Skip to content
TulipFarm

TulipFarm vs Productive: whose agents fit your work

Both now have AI agents. Productive’s run inside an agency operations platform. TulipFarm’s run on tables, skills and workflows you design.

TulipFarm

$50 free

In credits at signup

Productive

$10 a user

A month on Essential, billed yearly

productive.io/pricing
Sign up for CloudTalk to us

Where TulipFarm differs

Productive and TulipFarm both let agents act on your work. These four differences come down to control, plan limits and how runs behave over time.

  • Agents ask before the changes that matter

    TulipFarm

    You choose which actions need approval. The agent shows the exact change and waits for Maya.

    See Agents

    How Productive handles it

    An agent’s permission set decides what it can change. The help pages don’t describe an approval step before it acts.

    help.productive.io/en/articles/14483662-working-with-ai-agents

  • Agents on every workspace

    TulipFarm

    Saved agents, skills and schedules come with every TulipFarm workspace, starting on your free credits.

    See Agents

    How Productive handles it

    AI Agents are available on the Ultimate plan, and need Productive AI turned on by an admin.

    help.productive.io/en/articles/14192871-ai-agents-overview

  • Design the table, not just the fields

    TulipFarm

    Make a table for anything your shop tracks, with required, unique and choice fields.

    See Tables

    How Productive handles it

    Records are its own projects, budgets, deals and invoices. Essential includes 5 account-level custom fields, Professional 15.

    productive.io/pricing

  • A run that waits for late artwork

    TulipFarm

    A workflow can wait up to 30 days for files, and a restart won’t redo the steps already finished.

    See Workflows

    How Productive handles it

    Automations are rules with a When trigger, optional Check if conditions and Then actions.

    help.productive.io/en/articles/8564582-automations-general-overview

Feature comparison

Productive’s column comes from productive.io and its help center. “Not published” means Productive doesn’t say, not that the feature is missing.

Feature comparison
FeatureTulipFarmProductive
Agency work and data
Tables for any business recordYesField rules reject bad values before they savePartialBuilt-in records with 5 or 15 custom fields by plan; advanced fields on Ultimate
Time trackingNoYesEvery plan; billable time approvals on Professional
Budgets and invoicingNoYesBudgeting on every plan, plus client invoices and retainer invoicing
Resource planningNoYesEvery plan
Clients inside your workspaceNoWorkspace members onlyYesFree; clients can see approved tracked time
Agents
Agents that act on their ownYesEvery workspacePartialUltimate plan
Reusable skillsYesYesProfessional plan and above
Agents on a schedule or eventYesSchedules up to once an hour, or a workflow stepYesSchedules, record events or Slack mentions
Mention an agent in SlackYesMention an agent in a channel; access is granted per channelYesReplies in the thread under its own name
MCP server for Claude or ChatGPTNoYes
Automation and approvals
Rule-based automationsYesVisual workflow builder with JavaScript or Python stepsYesWhen, Check if and Then steps
WebhooksYesPartialUltimate plan
Approval of the exact change before an agent actsYesNot publishedNot published; agents act within their permission set
Runs wait for days and resume after a restartYesUp to 30 daysNot published
Integrations
App connectionsPartialSlack, GitHub, Google Workspace, Jira, Confluence and TrelloYesOver 1,000 apps through Zapier or its open API
Agents use outside MCP toolsPartialA manager reviews and enables each toolYesConnectors, on Ultimate
Security and deployment
Single sign-onNoSign in with Google or an email linkYesSAML on every plan; enforcing it needs Ultimate
SOC 2 Type IINoYesReport on request
Audit logsPartialRecords who changed memberships; no audit exportYesUltimate plan
Personal chats hidden from adminsYesNot published

When to stay with Productive

Productive runs the operations side of an agency. TulipFarm has no time tracking, budgets, resource planning or billing, so stay if you depend on them.

You run the agency’s numbers in it
Productive tracks time, plans resources, holds budgets and sends invoices, including retainer invoices. TulipFarm does none of these.
Clients see their tracked time
Adding clients to Productive is free, and they can see approved tracked time. Only workspace members can use TulipFarm.
Your team lives in Slack and picks its model
Productive agents answer when mentioned in Slack, and you choose GPT, Claude or Gemini to run them.
You need SOC 2 and enforced SSO
Productive has a SOC 2 Type II report, SAML sign-on on every plan, and enforced SSO and audit logs on Ultimate.

Pricing

Productive’s agents are on Ultimate, so compare against that quote, not Essential. Productive prices checked on 20 October 2026.

TulipFarm

$50 free

In credits on your first signup. Paid plans aren’t public yet; see the pricing page.

Productive

$10 a user

For Essential, billed yearly, with at least 3 seats and a 14-day free trial. Agents need Ultimate, which is priced by sales.

productive.io/pricing

Moving a job from Productive

Keep Productive for time, budgets and invoices, and try TulipFarm on one repeat job. Nothing moves automatically, so start small.

  1. Pick a repeat job

    Choose work someone checks by hand every week, such as artwork that isn’t ready for print.

  2. Export the table view

    Export the view as CSV or XLSX from Productive, then import it into a TulipFarm table and add field rules.

  3. Give an agent the checklist

    Write the check as a skill, add it to a saved agent and pick which changes need a person’s OK.

  4. Run both for a cycle

    Compare what the agent catches with your usual check. Your first signup includes $50 in free credits.

Questions about TulipFarm and Productive

Is TulipFarm a Productive alternative?

For agent work, yes; for agency operations, no. TulipFarm is a workspace where agents work on shared tables and files and a person approves the changes you choose. It has no time tracking, budgets, resource planning, invoicing or client access, which Productive covers.

What is the main difference between TulipFarm and Productive?

Productive is an agency operations platform that added AI agents on its Ultimate plan. TulipFarm starts with agents: every workspace gets saved agents, skills, tables you design and workflows that can wait weeks and resume after a restart, with approval of exact changes on the actions you pick.

Do Productive agents ask for approval?

Not that Productive documents. Its agents act within the permission set you give them, and its help pages don’t describe a step where a person approves a change first. In TulipFarm, you choose which actions need approval, and the agent shows the exact change before it saves.

Can TulipFarm track time or send invoices like Productive?

No. TulipFarm has no time tracking, budgets, rate cards, resource planning or invoices. Keep Productive for those and use TulipFarm for the jobs agents can take on.

How much does TulipFarm cost compared with Productive?

Your first TulipFarm Cloud signup includes $50 in free credits. Paid plans aren’t public yet; see the pricing page to ask for more credits or apply for student, NGO or startup support. Productive Essential costs $10 per user a month billed yearly, for at least 3 seats, and agents need its Ultimate plan, which is quoted by sales.

Can I chat with TulipFarm agents in Slack like Productive?

Yes. Mention an agent in a Slack channel it’s been granted, and it replies there. Members link their Slack accounts. Productive agents also reply in the thread when mentioned.

Is Productive more secure than TulipFarm?

It has more to show today. Productive has a SOC 2 Type II report, SAML sign-on on every plan and audit logs on Ultimate. TulipFarm has none of these, though workspace admins can’t open members’ personal chats or private agent tasks.

Try an agent you can approve.

Sign up for TulipFarm Cloud and hand one repeat job to a saved agent. The research preview is open to everyone, and your first signup includes $50 in free credits.

Sign up for CloudTake the tour

Not sure TulipFarm connects to your tools? Contact us and tell us what your team uses.

Sources

Last reviewed 20 October 2026.