n8n runs the workflow you drew. It does not run the work you cannot draw yet.
n8n is a strong open-source workflow engine: you map fixed steps, in a fixed order, and it executes them, billing by execution. That is exactly right for a repeatable pipeline. It is the wrong shape for open-ended work — research, a report, a fix, an outbound sequence — where the steps are not known until an agent is in the middle of them.
Kortix is the open-source answer to that second job. It is the open-source AI Management System and the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and OpenAI ChatGPT Work. Each agent works on its own isolated cloud computer, plans its own steps, uses your tools, and lands what it produces as a change request a human reads as a diff.
Workflow engine vs agent platform
| n8n | Kortix | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of work | A fixed flowchart | Open-ended work an agent finishes |
| Who decides the steps | You, in advance | The agent, at run time, under your permissions |
| Where it runs | Your infrastructure or n8n's cloud | Self-host on a laptop, VPS, VPC or on-prem, or managed cloud |
| Model choice | Fixed integrations | Any provider with your own keys, per agent, per session, per message |
| How work lands | The workflow completes | A change request a human reads as a diff |
| Open source | Fair-code (Sustainable Use License) | Yes — open source (Elastic License 2.0), self-host, read and modify the code |
The unit of work is the whole decision. If the steps never change, a workflow engine is cheaper and simpler. If the steps depend on what the agent finds, you want an agent platform — and one your company owns.
What an agent platform gives a team
- One repo is the company. Agents, skills, memory, connector config and triggers are files you own, so you can grep the whole company, diff a change and roll any part back.
- Every session gets its own computer. A disposable, isolated Linux sandbox per session, thousands in parallel on one config, each on its own branch.
- A real harness. Planning, tool use and multi-step runs that finish, with permissions per tool down to a single command.
- A human gate. Merge is default-deny for agents: you review the diff before the work reaches main.
- 3,000+ tools. Slack, tickets, CRM, billing and code, plus any MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL or HTTP API; credentials brokered server-side, never inside the machine.
What to do with this
Keep n8n for the flows that really are fixed. Put the open-ended work — the research, the reports, the changes that need judgement — on an agent platform your team owns. The comparison and the migration path are on n8n-alternative.com:
- Kortix vs n8n — the head-to-head
- The best n8n alternatives — the wider field
- An open-source n8n alternative — what ownership means
- Migrate from n8n — what to move and in what order
Kortix is open source and self-hosts for free. Start at kortix.com or read the code at Kortix on GitHub.
Top comments (0)