n8n

What it does

n8n is a workflow automation platform that combines a visual builder with AI features. Users chain triggers and actions into workflows, connect language models to build AI agents, inspect each decision an agent makes and add a human approval step where needed. The vendor lists more than 500 native integrations, plus generic HTTP requests for any API and MCP support for agents and coding assistants. When the visual nodes are not enough, workflows can include custom JavaScript or Python code. n8n can be used as a hosted service (n8n Cloud) or run on your own infrastructure, with Docker as the documented installation route.

Pricing and plans

The self-hosted Community edition is free and, according to n8n's documentation, offers almost the complete feature set; a free registration unlocks a few more features. n8n Cloud plans are priced in euros and billed per month on annual billing: Starter at €20 per month (2,500 workflow executions), Pro at €50 per month (10,000 executions) and Enterprise on request. A Business plan at €667 per month (40,000 executions) is currently offered for self-hosting, with a cloud version on a waitlist. An execution is one full run of a workflow, however many steps it contains. Annual billing is advertised as 17% cheaper than monthly; monthly prices were not displayed on the page we checked. Prices may vary with taxes.

Strengths and limits

Self-hosting gives control over data and infrastructure, and execution-based pricing does not charge per step. Licensing deserves attention: n8n describes itself as "fair-code" and the Community edition is distributed under its Sustainable Use License, with some features under a separate n8n Enterprise License. The vendor's own wording calls the project fair-code, with its source code on GitHub, rather than open source, so the directory does not list n8n as open source. Free use is allowed for internal business purposes, but hosting n8n as a service for clients, letting external users build workflows in your product, white-labelling it or forking it into a competing product are not permitted. Paid self-hosted editions need a licence key that checks in with n8n's licence server daily.