There are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins and not every of them supports integration between each other. That’s where an automation plugin comes into play.
An automation plugin allows you to integrate two plugins or more to do a specific task. Some plugins also allow you to integrate your site with online services.
I have tested some automation plugins for WordPress. Whenever you need to automate things on your WordPress site, you can try one of the plugins I have curated below.
Shortcuts ⤵️
- What is an automation plugin?
- What can an automation plugin do?
- When should you use an automation plugin?
- List of WordPress automation plugins
- Summary
What is an Automation Plugin?
An automation plugin is the type of plugin that allows you to do a specific task or two automatically. Usually, you need to integrate two plugins or more before setting the automated tasks.
For instance, you can integrate an e-commerce plugin (e.g., WooCommerce) with a CRM plugin to automatically add your online store customers to your CRM database to nurture your relationship with them (your customers).
The ability of automation plugins is not limited to the WordPress ecosystem, though. Some plugins also allow you to integrate your website with an online service to do a specific task automatically.
In the example above (e-commerce), you can integrate your online store with a SaaS-based CRM to sync your customers’ data.
What Can an Automation Plugin Do?
There are multiple answers to the questions above, depending on the automation plugin itself.
There are some automation plugins that allow you to integrate two or more WordPress plugins so that they can communicate each before you can set automated tasks.
There are also some plugins that allow you to integrate your website with online services such as CRM, email automations, and so on.
Some automation plugins have a hyper specific functionality. For instance, there is an automation plugin that specifically syncs WooCommerce customers with Google Sheets.
When Should You Use an Automation Plugin?
As I said earlier above, there are tens of thousands of WordPress plugins. Unfortunately, not all of them can work together by default.
If you use two plugins and they are not supporting each other by default, you can use an automation plugin to bridge them.
You can also use an automation plugin to connect your website with a certain online service if it (the online service you use) doesn’t offer an official plugin for WordPress.
Here are some scenarios where you need to use an automation plugin:
- When you want to integrate two plugins to set an automated task but they offer no native integration.
- When you want to connect your website with an online service but it offers no official plugin for WordPress.
- When you are looking for a more affordable solution to the official integration add-on offered by a plugin you use.
List of WordPress Automation Plugins
| Plugin | Key highlights | Price | Free version |
|---|---|---|---|
| FuseWP | An ideal solution to integrate your website with CRM software. | From $119/year | ✅ |
| AutomatorWP | A great automation plugin to collect visitors’ data. | From $149/year | ✅ |
| Uncanny Automator | Supports integration with online communication tools and social media platforms. | From $149/year | ✅ |
| Bit Integrations | An affordable solution of automation tools in WordPress. | From $35/year | ✅ |
| WP Fusion | An automation plugin designed specifically to connect with CRM software. | From $297/year | ✅ |
1. FuseWP
FuseWP is an automation plugin designed specifically to integrate your website with a CRM tool and email automation tool.
You can use FuseWP to sync the data on your WordPress website with services like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforces, and so on.
What data that you can sync?
It depends on the site type you are running. If you are running a WooCommerce-based e-commerce site, you can sync your customers’ data with the CRM tool you use.
If you are running a membership site, you can sync your members’ data, then. FuseWP supports popular membership like ProfilePress, Paid Membership Pro, and so on. It also supports LMS plugins like LearnDash, Tutor LMS, and so on.
When integrating your website with a CRM tool, you can set custom fields mapping and assign users to a specific tag for more targeted email campaigns.
FuseWP itself is released as a freemium plugin. The free version is available on WordPress.org while the pro version is available on its official website.
Key Features of FuseWP:
- Ability to sync WordPress data with a CRM and email automation tool
- Support nearly all popular CRM and email automation tools
- Support popular e-commerce plugins, membership plugins, and LMS plugins
- Ability to pause a sync
- Custom field mapping
- Ability to assign a tag to users
2. AutomatorWP
AutomatorWP is a multi-purpose automation plugin for WordPress. You can use it to automate several tasks. From syncing form data to publishing post.
One of use cases of AutomatorWP is to collect data from site visitors after they submit a comment. You can automatically send their data (e.g., name and email address) to a group on your MailerLite account.
I discovered that AutomatorWP can be used to integrate a Divi form with an email marketing platform for free. So, if you are a Divi user and need a free solution to connect a Divi form with, for instance, MailerLite, AutomatorWP can be a great plugin to try.
You can also use AutomatorWP to automatically publish a new post when a certain condition is met.
There are a lot of things you can do with AutomatorWP. Even if you are on the free version.
Key Features of AutomatorWP:
- Ability to sync WordPress data with a CRM and email automation tool
- Ability to run an automation based on login status
- Ability to automate post actions (publish, update, delete)
- Ability to collect commenters’ data
- WooCommerce automation support
3. Uncanny Automator
Uncanny Automator is a feature-rich automation plugin for WordPress. It has several things in common as AutomatorWP. For instance, it allows Divi users to integrate their form with a CRM platform without needing to use the pro version.
If you work with a team and use Slack to communicate, you can set up an automation on Uncanny Automator to automatically send a Slack notification over a published post or an update post.
Another use case of Uncanny Automator is that you can automatically post new content on Threads or other social media platforms when a new article is published on your website.
Some Uncanny Automator features require an account to be used. Including the integration with Slack.
In Uncanny Automator, you can also create an automation based on the login status.
Key Features of Uncanny Automator:
- Ability to sync WordPress data with a CRM and email automation tool
- Ability to run an automation based on login status
- Communication tool (Slack, Trello, ClickUp) integration for automated notification
- WooCommerce automation support
- Social media integration for automated posting
- Webhook support
4. Bit Integrations
The first three automation plugins above are released as freemium plugins. Bit Integrations also adopts the same business model, but with a way more affordable price for its pro version.
To use the pro version of Bit Integrations, you only need to pay $35 per year (equals to $2.91 per month). As a comparison, you need to pay $149 per year for the pro version of Uncanny Automator.
Overall, Bit Integrations is a great automation plugin.
Unfortunately, its free version has extremely limited capabilities. You can only use the free version to connect form builder plugins like Contact Form 7, WPForms, and BitForms with a CRM tool or an email marketing tool.
Key Features of Bit Integrations:
- Ability to sync WordPress data with a CRM and email automation tool
- Webhook support
- Field mapping
- Conditional logic
5. WP Fusion
WP Fusion is an automation plugin designed specifically to connect your WordPress website with a CRM tool. Pretty similar to FuseWP. But unlike FuseWP, an account is required to use WP Fusion.
The good part is, you don’t need to manually connect your website with your CRM platform. WP Fusion, with your permission, will handle the job.
Some automated tasks that WP Fusion can do after you connect your website with your CRM platforms are add new registered WordPress users to your contact, sync profile updates and custom field changes to user’s contact in your CRM tool, etc.
Being a CRM-focused automation plugin, WP Fusion supports nearly all CRM platforms you can think of. Same as other plugins above, you can also use WP Fusion for free although the features and capabilities on the free version are limited enough.
Key Features of WP Fusion:
- Ability to collect data from new registered users with a CRM tool
- Ability to sync user accounts and data between WordPress and CRM
- Ability to control WordPress content access using tags in the CRM tool
- Webhooks
Summary – Which Automation Plugin Should You Use?
Using an automation plugin can be a solution if you want to set automated tasks in WordPress. Especially in a case where two plugins you use are not supporting each by default.
An automation plugin can also be a solution to integrate your WordPress website with an online platform when the platform you use doesn’t offer an official plugin for WordPress.
FuseWP is an ideal option if you want to connect your WordPress website with a CRM tool. Especially if you are running an e-commerce site, membership site and LMS site.
AutomatorWP and Uncanny Automator are two ideal options if you need an automation plugin that has deep integration with WordPress’ native functions.
Bit Integrations, meanwhile, is a great automation when it comes to affordability.
