n8n

n8n is a source-available workflow automation platform for technical teams that need visual orchestration, AI agent workflows, and self-hosting, with current pricing at EUR 20/mo for Starter, EUR 50/mo for Pro, EUR 667/mo for Business, Enterprise by quote, and a free Community Edition. It is strongest when teams need more control than simple no-code zaps: branching workflows, code steps, API calls, reusable templates, and deployment choices that include n8n Cloud and self-hosted infrastructure. Instead of pricing every individual app action as a separate task, n8n emphasizes workflow executions, unlimited users, and unlimited workflows across paid plans, which can be attractive for teams that collaborate heavily or run multi-step automations. Its AI features support agent-style workflows, RAG patterns, model calls, and tool orchestration, making it a practical automation layer for operations, support, sales, engineering, and internal tooling teams. Common workflows include syncing CRM records, routing support requests, enriching leads, moving database records, notifying teams in Slack or email, calling internal APIs, and chaining model outputs into business-system actions. The platform also has a large template library and hundreds of integrations, so teams can start from known automation patterns while still extending workflows with JavaScript, custom nodes, webhooks, schedules, and API requests when standard connectors are not enough. n8n is especially relevant for organizations that want a visual builder but still expect engineers or technical operators to own credentials, error paths, data transformations, and deployment decisions. The self-hosted Community Edition gives teams a free entry point for running n8n on their own infrastructure, while paid Business and Enterprise options add more collaboration, governance, scaling, support, and administrative capabilities. For AI automation, n8n can act as the connective layer between LLM providers, vector databases, SaaS tools, internal data stores, and human approval steps, which makes it useful for prototypes that may later become production workflows. The tradeoff is that n8n is more technical than lightweight automation tools, and teams using self-hosting or advanced governance should plan for ownership of infrastructure, credentials, monitoring, upgrades, backups, execution volume, and workflow design conventions. Buyers should also validate exact security, compliance, data residency, and support requirements against the deployment model they intend to use. Overall, n8n is a strong fit when automation work is strategic enough to justify technical ownership, especially for teams that want hosted convenience, self-hosted control, broad integrations, and AI-capable workflow orchestration in one platform.