Comparison
Croft vs Attio Workflows
Attio Workflows automate the CRM. Croft automates the work the CRM is only one step of — and reads and writes Attio while it does.
The short answer
Attio Workflows are the automation layer inside the Attio CRM. A record changes, a stage moves, a form comes in, and a sequence of blocks acts on it: update fields, send a sequence, notify a channel, call a webhook. If the work starts and finishes on an Attio record, building it anywhere else is a mistake — it is right there, it knows your objects, and it comes with the subscription you are already paying for.
Croft is not a CRM and does not compete for that job. It is where the work goes that reaches past the CRM: pull the week's closed deals out of Attio, reconcile them against Stripe, write the summary to a sheet, mail it to the partners, and file the exceptions for someone to look at. Attio is one of Croft's connectors, so a Croft workflow reads and writes your records as part of a longer chain.
Most teams that use both keep the record-level automation in Attio and give the cross-system work to Croft. They are not really alternatives.
What Attio Workflows is
Attio Workflows are Attio's built-in automation builder: triggers on records, lists and forms, and a sequence of blocks that act on them, all inside the CRM you already have.
Automation inside the Attio CRM. This page is our reading of Attio Workflows's own published material as of — we deliberately quote no prices of theirs, because a stale price is worse than none. Check their site for the current details.
Croft and Attio Workflows, side by side
| Croft | Attio Workflows | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes the workflow | You describe the problem in your own words. An agent writes it through MCP, and it is live in the same conversation. | You do, in Attio's workflow builder. |
| What a workflow actually is | TypeScript, compiled to WASM, run in a sandbox with no ambient network and no ambient credentials. | A trigger on an Attio object and a sequence of blocks acting on it. |
| Where the connections live | Held by Croft, scoped to one workspace, granted by a human and revocable in one click. Never inside workflow code. | Your Attio workspace's own connections. Anything outside them goes through a generic HTTP block you configure yourself. |
| When a run is interrupted | It carries on. Runs are checkpointed and replayable, and survive deploys, crashes and losing the machine underneath them. | Runs are short and CRM-scoped, with a run history in Attio to look at when one fails. |
| What you operate | Nothing. No instance, no workers, no queue, no upgrade window. | Nothing. |
| What you are billed on | A flat price per workspace, metered only on runs per week. People, workspaces and workflows are unlimited on every plan. | Included in your Attio plan, with a workflow-run allowance that varies by tier. |
| What an agent can do | Everything. Every capability is an MCP tool before it is a screen, so Claude can build, run, inspect and fix workflows directly. | Attio's own AI features act inside Attio. There is no interface for an outside agent to author workflows. |
| Getting your work back out | Your workflow TypeScript, your tables and your files export at any time. | The workflow lives in Attio and stays there. |
The four differences that matter
The CRM is a step, not the boundary
An Attio workflow starts on an Attio record and its natural reach is the rest of Attio. Real operational work rarely stops there: the deal closes in Attio, the invoice is in Stripe, the numbers go in a sheet, the summary goes out by email, and the exceptions need a human. A Croft workflow spans all of that in one run, with Attio as one connector among several.
Somewhere for the data to live
Attio's objects are your CRM's objects, and bending them into a place to keep workflow state is how a CRM gets messy. Croft workflows have their own memory: append-only records you can query with SQL, shared documents, and files, at workspace or org level. The reconciliation ledger belongs there, not as a custom object on your Companies list.
An agent writes it
Attio's builder is a builder — someone opens it and assembles the blocks. In Croft you say what you want and an agent writes the workflow through MCP, then fixes it when the shape of the data changes. For the cross-system work that nobody quite owns, that difference is usually what decides whether it exists at all.
Runs you are not counting
Attio's workflow runs come out of a per-tier allowance shared with everything else you do in the CRM. Croft meters runs per week and nothing inside them, so moving the heavy, high-frequency work — the hourly sync, the row-by-row reconciliation — off the CRM's allowance and into Croft usually costs less and does more.
Which one you want
Use Attio Workflows when
- — The trigger and every action are Attio records, and nothing leaves the CRM.
- — It is record hygiene: stage changes, field updates, assignment, reminders.
- — You want it inside the tool your revenue team already lives in, with no second product to log into.
- — It is covered by the Attio plan you already pay for.
Use Croft when
- ✓ The work crosses systems — Attio plus Stripe, plus a sheet, plus email.
- ✓ The workflow needs durable state of its own, or a table you can query with SQL.
- ✓ It has to survive for months, retry properly, and be inspectable run by run.
- ✓ You want an agent to build it, and you would rather not spend the CRM's run allowance on it.
Common questions
Does Croft replace Attio Workflows?
Usually not, and it should not have to. Record-level automation belongs in the CRM. Croft takes the work that reaches past it — cross-system runs, reconciliation, reporting, anything needing durable state of its own — and reads and writes Attio as part of that.
Does Croft connect to Attio?
Yes. Attio is a managed OAuth connector: you grant it once from the workspace's connections page and workflows can read and write records, lists and notes, without any credential ever appearing in workflow code.
Can I trigger a Croft workflow from an Attio record change?
The common pattern is the other way round: a Croft workflow runs on a schedule and pulls what changed. For push-style work, Attio's own webhook block can call into a workflow — but if the trigger and the actions are both Attio records, keep the whole thing in Attio.
Do I need Attio to use Croft?
No. Attio is one connector among several — email, Google Sheets, Slack, GitHub, Stripe, X, web search, and allowlisted HTTP for anything else. Plenty of Croft workspaces have no CRM connected at all.
The fastest way to tell the difference
Say the thing your team keeps having to do, in your own words. An agent writes the workflow, it runs this week, and you have something to compare against Attio Workflows rather than a table to read. The free plan needs no card.