Flowroid or Tasker?
Tasker is an automation app on Google Play since 2010, built on profiles that run tasks, with plugins and scripting. Flowroid is on-device Android automation built on a node canvas or drafted from a sentence by AI, with no root and no accessibility service.
- Tasker on Google Play since
- 20101
- Sources checked
Which one should you use?
Start at 1. Each answer names an app or sends you to the next question.
Question 1: Do you need to tap buttons, type, or read the screen inside other apps?
- Yes
- Taskerwith the AutoInput plugin
- No
- Go to 2
Question 2: Do you rely on a Tasker/Locale plugin, or want to write JavaScript, shell or Java?
- Yes
- TaskerFlowroid supports neither
- No
- Go to 3
Question 3: Do you want an app that uses no accessibility service and has no root, ADB or Shizuku route at all?
- Yes
- Flowroidit has neither
- No
- Go to 4
Question 4: Would you rather draw a flow as a graph than build it as a list of actions?
- Yes
- Flowroidnode canvas, or drafted from a sentence
- No
- TaskerorFlowroideither fits — try both
Side by side
What each app does, row by row. Numbers are sources, listed at the end.
| Tasker | Flowroid | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.49 once on Google Play.1 | $4.99 once. The optional Flowroid AI subscription ($2.99 / month or $24.99 / year) adds hosted AI; flows never need it.2 |
| Trying it first | A 7-day trial, downloaded from the developer’s website rather than Google Play.3 | A 14-day free trial of the whole app through Google Play, with no payment method.4 |
| Root | Not for most features; a few actions, such as Kill App and Mobile Data on some devices, need root.1 | Never. No feature uses root, ADB or a computer.5 |
| Accessibility service | Used for some features, such as closing the notification tray and detecting which app is open.1 | None, in any release.5 |
| Tapping or reading other apps | Yes, through the AutoInput plugin, which uses its own accessibility service.6 | No. It can launch apps, send intents, and reply to or press buttons on notifications, but it cannot tap or read another app’s screen.5 |
| How you build | Profiles (contexts) that run tasks (lists of actions), Scenes for custom screens, and an AI generator that builds from a description.1,7,8 | A node canvas you wire by hand, or a sentence that AI turns into an editable flow; 97 ready-made templates.9 |
| Catalog | 130+ states and events, and 350+ actions.1 | 34 triggers and 54 actions, plus conditions, loops and sub-flows.10,11 |
| Code and scripting | JavaScript, shell commands and Java code actions.1,12,13 | Variables and {{ }} template expressions. No JavaScript, Java or shell.14 |
| Tasker/Locale plugins | Yes — the standard Locale/Tasker plugin API.15 | No.11 |
| AI | An AI generator, since Tasker 6.5: describe what you want and Tasker builds it.8 | Create with AI drafts a whole flow from a sentence, and five AI steps run inside flows. Hosted AI needs no API key; your own model (Ollama, LM Studio or any OpenAI-compatible server) is free.16,17 |
| Receiving HTTP requests | An HTTP Request event starts a server on a port you choose.18 | An opt-in HTTP API server that requires authentication and listens only on the phone until LAN access is turned on.19 |
Where each fits better
Where Tasker fits better
- Automating other apps’ screens: with AutoInput, Tasker can simulate touches, type text and read on-screen text in any app.6
- Extending it: Tasker hosts Locale/Tasker plugins and runs JavaScript, shell and Java code.1,12,15
- Breadth: 130+ states and events and 350+ actions against Flowroid’s 34 triggers and 54 actions.1
- Track record: on Google Play since 2010.1
Where Flowroid fits better
- Nothing in Flowroid uses an accessibility service or root; Tasker uses an accessibility service for some features and root for a few actions.1,5
- Flows are drawn as a node graph rather than written as lists, and a flow drafted from a sentence opens on the same canvas to edit.9
- A 14-day trial inside Google Play, against Tasker’s 7-day trial download from its website.3,4
Sources
Every source was read on . Every claim about another app on this page carries the number of the source that says it. Prices are Google Play’s US prices on that day; apps change, so check the source before you rely on a detail. Something here out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
- Tasker on Google Playplay.google.com
- Flowroid help — Plans & pricingflowroid.com
- Tasker — Downloadtasker.joaoapps.com
- Flowroid help — Free trialflowroid.com
- Flowroid help — Troubleshooting & FAQflowroid.com
- AutoInput on Google Playplay.google.com
- Tasker — home pagetasker.joaoapps.com
- Tasker 6.5 — AI Generator (joaoapps blog)joaoapps.com
- Flowroid help — Building flowsflowroid.com
- Flowroid help — Trigger catalogflowroid.com
- Flowroid help — Action catalogflowroid.com
- Tasker user guide — JavaScripttasker.joaoapps.com
- Tasker user guide — Run Shelltasker.joaoapps.com
- Flowroid help — Template expressionsflowroid.com
- Tasker — Pluginstasker.joaoapps.com
- Flowroid help — The AI assistant and AI stepsflowroid.com
- Flowroid help — Running your own modelflowroid.com
- Tasker user guide — HTTP Request eventtasker.joaoapps.com
- Flowroid help — The embedded HTTP API serverflowroid.com
Other comparisons
Or see all four apps on one page.
- Flowroid vs MacroDroidChoose MacroDroid for a free tier, built-in screen automation or plugins; choose Flowroid for no accessibility service, no root or ADB route, no ads, and flows drafted whole from a sentence.
- Flowroid vs AutomateChoose Automate for a free edition, 410+ blocks or screen automation; choose Flowroid for no accessibility service and no root, and for AI that drafts flows and runs inside them.
Try Flowroid against your own automations
The quickest way to know is to rebuild one thing you already run in Tasker. The trial is the whole app, and nothing in it needs root or an accessibility service.
14 days free, everything included. Then $4.99 once.