Best Automation Software (2026): The Tools I Use to Automate Everything
The tools I actually use, what each one costs, and why I stopped recommending Zapier.
Welcome to the fight for your freedom against tedium.
I teach leaders and creatives how to make automations do the boring work, so you can spend your time on what matters most.
Tell me your task
The hit list
What task would you love to never do again?
Add it to the list. Readers vote for the ones they hate most, and every month I build an automation for the winner and show you how.
Most wanted
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Vacuuming the house
“I hate vacuuming.”
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Doing the laundry
“It builds up because I hate doing it.”
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Making graphics to market my book
“The time-consuming part is the graphic design.”
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Deciding what to make for dinner
“My children want to eat dinner every night.”
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Learning Scrivener with low vision
“It takes a while to find the cursor.”
Built
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Built
Turning off the lights when we leave
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Built
Remembering everyone’s birthday
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Built
Following up with clients every week
Start here
Three guides to build your first automatons.
Your First Automation: Duplicate One Spreadsheet to Another
Copy one spreadsheet to another automatically. A small win that teaches you how all of it works.
How to Decide WHAT to Automate: 5 Questions for Your Automation Audit
Five questions to find the tasks worth handing to your army first.
But wait
What’s an automaton?
An automaton (ah-TOM-ah-tawn) was the original robot, first built in the 18th century by watchmakers. They looked so lifelike that people thought they were real, but they were just lovingly designed systems.
I started this site because I’m a writer, not a programmer, who got addicted to building systems like that. I’ve built hundreds of them since, and I share every one here so you can build an automaton army of your own.
Joe
