# Frends — Workflow Management

Frends by Frends Technology Oy holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: EU-Made; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Frends Technology Oy (https://frends.com)
- Category: [Workflow Management](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): EU-Made
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-10-20 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-01

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Frends Technology Oy
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026

## The panel's verdict

Frends, a hybrid integration and process automation platform from Frends Technology Oy, scores highest as an integration engine: integrations and connectors at 7-8 and hosting and portability clustered at 7, resting on self-hosted agents, an outbound-only agent connection requiring no inbound firewall ports, an on-premises control plane and an air-gapped deployment with zero public-internet connection. Governance and audit follows at 6-7 on granular allow-and-deny roles and an exportable audit trail with a 60-day default; run reliability spans 4-6, credited for layered error handling but with no public information on automatic retries, replay or a status page. The weakest legs are pricing transparency at 2-3 — no tier prices, allowances, overage rates or self-hosting licence figures are public, so the monthly invoice is a sales conversation — and sovereignty at 3-5, where EU-exclusive hosting and Irish processing sit alongside a privacy policy permitting processing where partners and third-party providers maintain facilities. Process design splits widest, 2 to 5, over the weight of missing public information on forms, approval steps with roles, deadlines and a task inbox against a documented BPMN 2.0 designer.

**Speaks for it:**
- On-premises agents connect outbound-only, so reaching internal databases and legacy systems opens no inbound firewall port.
- The platform runs as EU cloud, self-hosted agents on Windows, Linux or containers, an on-premises control plane, or a fully air-gapped deployment with zero connection to the public internet.
- Named tasks cover SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and Oracle for EDI-to-ERP, and the task library is open source in C#, importable as NuGet packages.
- Role-based access control offers allow and deny rules per action, tag and environment, with multiple roles per user.
- The audit trail records username, action and UTC timestamp with a stated 60-day default retention, exportable as JSON via the platform API.

**Held against it:**
- Beyond a 30-day trial, no tier prices, monthly allowances, overage rates, AI credit prices or self-hosting licence figures appear publicly, so the monthly invoice is a sales conversation.
- The captured pages give different signals on where processing happens: the cloud is stated as hosted exclusively within the EU with processing in Ireland, while the privacy policy permits processing where partners, affiliates and third-party providers maintain facilities.
- We found no public information on forms, approval steps with roles or substitutes, deadlines, escalation or a task inbox for participants.
- We found no public information on automatic retries, replay from a failing step or a public status page, and the terms supply the platform "as is" without guaranteed SLOs unless the ordered tier provides them.
- We found no public information on a subprocessor list or a data-processing agreement covering execution payloads, and the AI tasks on offer are Google services with no stated location.

**Best for:**
- You need hybrid integration that reaches on-premises ERPs and databases without opening inbound firewall ports.
- Your organization must run execution fully on-premises or air-gapped, optionally with local AI models.
- You are migrating legacy platforms such as BizTalk or SAP PI/PO onto BPMN-designed processes with API-based deployment.
- You answer to auditors or a works council and need role-scoped access plus an exportable audit trail with stated retention.

**Avoid if:**
- You need an approval-centric workflow product with forms, approvers by role, substitutes, deadlines and a participant task inbox.
- You must compute the monthly invoice from public figures before engaging sales.
- You require guaranteed service levels up front — the terms supply the platform on an as-is basis unless SLOs are agreed per ordered tier.
- Your data-protection review cannot accept AI tasks routing to Google services or a privacy policy permitting processing wherever partners and third-party providers maintain facilities, unless you self-host or run air-gapped with your own models.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price.

| Criterion | The Process Owner | The Integration Engineer | The Operations Analyst | The Head of IT | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Process design, forms & approvals | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
| Connectors, API & on-premise reach | 3.5/5 | 4/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Execution, error handling & monitoring | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 |
| Governance, credentials & audit trail | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Hosting options & portability | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **2.5/5** | **3/5** | **3/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Process Owner** (v1.0): Runs purchase approvals and invoice release for a 400-person Mittelstand company. Wants approvers set by role rather than by name, a substitute when someone is on holiday, deadlines that escalate, and a process change that does not break the forty requests already in flight.
- **The Integration Engineer** (v1.0): Wires the ERP to the shop, the shop to DATEV and the CRM to everything else. Wants connectors documented by action rather than counted in logos, a generic HTTP step for the rest, an on-premise agent that reaches the SQL server without a hole in the firewall, and a failed run replayable from the step that failed.
- **The Operations Analyst** (v1.0): Is asked every Monday why invoices took eleven days. Wants a searchable execution history, cycle times per step, alerts that reach a channel rather than an unread mailbox, runtime and throughput limits published before the month-end run hits them — and to know what a loop over 5,000 rows costs in tasks.
- **The Head of IT** (v1.0): Answers for every automation a department builds without asking. Wants SSO, separate test and production, an inventory of workflows with their owners — and an exit: definitions exportable as BPMN or documented JSON, a self-hosted edition, and an engine licence that will still apply in five years.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Reads every workflow as a chain of transfers. Asks where the execution log keeps its copy of the payload and for how long, which subprocessors and AI model providers a step sends data to, whether payloads can be masked, and what the approval trail records about employees before the works council asks.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Knows that "7,000 integrations" counts connectors nobody maintains, that "unlimited workflows" says nothing about the tasks each run consumes, and that "no-code" ends at the first API without a connector. Reads for what counts as a task, how long failed runs are kept, which model an "AI agent" step sends data to, and whether the workflows can leave the platform at all.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Ownership | Not determined | — | — |
| Data residency | Not determined | — | — |
| Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Audit log auth: Azure AD [S10]
- Audit log immutability: yes [S10]
- Breach notification: will comply with applicable laws regarding data breach notification [S3]
- Breach notification: without undue delay [S4]
- Certifications: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S7]
- DPA: https://frends.com/legal/dpa · yes [S4]
- Eea transfer safeguards: EEA transfers protected via standard data protection clauses, binding corporate rules, or other legally accepted means [S3]
- EU vendor: yes · yes · yes · yes [S1]
- ISO 27001: yes [S4]
- ISO 27001: yes · yes · yes [S2]
- ISO 27001: ISO 27001 [S4]
- Minor consent age: 16 [S3]
- Security description: https://frends.com/legal/security [S4]
- Security description URL: https://frends.com/legal/security [S4]
- Tls encryption: 1.2+ [S7]

**Data**
- Audit log agent events retention: 1000 [S10]
- Audit log backup: Azure SQL · 35 · one month · 24 [S10]
- Audit log config change retention: stored until deleted or manually removed [S10]
- Audit log retention default: 60 [S10]
- Breach notification: without undue delay [S4]
- Business data: business data on platform: transaction records, stored files, user profiles, analytics data [S3]
- Collected device data: device data: device type, OS, unique device identifiers, device settings, geo-location [S3]
- Collected log data: server log data including IP address, browser type/version, pages visited, timestamps, time on page [S3]
- Collected personal information: name, email, payment information, tax/SSN/Medicare number [S3]
- Cookies used: Cookie Policy · yes [S3]
- Deletion after termination: 90 [S4]
- Retention: personal information retained only as long as necessary [S3]
- Retention after termination: 90 · yes [S4]
- Right access portability: CSV or other easily readable machine format · yes [S3]
- Right correction: yes [S3]
- Right erasure: yes [S3]
- Right transfer third party: yes [S3]
- Unsubscribe: yes [S3]

**Hosting**
- Air gapped: yes · yes [S1]
- Control plane options: yes · yes [S7]
- Deployment models: yes · Windows · Linux · containers · yes · yes · yes [S7]
- EU hosting: yes [S7]
- Hybrid on prem: machine-executable object code without access to source code · yes [S4]
- Processing location: or where Frends/partners/affiliates/third-party providers maintain facilities · Ireland [S3]

**Integrations**
- Docs: https://docs.frends.com [S4]
- Edi erp: EDI to ERP integration at fixed cost, reusable templates, no vendor lock-in [S1]

**Legal**
- Agreement components: General Terms + DPA + Security Description + Order Form and appendixes [S4]
- AI terms: General Terms v1.1+ or AI Amendment [S2]
- Confidentiality period: 5 [S4]
- Confidentiality years: 5 [S4]
- Contracting entity: Frends Technology Oy [S4]
- Copyright entity: Frends Technology [S3]
- Document version: 2026-01-09 · 2.0 [S4]
- DPA URL: https://frends.com/legal/dpa [S4]
- Entity: Frends Technology · 2026 [S1]
- Entity: Frends Technology Oy [S4]
- Ip indemnity: yes [S4]
- Order form precedence: Order Form over General Terms [S4]
- Overdue interest: EU Late Payment Directive 2011/7/EU maximum · 2 [S4]
- Privacy policy effective date: 2018-10-01 [S3]
- Reconsent on significant change: yes [S3]
- Suspension nonpayment: 10 [S4]
- Termination notice: 3 [S4]
- Version date: 2026-01-09 · 2.0 [S4]

**Pricing**
- Addon AI features: AI data mapping, monitoring, anomaly detection add-on [S2]
- Addon API management: API gateway, developer portal, analytics add-on [S2]
- Addon business portal: self-service portal for business users add-on [S2]
- AI credit consumption examples: 10 · 2 · 5 · 0.12 [S2]
- AI credit price: 0.01 · 10 [S2]
- AI credits conversion: 6000 · 3000 [S2]
- Annual escalation: HICP euro area index · 6 [S4]
- Annual increase: HICP or 6%, whichever higher · each anniversary of Effective Date [S4]
- Billing model: monthly in arrears [S4]
- Billing terms: in arrears · monthly [S4]
- Currency: EUR [S4]
- Model: modular plans: pick plan, add modules, scale [S2]
- Payment terms: EUR · 30 [S4]
- Payment terms: 30 [S4]
- Refunds: no [S4]
- Tier change: yes [S2]
- Trial period: 30 · no · 100 [S4]
- True up: yes [S4]
- True up: yes [S4]
- VAT excluded: no [S4]
- VAT exclusive: no [S4]

**Product**
- Agent connectivity: Azure Service Bus · yes · no [S7]
- Agent container support: yes · yes [S7]
- Agent execution flow: Agent executes process flow: sequence flows, Tasks, conditions, transformations, external calls, branching and error logic [S9]
- Agent types: Cloud Agents · Self-Service Agents · HA Agent · Enterprise [S2]
- AI audit logs: AI Audit Logs documentation section exists [S8]
- AI credit management: yes · yes [S2]
- AI ml tasks: Google Dialogflow, Google Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, Vision [S6]
- Air gapped deployment: yes [S7]
- API deploy activate triggers: yes [S13]
- API deploy older version: older versions of a Process can be deployed to the 'Default' Agent group [S13]
- API deploy processes: /api/v1/process-deployments · POST · deploy processes to agent group · 20 [S13]
- API deploy validation rules: yes · yes · yes [S13]
- API deployment filters: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S13]
- API deployment list endpoint: /api/v1/process-deployments · GET · list process deployments · bearer token [S13]
- API deployment list paging: 200 · 30 [S13]
- API deployment secret variables: process variables support an isSecret flag [S13]
- API gateway: On-prem Agent can expose secure API via Frends API Gateway [S7]
- API management: API Management capability [S5]
- Architecture roles: Environment=context, Agent Group=deployment target, Agents=execution runtime, Trigger=start condition, Process=integration logic [S9]
- Audit log description: Tracks configuration changes, user actions and system events within a Frends tenant via the Platform API [S10]
- Audit log endpoint: GET /api/v1/audit-log [S10]
- Audit log event metadata: username · action · UTC timestamp · affected resources · agent group details [S10]
- Audit log filters: PageNumber · PageSize · startDateTimeUtc · endDateTimeUtc · actionName · userName [S10]
- Audit log pagination: 200 · 30 · 1 [S10]
- Audit log parameters format: human-readable JSON [S10]
- Audit log prerequisites: yes · yes [S10]
- Audit log read only: yes [S10]
- Audit log response format: JSON [S10]
- Audit log tracked config changes: process deployments · process modifications · process deletions · process activation/deactivation · environment variable changes · configuration element modifications [S10]
- Audit log tracked user actions: role changes · user management operations · modifying UI requests · task imports [S10]
- Audit trail: AI decisions visible in BPMN canvas, single audit trail [S1]
- Bpmn interface: BPMN 2.0 low-code interface for non-technical users [S5]
- Bpmn workflows: BPMN · yes [S1]
- Capabilities list: AI workflow management · Enterprise MCP · Workflow automation · API management · Long-running processes · Hybrid deployment [S7]
- Catch shape: Catch shape (Try-Catch scope) for inline error recovery [S8]
- Change notice days: 30 · yes [S4]
- Cloud services: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud [S6]
- Container kubernetes: Agents deployable as containers in Kubernetes; dynamic launching of additional Agents supported [S12]
- Container onprem or cloud: Kubernetes cluster may be on-premise or cloud; containerized Agents mix with other Agent types [S12]
- Container statefulsets: Option to keep offline auto-deployed Agents, enabling Kubernetes Stateful Sets [S12]
- Countries: 16 [S1]
- Custom task request: yes [S6]
- Customer count: 6000 [S1]
- Data analytics tasks: Databricks, Analytics Cloud, Celonis [S6]
- Data backup: yes [S4]
- Data formats: JSON, XML, EDIFACT, CSV, Fixed Width Flat Files [S6]
- Dedicated premium resources: dedicated premium Azure resources option [S2]
- Default paas agent: Every Tenant includes a PaaS Cloud Agent in the Development Environment [S12]
- Default role administrator: AllowAction *.* · AllowAction UserManagement.Admin [S11]
- Default role editor: AllowAction *.* · AllowAction Common.View · DenyAction *.Admin [S11]
- Default role viewer: AllowAction *.View · AllowAction Common.View · DenyAction EnvironmentVariables.View [S11]
- Deployment models: self-hosted · PaaS · container · hybrid [S12]
- Deployment options: cloud · on-premises · hybrid [S1]
- Deployment requirement: Processes must be deployed to an Agent Group before automatic execution [S9]
- Dotnet runtime: Agents use .NET runtime and handle Process triggering [S12]
- Enterprise mcp: Enterprise MCP exposes any system as governed AI tool [S1]
- Environment promotion: Same Process design can be promoted across Environments and Agent Groups [S9]
- Environments: yes [S2]
- Erp CRM tasks: Salesforce, HubSpot, Capsule CRM, Insightly, Zoho, Anaplan [S6]
- Error handling layers: Error handling has three scopes: single Process, Process execution, and Environment level [S8]
- Error subprocess: Error Subprocess handles unhandled errors, e.g. alerting, database writes, archiving [S8]
- Execution definition: execution = one complete run of a process or API call [S2]
- Execution limit soft: no [S2]
- File content tasks: Dropbox, Box, Egnyte, Bynder, BrickFTP [S6]
- Finance payments tasks: BILL, Expensify, Chargify, FinancialForce [S6]
- Frends agents: Frends Agents are lightweight runtime engines that execute integrations where systems reside [S7]
- Frends backups: yes [S4]
- High availability: High Availability documented [S8]
- High availability: yes · SQL Server or PostgreSQL [S7]

**Support**
- Customer result: Customer case: 179 times faster processes and GDPR compliance [S7]
- Customer result 2: Customer case: Unified API architecture and reduced unwanted network traffic by 50% [S7]
- Customer result 3: Customer case: Built 100+ APIs with Frends [S7]
- Error termination: terminate Order Form and refund unused pre-paid fees · 30 [S4]
- Optional SLA: yes [S4]
- Product support optional: yes [S4]
- Services: Professional Services and Support Services offered [S5]
- Services: Professional Services · Support Services [S1]
- Slo tier based: ordered Tier [S4]

67 more facts on the canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends

## Questions

### Is Frends European?

Yes. whats-best.ai classifies Frends as EU-Made.

### Where does Frends store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### Does Frends have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Frends?

As of 15 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Tray.ai (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/tray-ai), [n8n (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/n8n) and [Camunda (2.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/camunda) highest among the other 16 Workflow Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [n8n](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/n8n) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Frends alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 24 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 8 data facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 8 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 8 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 3 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 hosting facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://frends.com/ (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S2] Pricing page: https://frends.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S3] Privacy policy: https://frends.com/legal/privacy-policy (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S4] Terms of service: https://frends.com/legal/terms-of-service/v2.0 (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S5] Process design, forms & approvals — found from sitemap: https://frends.com/ipaas/workflow-automation (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S6] Connectors, API & on-premise reach — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/frends-development/integrations/connectors (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S7] Connectors, API & on-premise reach — found from sitemap: https://frends.com/ipaas/hybrid-integrations (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S8] Execution, error handling & monitoring — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/management-and-operations/dashboard-and-monitoring/error-handling-and-monitoring (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S9] Execution, error handling & monitoring — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/hybrid-integration-architecture/process-execution-model (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S10] Governance, credentials & audit trail — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/reference/frends-platform-api/audit-trail-log-api (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S11] Governance, credentials & audit trail — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/reference/administration/role-based-access-control (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S12] Hosting options & portability — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/hybrid-integration-architecture/deployment-models (checked 2026-10-13)
- [S13] Hosting options & portability — found from sitemap: https://docs.frends.com/reference/frends-6.1.0/frends-platform-api/platform-api-reference/process-deployments (checked 2026-10-13)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Frends — Workflow Management", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-20. https://whats-best.ai/software/workflow-management/frends

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/551?target=page