Nected

Nected is a decisioning platform and rule engine for teams building business logic into products and workflows. It suits product, operations and compliance teams that can work with engineering on integration. Its rule formats and deployment choices are extensive, but the right plan depends on how many rules, workflows and invocations a team needs.

Overview

Nected brings visual rule authoring and workflow execution together, with API, webhook and scheduler triggers for connecting decisions to applications and processes. That makes it a practical fit when non-engineering teams need to shape business logic while engineering handles integration. It is less suitable for teams that require DMN support, which Nected does not offer.

Key features

Authors can create Simple Rules, Decision Tables, Decision Trees, Rule Sets and Rule Chains, and use rule testing tools. This range can accommodate varied decision logic rather than forcing every use case into a single table format. Workflows combine code, database and REST API nodes with Loop, Delay and Switch actions, so teams can express more than a straight sequence of steps.

Versioning, Git sync, rollback and staging environments give teams controls for managing changes to rules and workflows. Integrations span databases, Excel and APIs, including MongoDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Redshift, Oracle, Snowflake, REST API and Google Sheets.

Nected also describes an AI Copilot, agents for tasks such as document extraction and classification, and connections to OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Vertex AI and custom models. These may matter to teams incorporating AI into decision workflows, though the core rule and workflow capabilities are the clearest reason to consider the platform.

Deployment can be public cloud, private cloud or self-hosted, including on-premises or air-gapped environments. Security features include SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and ISO 27001 compliance, encryption at rest and in transit, and role-based access controls. That combination gives security-conscious organizations more deployment and access-control options to consider.

Pricing

The public-cloud Free Tier has 2 editors, 5 rules, 2 workflows and 5k monthly invocations; its price is custom pricing. It is a narrow starting point for small evaluations, but the rule and workflow caps leave little room for a growing implementation. The separate Self-Hosted Free Tier costs nothing and allows unlimited rules and workflows, 1k daily invocations, and Docker, Helm charts and Terraform scripts. Its daily invocation allowance and self-hosting requirement are the important trade-offs.

Start-Ups costs $399 a month, billed monthly, for 2 editors, 20 rules, 7 workflows and 100k monthly invocations. Extra editors cost $8/editor. It is the more defined paid entry point for a small team whose needs fit those quotas; teams exceeding them will need a different plan. Growth costs $899 a month, billed monthly, and raises the limits to 50 rules, 15 workflows and 1 million monthly invocations, still with 2 editors. It adds approval flow, RBAC and audit trails, making it a stronger fit for teams with higher volume or governance needs, but not a solution to seat constraints.

Private Cloud and On Self Hosted have custom pricing and unlimited rules, workflows and invocations. Private Cloud includes SSO + SCIM; On Self Hosted supports on-premises or air-gapped deployment. Both offer 24/7 SLA support. Enterprise has custom pricing with configurable editors, rules, workflows, invocations, hosting region, support and SLA. Start-Ups support is by email; Growth includes email and call support, while Enterprise can include dedicated customer success, developer support and a custom SLA.

Platforms

Nected supports API, self-hosted and web access. Its deployment options range from public cloud to private cloud and self-hosted installations, including air-gapped environments. This breadth is useful for organizations with hosting constraints, but a self-hosted setup comes with the operational choice of running it in their own environment.

Who it's for

Nected is best for product, operations and compliance teams that need to author business rules visually and can rely on engineering for integration. It also suits organizations that need multiple rule formats, workflow actions or hosting choices. Teams that need DMN, or whose required editor, rule, workflow or invocation capacity exceeds a plan's allowance, should compare options before committing.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Multiple rule formats and testing tools support varied decision logic without limiting authors to tables.
• Pros: API, webhook and scheduler triggers, plus database, Excel and API integrations, give engineering several connection paths.
• Pros: Public-cloud, private-cloud and self-hosted deployment options include on-premises and air-gapped setups.
• Cons: Nected does not support DMN, ruling it out for teams that require that standard.
• Cons: The paid Start-Ups and Growth plans both cap editors at 2; extra editors on Start-Ups cost $8/editor.
• Cons: Free allowances are constrained: the public tier has 5 rules and 2 workflows, while the self-hosted tier has 1k daily invocations.

Alternatives

GoRules BRMS is worth comparing for teams that want a free tier and support across desktop and server platforms; its Pro plan is $167 a month, billed $2,000 billed annually, for 5 users, 2 projects, 20 decision models per project and 1 deployment environment.

AI Rule Engine is another free-tier option, with a Free plan that includes 200 ruleset runs/month, 2 author seats and 7-day log retention, alongside a 12-hour session window and no file storage.

DecisionRules offers a free tier with 10 Business Rules & Flows, 1 user, 1 project and 1,000 Solver API Calls; its Lite plan is €291 a month.

Rulebricks is a free-tier alternative whose Design plan allows up to 10 rules and flows, 1,000 monthly rule executions and 5 team members with RBAC.

Drools is a free, Java-based software download for teams looking for that approach.

Decisions is another option to compare for low-code design and standard agentic AI and agent builder capabilities.

FlexRule Open uses custom pricing.

InRule Decisioning prices subscriptions based on configurable components.

Compare more options in Business Rules Management Software.

Verdict

Choose Nected if product, operations or compliance teams need visual rule authoring, flexible workflows and a choice of cloud or self-hosted deployment, with engineering available to integrate it. Its strongest case is the combination of rule formats, lifecycle controls and hosting options. Look elsewhere if DMN is essential, or if the paid plans' two-editor limit or invocation quotas do not fit your workload.