What is n8n? Features, Pricing, and Biggest Advantage in 2025

Updated: 12 Dec 2025

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.

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 key integration features of n8n that support an 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 in 2025?

Here’s a breakdown of the current n8n pricing as of 2025, 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?

Here are some of the important n8n license/limitations considerations:

The base (Community)n8n self-hosted version is free and offers many core features and integrations.
Some enterprise-level or advanced features (multiinstance, SSO, external secret management, log streaming, API key scoping, global variables, etc.) are only available under the paid / enterprise plans.
n8n self-hosting gives freedom but comes with operational responsibilities: you must manage infrastructure, security, scaling, backup, updates, etc.
Limitations for n8n self-hosted users: features tagged “Enterprise” may be restricted; some governance, permissions or audit features may not be included in basic self-hosted setups.

What are common use cases of n8n?

Here are examples of how teams are using n8n in 2025, showing the breadth of what’s possible:

Data arrangements/ ETL: Automatically maintain system arrangements, transfer, transform, and load data between CRMs, databases, spreadsheets, or APIs.

AI-Assisted Workflows: Employ AI models to complete tasks such as summarization, document parsing, chatbot agents, text generation, or classification, and combine them with logical control through workflows.

Event-Driven Automation: Trigger workflows on webhooks, schedule tasks, respond to API events, queue systems etc. Allows automation to be done manually, not all the time.

Team and Operational Automation: Internal applications, notifications, alerting, user onboarding procedures, approval processes, document operations.

Monitoring, Logging and Governance: Higher scale/enterprise users: Keeping track of workflow history, replaying data, failing to work, version management, etc. Assistance with reliability in production.

Why choose n8n in 2025?

Here are reasons many teams are selecting n8n now (2025), 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.
AI + Automation is a focus: n8n has been continuously enhancing 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