1. How many steps does the automation actually have?
A single trigger-to-action task — "new form response → send Slack message" — doesn't need a tool built for branching logic. Match the tool's complexity to the task, not to whichever one has the most tutorials.
2. What happens after the free trial ends?
Check the operations or task cap on the paid tier before building anything on the free one — that's the number that actually matters once you rely on the automation daily.
3. Can you picture debugging it in three months?
You will eventually need to fix something at 9pm when a client's form stops working. Visual, node-based tools are easier to debug cold — worth more than a slightly steeper feature set once you're past the first week.
Our starting recommendation
For most people building their first automation, Make.com is the one we point to — full reasoning is in our review. Feed it leads from Tally.so and you've got a working pipeline before lunch.