What is n8n? Features, Pricing, and Biggest Advantage
Updated: 02 Feb 2026
What is n8n?n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform that links over 400 applications and databases. It enables the technical and non-technical user to create automated processes with the help of a visual editor that has a drag-and-drop feature.
As the research conducted by MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab in 2023 indicates, visual-based automation leads to an increase in task accuracy by 37% over manual scripting. n8n utilizes this advantage by decreasing repetitive manual work between teams.
This provides you with both self-hosting and cloud hosting. n8n uses AI models to automate workflows intelligently. Its flexibility enables it to be useful to businesses dealing with huge data sets, communication with customers, and ETL operations without losing control of the platform.
Table of Contents
What are the key features of n8n?
Here are some key integration features of n8n:
- Pre-built integrations & visual editor: 400+ integrations/nodes, covering triggers, data storage, communication, AI, and utility tools everything you need to connect different apps without reinventing the wheel.
- HTTP/API/Code nodes: For integrations not yet pre-built, developers use HTTP/GraphQL requests, insert custom code steps, or even import curl commands.
- Fast iteration and debugging: You don’t always need to run a full workflow; you test and replay parts, get instant feedback as you build, and troubleshoot nodes step by step.
- Template library & workflow history: There are n8n templates (including AI templates), versioning, and a history of workflows, allowing you to review past executions, see what changed, and reuse workflow designs.
- Enterprise/security/team features: For higher tiers, you get SSO, external secret store integration, log streaming, API key scoping, multi-instance deployments, multi-environment workflows, support SLAs, and more.
What is n8n and how does it work?
Here are some extensive range of integrations covering common apps, services, cloud tools, and AI systems:
- Built-in and secure integrations: Google Sheets, Gmail, Slack, Telegram, Discord, Notion, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Airtable, Google Drive, OpenAI etc.
- AI & agents nodes: Interconnections with LLMs, document loaders, embedding models, memory retrievers, vector stores – beneficial to workflows based on summarization, classification, and generation.
- Connection to developer tools: HTTP / GraphQL request nodes; code nodes (JS/Python); triggered by webhooks, queues; import curl commands.
- Versatile categories: There are numerous versatile categories, including analytics, marketing, sales, productivity, finance, communication, storage/data management, cybersecurity, and more. A category offers you the opportunity to search by category to locate nodes that are of significance to you.
How do you host n8n?
n8n offers two main deployment options to choose from based on technical capability, data governance, and scale requirements.
n8n Cloud (hosted/managed): In this case, the n8n team manages and operates the service, including Server upgrades, infrastructure, scaling, and backups. Depending on the plan, you receive perks, such as log streaming, support, external secret stores, etc.
n8n Self-hosted/ Open-Source/ Community Edition: You install n8n on your platform (cloud provider, VPS, Kubernetes, Docker). The basic license offers complete access to numerous integrations and workflow logic.
Deal with internal operations: You manage internal operations, including server maintenance, server setup, scaling, and security patches. Plan features or paid licenses might be needed to upgrade to business/enterprise-level functionality.
What is n8n pricing
Here’s a breakdown of the current n8n pricing as along with what you get in each:
Starter – $20/month (billed annually)
Included:
- 2.5k workflow executions
- Unlimited steps
Plan Features:
- 1 shared project
- 5 concurrent executions
- Unlimited users
- Forum support
Hosted by n8n
Pro – $50/month (billed annually)
Included:
- 10k workflow executions
- Unlimited steps
Everything in Starter Plan, plus:
- 3 shared projects
- 20 concurrent executions
- 7 days of insights
- Admin roles
- Global variables
- Workflow history
- Execution search
Hosted by n8n
Business – $667/month (billed annually)
Included:
- 40k workflow executions
- Unlimited steps
Everything in Pro Plan, plus:
- 6 shared projects
- SSO, SAML, and LDAP
- 30 days of insights
- Different environments
- Scaling options
- Version control using Git
- Forum support
Self-hosted
Enterprise – Contact Sales
Included:
- Custom number of workflow executions
- Unlimited steps
Everything in Business Plan, plus:
- Unlimited shared projects
- 200+ concurrent executions
- 365 days of insights
- External secret store integration
- Log streaming
- Extended data retention
- Dedicated support with SLA
- Invoice billing
Hosted by n8n or Self-hosted
| What is n8n license & what are some limitations? |
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Here are some of the important n8n license/limitations considerations:
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Is there any free alternative to n8n?
Here are my top picks for the best n8n alternatives:
- Activepieces: Best for a modern UI and AI tasks. It is fully open-source (MIT) and has a generous free cloud tier.
- Node-RED: Best for local automation and IoT. It is 100% free forever but has a steeper, more technical learning curve.
- Pipedream: Best for developers. It uses a “low-code” approach (JS/Python) and offers a high-limit free cloud tier.
- Make (formerly Integromat): Best for simple SaaS-to-SaaS syncs. The free tier allows 1,000 tasks/month but has limited features.
- IFTTT: Best for hardware/smart home. Limited to 2 active applets on the free plan. Offers 1,000 operations/month, though every single step in a workflow counts as an operation.
Alright, let’s check out each of these.
Why choose n8n?
Here are reasons many teams are selecting n8n especially those with technical needs or growth plans:
- Cost-efficiency for complex workflows: Because n8n charges per execution (not per step), you build workflows with many internal steps without being penalized per operation. This is more economical when workflows get complicated.
- Flexibility and customization: Custom code nodes, HTTP & GraphQL requests, ability to integrate n8n AI agents and numerous third-party systems. Flexibility to adapt to unique business requirements.
- Data control & privacy: n8n Self-hosting option lets organizations control data, infrastructure, and security. Useful where compliance or data sovereignty is important.
- Scalability & enterprise features: With Business /Enterprise plans, features like SSO, log streaming, multiple workflows, environments, and external secret stores allow scaling across teams and departments.
Conclusion
n8n continuously enhance its AI features, now providing a wide range of AI-powered integrations along with ready-to-use n8n templates and intelligent n8n agents. For instance, Fathom Notetaker helps teams automate meeting summaries, and n8n can extend that by routing notes into project management or CRM workflows
n8n is a short name for Nodemation, combining “node” with “-mation” for automation, pronounced “en-eight-en” or “nodemation”. It’s a popular, open-source workflow automation tool that helps users visually build complex automations connecting various apps and services without extensive coding.
Automatically maintain system arrangements, transfer, transform, and load data between CRMs, databases, spreadsheets, or APIs. Employ AI models to complete tasks with logical control through workflows. Allows automation to be done manually, not all the time.
