Ashraf Samhouri: Activepieces from Closed Automation Frustration to Open-Source Platform
3x founder who co-built an MIT-licensed, self-hostable Zapier alternative after hitting limits in closed tools, growing it through YC and community contributions.
- MRR
- Not publicly disclosed
- ARR
- 7-figure ARR in 2025 (self-reported by founder); external estimates around $1.7M as of late 2024
- Users
- Not publicly disclosed
- Founded
- 2022
- Team
- Started as co-founders; ~11 reported in late 2024 (LinkedIn estimates)"
- Stack
- TypeScript, Node.js, MIT-licensed core, self-hostable with Docker
Ashraf Samhouri kept running into the same wall with automation tools. While building earlier companies he used Zapier and Make, and repeatedly hit closed ecosystems where a missing feature left no path forward. You could not drop in custom code when the built-in actions fell short. That friction became the reason for Activepieces.
He co-founded the company in 2022 with Mohammad AbuAboud (ex-Google). Ashraf had already founded Aumet and Givingloop. Mohammad brought engineering experience from Google and Amazon and a background that included competitive programming. They applied to Y Combinator and joined the Summer 2022 batch. The product is a visual workflow builder with an open-source core under the MIT license. Users can self-host it or use the cloud version. Integrations are called “pieces” and written in TypeScript so anyone can contribute new ones. The team designed the pieces framework so contributed code becomes usable both as workflow steps and as MCP servers for AI agents.
In an August 2023 interview with the Center for Data Innovation, Ashraf said the motivation was simple: “I used many automation tools in my previous companies, such as Zapier and Make, and was always bothered by the idea that these platforms are creating a closed ecosystem that cannot be further extended. For example, when I got stuck by not finding some functionalities on them, I had no option whatsoever to write code and get over the limitation. That made me dream of an open ecosystem that developers from all around the world can contribute to and have full control over.” He also noted that early Reddit feedback shaped the license choice before the product shipped widely, and that open source let them grow a community of contributors, users, and partners.
Growth stayed community-driven. The GitHub repository started small. By early 2026 the founders reported the project had grown from roughly 3,000 stars to more than 20,000 in 2025 while the company moved from almost zero to 7-figure ARR (self-reported). As of November 2026 the main repository sits above 25,000 stars. External trackers such as GetLatka estimated revenue around $1.7 million as of December 2024 with a team of about 11. Exact current ARR, user counts, and detailed customer numbers remain Not publicly disclosed. The company has raised seed funding that included Y Combinator participation; total amounts and later rounds are not fully public.
Activepieces positions itself as an AI-first, no-code alternative that still lets developers extend it. The open core means companies that cannot send data to third-party SaaS platforms can run the software on their own infrastructure. The founders have described going back to basic startup practices in 2025—talking to users, writing code, and shipping fast—as the driver behind the jump in both stars and revenue.
The practical lesson for other founders is narrower than the GitHub numbers. Closed tools create a ceiling when your workflow needs something the vendor has not built. Shipping a usable visual builder with a permissive license and a clear extension path let other people fill the gaps. The AI wave then gave the existing community more reasons to stay and contribute. Starting with a concrete, repeated limitation you feel yourself, and making the first version something technical users can actually run and extend, still matters more than the eventual scale.
Sources: Y Combinator company page, August 2023 Center for Data Innovation interview with Ashraf Samhouri, founder LinkedIn updates on 2025 growth, GetLatka revenue and headcount estimates, and the activepieces/activepieces GitHub repository.
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