Whats The Difference Between Rules And Workflows

Rules and Workflows both automate behavior in your app, but they are designed for different levels of complexity.

Rules (like Record Rules, Table Rules, and Action Rules) are a straight chain of actions that run on a single trigger. They are quick to set up and ideal when you need to do a few things in sequence, like update a record, send an email, and redirect the user.

Workflows are visual, multi-step automations that go beyond a simple chain. They support branching paths, conditional logic, timers and delays, loops over connected records, and reusable steps. They are the right choice when your process has multiple stages, waits between steps, or needs to take different paths based on data.

A simple rule of thumb: reach for Rules for short, linear automations and Workflows when you need branching, scheduling between steps, or a process that's easier to reason about visually.