Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Airplane

n8n is a workflow automation platform for technical teams that combines a visual workflow builder with the ability to add custom code. It supports hundreds of integrations and can also be used to build AI-powered automations and agent-style workflows.

Key Features

• Visual, node-based workflow editor with triggers, actions, and branching logic
• Code steps for custom logic (JavaScript and Python) and extensibility via custom nodes
• Large integration ecosystem (hundreds of connectors) plus reusable workflow templates
• Webhooks and API-based automation for event-driven workflows
• AI-native tooling to build AI agent workflows and connect to your own data/models
• Enterprise-oriented capabilities such as RBAC, audit logs, and SSO options (deployment dependent)

Use Cases

• Automate business processes across SaaS tools (CRM updates, ticket routing, notifications)
• Build internal integrations and data sync pipelines between systems using APIs and webhooks
• Orchestrate AI-assisted workflows such as enrichment, summarization, and agent-driven tasks

Limitations and Considerations

• Licensed under a fair-code model (source-available), which may restrict certain commercial use cases
• Some advanced enterprise features depend on the chosen edition and deployment setup

n8n is a strong fit for teams that want low-code speed without giving up the control and flexibility of writing code. It works well for both simple automations and more complex, integration-heavy workflows.

Appsmith is an open-source low-code platform for building internal applications such as admin panels, operational tools, and dashboards. It combines a drag-and-drop UI builder with database/API connectivity and JavaScript-based customization for developer-friendly control.

Key Features

• Drag-and-drop widgets to build responsive app interfaces
• Connectors for databases and REST/GraphQL APIs
• JavaScript for data transformation, app logic, and workflow automation
• Version control workflows with Git for change management and deployments
• Access controls and governance features such as roles/permissions and audit logging
• Enterprise authentication options including SSO (OIDC/SAML) and user provisioning support

Use Cases

• CRUD admin panels and back-office operations tools
• Business dashboards and reporting interfaces on top of existing data sources
• IT and service-management style internal apps with workflow automations

Limitations and Considerations

• Advanced features like SSO, provisioning, and governance may depend on the chosen edition and deployment configuration

Appsmith is a strong fit for teams that want to ship internal software faster without losing the ability to customize behavior in code. It’s especially useful when apps need to integrate multiple data sources and follow structured deployment workflows.

ToolJet is an open-source, AI-native low-code platform for building and deploying internal tools such as dashboards, admin panels, and business applications. It provides a visual builder with deep integrations so teams can ship operational apps faster while keeping control of data and infrastructure.

Key Features

• Visual app builder with responsive UI components (tables, forms, charts, lists, and more)
• Multi-page apps and real-time collaborative editing
• Built-in ToolJet Database (a no-code database built on PostgreSQL)
• Integrations with many data sources, including databases, REST APIs, SaaS tools, and object storage
• Workflow automation with triggers (schedules, webhooks, and in-app events) and visual logic (conditions, loops)
• Extensibility via custom connectors/plugins and a CLI
• Security capabilities such as encryption, granular access control, and optional SSO support (availability varies by edition)

Use Cases

• Building internal admin panels and operational dashboards over existing databases
• Creating CRUD apps and lightweight business tools (approvals, inventory, request tracking)
• Automating multi-step internal workflows that call APIs and transform data

ToolJet fits organizations that want a self-managed, extensible internal tools platform with a visual UI builder, integrated data connections, and workflow automation. It is commonly deployed with containers and scales from small teams to larger enterprise environments.

Windmill is an open-source developer platform for building internal tools, APIs, background jobs, and workflows by turning scripts into reusable building blocks. It provides auto-generated UIs, webhooks, and scheduling so teams can ship operational automation and apps quickly while keeping execution and access control on their own infrastructure.

Key Features

• Turn scripts into APIs, webhooks, scheduled jobs, and shareable auto-generated UIs
• Low-code workflow editor to compose scripts into multi-step flows
• App builder for creating richer internal UIs on top of scripts and workflows
• Multi-language script support (notably Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, and GraphQL)
• Built-in secrets/variables management with workspace-level encryption for stored credentials
• Sandboxed execution using nsjail for stronger isolation in multi-tenant deployments
• Git-based development workflows via CLI and repository synchronization
• PostgreSQL-backed job orchestration with stateless API and scalable workers

Use Cases

• Building internal tools (admin panels, ops dashboards, backoffice utilities)
• Automating operational workflows (scheduled maintenance tasks, data syncs, incident runbooks)
• Exposing controlled internal APIs and webhooks backed by scripts

Limitations and Considerations

• Some distribution binaries/images may include non-open components; fully open-source builds come from compiling the repository sources
• Community Edition includes limits on certain enterprise features (for example, SSO user limits)

Windmill fits teams that want a script-first approach to internal tooling and automation with a fast workflow engine and a built-in UI layer. It combines developer-friendly coding with low-code composition to scale from quick scripts to production-grade orchestrated workflows.

Rundeck is an open-source runbook automation and orchestration platform used to standardize and safely execute operational procedures across fleets of nodes. It provides a web console, CLI tools, and an API for running jobs, scheduling work, and delegating routine operations with controlled access.

Key Features

• Runbook/job execution across nodes using existing scripts and automation tools
• Workflow orchestration with step-based jobs and reusable procedures
• Job scheduling for recurring operational tasks
• Web UI, CLI, and REST API for triggering and managing automation
• Access control and audit history for operational actions
• Plugin ecosystem for integrations and extensibility

Use Cases

• Self-service operations for DevOps/platform teams (safe execution of routine tasks)
• Scheduled maintenance, batch operations, and runbook-driven incident response
• Orchestrating deployments and administrative workflows across infrastructure

Limitations and Considerations

• Some capabilities (for example advanced high availability and certain enterprise runners/plugins) may be available only in commercial editions.

Rundeck is well-suited for teams that want to operationalize scripts and tooling into repeatable runbooks with governance. It helps reduce manual toil by making operations workflows easy to run, schedule, and audit.

OliveTin is a self-hosted web application that exposes predefined shell commands through a responsive Single Page UI and an API. It uses a simple YAML configuration to define actions, dashboards and entities so administrators can make complex or dangerous commands safe and repeatable.

Key Features

• YAML-based configuration-as-code for actions, entities and dashboards, with live-reloadable options
• Responsive, touch-friendly Single Page App UI (light/dark modes) designed for tablets and mobile
• Action system: parameterised commands, timeouts, scheduled (cron) executions and execution logs
• Security model with multiple authentication options (local users, OAuth2, JWT, trusted headers) and ACL-based authorization per-action
• Multiple integration points: REST API / webhook endpoints and URL-based triggers for automation and streamdeck/QR integrations
• Container images, packages and Helm chart available for easy deployment; small resource footprint (Go backend)
• Accessibility-focused frontend and configurable UI theming and custom JS support

Use Cases

• Provide non-technical users (family, junior admins) one-click buttons to restart services or run maintenance scripts
• Trigger complex or long-running server operations from mobile devices or dashboards without giving shell access
• Integrate server commands into automation flows via webhooks, API calls or scheduled tasks (cron)

Limitations and Considerations

• Actions and dashboards are primarily defined in YAML configuration files; adding or editing actions requires editing config files (configuration-as-code), which may be less convenient for non-technical administrators
• Because OliveTin executes arbitrary shell commands, correct security configuration is essential; misconfigured authentication/ACLs can expose powerful operations
• Accounting/auditing for action executions is provided via logs but the documentation notes this area is less mature and may require additional operational procedures

OliveTin is intended for administrators who want a simple, auditable way to expose repeatable server operations without granting interactive shell access. It emphasizes safety, minimal resource usage and flexible integration via API and configuration.

Kottster is an open-source, self-hosted admin panel for Node.js applications that lets you build an internal back office on top of an existing database. It generates editable pages for database tables, dashboards for metrics, and fully custom React pages when you need deeper control.

Key Features

• CLI to scaffold a new admin panel project quickly
• Table pages to browse, edit, and manage database records
• Dashboard pages with a visual builder for charts and metrics
• Custom pages built with React for advanced workflows and bespoke UI
• Built-in authentication and user management
• Access controls for who can view, edit, or delete data
• Stores configuration and generated code on your server rather than sending database content off-host

Use Cases

• Build an internal admin console for CRUD operations on production data
• Create lightweight operational dashboards for teams (metrics, charts, KPIs)
• Ship a customizable back office for SaaS apps without building one from scratch

Kottster is a good fit for teams that want a developer-friendly, code-owning admin panel: start with a visual builder and templates, then extend by editing the generated project when requirements grow.

AutoKitteh is a developer platform for workflow automation and orchestration, focused on durable execution for long-running and reliable workflows. It provides an API-first runtime to deploy, trigger, run, and manage code-based automations with built-in integrations.

Key Features

• Durable execution with automatic recovery for long-running workflows
• Code-based workflows (primarily Python; also supports Starlark)
• API-first platform with gRPC and HTTP interfaces
• Triggers via webhooks and schedulers
• Built-in integrations (e.g., Slack, GitHub, Gmail, Google Calendar, Twilio, and LLM providers)
• Operational tooling for management, monitoring, and debugging via Web UI, CLI, and a VS Code extension

Use Cases

• Automating internal business processes and backend workflows
• DevOps/FinOps/MLOps automation with resilient, auditable executions
• Building and operating AI-assisted automations and agents using existing integrations

Limitations and Considerations

• JavaScript support is listed as coming soon, so language support may be incomplete depending on your needs

AutoKitteh fits teams that want the flexibility of writing automation logic in code while still getting a managed workflow runtime with durability, triggers, integrations, and operational controls. It is especially suitable for critical workflows where reliability and recoverability matter.

RapidForge is a single-binary web server that turns scripts into production-ready internal tools, APIs, webhooks and scheduled jobs. It provides a web UI and visual page builder so teams can expose CLI tools and scripts as endpoints or pages without framework boilerplate.

Key Features

• Convert Bash or Lua scripts into HTTP endpoints and webhooks with environment-variable injection for request data
• Built-in cron-style scheduler with execution history, audit logs and job management
• Visual drag-and-drop page and form builder that maps form fields to script variables
• Embedded Lua VM for in-script logic and compatibility with existing shell tooling
• Secure credential storage and first-class OAuth flows; credentials auto-injected into scripts
• Single-binary deployment model with minimal runtime dependencies and straightforward Docker packaging
• Web UI for creating endpoints, scheduling jobs, managing logs and configuring auth

Use Cases

• Expose internal CLI tasks or monitoring scripts as authenticated HTTP APIs or webhooks
• Schedule backups, data exports or maintenance tasks and review execution history in the UI
• Build simple internal admin pages and forms that drive shell scripts or integrations

Limitations and Considerations

• Some features (key-value store) rely on a local SQLite runtime; administrators must ensure sqlite3 or equivalent is available when using packaged installers
• Project is lightweight and focused on internal tooling; it may lack enterprise-grade integrations or scaling features found in larger workflow platforms

RapidForge is best suited for teams that want to rapidly expose existing scripts as services or build small internal tools without adopting a full application stack. Its single-binary approach simplifies deployment and reduces operational overhead while providing built-in auth, scheduling and auditability.

CTFreak is an on-premises IT task scheduler designed to centralize scripts and operational jobs in one place, replacing scattered cron jobs and ad-hoc runbooks. It provides a fast, mobile-first web UI to execute tasks locally or remotely across heterogeneous environments.

Key Features

• Remote executions on multiple nodes via SSH and WinRM, without installing agents
• Task types for commands, Bash scripts, PowerShell scripts, Ansible playbooks, SQL scripts, and HTTP requests
• Workflow engine to chain tasks sequentially or concurrently, including nested workflows
• Team-based organization, centralized execution history, and consolidated logs
• Notifications and alerting integrations (e.g., email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Telegram, Mattermost)
• Issue tracking integrations (e.g., GitHub, Jira, Linear, YouTrack)
• SSO support via OpenID Connect
• REST API plus incoming webhooks for automation and integrations
• Lightweight resource usage and simple deployment

Use Cases

• Sysadmin/DevOps job orchestration: maintenance, updates, and operational scripts across fleets
• Data engineering operations: run long or concurrent imports and calculations on distributed servers
• Self-service operations for business users: safely trigger pre-defined IT tasks via a web UI

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced capabilities and higher limits (e.g., unlimited tasks, broader notifier quotas) depend on the chosen edition

CTFreak fits teams that want a straightforward, lightweight alternative to heavier runbook automation platforms while keeping strong visibility into job history and failures. It is especially useful in mixed Windows/Linux environments thanks to SSH and WinRM support.