only, with no test or development environments. Multiple environments start at Professional, so price that edition.
How it charges
Pay-as-you-go monthly plus usage, or quoted annual editions
Main limit
Subscription editions are annual and quoted, higher tiers add connections
Best for companies connecting ERP, ecommerce and finance systems
Celigo ranks fourth overall and higher on our ERP list. It is aimed at the connections a company that sells goods cares about most, between the ERP, the storefront and finance. Celigo sells prebuilt flows on a managed platform, so your team does not build every flow from nothing. It sits below Boomi here because the pricing page gives no prices and does not say what the bill is based on.
Watch for. SSO, auditability and a development sandbox start at the Professional edition. Standard has none of them, so a company with audit needs should begin its quote at Professional.
How it charges
Quoted by edition and how the team uses the platform
Main limit
Quote only, SSO and sandbox start at the Professional edition
Best for large companies that need API-led integration and governance
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, from Salesforce, ranks fifth. It suits a large company that wants API-led integration and governance across many systems, and it is often bought alongside Salesforce. It ranks below the others because of its entry cost. Only a starting price is published, billed annually, and the Pre-Commit buying model has a yearly minimum spend.
Watch for. Pricing runs on Mule Credits with a different rate for each usage type, and the credit allocation per package is not published. Ask for it in writing.
How it charges
By Mule Credits, billed annually, with a yearly minimum on Pre-Commit
Main limit
Credit based pricing, and Pre-Commit carries a yearly minimum
Best for teams that want visual scenarios at a low published price
Make ranks sixth. It is a low-cost way to connect two systems with branching logic, and its visual scenarios are easier to follow than a list of steps. At 10,000 credits a month on annual billing the pricing page shows a price for Core and a higher one for Teams. It ranks here for a company of this size because SSO, role-based access controls and audit logs are Enterprise only.
Watch for. When credits run out, scenarios stop until more are added. For a sync the business depends on, buy more credits than you expect to use.
How it charges
By credits, billed annually or monthly, Enterprise quoted
Main limit
Credit based billing, SSO and audit logs only on Enterprise
Best for business staff building quick app to app automations
Zapier ranks seventh on an integration list, though it would rank higher on a list about speed. Business staff can build an automation between two apps without help, and the Team plan, billed yearly, starts at 2,000 tasks. It ranks low here because billing is per task, so a full data sync between two systems of record gets expensive, and Team is capped at 25 users.
Watch for. SAML single sign-on and the audit log are not on Free or Professional. Monthly billing costs more than yearly.
How it charges
Per task, by plan, billed yearly or monthly
Main limit
Task caps raise the price with volume, SSO and audit log need Team or above
Best for technical teams that can self-host their own workflows
n8n ranks eighth for most companies and much higher for one with engineers. It bills per workflow execution, and a full run counts as one execution however many steps it has, which favors syncs with many steps. There is a free self-hosted Community Edition, and Pro is billed yearly and covers 10K executions. It ranks here because it needs technical staff to run well.
Watch for. SSO needs the Business plan, which is listed as self-hosted only, and audit logging needs Enterprise. The Community Edition has no environments or Git version control.
How it charges
Per workflow execution, billed yearly, or free self-hosted
Best for technical builders who want no per-user or per-connection fee
Tray.ai ranks ninth. Its pricing is usage based, measured in Tasks and Helix Compute Units, and Tray says there are no per-user, per-connection or per-runtime fees. That suits a company with technical builders and many connections. It is last on the general list because only the starting price is published, and the Pro, Team and Enterprise plans are sized and quoted for each buyer.
Watch for. SSO, HIPAA and regional hosting are paid add-ons on Team and come with Enterprise. Pro keeps 7 days of logs.
How it charges
Usage based, by Tasks and compute units, larger plans quoted
Main limit
Only the starting price is published, SSO is a paid add-on on Team
This list is ranked for a company of 50 or more employees with several systems of record that have to agree with each other. Examples are an ERP, a CRM, accounting and a storefront or warehouse system. We weighed how well each option handles a sync the business depends on, how the bill changes as volume grows, and what it takes to staff.
How each product charges, its plan names and its limits were read from each vendor's own site on the date shown in each entry. Black Badger publishes this guide and builds custom integrations. That is why the custom route is on the list, and why it is not ranked first here.
Questions buyers ask
What is an integration platform?
An integration platform is a service that moves data between your systems so they stay in agreement. For example, a new customer in the CRM appears in the ERP, a shipped order closes in the storefront and an invoice is recorded in accounting. The platforms on this list differ mostly in who builds the connections, how the vendor bills for them and how much control IT gets over changes.
How do integration platforms charge?
Integration platforms charge mostly by usage. Zapier bills per task, Make bills in credits, n8n bills per workflow execution and MuleSoft bills in Mule Credits. Workato and Celigo publish no prices. Usage pricing is fine at low volume and needs careful arithmetic at high volume, which is why we keep a separate list for high-volume data sync.
Why is a custom integration ranked on a list of integration platforms?
A custom integration is on this list because a company with a few important connections can choose it in place of renting a platform. Black Badger, which publishes this guide, builds custom integrations, and we would rather state that plainly and rank the route where it fits. On this list a custom integration is second. On the lists about high-volume sync and outgrown automations it is first.
How current are the facts on Best Integration Platforms?
Every entry carries the date we read its facts from the vendor site. Integration vendors change their plans and limits often, and where this guide and the vendor's own site differ, the vendor's own site is right.