Botpress vs Voiceflow vs Lindy: Which One Works Best in 2026?

I tested Botpress vs Voiceflow vs Lindy to compare setup effort, customization depth, and how well each platform handles real workflow automation. Here’s what stood out and which tool fits different teams in 2026.

Quick comparison: Botpress, Voiceflow, and Lindy at a glance

Botpress is for developer-heavy teams that want deep control and self-hosting options. Voiceflow is for product and CX teams that want fast voice and chat agents. Lindy is for teams that want AI to run full workflows across tools and channels.

Here’s a head-to-head comparison: 

Botpress: For developers and teams who want deep control

Botpress is built for developers and technical teams who want deep control. It combines LLMs with rules, workflows, and tool calling. It works well for custom agents where logic, infrastructure, and flexibility matter.

What is Botpress?

Botpress offers an open-source, self-hosted option for teams that want full control over deployment and data. Its main modern offering is Botpress Cloud, which provides managed infrastructure, collaboration features, and easier scaling, while the open-source version remains available for teams that prefer to self-host.

At the center is its Autonomous Engine (LLM). This engine mixes large language models (LLMs) with clear rules. It enables agents to plan next steps, utilize call tools, and follow workflows, rather than providing only one-off replies.

Core features and strengths

Botpress has four main parts that work together: 

1. Agent Studio
2. Autonomous Engine
3. Tables
4. Botpress Hub

You spend most of your time in Agent Studio. This is the builder. You describe what the agent should do, drag a few blocks, and test the conversation on the same screen. As you see how it replies, you adjust steps or add simple rules. If you have developers, they can plug in APIs and custom code without leaving this view.

The Autonomous Engine handles the “what now?” part. It reads your instructions, keeps track of the chat, and picks the next step. One agent can ask follow-up questions, look up data, and take action in a smooth process. You still set limits, so it follows your rules instead of making things up.

Tables let you save and reuse details about users, tickets, or orders across many chats. That makes it easier to build agents that manage real work, not just one-off answers.

The Botpress Hub lets you connect everything to the outside world. Here, you link your LLM provider, channels like web chat or WhatsApp, and tools such as your CRM or help desk. Once those are set, the agent can use them during a conversation to search, update records, or trigger actions.

When Botpress is the right choice

Botpress is usually the better fit when:

• You have developers or a technical product team.
• You want agents that run multi-step workflows, not just FAQs.
• You care about data handling and compliance (SOC 2, GDPR).
• You want both a visual builder and strong customization with code.
• You plan to use agents across several channels and tools in your stack.

Limitations and trade-offs

Botpress is powerful, but it is not ideal for every team. Here are the limits to address: 

• It has a learning curve: There are many options and settings. Non-technical users may struggle without support from engineers.
• Developer time is part of the price: Even with a free or low-cost plan, you still need people to set up flows, build integrations, and maintain agents. For small teams, this can be a real cost.
• It can be overkill for simple bots: If you only need a basic FAQ or website chatbot, Botpress may feel too heavy. In a simple Voiceflow vs Botpress scenario for support, Voiceflow will often feel quicker and easier.
• Hosting choices add work: Botpress has an open-source core and can be self-hosted. This gives you control but also means your team may need to manage servers, updates, and scaling.

If you want a pure no-code experience or just a simple support bot right now, you might start with Voiceflow and move to Botpress later when your needs grow.

Voiceflow: For product and CX teams who want fast voice + chat agents

Voiceflow is made for product, design, and CX teams. It helps teams build and iterate on voice and chat agents quickly. Collaboration and conversation design are the core focus.

What is Voiceflow?

Voiceflow is a collaborative, low-code platform for building and deploying AI agents for both voice and chat applications. It is also a fully cloud-based platform. 

On higher-tier plans, Voiceflow offers dedicated enterprise cloud environments and enhanced security controls, but it does not support traditional on-premise or self-hosted deployment. It works as a shared workspace where product, design, and CX teams can plan, test, and manage customer-facing agents together.

Core features and strengths

Voiceflow helps you clearly build voice and chat agents. You start by adding your content that includes FAQs, help articles, and product docs. Voiceflow turns this into a knowledge base, so agents can answer with your own information.

Next, you set up the flow of the conversation. You decide what the agent should say first, what to ask next, and when to send someone to a human. If the agent needs to do more than talk, developers can connect it to Zendesk, Salesforce, or Shopify so it can look up orders or create tickets.

Teams work in the same space. Product, design, and support can all see the agent, test real questions, and make small changes without code. Over time, Voiceflow becomes the place where your chatbot and voicebot setup lives, while your other systems still store customer data and run the core business.

When Voiceflow is the right choice

Voiceflow is a strong pick when:

• You care a lot about conversation design, prototyping, and shared files.
• You want to build voice and chat agents for support or customer experience.
• You like the idea of multi-LLM flexibility without managing models and infra yourself.
• Your team is made up of product, design, or CX folks, with limited engineering capacity.
• You want to start fast with support use cases (e.g., “deflect tickets” or “guide buyers”) and then grow into more complex flows.

If your question is “Voiceflow vs Botpress for a support bot,” Voiceflow often wins when speed, collaboration, and low-friction design matter more than deep infra control.

Limitations and trade-offs

• Complex backend workflows still need engineers: You can design flows without code, but serious integrations and custom logic will still require developer time.
• Less about full back-office automation: Voiceflow is focused on agents that talk to users. If you want a broad workflow automation system that runs back-office tasks across many tools, a platform like Lindy will often be a better fit.
• Cloud-first, not self-hosted: You get security features and enterprise controls, but if you need strict self-hosting or want to run everything inside your own infra, Botpress or other Botpress alternatives may suit you better.
• Maybe more than you need for a tiny site bot: For a very simple one-page FAQ chatbot, Voiceflow can be richer than you actually need.

If you mainly want simple automation plus deep back-end workflows (phone, email, CRM, operations), Lindy will likely match your needs better. If you want total control over infra and data, Botpress may be the stronger long-term platform.

Lindy: For automated workflows, phone + chat agents, and business automation

Lindy is best suited for teams that want AI agents to act like staff, not just chatbots. It’s designed to run continuously across channels, with shared context and human-in-the-loop controls when oversight is needed.

What is Lindy?

Lindy is an AI agent platform built to automate real business workflows across support, sales, and operations. Even the non-technical teams can set up agents quickly without managing infrastructure. 

With ready-made templates and extensive integrations, Lindy helps teams handle tasks like responding to inbound requests, updating CRMs, routing tickets, and triggering follow-ups, while still retaining control over how workflows run.

Core features and strengths

Lindy helps teams automate work that normally requires manual follow-ups and handoffs. You can start from simple triggers, like a new email or ticket, and let agents handle the full flow, from understanding the request to taking action across connected tools. This reduces busywork, keeps systems in sync, and lets teams move faster without constantly checking or updating workflows by hand.

The same setup works across multiple channels. One shared knowledge base can power email support, website chat, Slack bots, and voice agents without rebuilding logic for each channel. This helps teams keep answers and behavior consistent while expanding to new surfaces more easily.

Lindy also gives you a large template library for support, sales, marketing, recruiting, operations, finance, and more. You pick a template, tweak the prompts and settings, and you have a working agent instead of starting from a blank screen.

With Lindy Build, you can go further and create small internal apps from a prompt. Combined with strong security and admin controls, this makes Lindy a solid Botpress alternative if your main goal is automation across tools rather than hosting your own stack.

That same setup also applies to voice, chat, email, and internal agents, so teams don’t have to choose between channels or manage separate systems. This makes Lindy especially useful for teams that want strong automation power and integrations without moving to a fully code-first setup.

When Lindy is the right choice

Lindy is a strong fit when you want your agents to do work across your systems. It tends to be the best choice if:

• You want phone, chat, email, and internal agents running from the same platform.
• You care about strong security and compliance (SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, PIPEDA).
• You prefer a no-code or low-code setup but still need serious power and integrations.
• You want end-to-end workflows (for example, take a support email, understand it, reply, log details, and update your ticketing and CRM automatically).
• You’re handling work across a few different functions and want one platform to automate it without adding complexity.

If your main concern is using AI as a real workforce, Lindy is usually the closest fit.

Limitations and trade-offs

• Not aimed at self-hosting or custom infra: Lindy is a cloud platform. If you want to run everything on your own servers or build a very custom stack from the ground up, Botpress will likely give you more control.
• Best value when you lean into automation: If you only want a single FAQ bot, you may not use most of what Lindy can do. The platform shines when you let agents handle whole processes, not just quick replies.

If you just need a website chatbot, Voiceflow might be enough. If you want full agent control and self-hosting, Botpress is stronger. But if you want agents that act like staff and automate real work across tools and channels, Lindy is usually the most direct path.

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Which platform should you pick?

Picking a platform depends on what you want your agents to do and who will build it. These points should help guide your decision.

You just want a simple voice or chatbot, no coding

If you need a support bot on your site, a basic phone bot, or you want to prototype a chatbot fast, Voiceflow is the easiest place to start. The builder is visual and easy to learn, so non-developers can plug in a knowledge base, map a flow, and launch. It also fits well with tools like Zendesk and Shopify, which many CX teams already use.

Lindy can still work here if you want a simple bot that also does extra work in the background, such as updating a CRM or sending follow-up emails. For a basic “Voiceflow vs Botpress” choice, Botpress is often too heavy for this simple level.

You have dev skills/need custom integrations / self-hosting

Choose Botpress when you have developers and want strong control over your AI agents. It is a developer-first platform with custom code actions, APIs, and a built-in data layer (Tables). The Autonomous Engine lets you design agents that follow complex logic, use tools, and handle many steps in one flow.

Botpress also offers an open-source and self-hosted path, which matters if you need strict security or want agents to live inside your own infrastructure. In a technical Voiceflow vs Botpress comparison, Botpress is the one that behaves most like a full AI agent framework, not just a design tool.

You want automation + workflows + multi-channel (phone, chat, email, CRM)

Use Lindy when you want AI to handle full processes. Lindy is built around workflow automation: triggers like “new ticket” or “new email,” then agents that read data, follow your rules, and act across tools. You can run support, sales, marketing, and ops agents from the same platform and reuse templates and integrations across teams.

Compared with Botpress and Voiceflow, Lindy focuses more on “AI staff” that work across email, phone, chat, CRMs, and back-office tools. Botpress gives deeper control but usually needs more dev time. Voiceflow is strong for voice and chat UX, but less focused on broad back-office workflows.

Mixed needs or testing phase? Start small, use free tiers

If you are not sure yet, you do not have to choose a single platform on day one.

You can try Voiceflow for a quick support or sales bot on your site or help centre. You can test Lindy with a workflow-heavy agent, like automating email support or simple sales outreach. If you have a strong dev team and long-term platform plans, you can pilot Botpress to see how its autonomous engine and self-hosting options fit your stack.

All three tools offer free or low-cost starting plans, so you can run small pilots without big risk.

Conclusion: Choose based on your team, skills, and goals

Botpress, Voiceflow, and Lindy all help you work with AI agents, but they solve different problems. 

• Botpress is best when you have developers and want deep control. 
• Voiceflow is best when you want clear, fast voice or chatbots for support and CX. 
• Lindy is best when you want AI to run full workflows across tools and channels.

There is no single “winner” in Botpress vs Voiceflow vs Lindy. The right choice depends on what you want your agents to do today and how far you plan to take automation next.

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Try Lindy: An AI assistant that handles support, outreach, and automation

Lindy uses conversational AI that handles not just chat, but also lead gen, meeting notes, and customer support. It can respond quickly and adjust based on what the user is trying to do.

Here's how Lindy goes the extra mile:

• 24/7 agent availability for async teams: You can set Lindy agents to run 24/7 for round-the-clock support, perfect for async workflows or round-the-clock coverage.
• Support in 30+ languages: Lindy’s phone agents support over 30 languages, letting your team handle calls in new regions.
• Add Lindy to your site: Add Lindy to your site with a simple code snippet, instantly helping visitors get answers without leaving your site.
• Integrates with your tools: Lindy integrates with tools like Stripe and Intercom, helping you connect your workflows without extra setup.
• Handles high-volume requests without slowdown: Lindy handles any volume of requests and even teams up with other instances to tackle the most demanding scenarios.
• Lindy does more than chat: There’s a huge variety of Lindy automations, from content creation to coding. Check out the full Lindy templates list.

Try Lindy free and automate your first 40 tasks today. 

FAQs

1. Is Botpress open source?

Yes. Botpress has an open-source core you can self-host, plus a cloud version. The Botpress open-source option is useful if you want full control over infrastructure and data. For many teams, the managed cloud is simpler, but regulated industries often prefer the self-host route.

2. Can I start with Voiceflow for free? What happens when I scale?

Yes. You can start with a Voiceflow free plan (Starter) to design and test agents with limited usage. As you scale, you move to paid Voiceflow pricing plans that add more credits, seats, and enterprise features like permissions, SSO, and stronger support for large teams and CX ops.

3. Does Lindy support voice + phone + CRM integration?

Yes. Lindy supports voice, phone, and CRM integration in one platform. You can run phone agents, email, and chat support, and connect to CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce, plus help desks like Zendesk. Agents can log calls, update records, and trigger workflows across channels using the same instructions.

4. Which one is best for startups vs enterprises?

For startups, Voiceflow is great for quick support bots, and Lindy works well if you want AI to run sales or support workflows fast. For enterprises, Botpress fits teams that need self-hosting and deep control, while Voiceflow and Lindy both offer strong enterprise plans for CX and automation.