n8n
by n8n GmbH
Fair-code workflow automation and AI agents for technical teams
n8n is a fair-code workflow automation platform for technical teams, combining a visual canvas of 500+ integration nodes with the ability to drop into JavaScript or Python at any step. It adds native AI agent, RAG, evaluation and Model Context Protocol tooling, and can be self-hosted with Docker for free or bought as managed cloud.
n8n is a source-available workflow automation and AI-agent platform built for technical teams that want visual orchestration without giving up code. Workflows are assembled on a canvas from more than 500 pre-built integration nodes, and any step can drop into JavaScript or Python when a node does not exist, which is the split that separates it from purely no-code tools such as Zapier or Make. The platform has been rebuilt around AI work: it ships agent nodes, multi-agent setups whose decision paths can be inspected, RAG pipelines, native evaluation and guardrail tooling, and Model Context Protocol support so workflows can both call and expose MCP servers. Operational features aimed at engineering teams include step-level re-runs and data replay for debugging, workflow history, Git-backed version control, separate environments and human-in-the-loop approval steps. n8n is distributed as fair-code under the Sustainable Use License rather than a standard OSI licence: the source sits on GitHub, where the project has passed 200,000 stars, and a Community Edition can be self-hosted with Docker at no cost, but the licence restricts reselling n8n as a hosted service and enterprise features sit behind a commercial key. The company, founded in Berlin in 2019, raised a $180 million Series C led by Accel in October 2025 at a $2.5 billion valuation, taking total funding to $240 million, with NVIDIA's NVentures and Deutsche Telekom's T.Capital participating, and reported 6x user growth and 10x revenue growth over that year. Published customers include Microsoft, NVIDIA, Dell, Mercedes-Benz, Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Novo Nordisk and Mistral AI.
A platform or internal-tools engineering lead who needs automation and AI agents running inside their own network, on their own infrastructure, with code as an escape hatch rather than a workaround.
Ship multi-step AI and integration workflows on self-hosted infrastructure without paying per-task SaaS pricing or waiting for a vendor to build the connector you need.
At a Glance
- Category
- Automation & Workflows
- Pricing
- Freemium, Subscription, Usage-based
- Target Market
- CTOs, Enterprise Developers, Platform Engineers, RevOps and IT Automation Teams
- Deployment
- Cloud-first, Self-hosted, Hybrid, Open-source
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- Berlin, Germany
- Customers
- 230,000+ active users reported in March 2025, plus a 200,000+ member community
Key Features
- ✓Visual canvas with code escape hatch
Drag-and-drop nodes for the common path, with inline JavaScript or Python whenever a node does not cover the case.
- ✓500+ pre-built integrations
Connectors for mainstream SaaS, databases and clouds, plus a generic HTTP node for any API not yet covered.
- ✓AI agent and RAG nodes
Build single or multi-agent workflows with vector stores, tool calling and inspectable reasoning steps rather than a black box.
- ✓Model Context Protocol support
Workflows can consume MCP servers and be exposed as MCP tools, wiring n8n into agent stacks like Claude and Cursor.
- ✓Step-level debugging and data replay
Re-run an individual node and replay captured data without waiting on the upstream external system to fire again.
- ✓Git version control and environments
Business and Enterprise tiers push workflow definitions through Git so automations follow normal review and promotion practice.
- ✓Self-hosting under fair-code
Full source on GitHub and a Docker Community Edition, so the whole engine can run inside your own VPC.
- ✓Native evaluations and guardrails
Built-in AI evaluation tooling to measure agent output quality instead of judging changes by eyeball.
Capabilities
Use Cases
- •Internal AI agent on private data
Run a retrieval agent over internal documents entirely on self-hosted infrastructure so no customer data reaches a third-party automation vendor.
- •Lead and ticket enrichment
Trigger on a CRM or helpdesk event, call enrichment APIs and an LLM, then write structured fields back to the source system.
- •Scheduled data movement and reporting
Pull from APIs and databases on a cron, transform in Python, and deliver a formatted digest to Slack or email.
- •Incident and alert routing
Fan monitoring webhooks into triage logic that summarises the alert with an LLM and pages the correct on-call rotation.
- •Human-in-the-loop approvals
Pause an automated workflow for a named approver in Slack before it takes an irreversible action on a production system.
Ideal For
Best For
- ✓Self-hosted automation where data cannot leave the company network or a specific jurisdiction
- ✓Building and operating AI agents with inspectable decision paths, evaluations and human approval steps
- ✓Internal tooling and back-office integrations across SaaS APIs without writing a bespoke service for each
- ✓RAG and document-processing pipelines that combine vector stores, LLM calls and business systems
- ✓Replacing per-task automation SaaS whose pricing scales badly at high volume
Not Ideal For
- ✗Non-technical business users who want a purely point-and-click automation tool — n8n assumes comfort with APIs, JSON shapes and occasional scripting
- ✗Companies that require a genuinely OSI-approved open-source licence: the Sustainable Use License restricts hosting n8n as a service for others
- ✗Small teams that need SSO, Git version control or self-hosting on a supported plan, which jump from the €50/mo Pro tier straight to €667/mo Business
- ✗Vendors wanting to white-label or resell the platform, which the fair-code licence explicitly prohibits
Integrations
Deployment
Market & Ratings
230,000+ active users reported in March 2025, plus a 200,000+ member community
Market Analysis
Pros
- ✓Genuinely self-hostable — the full engine runs in your own VPC with Docker, which is rare among automation platforms at this level of integration coverage
- ✓Execution-based pricing does not penalise workflow complexity, so elaborate multi-step automations do not cost more than trivial ones
- ✓Very large and active community: 200,000+ GitHub stars, 200,000+ community members and 10,000+ shared workflow templates
- ✓AI agent, RAG, evaluation and MCP features are first-class in the same runtime rather than a bolt-on product
Cons
- ✗The fair-code Sustainable Use License is repeatedly criticised on Hacker News as misleadingly presented as open source — it restricts hosting n8n as a service and gates enterprise features behind a commercial key
- ✗The gap between Pro (€50/mo) and Business (€667/mo) is severe, and it is where SSO, Git version control and supported self-hosting live, so small teams with compliance requirements have no proportionate tier
- ✗Execution metering counts every workflow run identically, so high-frequency, low-value triggers exhaust quota quickly and force workflow consolidation for billing rather than design reasons
- ✗Self-hosters own the patch cycle: publicly tracked CVEs have surfaced in Hacker News discussion, and the repository carries several hundred open issues
- ✗Non-technical users struggle — this is explicitly positioned for technical teams, and business-side automation usually still needs an engineer
Pricing
Community (self-hosted)
$0
- ✓Full source from GitHub
- ✓Docker self-hosting
- ✓Unlimited executions on your own hardware
- ✓Sustainable Use License restrictions apply
Starter
From €20/mo
- ✓2,500 workflow executions/month
- ✓1 shared project
- ✓5 concurrent executions
- ✓Unlimited users and workflows
- ✓2,300 AI credits/month
- ✓Forum support
Pro
From €50/mo
- ✓10,000 executions/month
- ✓3 shared projects
- ✓20 concurrent executions
- ✓Up to 13,700 AI credits/month
- ✓Admin roles, global variables, workflow history
- ✓7 days of insights
Business
From €667/mo
- ✓40,000 executions/month
- ✓6 shared projects
- ✓Self-hosted deployment option
- ✓SSO, SAML and LDAP
- ✓Git version control and environments
- ✓30 days of insights
Enterprise
Contact for pricing
- ✓Custom execution volumes
- ✓Unlimited shared projects
- ✓200+ concurrent executions
- ✓365 days of insights
- ✓External secret store and log streaming
- ✓Dedicated support with SLA
Cloud plans are metered on monthly workflow executions, where one execution is a single run of an entire workflow regardless of how many steps it contains — so a ten-node workflow and a two-node workflow cost the same, and high-frequency triggers burn quota fast. Users and workflows are unlimited on every tier, which is unusual. The self-hosted Community Edition is free and uncapped on your own hardware, but SSO, SAML, LDAP, Git version control and the supported self-hosted option only appear at Business (€667/mo annual), a roughly 13x jump from Pro. Log streaming, external secret stores, extended retention and an SLA are Enterprise-only and quoted on request.
Security & Compliance
Connect
Sources
This page was written from 5 sources, 3 on domains other than n8n.io.
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