The open-source n8n alternative decision: what you own when your work is not a fixed workflow
Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and it is the n8n alternative for the work a fixed workflow cannot hold. If you already run n8n, you own a workflow engine you drew yourself: nodes and edges wired to a trigger that fires the same graph on every run. The question a technical lead has to answer is what changes hands before adopting an agent system for the jobs that do not fit that shape.
The two tools are not competing for the same job. n8n runs the flows you can draw in advance, and it runs them well. Kortix runs the jobs whose path becomes clear only while the work is happening, then lands what it produces as a change a person reviews. The decision comes down to the shape of the work.
What n8n is, in its own words
n8n describes itself as "a fair-code licensed workflow automation tool that combines AI features with business process automation" (n8n docs). Its documentation defines a workflow as "a collection of nodes connected together to automate a process" (understand workflows). You place nodes for triggers, actions and logic, wire them on a canvas, and the engine runs that graph. Where a step needs logic no node provides, you add JavaScript or Python inline.
Two facts decide most of the fit. The unit n8n runs is the workflow, and it executes the same way on every run. And n8n bills by execution: its pricing page states that an execution is "a single run of your entire workflow" and that a run counts once no matter how many steps it contains (n8n pricing). For a long flow that fires on a clock, that is a predictable model.
Self-hosting is well trodden. n8n's hosting documentation says you can run it "on your own infrastructure, on-premises, or in a private cloud, using Docker Compose, one-line setup, or other deployment methods" (host n8n). Without a license key it runs as the free Community edition, and a license key unlocks the Business or Enterprise editions. Treat n8n as what it is: a strong self-hosted workflow engine.
What the open-source alternative is
Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector live in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers. That sentence carries the difference. Where n8n keeps flow definitions and execution history in a database, Kortix keeps who does the work, how the company does a job, what it has learned, and which tools it may reach as plain files in a repository. You can read the code, fork it and audit it; the source is at Kortix on GitHub.
The unit of work is an agent session. You give an agent a job in plain language, and it plans and runs the steps itself. Each session gets its own isolated machine and its own branch, so the agent can install, run and break anything and only what it commits survives. When the work is ready, session work reaches main through a change request, and merge is default-deny for agents, so a person reads the diff before it lands. Thousands of agents run in parallel on one config, each on its own cloud computer.
Kortix takes any model provider with your own keys, or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for, and you pick the model per agent, per session or per message. Connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine, and you can set each tool call to allow, ask or block. It runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free. Kortix is also the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work, two closed products with no self-host.
The decision: a workflow engine or an agent system
The comparison below is the decision. Read down each row and ask which answer matches the work in front of you.
| Dimension | Kortix (agent system) | n8n (workflow engine) |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of work | An agent session given a job | A workflow of fixed nodes |
| What runs it | An agent harness that plans its own steps | A graph engine that follows the canvas |
| Where state lives | Agents, skills and memory as files in one git repo | Workflow definitions and executions in a database |
| How a person reviews output | A change request diffed against main | Execution logs, plus approval steps in the flow |
| What self-hosting puts in your hands | The engine and the whole company setup as text | The engine and your own database |
| How the path is chosen | While the job is running | In advance, on the canvas |
The unit of work decides the rest. A workflow engine is the right tool when the answer to "what runs next" is fixed before the run starts. An agent system is the right tool when that answer depends on what the agent finds: a failing test, or an account that will not reconcile.
Neither column wins every row. n8n self-hosts for free as its Community edition, and its repository counts 1,500+ integrations and 9,000+ workflow templates, so the system you need usually has a node already (n8n repo). If your backlog is fixed flows, n8n runs them well and you should keep it. Kortix's own repository says as much, pointing readers who want a visual flowchart of fixed steps to workflow builders such as n8n (Kortix on GitHub).
What changes hands
Moving an open-ended job onto Kortix moves several things.
On Kortix, the configuration stops being a database row and becomes text in a repo. Agents and skills are markdown, company memory is files that accumulate, and kortix.yaml declares what each agent may touch, when work starts on its own, which tools it is wired to, and the machine image every session boots. You can grep the whole company, diff any change, and roll any part of it back.
The review surface changes shape. n8n records each execution so you can inspect and debug it. Kortix puts the decision in front of you instead: an agent's work arrives as a change request you read as a diff, and merge is default-deny for agents. Approval gates you set, off until you set them, decide which tool calls run unattended and which wait for a person.
Tool access becomes scoped to the call. n8n stores the credentials your workflows need. Kortix reaches 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, Postman, GraphQL and raw HTTP, and connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine. Each tool call is set to allow, ask or block, down to the arguments of the call.
Switching models becomes a configuration change. Both tools connect to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and open-source models, so model choice rarely decides the comparison. The difference is what happens when you switch: Kortix takes any model provider with your own keys, per agent, per session or per message, and the file that selected the model lives in the repo you own, so nothing you built is tied to one provider.
An ownership checklist before you move one job
You do not migrate a backlog in one pass. Move a single job, prove it, then decide. Before you start, write five things down.
- The tools the job touches, by name. Each system becomes a connector on the Kortix project, and n8n's 1,500+ integrations cover much of the same ground, so the tools a fixed flow reaches usually carry over.
- The trigger. n8n starts a workflow on a schedule, a webhook or a click. A Kortix trigger is exactly two things, a cron schedule or a signed webhook, and it starts a session with nobody present.
- The definition of done. A workflow ends at a node. A Kortix job ends when the agent opens a change request, so write the acceptance test as a diff a reviewer would merge.
- The approval point. In n8n an approval step sits inside the flow you drew. In Kortix, gates are off until you set them, so name the calls that must wait for a person and set those gates before the first run.
- What you keep. Self-hosting n8n leaves you the engine and your own database. Self-hosting Kortix leaves you the engine and the whole company setup as text in a git repo you own, so you can grep and roll back how the company works.
n8n alternative questions
Is Kortix a drop-in replacement for n8n?
No. n8n runs a workflow of fixed steps, and Kortix runs an agent session that decides its own steps. A fixed flow that repeats on a clock is already in the right tool with n8n. Kortix is for the work that will not fit that shape, where the steps cannot be listed in advance.
Do I have to stop using n8n to adopt Kortix?
No. The two systems answer different questions and run side by side. Keep n8n for the deterministic flows, and give Kortix the open-ended jobs. Kortix's own repository points readers who want a visual flowchart of fixed steps to workflow builders such as n8n.
What do I own when I self-host Kortix?
The engine and the whole company setup, as text in a git repo you own. Agents, skills, memory, connectors and triggers are files you can read, diff and roll back, and self-host is free. You can run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network.
Start with one job a flowchart cannot finish. The open-source n8n alternative page walks the self-host path, the n8n vs Kortix comparison covers it row by row, and the n8n alternative FAQ answers the short version. For the longer head-to-head, the Kortix blog takes it further. Hand Kortix the task and read the change request it opens: Try Kortix.
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