n8n Has a Free Workflow Automation Tool — Open-Source Zapier With Code When You Need It

Zapier Costs $30/Month for 750 Tasks

Your startup needs to sync data between 5 services. Zapier wants $30/month for basic usage. Make.com wants $16/month. And every time you need custom logic, you hit a wall.

n8n: Automation With an Escape Hatch

n8n is an open-source workflow automation tool. Drag-and-drop interface for simple flows. JavaScript/Python code nodes when you need them. Self-host for free.

Free Options

• Self-hosted: 100% free, unlimited workflows and executions
• Cloud: Free tier with 5 active workflows

400+ Integrations

Slack, Discord, GitHub, Google Sheets, Airtable, Notion, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Stripe, Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, OpenAI, Anthropic, and 380+ more.

What Makes n8n Different

1. Code When You Need It

// In a Code node — full JavaScript
const items = $input.all()
const filtered = items.filter(item => 
  item.json.score > 100 && item.json.type === 'post'
)
return filtered.map(item => ({
  json: {
    title: item.json.title,
    url: `https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=${item.json.id}`,
    score: item.json.score
  }
}))

No low-code platform gives you this flexibility.

2. Self-Host in 1 Command

docker run -d --name n8n -p 5678:5678 n8nio/n8n

Open localhost:5678. Start building workflows.

3. AI Workflows

n8n has native AI nodes:

• Chat with any LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, local models)
• RAG pipelines with vector stores
• AI agents with tool calling
• Document processing and summarization

Build an AI chatbot that queries your database in 10 minutes. No code needed.

Real Workflow Examples

Lead enrichment: New form submission → Enrich with Clearbit → Add to HubSpot → Notify on Slack

Content pipeline: RSS feed → Filter by keywords → Summarize with AI → Post to Slack channel

Monitoring: Every 5 min → Check API health → If down → Send PagerDuty alert + Slack message

Data sync: New Shopify order → Create invoice in QuickBooks → Update Google Sheet → Email customer

n8n vs Zapier vs Make

Feature	n8n (Self-hosted)	Zapier	Make
Price	Free	$30/mo	$16/mo
Executions	Unlimited	750/mo	10,000/mo
Code nodes	JavaScript + Python	Limited	Limited
Self-host	Yes	No	No
AI nodes	Native	Plugin	Plugin
Branching	Full IF/Switch	Limited	Yes
Error handling	Built-in	Basic	Basic

When to Use Zapier Instead

• Non-technical team (Zapier is simpler)
• Need zero maintenance (no server to manage)
• Simple 2-step automations (overkill to self-host for this)

Get Started

npx n8n

Or self-host with Docker for production use.

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