Head to head
Knolo vs Relay.app
Relay.app is winding down. Knolo is where you rebuild, and go far beyond workflow automation.
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The verdict
Relay.app is shutting down. Free accounts end August 15, 2026, paid accounts end September 14, 2026, and the company has already turned off new signups. That reframes the question: this comparison is not about which product to pick, it is about where Relay.app users should land. Knolo is the strongest answer for most of them. It gives you the same no-code, describe-what-you-want feel that made Relay popular, replaces Relay's 1,000 integrations with 3,000+ via Pipedream Connect plus any REST API on the fly through the Discover API, and adds things Relay never had: persistent Minds that give every agent long-term memory, native Python code execution, image generation, and multi-agent handoff as a built-in pattern. Relay had a cleaner canvas for a single approval-heavy workflow, and its human-in-the-loop steps were genuinely polished. Most people evaluating both will get more from Knolo because they are not just rebuilding one workflow, they are rebuilding a platform, and Knolo covers the full surface instead of a slice of it.
Relay.app is sunsetting: free accounts on Aug 15, 2026 and paid accounts on Sep 14, 2026. New signups are already closed.
Knolo is a no-code AI workspace where you describe what you want and the system configures itself: agents, knowledge bases, automations, integrations.
Knolo covers 3,000+ integrations through Pipedream Connect and any REST API through the Discover API, versus Relay's ~1,000 native connectors.
Every Knolo agent shares persistent Minds, so knowledge, context, and history carry between sessions. Relay workflows were largely stateless.
Knolo runs native Python in a sandbox and generates images natively, capabilities that were never part of Relay.
Credit-based pricing on Knolo means no per-step or per-task caps, no tiered feature paywalls.
Relay's genuine edges were a polished canvas for approval flows and a very simple onboarding path for a single workflow.
Knolo vs Relay.app, line by line
Dimension
Knolo
Relay.app
Platform status in 2026
Knolo wins
Active, growing, new features shipping regularly.
Sunsetting. Free accounts deleted Aug 15, 2026. Paid accounts deleted Sep 14, 2026. New signups already disabled.
How you build
Knolo wins
Describe what you want in plain language. The workspace configures agents, Minds, triggers, and integrations for you.
Visual canvas with steps, triggers, and actions. Faster than Zapier, but still node-by-node thinking.
No-code experience
Knolo wins
Fully no-code by default. Optional Python sandbox for people who want it.
No-code with a clean drag-and-drop builder. No code escape hatch for advanced logic.
Persistent memory and knowledge
Knolo wins
Minds are first-class: every agent can read from and write to indexed knowledge bases, tables, and files that persist across runs.
Tables for structured data, but no vector-indexed knowledge base for agents to query across sessions.
Agent reasoning depth
Knolo wins
Assistants and agents plan, reason across tools, chain steps, and share memory. Backed by frontier models with tool use.
AI steps and mini-agents inside workflows. Reasoning is bounded by the workflow shape you drew.
Multi-agent orchestration
Knolo wins
Agents can call other agents, hand off tasks, and coordinate around shared Minds as a built-in pattern.
Multi-agent orchestration was added in 2026, but agents live inside a workflow rather than as first-class collaborators.
App integrations
Knolo wins
3,000+ apps through Pipedream Connect, exposed as first-class tools for any assistant or agent.
Around 1,000 native integrations bundled on every plan.
Custom and long-tail APIs
Knolo wins
Discover API lets agents connect to any REST API on the fly. The practical ceiling is the entire web.
Custom API steps possible on higher tiers, but no on-the-fly discovery pattern.
Pricing model
Knolo wins
Credit-based. Buy credits, pay for what you use. No per-step caps, no tiered feature paywalls.
Step + AI credit tiers ($19/mo Pro, $59-$138/mo Team on annual). Now cancelled and refunding.
Scheduled and event triggers
Knolo wins
Cron schedules, one-off schedules, and event triggers on tables and documents. Agents run in the background automatically.
Trigger-based workflows with polling and webhooks. Solid, but shutting down.
Hosting and maintenance
Knolo wins
Fully cloud-hosted. Nothing to install, patch, or maintain.
Cloud-hosted, but the platform itself is being decommissioned within weeks.
Built-in knowledge base
Knolo wins
Indexable Minds for PDFs, articles, YouTube transcripts, web pages, and structured tables. Semantic search across everything.
No native vector knowledge base. Tables store rows, not indexed documents.
Native code execution
Knolo wins
Python sandbox built in. Agents run scripts with access to Knolo API methods, files, and tools.
No native code execution. Custom logic goes through pre-built AI steps.
Image generation
Knolo wins
Native image generation available as a tool inside any agent.
Only through third-party integrations or AI steps that call an external model.
Human-in-the-loop approvals
Relay.app wins
Assistants can pause for user input at any point. Approval patterns are configurable per agent.
Human-in-the-loop was Relay's signature feature: polished request-approval and input-form steps over email and Slack.
Single-workflow visual canvas
Relay.app wins
Knolo shows workflows as agent runs and tool calls rather than a drag-and-drop diagram.
Relay's canvas was one of the cleanest single-workflow builders on the market.
Choose Knolo if…
Anyone migrating off Relay.app who needs a permanent home, not another workflow tool
Solo operators, agencies, and small teams who want AI that knows their business, not a stateless chatbot
Teams that need agents with real memory across sessions, not just one-off runs
Builders who want 3,000+ integrations plus any REST API on the fly
People who want scheduled agents, event triggers, code execution, and image generation in one place
Anyone who prefers credit-based pricing over per-step tiers with feature paywalls
Choose Relay.app if…
Existing Relay.app users finishing the 30 or 60 day wind-down before their account is deleted
People who genuinely only need a single approval-heavy workflow and nothing else
Users who cared specifically about Relay's polished input-form and request-approval steps
Teams already deep in Relay's Slack and email approval patterns during the transition window
When Knolo is the right destination after Relay.app
The main thing Relay.app users liked was the feeling of describing what they wanted and getting a working automation without touching code. Knolo takes that same instinct further. You describe an agent, a knowledge base, or an automation, and the workspace configures itself around your work. There is no canvas to draw, no nodes to wire, no separate builder to learn. The assistant is the builder.
The integration story is the second reason. Relay shipped around 1,000 native connectors, which was one of its selling points against smaller AI tools. Knolo starts at 3,000+ through Pipedream Connect and then keeps going through the Discover API, which lets agents authenticate against and call any REST API on the fly. That means your migration is not a downgrade in coverage, it is a step up. Anything Relay could reach, Knolo can reach, plus everything Relay never wired in.
The third reason is that Knolo does things Relay never did. Every agent shares persistent Minds, so knowledge, context, and prior work carry across runs. Agents can call other agents and hand off work. There is a native Python sandbox for anyone who wants to drop into code for a moment. Image generation is a first-class tool. Scheduled and event triggers turn agents into background processes. If you are rebuilding after a shutdown, this is the shape you want: a platform, not another single-purpose workflow tool that could get sunset next.
When Relay.app still makes sense in the short term
There is one honest case for staying with Relay.app right now, and it is a short one: you are inside the wind-down window, you have a critical workflow in production, and you need to keep it running while you rebuild. Relay has said workflows will keep executing through August 15 for free users and September 14 for paying customers, and paid accounts get an extra 25,000 steps and 10,000 AI credits per month during that period. Use that time to migrate, not to build anything new.
The other narrow case is the human-in-the-loop pattern. Relay's request-approval and input-form steps over email and Slack were genuinely well designed, and if your entire business is one approval-heavy workflow with a manager rubber-stamping items, you experienced the best version of that in Relay. Knolo can absolutely handle approvals through Slack, email, and pause-for-input patterns, but Relay had a more polished single-purpose UI for it. That advantage disappears when the platform does.
Beyond those two situations, there is no strategic reason to keep investing in Relay.app after August 2026.
The real difference: a platform versus a workflow tool
Relay.app was a workflow tool with AI steps added on top. That framing is why the pricing was step-based, why the ceiling was around 1,000 integrations, why there was no persistent knowledge base, why there was no code execution, and why multi-agent orchestration arrived late in its life. Everything about the product assumed you were building one automation at a time.
Knolo is built around a different assumption: you are building an AI system, not an automation. That is why Minds, agents, triggers, and integrations are all first-class objects that share the same workspace. That is why a single agent can read a PDF, query a knowledge base, call another agent, fetch a live API through Discover, run a Python script, and generate an image, without leaving one run. That is why credit-based pricing works, because there is no useful way to meter this as steps.
If you are choosing where to land after Relay, choose the platform, not another tool that does one thing well. Knolo is the better choice for people who want AI that does more than one thing.
Frequently asked questions
Is Knolo a replacement for Relay.app?
Yes, for the vast majority of use cases. Knolo covers everything Relay.app was known for: no-code building, AI-driven steps, scheduled triggers, and app integrations, and then extends past it with persistent Minds, native code execution, image generation, and multi-agent handoff. The only Relay-specific behavior that does not have a pixel-perfect match is its polished single-workflow approval canvas, and Knolo handles approvals through Slack, email, and pause-for-input patterns.
Relay.app is shutting down. When exactly do I need to move?
Free accounts and their data are deleted on August 15, 2026 at 23:59 PT. Paid accounts are deleted on September 14, 2026 at 23:59 PT. New signups and free-to-paid upgrades were turned off on July 16, 2026. Paid subscriptions were already cancelled with prorated refunds. If you are still on Relay, export your workflows as JSON and markdown prompts now, and rebuild in Knolo before your deletion date.
How does Knolo handle integrations compared to Relay.app?
Relay shipped roughly 1,000 native connectors bundled on every plan. Knolo connects to 3,000+ apps through Pipedream Connect, exposed as first-class tools for any assistant or agent. On top of that, the Discover API lets agents authenticate against and call any REST API on the fly, without a pre-built connector. In practice you never hit a coverage wall, because the practical ceiling is the entire web.
How does Knolo pricing compare to Relay.app pricing?
Relay used a step + AI credit tier model: free at 200 steps and 500 credits, Professional at $19/month, Team at $59-$138/month, and Enterprise custom. Knolo uses credit-based pricing: you buy credits and pay for what you use. There are no per-step caps and no tiered feature paywalls, so a solo user and a small team pay for exactly the work they run rather than a plan they might outgrow.
Can Knolo run human-in-the-loop approvals like Relay did?
Yes. Assistants can pause for user input, ask clarifying questions, and wait for a decision before continuing. Agents can post approval requests to Slack or email through Pipedream integrations and resume when the response comes back. Relay's approval canvas was more polished for that single pattern, but Knolo covers the same behavior and can combine it with knowledge base lookups, code execution, and multi-agent handoff in the same run.
What can Knolo do that Relay.app could not?
Four things stand out. Persistent Minds, where every agent reads from and writes to indexed knowledge bases that carry across sessions. Native Python code execution inside a sandbox, with direct access to Knolo API methods. Native image generation as a first-class tool. And true multi-agent orchestration, where agents call other agents and share memory rather than living inside one workflow diagram. Together they turn Knolo from a workflow tool into a platform for building your own AI system.
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