What Is n8n? The Open-Source Automation Tool Explained
What is n8n? A plain-English guide to the open-source automation tool, its node-based workflows, cloud vs self-hosted pricing, and who it fits.
If you’ve spent any time in automation forums or watched a few workflow-building tutorials, you’ve probably run into the name n8n. It gets mentioned in the same breath as Zapier and Make, but it works differently enough that a quick definition is worth having before you decide whether it belongs in your stack.
So, what is n8n? It’s an open-source workflow automation tool that lets you connect apps, APIs, and data sources on a visual canvas, without writing a full application from scratch. You drag nodes onto a canvas, wire them together, and the workflow runs on a schedule or whenever a trigger fires. The pitch sounds similar to other no-code tools, but the execution model and the licensing underneath it set n8n apart.
What n8n actually does
At its core, n8n moves data between services and applies logic along the way. A workflow might watch a form submission, look up the submitter in a CRM, decide whether they’re a new or existing contact, and then send a different email depending on the answer. Each of those steps is a node on the canvas, and you connect them with lines that show exactly how data flows from one to the next.
This is the same general category as Zapier or Make: trigger something happens, then a chain of actions follows. What separates n8n is how much control you have over the shape of that chain. Instead of a mostly linear sequence, n8n workflows can branch, loop, merge multiple paths back together, and run pieces in parallel. If you’ve ever wanted an automation that does one thing when a condition is true and something else entirely when it isn’t, without duct-taping together several separate Zaps, that’s the kind of problem n8n was built to handle.
The node-based canvas, explained
Zapier organizes automation around a “Zap”: a trigger and a stack of actions that mostly run top to bottom. n8n uses a canvas instead, and the difference matters more than it might sound.
On an n8n canvas, every step is a node, and nodes don’t have to flow in a single line. You can take the output of one node and send it to two different branches at once. You can loop over a list of items and process each one individually. You can add an “IF” node that splits the workflow into two paths based on a condition, then bring both paths back together later if you need to. This is closer to visual programming than to a simple recipe, and that’s a deliberate design choice. It gives you room to build genuinely complex logic without switching to actual code, though you can also drop in JavaScript or Python within a node when you need something the built-in nodes don’t cover.
The tradeoff is that this flexibility asks more of you upfront. A first-time user opening the n8n canvas after using Zapier for a year will need to spend real time learning how data passes between nodes, how expressions reference earlier steps, and how branching and merging actually behave. It’s not an unreasonable learning curve, but it is a steeper one than the “click trigger, click action, done” flow that Zapier and Make are known for.
Cloud vs. self-hosted: why this matters to what n8n is
Here’s the part that actually defines n8n’s identity as a product, more than any single feature: you can run it two different ways, and one of those ways is genuinely free.
n8n Cloud is the hosted version. n8n runs the servers, handles updates, and you pay a monthly subscription based on how many workflow executions you use. This is the easiest way to get started, since there’s nothing to set up beyond creating an account.
Self-hosted means you install n8n’s Community Edition on your own server and run it yourself. The Community Edition is completely free and open-source, with unlimited executions and access to all the same integrations as the paid tiers. The catch is that you’re responsible for the server: keeping it running, applying updates, and handling backups. In practice this usually means a small VPS, and hosting costs for that typically land around $4 to $7 a month, which is a meaningful saving over any of the Cloud plans once your automation volume grows.
This dual path is why n8n gets described as genuinely open-source rather than “open core with a paywall on anything useful.” The self-hosted version isn’t a crippled trial; it’s the same automation engine, and plenty of technically comfortable teams run it that way indefinitely instead of ever touching a Cloud subscription.
n8n pricing, summarized
If you go the Cloud route, here’s how the plans break down as of mid-2026:
- Starter: $20/month billed annually, or $24/month billed monthly. Includes 2,500 workflow executions per month, one shared project, and forum-based support.
- Pro: $50/month annually, or $60/month monthly. Includes 10,000 executions, three shared projects, 20 concurrent executions, and 7-day execution history. This is generally the right tier for a small team running workflows in actual production rather than just testing.
- Business: $667/month annually, or $800/month monthly. Includes 40,000 executions, SSO/SAML, git-based version control, and separate development, staging, and production environments.
- Enterprise: custom pricing with unlimited executions, aimed at larger organizations with more demanding compliance or scale requirements.
One detail worth flagging: there’s no free tier on n8n Cloud. If you want to try n8n without paying anything, self-hosting the Community Edition is the way to do it, not a trial of the hosted product.
It’s also worth knowing what happens when you hit your execution cap on a Cloud plan: every workflow pauses immediately, with no warning and no grace period. If you’re running anything time-sensitive, it’s worth watching your execution count rather than finding out the hard way. Self-hosting sidesteps this entirely, since the Community Edition has no execution limit at all.
One more thing to budget for: if you build workflows that call AI models, n8n doesn’t bundle that cost into your subscription. You bring your own API key for whichever provider you’re using and pay them directly for usage. This is different from some competitors that fold AI usage into their own pricing tiers, so it’s a separate line item to plan for.
Who n8n is genuinely a good fit for
n8n tends to land well with a specific set of users rather than everyone equally.
Technically comfortable teams get the most out of it, since they can take advantage of the branching logic, custom code nodes, and self-hosting option without those features feeling intimidating. Developers in particular tend to appreciate having a visual layer over what would otherwise be a small backend service they’d have to write and maintain themselves.
Cost-conscious teams running high volumes of automation are another strong fit. Once you’re processing tens of thousands of executions a month, the math on self-hosting versus paying for Zapier or Make’s higher tiers starts to favor n8n by a wide margin, especially since the Community Edition has no execution ceiling at all.
Anyone who’s hit the ceiling of simpler tools is a good candidate too. If you’ve tried to build something in Zapier that needed real conditional branching, and you found yourself stacking multiple Zaps together with filters and paths just to fake the logic, n8n’s canvas will likely feel like relief rather than added complexity.
Who n8n isn’t the right fit for
If you want the absolute simplest possible setup with zero learning curve, n8n probably isn’t your first stop. The node-based canvas rewards a bit of patience, and someone who just wants to connect a form to a spreadsheet in five minutes flat will likely find Zapier or Make friendlier for that narrow purpose.
It’s also not the obvious choice if you have no interest in ever touching a server and also don’t want to pay for a hosted plan, since there’s no free Cloud tier to fall back on. And if your team has no one comfortable even lightly maintaining a VPS, self-hosting will add friction rather than remove it, pushing you toward the paid Cloud plans by default.
FAQs
Is n8n really free?
The self-hosted Community Edition is completely free and open-source, with unlimited workflow executions and access to all integrations. n8n Cloud, the hosted version, has no free tier; pricing starts at $20/month billed annually for the Starter plan.
Do I need to know how to code to use n8n?
No, most workflows can be built entirely with n8n’s visual nodes and no coding at all. That said, n8n does let you add custom JavaScript or Python inside a node for cases the built-in nodes don’t cover, which is an option rather than a requirement.
How is n8n different from Zapier?
Zapier uses a mostly linear trigger-then-actions model called a Zap. n8n uses a node-based canvas that supports branching, looping, and merging paths back together, which makes it better suited to complex conditional logic, though it comes with a steeper learning curve for first-time users.
What does self-hosting n8n actually involve?
Self-hosting means installing the Community Edition on your own server, typically a small VPS costing roughly $4 to $7 a month, and taking responsibility for keeping it running and updated. In exchange, you get unlimited executions and no monthly subscription fee to n8n itself.
What happens if I go over my execution limit on n8n Cloud?
Every workflow on your account pauses immediately once you hit your plan’s execution cap, with no warning beforehand and no grace period afterward. This is one reason cost-conscious or high-volume users often prefer self-hosting, where there’s no execution ceiling at all.
Does n8n include AI features in its pricing?
n8n supports AI steps within workflows, but it doesn’t bundle model usage into its own subscription cost. You connect your own API key for whichever AI provider you choose and pay that provider directly for usage, separate from your n8n plan.
